Business News
Trading on Nigerian equities has dropped by 44%
Nigeria’s equity market in the last 5-month, has experienced significant drop in its trading. This is according to data from the NSE.
Trading in the Nigerian equities market experienced a significant drop in the past five months. According to data obtained from the Domestic & Foreign Portfolio Investment Report of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the drop was experienced as investors continue to weigh potential returns against macroeconomic risks.
Transaction Value: The total transactions of value for the five months period ended Friday, May 31, 2019, stood at N790.31 billion compared to N1.409 trillion recorded in the corresponding period of 2018. This, however, represents a drop of 44 percent.
Breakdown of the Value: The data indicated a slowdown in both foreign and domestic participation in the equities market.
Total transactions by foreign portfolio investors halved from N697.3 billion in the first five months of last year to N376.05 billion in the first five months of this year. This represented a drop of 46.07 percent.
[READ ALSO: Foreign investment outflows is on the rise]
Total domestic transactions also halved from N712.17 billion recorded in the five-month period ended May, last year to N414.25 billion in the first five months of the year. This represents a drop of 41.8 percent.
Further analysis showed that domestic investors continued to dominate transactions during the period. Domestic investors contributed 51.02 percent of total transactions during the period ended May 2019, inching up from 50.53 percent recorded during the period ended May 2018.
Foreign participation, however, dropped slightly from 49.47 percent last year to 48.98 percent this year.
Any hope of recovery? Looking at the future in a short to medium term form, analysts at Cordros Securities believe that the Nigerian equities market has hope of recovery. According to them, the outlook for the equities market is conservative. They cited the absence of an immediate positive catalyst.
“We reiterate our view that the blend of a compelling valuation story, together with positive macroeconomic picture leaves scope for market recovery in the medium term. However, we guide investors to tread the cautious trading path in the short term.” — Cordros Securities
READ MORE: Nigerian Eurobonds Maintain Strong Rally as Global Central Banks Turn Dovish
Energy
Nigeria to fix irregular power supply in 40 years- Senate
The four decades is needed due to underfunding and the FG’s failure to fix the challenges of electricity generation.
The Nigerian Senate has said that it will take Nigeria 40 years to fix irregular power supply.
This was disclosed by the Senate Committee on Power on Tuesday after the Minister of Power and his team made a presentation to the Committee, according to Guardian.
The four decades wait, according to the lawmakers, is due to underfunding and the Federal Government’s failure to fix the challenges of electricity generation.
The committee was astonished by the submission of the Minister of Power, Mamman Saleh, that of the N165billion required for capital projects in 2020, N4billion was given as bribe of which only N3billion was cash-backed.
In lieu of this, the Committee dismissed claims made by the minister over raising hope on early provision of constant power supply, while Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz, painted a gloomy picture during the ministry’s budget defense.
A member of the Committee, Danjuma Goje, expressed concern that based on Abdulaziz’s presentation, N165billion was proposed, but the ministry gave N4billion in envelope, insisting that it would take 41 years to deliver constant electricity when N165billion is divided by N4billion.
Backstory
Recall that Nairametrics had earlier reported that it will take nothing less than $100 billion to enable stable power supply in Nigeria.
What they are saying
Mr. Danjuma expressed pessimism over hopes of stable power supply in the country. He went as far as stressing that even if ongoing projects are being completed there is still no hope for stable transmission of power in the country.
Mr. Danjuma was quoted as saying: “Going by the minister’s presentation that transmission gas increased from 5000 to 8000 megawatts, it is not enough. When dishing out figures, we should bear in mind that capacity, transmission, and distribution have increased and that Nigerians, manufacturers, and industrialists want to see stable electricity.”
ENDSARS
#EndSARS: ECOWAS calls for protesters to remain peaceful in their demonstrations
ECOWAS has called on protesters to be peaceful in conducting their protests.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has called on protesters to be peaceful in conducting their protests and urged Nigerian security operatives to exercise restraint in the handling of protests.
This was disclosed in a statement by the organization on Tuesday and comes on the heels of statements by other International bodies and personalities, who have expressed worry over the nature of brutality meted on protesters, especially after the Lekki shootings.
Press Release on #ENDSARS Protests in Nigeria pic.twitter.com/hht0YjVclo
— ECOWAS-CEDEAO (@ecowas_cedeao) October 27, 2020
“ECOWAS Commission notes with concern that demonstrations by Nigerian youth calling for Police reforms, particularly the abolition of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian Police force, accused of misconduct by those demonstrating, have turned violent,” they said.
The body said it recognizes the right to peaceful protests and also called for protesters to be peaceful, due to the rising reported cases of lootings post protests during the curfews.
“While ECOWAS recognizes the right of citizens to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and protests, it also wishes to stress that those rights should be exercised in a nonviolent manner.
“In this regard, ECOWAS calls on all protesters to remain peaceful in the conduct of their demonstrations. It also urges the Nigerian security operatives to exercise restraint in the handling of the protests and act professionally.”
Bottomline
The tone of ECOWAS’ message is different compared to the rest of other stakeholders including the statement of the Lagos State Governor, House of Reps Speaker, and the Vice President, who all acknowledged that the protests were peaceful and the protesters were attacked and that the violence from the curfews was not done by the protesters but by hoodlums.
The ECOWAS message is also the first statement by West Africa’s most important regional body since the #EndSARS protests started in the first week of October.
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