World Bank supports 11, 000 tomato farmers in Kano

In the last 10 months, the FADAMA II Additional Financing project financed by the World Bank has supported 10845 farmers comprising 585 youths, 1575 females and 8685 males.
The support, according to Kano State Coordination Office of the programme, was facilitated through the signing of memorandum of understanding between Dangote Tomato Company and Fadama Production Cluster Group on profitable marketing of tomato.
In its Project Implementation Report presented to the Dr. Adetunji Oredipe-led World Bank/FGN 6th Mission on Fadama II Additional
Financing (AF), which visited Kano State, the State Project Coordinator, Alhaji Sha’aibu Sulaiman, said the project similarly, in 2016 cropping season, recorded a disbursement of 89, 195 and 110 for rice, sorghum and tomato production groups respectively.
Sorghum and rice farmers were equally well linked to Grand Cereal and popular rice farm off takers and through collaboration with ICRISAT, sorghum farmers were also linked to Honeywell Company, demanding 150,000mt of sorghum from Fadama farmers in Kano.

Rising NPLs: Nigerian banks hold strong buffers – CBN

Moody’s Investor Service, an international rating agency, last weekend made public its ratings of seven Nigerian banks.
The report is similar to the stance of the Central Bank of Nigeria that despite the headwinds being faced by the banking industry, there is enough buffer capacity to withstand the storm.
This is coming after some reports said the Nigerian banking industry is in a full blown crisis. Non-performing loans in the industry has risen to an average of 11 per cent with one of Nigeria’s top tier banks recording NPL level of 23 per cent.
While some banks may be in need of capital, the apex bank had assured that Nigerian banks are strong enough to absorb the losses that may arise from the non-performing loans. Non-performing loans in the industry had risen from 5.3 per cent as at the end of December 2015 to 11.7 percent at the end of June, way above the regulatory ceiling of five percent, according to

Nigeria, D8 nations agree to increase trade by $500bn

The Chambers of Commerce and Industry of eight developing countries, otherwise known as D-8 have agreed to increase trade volume among member countries to the tune of $500 billion by the year 2023.
The countries are Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.
This pact was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the D-8 Chambers of Commerce and Industry meeting held at Izmir, Turkey in October 2016.
A copy of the communiqué made available to journalists yesterday in Kaduna by the President of Kaduna Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Abdul Alimi Bello, who was at the Izmir, Turkey, said they planned to enhance trade amongst the D-8 countries, where the countries have comparative advantage: Bangladesh in silk and mango; Turkey in culture fishing, leather and

Power: FG signs $112m gas supply agreement with Seven Energy

Efforts to bridge gas supply gap to power generation companies has led to the inking of gas supply agreement between the federal government and Seven Energy International Ltd.
The $112 million Partial Risk Guarantee (PRG) agreement is expected to enhance supply of natural gas to the Calabar NIPP.
The gas, under the agreement, would be delivered by Seven Energy’s subsidiary Accugas, to the 560 MW Nigerian Integrated Power Project (NIPP), Calabar, Cross River State.
The Partial Risk Guarantee is a financial instrument that will secure the supply of up to 130 million cubic feet per day (“MMcfpd”) of natural gas to NIPP Calabar, thereby enabling the consistent generation of an additional 560 MW of electricity to the national grid, approximately 20 percent of current power generation in Nigeria.

Equities market gains N11bn as 18 stocks appreciate

The stock market (equities category) appreciated by N11bn as 18 stocks recorded gains amid 16 laggards.
A total of 187.602 million shares valued at N1.312bn were traded in 3,065 deals.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange market capitalization rose to N9.36tn from N9.349tn, while the NSE All-Share Index closed at 27,252.48 basis points from 27,220.09 basis points.
The NSE ASI advanced by 0.12 per cent, bringing the year-to-date return to 4.85 per cent (negarive). However, volume traded and market turnover declined by 14.69 per cent and 30.08 per cent, respectively.
Topping the gainers’ chart was Eterna Plc, which appreciated by 9.96 per cent to close at N3.09. The counter was trailed by Okomu Oil Palm Plc, which rose by 9.18 per cent; Redstar Express Plc gained five per cent; Unity Bank Plc appreciated by 4.76 per cent, and Learn Africa Plc posted a 4.29 per cent gain.
On the other hand, UAC Property Development Company Plc led the decliners’ chart, depreciating

Erisco Foods exits Nigeria, moves to China

A leading indigenous local tomato paste manufacturer, Erisco Foods Limited, has made good its threat of shutting down the $150bn plant and relocating its manufacturing base to a location outside Nigeria.
The Chief Executive Officer, Erisco Foods Limited, Chief Eric Umeofia, announced on Tuesday that the company was winding down operations preparatory for its final exit from the country.
He said that he was moving the factory to China where he already had a thriving business, adding that from there, he would be manufacturing and exporting tomato paste back to Nigeria, as it was far cheaper doing so than producing locally.
According to him, 1,500 employees of the firm will be retrenched in a process that will span six to nine months, as the company relocates, adding that the retrenchment, which will take place in batches, had already commenced with the first batch of workers being sent home.
After months of complaint about lack of access to foreign exchange for the purchase of raw materials and machinery, high cost of running his factory in Nigeria and the influx of imported

Saudi Aramco CEO predicts oil market balance by early 2017

The global oil market should be balanced early next year, the president of Saudi Aramco said on Tuesday, after over-supply drove prices to multi-year lows in 2016.
“The gap between supply and demand is closing,” Amin Nasser, who is also the state-owned oil company’s chief executive, told an international energy forum.
He said Aramco’s analysis sees the market “balanced by the first half of 2017.”
Last week, the chief of the International Energy Agency said the market would rebalance earlier than expected if major crude producers implement a deal to cap output when they meet next month.
Under current conditions, the IEA expects global output to exceed demand until the second half of 2017, Fatih Birol said in Singapore.
But he said that if OPEC and non-OPEC producers intervene in the markets, “this rebalance can be earlier than the second half of 2017.”

CBN goes tough on e-banking fraud, to blacklist customers

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said it is working on a policy that will ensure that bank customers involved in electronic fraud are either blacklisted or placed on close surveillance.
The bank’s Director, Banking and Payment System, Mr. ‘Dipo Fatokun, said this at the October edition of the Nigeria e-Fraud Fraud Forum (NeFF) held in Lagos at the weekend.
Fatokun, who is the chairman of NeFF, said the Bank Verification Number (BVN) would also be used in identifying fraudsters in the industry.
“We are currently working on a framework using the BVN to eliminate fraudsters. One common thing about electronic fraud is that when money is moved from an account, it is moved into another bank account. So, identifying the owner of that fraudulent account using the BVN, we would not only be able to identify him or her in the bank in which he has moved the money to, we would also identify him in all the banks where he has accounts and when legal impediments are overcome, such people could be blacklisted or watchlisted in the banking system.