Nigeria’s lower house of parliament Thursday voted to probe giant state-run oil firm NNPC over its alleged failure to account for about $13 billion from crude sales this year. The House of Representatives adopted a motion sponsored by one of its members, Haruna Manu, asking the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to account for the volume and value of crude sold in the first eight months of 2013. “NNPC has remained in a dark tunnel. How long will it remain in that tunnel?,” asked lawmaker Samson Osagie during the debate before the motion was adopted. Lagos-based AIT private television showed footage of the debate, following which the house mandated its committee to probe NNPC. Manu said that while the NNPC claimed to have remitted $20 billion to the government (federation) account as crude oil sales from January to August, documents indicated that it remitted only about seven billion dollars. “All returns accruing to the NNPC from crude oil sales and such transactions in the oil sector are supposed to be remitted to the Federation Account in accordance with Section 162 (1) of the constitution,” he said.
Updated 7 Years ago

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday disclosed plans to extend the cashless policy to other states in the country before June 2014. The Deputy Governor (Operations), CBN, Mr. Tunde Lemo, revealed this Thursday in an interview with journalists at the 20th anniversary of the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS) titled: “The Evolution to the Future Cashless Nigeria: Positioning the Nigerian Payment and Settlement Ecosystem for Cash-less Reality,” held in Lagos. The cashless policy, which was introduced in Lagos in January 2012 was extended to Abuja, Kano Rivers, Ogun, Abia and Anambra States in July this year. Its aim is to reduce the dominance of cash as a means of payment in the economy. According to Lemo, in order to ensure effective nationwide rollout by next year, the central bank would collaborate with other stakeholders in the payment system to integrate mobile phones into point of sale (PoS) machines. “We have been talking about how to enhance connectivity and one of the things agreed was to work with some service providers. But beyond that, we looked and decided what else to do, particularly outside Lagos now that we have rolled out the cashless policy to six other states. Today, we have licensed about 21 mobile money operators, so how do we now link mobile money to our PoS? If mobile phones can serve as touch points, our transactions would go up rapidly. “We hope to rollout to all the states by the second quarter of next year and we hope that by next year, as we roll out more PoS machines, we have to see how we can integrate the mobile phones into the network because in the hinterlands, the challenges would be more,” Lemo explained.
Updated 7 Years ago

Paga Mobile Payment Services has said it recorded 4.4 million transactions valued at N47 billion in the last two years as more Nigerians embrace the cashless policy. Also, the firm rewarded, Mr. Murphy Ishichie, who emerged its one millionth customer with a cash prize of N100, 000 in Lagos. Commenting on the feat achieved by the mobile payment firm, Chief Executive Officer, Paga, Mr. Tayo Oviosu, described the one million users mark in two years as fantastic.
Updated 7 Years ago

The federal government Wednesday said it was going to sign a loan agreement with the Indian Import Export Bank to the tune of $100 million with a view to boosting power supply in Cross River, Enugu and Kaduna States. This was sequel to a decision taken by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), at its weekly meeting Wednesday, which was presided over by the Vice-President, Alhaji Namadi Sambo. The Minister of State for Finance, Yerima Ngama, who briefed State House Correspondents, said N$40 million would be earmarked for the electrification of 96 communities, supply and inauguration of 33KVA, four 15KVA lines and the distribution of transformers and other accessories to the communities in the three senatorial zones of Enugu State. According to him, $30 million would be lent to Kaduna State Government to augment the resources needed for the construction of the 70 kilometers transmission line from the Gurara Dam to Kaduna industrial area.
Updated 7 Years ago

With a shift in tone and language, China's central bank governor has dangled the prospect of speeding up currency reform and giving markets more room to set the yuan's exchange rate as he underlines broader plans for sweeping economic change. The central bank under Zhou Xiaochuan has consistently flagged its intention to liberalise financial markets and allow the yuan to trade more freely, even before the Communist Party's top brass unveiled late last week the boldest set of economic and social reforms in nearly three decades. But since the 60-point reform plan was released, Zhou has suggested urgency in pushing for change, although he has not provided any specific timetable. He promised on Saturday to "pull out all stops to deepen financial sector reforms". Dariusz Kowalczyk, an economist at Credit Agricole in Hong Kong, said the governor's comments could mean that the People's Bank of China (PBOC) will widen the trading band of the yuan in the near term. "That probably means there is more upside for the renminbi," he said. The yuan, also known as the renminbi, has risen this year to 6.09 per dollar from 6.23 at the end of 2012 and hit a record high of close to 6.08 in October.
Updated 7 Years ago

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday reiterated that any individual or organisation that issue bounced or dishonoured cheques on three occasions would be blacklisted and barred from “having anything to do with the banking system.” The CBN Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Alhaji Suleiman Barau, said the apex bank intends to create a situation where such incidence would be formally reported to law enforcement agencies including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for prosecution. He said blacklisting such individuals or corporate entities who engage in issuing dud cheques had "a salutary effect of discouraging other people who may want to take advantage of the laxity in enforcement to go the route you’ve gone."
Updated 7 Years ago

The Nigerian Stock Exchange has called on Asian investors to take advantage of the investment opportunities in the Nigerian capital market. The NSE made the call at the 2nd Annual Africa Investment Summit held in Hong Kong. A statement from the NSE on Wednesday explained that it co-sponsored the event in “line with the Nigerian bourse’s objective of attracting international investors.” According to the statement, the General Manager, Listings, Sales and Retention, NSE, Mrs. Taba Peterside, explained during a presentation on ‘How investible are Africa’s capital markets?’ that the NSE, having delivered over 30 per cent return in each of the last two years, ensured an enhanced regulatory oversight and installed cutting edge technology to aid operations, was set to become a natural hub for investors looking at Africa. She said, “The NSE seeks to open its doors to the dynamic Asian market. It has become necessary to position the Nigerian bourse favourably within the financial global village.”
Updated 7 Years ago

Nigeria’s external reserves have dropped to $44.84bn, according to a latest Central Bank of Nigeria’s report. The reserves, which fell to the $44bn mark on November 8, had hovered on $44.9bn until November 15 when it recorded $44.89bn. It, however, dropped to $44.84bn on Monday. The reserves had fallen to a 10-month low at $44.9bn on November 8. The last time the reserves dropped to $44.9bn was on January 17, 2013. According to the data, the reserves dropped steadily from $45.9bn on September 20 to the $44.9bn on November 8. This means the reserves fell by $1bn within seven weeks. The external reserves had fallen to a nine-month low at $45.083bn on October 14, about $83m above the $44bn mark. Analysts had predicted that the reserves would fall to $44bn before the end of October 2013. However, the reserves recorded $45.2bn on October 31. The reserves fell to the $45bn mark on September 20, and had hovered around the $45bn until November 8 when it dropped to the $44bn mark. Between September 20 and October 9, the foreign reserves fell from $45.9bn to $45.1bn.
Updated 7 Years ago

The Federal Government has said the ongoing reforms in the transport and other sectors of the economy are yielding positive results, especially in the rail sector where over one million litres of fuel are being transported on a daily basis just as 200 communities have been connected by rail. This was disclosed yesterday in Abuja by the Director General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Dr. Joe Abah, during the inauguration of the 24-man steering committee on Public Service Reforms by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim. According to Abah, "the reforms in critical sectors like power, agriculture, ports, transports, pensions, electoral system, judiciary, rule of law among others, were already yielding visible results. "The trains are back for the first time in 30 years, 30,000 passengers have been moved in two months, over 200 communities are now connected by rail, while one million litres of fuel are now being moved daily by rail." He added that the reforms had resulted in airports being refurbished for the first time in decades, NAFDAC laboratories accredited to the highest international standards, stability of electricity in the country approaching realisation, fertiliser fraud drastically reduced and improvement of more than 1,664 kilometres of key roads. The Secretary of the newly constituted Committee also listed the mandate of the committee to include providing technical leadership for reform at the level of planning, design and implementation; and initiate action on reform at the different fronts, monitor and evaluate implementation of the reforms for impact and effectiveness. He said they were also expected to generate feedback information to guide periodic review; interact/dialogue with donor agencies/stakeholders and inform the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on reform implementation efforts on a regular basis, and brief the National Council on Reform quarterly." Anyim while inaugurating the committee, said the absence of the Steering Committee on Reforms had limited government's capacity to provide coordinated technical leadership and effective monitoring and evaluation of all public service reforms efforts.
Updated 7 Years ago

Investment in the Nigerian telecommunications in the past 12 years is now worth $25bn, President Goodluck Jonathan has said. Jonathan said this at the Nigerian Investment Forum organised at the Royal Pavilion, Impact Exhibition and Convention Centre, Bangkok, Thailand, on Wednesday. It was part of the ongoing ITU Telecom World hosted by the International Telecommunications Union, a statement by the Ministry of Communications Technology stated. The President, who was represented at the forum by the Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, said Africa presented new opportunities for the world and Nigeria was at the crest of whatever Africa had to offer. He said telecommunication was the fastest growing sector of the Nigerian economy, performing twice as much as the next sector – building and construction. According to him, the telecommunications sector, which is growing at 30 per cent per annum, is contributing eight per cent to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product. Jonathan said the strength of the Nigerian telecommunications industry could be seen in the fact that operators had staked $25bn on the expansion of the industry in the past 12 years, adding that there was still immense opportunities for growth.
Updated 7 Years ago