Forex: Industries, aviation, others get N1bn allocation in December

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday disclosed that it has given access to requests for foreign exchange valued at N1,00373,891.75 through the inter-bank window to enable respective industries procure industrial raw materials and machine spare-parts.

The apex bank said this was done in line with its determination to ensure seamless flow of activities in critical sectors of the Nigeria economy.

In the forex utilization figures published for the month of December, 2016, reveals that the industrial raw material group got the highest share of N483,075,669.82, approximating to 48.1 per cent.

Figures from the CBN report for the month December also showed that the petroleum and the aviation sectors received N372,116,111.79 and N123,666,001.06 or 37.1% and 12.2% respectively, while agriculture received N24,516,109.09 or 2.1%.

Commenting on the development, the Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, reiterated the commitment and resolve of the Bank to continue to ease the foreign exchange pressure of these critical sectors through forward sales under the new Flexible Exchange regime.

It will be recalled that the CBN in the month of September and October 2016, supported these critical sectors with $660million and $867million equivalent of forex to source industrial raw materials and spare-parts through the interbank Forex market.

Oil resumes rise after OPEC cut

Oil prices resumed their rise Thursday and held above the $50 barrier following OPEC’s decision to carry out its first output cut in eight years.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries at a meeting in Vienna on Wednesday agreed on specific targets to enact a preliminary deal struck in September designed to ease a global crude supply glut and boost prices.

Many analysts had expected the producers’ cartel to fail to reach a deal as major players like Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia remained divided ahead of the meeting.

Crude futures prices gushed more than 10 percent immediately after the OPEC deal.

At 0630 GMT Thursday, after a brief dip in early Asian trade, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for January delivery was up 70 cents or 1.42 percent at $50.14, while Brent crude for February was 81 cents or 1.6 percent higher at $52.65.

Not only had hopes of higher prices been realised, the reputation of the OPEC has also been salvaged, prompting the surge,” said Jingyi Pan, market strategist at IG in Singapore.

“Sceptics have now placed their focus on the implementation of the OPEC deal where Saudi Arabia will be shouldering the bulk of the cut.”

The 14-member OPEC agreed to lower its monthly output by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) to 32.5 million bpd from January 1.

Qatar’s Energy Minister Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada said non-member Russia committed to reducing its output by 300,000 bpd, half of a hoped-for 600,000 bpd reduction from outside the organisation.

Prices had fallen to near 13-year lows of below $30 a barrel in February from peaks of more than $100 in June 2014 largely due to an oversupplied market outpacing demand.

Glo subscribers laud 11k tariff for local, international calls

Subscribers on the platform of data grandmasters, Globacom, have applauded the 11k per second for all tariff plans launched by the company recently, describing it as offering good value for money.

11k Per Second for All, which enables Glo customers who subscribe to it to make local and international calls at the flat rate of 11 kobo per second, was among the four products launched by Globacom at a press conference in Lagos recently.

Several subscribers who spoke on the plan, through which they can call all local networks and 30 countries frequently called by Nigerians at 11 kobo per second, said it gives them more talk time to communicate with family, friends and business associates locally and internationally.

The plan can be enjoyed by all prepaid customers who pay a daily access fee of N5. The 30 countries enclosed by the competitive 11k per second tariff are the United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, India, Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Canada, China, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, French Guiana, Guam, Japan, Hong Kong, Israel, Luxembourg, Malta, Mongolia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Puerto Rico, Reunion Island, Romania, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, and Sweden.

Hafiz Balogun, a legal practitioner in Abuja, said the plan was quite affordable and that he now makes a lot of savings when he calls his friends, clients and family members both in Nigeria and in the United States.

“Glo has always shown it is the leader in telecoms in the country. I am delighted to be a Glo subscriber,” he enthused.

A Lagos-based journalist, Funke Ishola, was also full of praises for 11k Per Second for All which she said helps her in her job: “As a journalist, I make a lot of calls. With this new tariff, I am able to make my private and official calls at a much cheaper rate. My experience on the network since I joined over a year ago has been fantastic. I say welldone to Globacom for giving me good value for money.

Total loses N22 to lead losers’ table on NSE

Total Nigeria Plc on Thursday for the third consecutive day led the losers’ chart on the Nigerian Stock Exchange forcing the All-Share Index to drop by 0.10 per cent.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Total dropped by N22 to close at N223 per share.

Okomuoil trailed with a loss of N1.92 to close at N40.08, while Forte Oil was down by N1 to close at N69 per share.

International Breweries lost 80k to close at N18.70 and Nigerian Breweries depreciated by 32k to close at N141 per share.

Consequently, the All-Share Index shed 26.30 points or 0.10 per cent to close at 25,490.70 against 25,517.00 achieved on Wednesday.

Also, the market capitalisation which opened at N8.784 trillion shed N10 billion to close at N8.774 trillion posted on Wednesday.

On the other hand, Mobil Oil topped the gainers’ table, growing by N3.99 to close at N199.02 per share.

Flour Mills came second with a gain of 75k to close at N19.49 and Guaranty Trust Bank chalked up 21k to close at N21.52 per share.

Africa Prudential gained 13k to close at N2.79 and FBN Holding improved by 5k to close at N3.05 per share.

International Breweries drove the turnover volume with a total of 22.01 million shares worth N411.57 million.

It was followed by Access Bank with 20.03 million shares valued at N112.37 and GT Bank transacted 11.39 million shares worth N245.25 million.

Transcorp sold 9.91 million shares valued at N7.07 million and FBN Holdings accounted for 7.19 million shares worth N21.91 million.

In all, investors bought and sold a total of 97.14 million shares valued at N1.14 billion transacted in 1,929 deals.

NAN reports that this is in contrast with a turnover of 165.73 million shares worth N1.13 billion achieved in 2,484 deals on Wednesday.

Paper industry can create 500,000 jobs – CIPPON

The Chartered Institute of Professional Printers of Nigeria says that the pulp and paper industry can create more than 500,000 jobs, if the value chain is revived.

The President of the institute, Mr. Wahab Lawal, on Thursday in Lagos said that paper products were very important because of their high consumption by Nigerians.

He urged the government to leverage on the high consumption of paper to create jobs for the youths.

He said, “The paper value chain, if harnessed well, can create up to 500,000 instant jobs.

“The only hindrance we have is that we lack paper mills and our pulp industry has gone extinct.

“If revived, the value chain of planting pulp, processing and refining of paper products into cartons, designed papers, and plain papers can create massive jobs for the youth, instead of complaining of unemployment.

“Take India for instance, they are one of our biggest importers of paper; they have up to 515 paper mills, and we rely on them for almost all the paper products we consume here, so that means we are creating jobs for their own youths.

Because of the current economic crisis, the prices of paper products have continued to skyrocket, and we have no choice than to accept whatever prices we are offered.”

Mr Kehinde Afolabi, the Chief Executive Officer of PckgPlus, a packaging company that uses paper products, said that the need for better packaging and branding of products by SMEs had caused a boost in the paper industry.

According to him, so many youths are being employed in Lagos, Kano, and Ibadan, which are some of the largest hubs for paper products in the country.

Meanwhile, a report by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria stated that the capacity utilisation of the pulp and paper sector reduced from 60.5 per cent in 2014 to 52.8 per cent in 2015.

The report further stated that the rate of raw material sourcing for pulp, paper and publishing sector reduced from 49.6 per cent in the last quarter of 2014 to 32.5 per cent in 2015.

Fashola takes delivery of abandoned transmission equipment

The Transmission Company of Nigeria has received 77 of its 218 abandoned containers carrying equipment for power transmission projects across the country.

The delivery of the abandoned containers was initiated by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, under the supervision of the Vice President’s Office.

It was gathered that the containers had been abandoned in various ports and terminals across the country for the past eight years.

Speaking on the commencement of the delivery of the abandoned equipment at the Duncan Terminal inside the TinCan Port, Apapa, Lagos, on Wednesday, Fashola said a six-man committee was constituted to initiate the release of the 218 containers.

The minister, who was represented by the Managing Director, TCN, Mr. Abubarka Atiku, said, “A lot of hard work has been put into the negotiations for the release of these consignments due to the accrued demurrage as a result of the suspension of the issuance of import duty exemption certificate for some period in 2014.

He explained that on the release of the consignments, contractors would move to site immediately to complete ongoing priority and other projects, which would result in improved power supply.

Fashola said, “Some of these projects include the construction of new Abeokuta-Igboora double transmission line and 132kv double-circuit tee-off at Igboora-Igangan; construction of 2x60MVA, 132/33kV substation at Odogunyan and construction of 2x60MVA 132/33kV substation at Ayobo; Ikeja West Ayobo 132kV D/C transmission lines and 2x132kv line bays extension at Ikeja West; construction of Benin North-Osogbo 330KV DC line with turning in and out to the new Akure substation.”

According to him, others include the construction of the Kaduna-Jos 330KV D/C line in Plateau and Kaduna states; installation of 1x60MVA and 132/33kv power transformers, auxiliary equipment and devices at the GCM transmission substation, Onitsha; and construction of 330kv D/C Kaduna Power Plant-Mando substation transmission line.

The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Power, Mr. Daniel Asukwo, said the government would release funds to expedite the release of the remaining abandoned containers.