Summary of the top busniess, economic and political news in Nigera.
- A team from the Enforcement Department of the Federal Inland Revenue Service on Wednesday continued its shutdown of tax defaulting firms across the country. In Ibadan, the FIRS team sealed ISO Glass Industries Limited located at Block E, Plot 17, Oluyole Industrial Estate, Ring Road, over an alleged tax debt of N12,037,416.99, accumulated since 2011. In Umuahia, Abia State, the team sealed nine firms for tax default. Some of the affected firms are the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture’s Guest House, which allegedly owes N3.5m; De-Latino Concert Limited, N6,677,221; and Hotel Macbeck Limited, N273,313.40. Others are Ohama Suites Limited, with tax debt of N1,153,500; Onyems Classic Pharmacy, N400,000; and Otubraco Nigeria Limited, N540,437:50. Link
- The Nigerian Export Promotion Council is currently evaluating strategies that will enable the Federal Government to mitigate any negative impact of the planned exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union. Following a 2016 referendum to leave the EU, the UK government triggered the withdrawal process on March 29, 2017, setting the date for its exit from the union at April 2019. Link
- The Bank of Industry has donated High Powered Liquid Chromatography equipment worth over N45m to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control. The Managing Director, BoI, Mr. Waheed Olagunju, stated that the equipment would reduce time wasting and enhance efficiency during sample test for NAFDAC regulated products. Link
- In an effort to improve Nigeria’s position in the International Budget Partnership, IBP, index, plans are underway by the Federal Government to launch a citizens budget portal to ensure openness and transparency of the budget process, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, has said. Link
- Fish farmers in Nigeria have lamented on the consistent hike in the cost of fish feeds, linking this to the rise in the cost of catfish. The Catfish Farmers Association of Nigeria, which disclosed this on Thursday in Port Harcourt during the unveiling of Aqualis Fish Feed, a product of Crown Flour Mill Limited, said the high cost of feeds was affecting fish farmers and consumers. The Rivers State Chairman of CFAN, Mr. Clapton Ogolo stressed the need for the expansion of fish farming in the country in order to reduce fish importation, averred that about 70 per cent of fish consumed in Nigeria was imported. Link
- More than 70 per cent of drugs in circulation is fake, the Executive Director, Fidson Health Care Plc, Bola Adebayo, has said. Adebayo regretted that the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has failed to curtail the circulation of fake drugs. He also blamed the situation on the abscence of genuine drugs manufacturers in the hinterland, as many are concentrated in big cities. Link
- GBfoods, one of the leading multinational food company headquartered in Barcelona and Helios Investment Partners, a premier Africa- focused private investment firm, have partnered to create one of Africa’s largest FMCG businesses. GBfoods Africa Holdco B. V., the joint venture owned by GBfoods and Helios, according to a statement, has acquired assets from different African companies including leading brands such as Jumbo (bouillon), Gino and Pomo (tomato paste), and Jago (milk powder and mayonnaise), as well as Bama (mayonnaise) distribution rights for Africa, in Ghana and Nigeria, and incorporates more than 600 workers from different nationalities. Link
- The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, has said that the World Bank’s statistics on the ease of doing business in Nigeria is only a visible indicator but not perfect. Speaking on the topic, ‘Ease of doing business in Nigeria’, Enelamah explained that surveys conducted for countries were a function of the quality and the number of the responses the bank received. Link
- The Kogi State Government has appealed to the World Bank to assist it to achieve its aim of becoming the largest producer of rice in the North-Central. According to a statement on Wednesday, the state’s Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr. Kehinde Oloruntoba, made the appeal when the Mid-Term Review Mission Team of the World Bank/Federal Government paid a visit to him in his office. The commissioner said that if assisted by the World Bank, Kogi State could become the largest rice-producing state. Link
- Premium Pension Limited, one of the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) in the country has appointed Architect Yunusa Yakubu as the Chairman of its Board of Directors. A statement by the company’s Head, Corporate Communications, Paddy Ezeala, said his appointment was ratified at the company’s recent Annual General Meeting (AGM). He takes over from the out gone Chairman of the Board, Mr. Aliyu Abdulrahman Dikko. Link
- Newly-appointed Director General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Folorunsho Folarin-Coker, has said that the marketing of Nigerian tourism is better driven via the platform of new technologies provided by the social media. He said social media has the capacity of reaching millions in one single message, hence his resolve to leverage on it to promote and market the country’s attractions. Link
- The chief operating officers of the five autonomous business units and two directorates of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Thursday signed a performance bond with the oil firm’s Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru. The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, said in a statement issued in Abuja that the bond would serve as key business objective that each of the units would pursue and was expected to achieve. Link
- The Federal Government has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Nigeria’s largest indigenous energy group, Oando Plc to manage the Port Harcourt Refinery under a repair, operate and maintain (ROM) arrangement. Chief executive officer, Oando Plc, Mr. Wale Tinubu said the group has received approval of the government to oversee the Port Harcourt Refinery. “We plan to increase the refinery capacity from 30 per cent to a 100 per cent, subsequently to 120 per cent”. Link
- The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has called on the Federal Government to embrace dialogue to resolve the lingering impasse between the management of Capital Oil and Department of State Security (DSS). There has been disagreement between Capital Oil and DSS over the former’s alleged illegal sale of petroleum products stored in its tank farm by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Link
- The General Manager, Ethiopian Airlines Nigeria, Mr. Solomon Begashaw, says the airline will begin flight operations to Singapore from June 1 to link Nigeria and other African countries with the South-East Asian country. Link
- Adama Beverages Limited, producers of Faro Water, has recorded N4.6 billion turn over in 2016. The chairman of the company’s board of directors, Akin Kekere-Akun, stated this at the Annual General Meeting held yesterday in Yola. He noted that the development was attributable to the ongoing expansion project that would see the installation of new plant with capacity to produce 40,000 bottles per hour. Link
- Wema Bank Plc. announces the resignation of its Chairman, Mr. Adeyinka Asekun from the Board on 10th May, 2017. Mr. Asekun was recently nominated as an Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and has had his appointment confirmed by the Senate. Link
- In line with government’s agricultural transformation drive and need to boost revenue, stakeholders in the oil palm production sector have stated that the country has over $45 billion yearly potential earnings untapped from the sector. To this end, fairs and exhibitions organising company, BKG Exhibitions Limited, has unveiled plans to explore opportunities in the sector by showcasing the sector’s investment potential to stakeholders. Link
- The Managing Director of Toyota Nigeria Limited, Mr. Kunle Ade Ojo, has lamented the poor vehicle sales recorded in the country in the first quarter of the year which fell to an all time low of 2,000 compared to 5,500 vehicles sold within the same period in 2016. He forecast that given the way the industry was going, it would be difficult for all the car companies to sell 9,000 vehicle before the end of the year. Link
- The first phase of Ajaokuta Steel Company will provide 500,000 upstream and downstream jobs when operational, the Federal Government has said. The company’s Sole Administrator, Mr. Isah Onobere, said it would cost $400 million to complete the Steel project, which had reached 98 per cent completion. He however, denied rumours that the company’s equipment were obsolete. Link
- In its bid to give its business a national outlook, Omoluabi Mortgage Bank Plc is in the process of transforming to National Mortgage Bank. The transformation will necessitate a fund raising to further solidify the bank while a consortium of Investment Banks led by MorganCapital Group has been appointed to handle the process. Link
- Fitch Ratings has assigned Nigeria-based Zenith Bank PLC’s (Zenith) upcoming issuance of USD500 million, five-year senior unsecured notes an expected rating of ‘B+(EXP)‘. The Recovery Rating is ‘RR4’, which denotes average recovery prospects in the event of default. Link
- On the heels of the announcement of the successful sale of Keystone Bank Limited and the promise of the new investors to take active steps towards turning around its operations in order to become more competitive in the sector, it appears the management of the Bank has proceeded on a drive to give a face-lift to its various branches across the country as part of the post- divestment repositioning. Link
- The National Assembly has increased its own budget from N115 billion as contained in the 2016 national budget to N125 billion in the 2017 budget. A breakdown of the lawmakers’ budget indicates that the management got N6,714,696,986 for personnel with overhead cost of N6,193,052,825 and capital cost of N2,011,315,202, totalling N14,919,065,013. The Senate got N1,856,510,517 for personnel; N25,111,332,147 for overheads and N4,430,923,222 for capital; totalling N31,398,765,886.The House of Representatives got N4,923,743,127 for personnel; N39,635,756,179 and N4,493,244,677; totaling N49,052,743,983, among others. Link
- The National Assembly yesterday passed the 2017 appropriation bill of N7.441 trillion into law. It jerked up the figure by N143 billion against N7.298trillion proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari in December last year when he laid the budget document before the federal legislature. This is even as the $42.50 oil price benchmark proposed in the budget submitted by the president was also hiked to $44.50 to cater for the N143billion increase. Link