Sell The Refineries – MAN tells Buhari

Frank Jacobs

Frank Jacobs, President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), says the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration should privatise national refineries to make them fully functional and save money.
Speaking with NAN in Abuja, Jacobs said privatising the refineries, if fully functional, would also help boost the economic situation of the country.
“Government should consider privatising the four national refineries to make them fully functional to save money for other purposes,” he said.
“Proper deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector will encourage private investment in domestic refining and petrochemical industry.”

We’re aware Nigeria is in trouble – CBN

The nation’s apex bank, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday announced that it was aware of the troubling economic outlay in country.
It declared that as part of palliative measures, it has established special funds under its various schemes to help provide easy access to investment funds by Micro Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSME).
To this end, the apex bank asked Nigerians to take advantage of the numerous policies, initiatives and programmes packaged by the bank to cushion the effects of the biting economic recession in the country.
It noted for instance that its N220 billion fund made available for MSME can be easily accessed.
Speaking at the bank’s fair organised for small and medium scale enterprises, artisan, farmers, banks, hairdressers, barbers, shoemakers and other business groups in Enugu at the weekend, the

CBN to place fraudulent bank customers on watch-list

Godwin ifeanyi Emefiele

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday said it is working out regulatory framework that would enable it to either blacklist fraudulent bank customers, or at least, place them on watch-list across the banking industry.
CBN Director, Banking and Payment Systems Department, ‘Dipo Fatokun who disclosed this at the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) Bi-Monthly Forum hosted by the apex bank in Lagos, said such feat can only be achieved with the help of the Bank Verification Number (BVN).
He explained that the BVN involves capturing of customers’ physiological or behavioral attributes – fingerprint, signature among others which is coordinated by the CBN and banks in collaboration with the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS).
Data from the CBN showed that although e-fraud rate in terms of value dropped by 63 per cent last year, after the BVN introduction and improved collaboration among banks via the fraud desks,

PMS: Fuel marketers finally settle for N145 per litre

Oil marketers in the country have rescinded their decision to push for an increment in the pump price from its current N145 to about N165 per litre.
The Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Obafemi Olawore, confirmed this in an interview.
He said, “The government has assured us that it will support us in accessing foreign exchange at the interbank market rate. Major marketers are not pressing for an increase in pump price.
“You can see that some filling stations are even selling below N145 per litre.”
It was learnt the Federal Government, in a bid to avert further hike in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), had promised marketers to help them access foreign exchange at N305 to a dollar to enable them to import the product.

Nigerian stock market loses N61bn in one week

Activities on the floors of the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) last week dropped as the NSE All Share Index (ASI) and market capitalisation declined by 0.65 per cent to close at 27,577.52 and N9.473 trillion respectively.
For the NSE ASI, the stock market depreciated 179.15 having moved down from 27,756.67 it stood the previous week while for the market capitalisation, the bourse lost N61 billion dropping from N9.534 trillion it closed the previous week.
Similarly, all other Indices finished lower during the week, with the exception of the NSE Main Board Index, NSE Insurance Index, NSE Consumer Goods Index and the NSE Pension Index that appreciated by 0.01 per cent, 0.12 per cent, 0.50 per cent and 0.26 per cent respectively while the NSE ASeM Index closed flat.

Stock market drops by 0.18 per cent in profit taking trading

Transactions at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), yesterday remained on a downward trend due to profit taking.
The lead indicator, NSE-ASI shed 49.55 absolute points or 0.18 per cent to closed at 27,707.12 points. Similarly, the market capitalization shed N17 billion to close at N9.518 trillion.
The downturn was significantly imparted by value depreciation recorded by the following large capitalised stocks, PZ Industry, International Breweries, Nigerian Breweries, Dangote Cement, Guaranty Trust Bank and Glaxosmith.

Okowa partners S’Africa on diversification of economy, exploration of natural gas

Arthur Ifeanyi Okowa

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has said his administration will explore avenues to harness the more than 25 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the state.
The governor who assured investors of his commitment to diversifying the state’s economy to speed up the prosperity agenda of his administration, stated that with the natural gas that abounds in the three senatorial districts of the state, efforts would be made to reduce gas flaring with its attendant health and environment hazards.

Investment in ICT sector over $35bn – NCC

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Monday said that over $35 billion had been invested in the nation’s telecommunications industry from Foreign Direct Investments.
The Executive Vice Chairman of the commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, made this known in Lagos during a stakeholders’ forum for International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecom World 2016.
Danbatta said that local investments in the sector were also in billions of dollars in the past 15 years.