Senate plans to invite central bank, other banks over high interest rates

Abubakar Bukola Saraki

Senate President Bukola Saraki has said the Senate is concerned about the high interest rates on loans, stating that lawmakers will this week discuss the issue with the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Deposit Money Banks.
He stated that in an economy where workers were being retrenched and people were losing investments, it was immoral for certain sectors to be making astronomical profits.
In an interview with journalists in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, on Sunday, the Senate President said, “They (banks) will tell you that they are doing business but in doing business, there must be social responsibility. We must be able to sit down and look at ourselves eyeball to eyeball, and we intend to do that; and I can promise Nigerians that we can find a solution. Hopefully with the stability in the forex market, we will now begin to address the high interest rate.
“There is no business that can make money if it is trying to borrow at 28 or 29 per cent. It cannot work and

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 surged 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.

Workers ground Bristow operations in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Eket

Workers in the aviation sector yesterday staged a protest march that grounded operations of Bristow Helicopters in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Eket.
The employees, under the aegis of National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), barricaded offices of the airline in the three cities in protest of welfare and alleged plan to sack more workers.
In a swift reaction, the management blamed the development on the poor run of business in the oil and gas sector.
Recall that the company, which services the oil and gas industry, has had a dip in business since the global oil market crash. Following the downturn, Bristow, in the last 12 months, released 118 expatriate pilots and engineers as well as 21 Nigerian pilots and engineers from its payroll.
NAAPE said the shutdown of the helicopter company was due to management’s alleged redundancy

Closed banks: NDIC appoints 10 agent banks to collect depositors’ claims

The Nigeria Deposit insurance Corporation has called on depositors who lost their money in any closed banks to file their claims through the appointed 10 agent banks nationwide.
The Managing Director of the Corporation, Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, made the call on Wednesday in Kano at NDIC’s Special Day at the ongoing 37th Kano International Trade Fair.
According to Ibrahim, the appointed agent banks include First Bank of Nigeria Plc, United Bank of Africa, Zenith Bank and Wema Bank.
Others are Heritage Bank, Union Bank, Fidelity Bank, Skye Bank, Unity Bank and Diamond Bank.
Ibrahim said in addition, depositors could also file such claims in any of its Zonal Offices located across the country for the payment of such claims.
He said the corporation had also extended deposit insurance coverage to the subscribers of non-interest banking institutions under the Shari’ah compliant banking services to the maximum limit of N500, 000 per depositor.
In addition, Ibrahim said the corporation had developed framework on Pass-Through Deposit Insurance Scheme to protect subscribers of Mobile Money Operators with a maximum insured limit of N500,000 per

Lagos, GE pledge to boost economy through SMEs

Lagos State Government and General Electric (GE) on Tuesday, pledged to boost Nigeria’s economy through the development of necessary skills that will empower Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to drive growth in the country.
The SME sector is seen as the country’s engine of growth, in terms of development and industrialisation, wealth creation, poverty reduction and employment creation. Majority of Nigerian entrepreneurs are SME players, who employ at least 10 people and above.
Speaking at the launch of a hub, ‘Lagos Garage’ built by GE for advanced manufacturing-based innovation, strategy development, idea generation and collaboration, experts said desired growth in Africa, particularly Nigeria is only feasible through sustained effort towards empowering SMEs
The United States multinational conglomerate, GE operations span appliances, aviation, finance, energy, healthcare, ideas, intelligent platforms, lighting, oil and gas, power.
In Nigeria, GE’s interests are mostly in power and oil and gas, in which it has entered into many contractual agreements with the Federal and some state governments. However, the company is very secretive about its

USAID, Chi Farms partner to raise 4,000 tonnes of fish

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Chi Farms Limited have entered into a partnership to enhance capacity of small-scale farmers in the country and to add about 4,000 tonnes of catfish into the nation’s food basket yearly.
The partnership, which is part of the U.S. government’s Feed the Future initiative, aims to assist entrepreneurs to become successful catfish farmers.
Chi Farms, according to the project layout, will ensure supply of quality feed and catfish juveniles to the farmers by enhancing its feed milling and hatching capacities.
Executive Director, Chi Farms Ltd, Martin Middernacht, said that the partnership would add positively to the overall food security in Nigeria.

NNPC bid: We’ll ensure accountability – Baru

Dr Maikanti Baru, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, said the bid for the sales and purchase of Nigerian crude oil grades will be transparent.
Baru said this in Abuja on Thursday when he declared the process open. ‎
According to him, the crude oil contract tenders‎ are to ensure transparency, enshrine accountability and conduct business in line with best global practices.
Baru said: “Today’s event marks yet another turning point in our quest to further enshrine transparency and accountability, two critical core values of our Corporation.
“Our focus as a national oil company is to enhance our production volumes, ensure the best value is realised through competitive marketing of our crude grades to international refineries and traders.
“In line with this aspiration, NNPC is collaborating with key stakeholders to improve on the overall security of our production sites and to ensure the safety of our environment.

Naira weakens to 470 on fresh dollar scarcity

The naira weakened to 470 on Thursday, from 465 on Wednesday, as fresh dollar scarcity hit the official and parallel foreign exchange markets.
The local currency had appreciated to around 450 after security agents carried out series of raids on Bureau De Change operators, who sold the greenback above the N400 stipulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Security agents have been raiding the offices of the BDC operators, ordering them to sell dollar at a lower rate in a bid to break the fall of the local currency.
However, the naira started recording losses gradually again as scarcity of the greenback weighed on the forex markets.
“The clampdown on the black market operators by security agents has negatively impacted dollar supply to the market,” one Bureau de changer operator told Reuters.
Economic and currency experts have said getting security agents after the BDC operators cannot get the