Business News
NCC reveals how much investors put in telecoms sector every quarter
NCC revealed that stakeholders in the sector have been making investments of $5 billion every quarter.
Nigeria’s telecoms regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), revealed yesterday that stakeholders in the sector have recently been making new investments to the tune of $5 billion every quarter.
As such, portfolio investments in the sector has grown steadily from the sum of $70 billion recorded in 2017 to about $85 billion in the third quarter of this year.
The disclosure was made by the NCC’s Director of Consumer Affairs, Mrs Felicia Onwuebuchulam, who was represented during her presentation at the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
According to Mrs Onwuebuchulam’s presentation, the increased investments in the telecommunications have in turn led to an increase in how much the sector contributes to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP.
“The investment in the telecoms sector as of 2017 used to be $70bn and this has been growing at about $5bn every quarter. The sector’s contribution to Nigeria’s GDP rose to 10.5 percent as of the end of June 2018, up from the initial 9.1 percent in 2016.” -Onwuebuchulam
meanwhile, business is doing well
With increased investment comes greater chances of growth in any business. This is the case in the Nigerian telecoms sector which has undoubtedly one of the fastest growing sectors in the Nigerian economy.
As more money is put into providing more efficient telecoms services, more Nigerians continue to patronise telecoms companies. As Mrs Onwuebuchulam stated, “teledensity, which is the number of telephone lines per 100 persons in an area, has hit 115 percent” in Nigeria.
Moreover, as we reported, there are currently some 162 million active subscribers in Nigeria. And as Mrs Onwuebuchulam noted yesterday, these active lines are owned by both private individuals and businesses who, asides using them for call services, also use them to access the internet.
“At the end of August 2018, there were over 160.8 million active voice subscriptions, with over 104 million of this number being used to access the Internet services. These are phone numbers being used by businesses and individual subscribers across the various sectors of the Nigerian economy.”
Meanwhile, some problems persist despite improvements
Many subscribers of the telecoms companies in Nigeria have continued to complain about bad certain issues, including poor network coverage and high data prices.
Glo pls i take God beg una, stop stealing the small credit I can afford, enough pls, 08054890780
— ADAM-OF-THE-NORTH (@Akawochi) December 25, 2017
The NCC has, however, put measures in place to combat the problem. The Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Umar Danbatta, recently stated that appropriate regulatory actions would be taken against any telco who continuously fail to avail customers improved service over a period of time. He also disclosed that the NCC has directed telcos to start giving their customers a 14-day grace period to roll over unused data.
Business
FG explains why Lagos-Ibadan rail line was not linked to the sea
The government in its explanation said that the delay was due to disruption by trucks going in and out of the port complex.
The Federal Government has stated why the China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) Nigeria Limited could not link the final part of the Lagos-Ibadan rail line to the sea.
The government in its explanation said that it was due to disruption by trucks going in and out of the port complex.
According to a press statement signed by the Director, Press and Public Relations of the Federal Ministry of Transportation, Eric Ojiekwe, this disclosure was made by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, while on a routine tour of the Lagos-Ibadan rail line project on Saturday, April 10, 2021.
The Minister pointed out that the original blueprint for the Lagos-Ibadan rail line project was not adhered to by CCECC Nigeria Limited and TEAM consortium and therefore warned that the master plan of the soon to commence Ibadan-Kano rail line project should not be changed.
The statement from the ministry partly reads, “The Nigerian Government has restated its commitment to connect the whole country by rail with the soon to commence Ibadan-Kano Standard Gauge Rail project.”
Amaechi forewarned that the master plan of the soon to commence project should not be changed as the original blueprint for the Lagos-Ibadan wasn’t adhered to by Messrs CCECC Nigeria and TEAM consortium. The Minister who rode the train from Ebute-Meta to the 8.72 km Apapa Port Spur line, informed the media that the inability of Messrs CCECC Nigeria to link the final part of the rail line down to the sea is rather due to disruption by trucks going in and out of the port complex.’’
The Minister had noted that the Federal Government has paid its share of the counterpart funding of the Ibadan-Kano rail line project and is waiting for China-Exim bank to ratify its side of the agreement for the project to commence.
He also advised the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) to acquire more land around the train stations and the rail tracks for future development adding that this will be near impossible to do in the future as whatever space available now would have been taken over by businesses attracted to the rail line.
In case you missed it
It can be recalled that full commercial train services commenced on the Lagos-Ibadan rail line after train operations commenced on December 7, 2020, with only Lagos, Ibadan and Abeokuta residents enjoying the train services.
This is because other minor and major stations along that route were yet to be completed.
IBADAN-KANO RAIL PROJECT TO COMMENCE SOON – FG
The @NigerianGov has restated its commitment to connect the whole country by rail with the soon to commence Ibadan-Kano Standard Gauge Rail project.
The Minister of Transportation, @ChibuikeAmaechi, while on routine tour of the— Federal Ministry of Transportation (@MinTransportNG) April 11, 2021
Manufacturing
Industrial Index loses -12.39 points, as BUA and Lafarge Cement shares top losers list
The NSE Industrials index lost 12.39 index points in the first trading week in the month of April.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange Industrial Index at the close of trading activities for the first week in the month of April closed on a bearish note, following a 0.66% decrease in the shares of BUA CEMENT and Lafarge.
At the close of trading activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on the 9th of April 2021, the industrial index depreciated by 55.01 index points, to close lower at 1,928.18 index points for the week.
When compared to the overall performance of the market, the NSE Industrial index underperformed, noting that the NSE All-Share Index and Market Capitalization depreciated by 0.66% to close the week at 38,866.39 and N20.3350 trillion respectively.
READ: COVID-19, VAT, FX scarcity adversely impacted our operations in 2020 – Nigerian Breweries boss says
What you should know
The NSE Industrial Index was designed to provide an investable benchmark to capture the performance of the Industrial Sector. It comprises the most capitalized and liquid companies in the industrial sector and is based on the market capitalization methodology.
The index tracks the performance of ten industrial companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange which includes Dangote, BUA, and Lafarge Cement.
The overall performance of the companies for the week was bearish, as the index closed on a negative note driven by the decrease in the share price of BUA Cement and Lafarge.
MEYER (19.51) was the only gainer for the week, while BUACEMENT (-1.09%) and LAFARGE WAPCO (-3.00%) were the only losers for the week.
GAINER
- MEYER up by19.51% to close at N0.49.
LOSER
- WAPCO down by -3.00% to close at N21.00.
- BUACEMENT down by -1.09% to close at N72.70.
