The Senator representing Delta Central Senatorial District, Senator Pius Ewherido, has died this evening. He was 50 years old.
Ewherido reportedly fell down on Friday and collapsed at his Abuja home while making a phone call and has since been hospitalised at the National Hospital Abuja, where he was meant to be stabilised before flown to Germany.
Preparation for the Germany treatment was however being concluded when he allegedly collapsed again and subsequently passed on at the hospital Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan has expressed shock and sadness at the news of the passing away of the Senator.
A statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati stated that the President, on behalf of himself and all members of the executive arm of the Federal Government, extended their heartfelt condolences to Ewherido’s family, the Senate President, Senator David Mark and all of the late Senator’s colleagues in the upper chamber of the National Assembly.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to order an unconditional withdrawal of the law suit against two Leadership Newspaper journalists, Mr. Tony Amokeodo (Group News Editor) and Mr. Chibuzor Ukaibe (Political Correspondent) of the Newspaper.
The party said rather than expending scarce national resources on a worthless litigation, the Presidency should occupy itself with providing enviable leadership to the people.
In s statement issued on Monday by the CPC's National Publicity Secretary, Mr, Rotimi Fashakin, the party viewed the move to commence another trial of the journalists as a volta-face and needless exercise.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has tasked the Federal Government to immediately take measures to recover the over $400 billion of Nigeria’s stolen money stashed away in foreign lands.
In a communiqué signed by the CNPP's National Publicity Secretary, Mr Osita Okechukwu, the group said President Goodluck Jonathan should utilize the window opened by the United Nations Convention Against Corruption to go against those Nigerian officials who have looted the country's funds.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Former Vice President and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has warned that the party is heading the wrong direction with its continued declining influence in the southwest zone.
This is coming as there is a growing battle of supremacy between the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party and the Special National Convention headed by Prof. Jerry Gana over the setting up of committees for the mini convention of the party.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Nigeria’s external reserves, which upswing had been restrained due to the volatility in crude oil prices as well as recent pressure faced by the naira, dipped by a total of $532 million to $48.150 billion in the second quarter of 2013.
Data compiled from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) website showed that the amount represented a decline by 1.09 per cent in the second quarter, compared to the $48.682 billion the reserves which are mainly derived from the proceeds of crude oil earning stood as at April 2nd.
The naira continued its downward slide against the dollar last week as it was hurt at the interbank market. Specifically it fell by N3.50 to close at N162.50 to a dollar at the interbank on Friday, lower than the N159 to a dollar it attained the preceding Friday. The naira recently suffered its biggest year-to-date loss.
The external reserves were almost stagnant in June as it fluctuated within a band of $48.150 billion and $48.49 billion. But the level of the external reserves is expected to cover about 11 months of imports.
The Financial Derivatives Company Limited (FDC) noted that the inertia in external reserves accretion could be attributed to the increased usage of the reserves to support the exchange rate, as well as a decline in forex inflows from offshore investors.
The Lagos-based financial advisory firm warned in its latest monthly report for June that: “Growth in external reserves may remain a challenge if the naira continues to face downward pressure on the back of increased dollar demand.”
The report showed that from March 2013, global oil prices began to fall noticeably to an average of $111.67per barrel (Bonny light), which was five per cent lower than the previous month’s average of $117.67pb.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the global oil cartel, the report said, had attributed this fall to renewed euro-zone fears as well as a reduction in refinery demand caused by substantial maintenance worldwide. It explained: “Since March, oil prices have continued to fall every month. As Nigeria is dependent on oil for about 80 per cent of its revenues, the development has intensified warnings from analysts about a possible relapse in the economy.
“In the forex market, an increasing demand for dollars, attributed to increased appetite by foreign investors, continuously put downward pressure on the naira and caused it to trade close to the upper limit of its three per cent band. Despite increased forex sales by the CBN, the naira traded at its weakest level of N162.3/$ and N164/$ in the interbank and parallel markets respectively on the 17th of June. The CBN is expected to continue its intervention to keep the naira stable.”
Nonetheless, the FDC report stressed that the production of oil needs to be bolstered in order to compensate for the fall in oil price. The activities of pipeline vandals and oil thieves, it also noted had resulted in loss of crude oil produced.
However, the CSL Stockbrokers, a division of FCMB (UK) Limited argued in a separate report that the CBN has continued to express its willingness and ability to maintain a stable exchange rate. It added that the reason the recent depreciation of the naira appeared large was because the country had become accustomed to an unusual degree of stability.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The total value of offshore investment in Nigeria’s fixed income instruments has been put at about $12 billion.
A breakdown of this figure, according to a report, showed that while about 30 per cent of the funds were invested in the treasury bills market, 15 per cent in FGN bond market, 10 per cent had been staked on open market operations (OMO) bills.
The report however pointed out that most significant position had been taken at the primary market, saying that in order to avoid driving prices down, there would be need for investors to wait for maturity in order to exit.
CSL Stockbrokers, a division of FCMB (UK) Limited stated this in a report titled: “Are Concerns about the Naira Founded?” obtained at the weekend.
It also argued that with average daily liquidity of about $30 million in the equities market, it would take months, if not years, for foreign investors to unwind their positions in the market, even as it declared that to force a devaluation of the naira, will require about 30 per cent fall in oil revenues.
The CSL report added: “Looking ahead, there are redemptions worth $4.3 billion in the third quarter of 2013 – not an impossible sum for the CBN to manage, in our view. A greater cause for concern over the next six months is the level of oil production. While the price of Bonny Light is holding up well at $103.54 versus its year-to-date average of $110.62, there are widespread and often conflicting reports of falling crude production in Nigeria.
“As a rough guide (there are numbers of possible permutations) we think it would take a fall in oil production to 1.7million barrels per day (mbpd) and a near total liquidation of foreign FGN bond and treasury bills holdings over the next three months to force a devaluation of the naira. Under these assumptions, reserves would fall to just below $32 billion.
“A series of events over the past several weeks has contributed to a growing state of unease about the naira. There are reports of waning oil production in Nigeria, there has been volatility in the oil price, and uncertainty about monetary policy in the US has seen a rout in US Treasuries, with knock-on effects to bond markets across the world. While these events have dented market confidence in the naira, we do not think they hail a change in policy.”
According to the report, the anticipated change in leadership at the CBN represents “a tail risk”.
It pointed out that under the present CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the central bank had been clear about its approach to exchange rate management, adding that there had been consistency between its statements and actions.
“Yet with little visibility on potential successors – much less on how they would manage the exchange rate – the possibility of a dramatic shift in policy exists. It is a well-known fact that the Finance Ministry would prefer a freely floating exchange rate; at various times, the International Monetary Fund has also advocated for a liberalisation of the exchange rate regime,” it declared.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) last week reviewed The NSE 30, NSE 50 and the five sectoral indices with new entrants. The five sectorial indicators are: NSE Banking, NSE Consumer Goods, the NSE Oil & Gas, NSE Industrial and NSE Insurance. The composition of these indices after the review will be effective today.
While the NSE began publishing the NSE 30 Index in February 2009 with index values available from January 1, 2007, it had developed four sectorial indices with a base value of 1,000 points, July 2008 designed to provide investible benchmarks to capture the performance of specific sectors.
In its review of the indices, Oando Plc joined the NSE-30, while Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc exited. In the NSE-50 Index, Livestock Feeds Plc was brought in while Nigerian Bag Manufacturing Company Plc was removed. In the NSE Consumer Index, there was no change, while Mutual Alliance Insurance Plc and Law Union & Rock Insurance Plc joined the Insurance Index. On the other hand, Linkage Assurance Plc and Goldlink Insurance Plc were removed.
With respect to the Banking Index, Sterling Bank Plc entered while FCMB Group Plc exited, just as Eterna Plc joined the NSE Oil/Gas Index, while Japaul Oil & Maritime Services Plc exited.
The NSE Lotus Sharia complaint Index had three changes. Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Chemical & Allied Product Plc and Presco Plc were added to the index, while Japaul Oil & Chemical Service Plc, Dangote Flour Mills Plc and Honeywell Mills Plc were removed.
The sectoral indices comprise the top 10 most capitalised and liquid companies in the each of the sectors.
According to the index committee, the NSE-30, NSE-50 and NSE Industrial Indices are modified market capitalisation index with the numbers of included stocks fixed at 30, 50 and 10, respectively. The numbers of included stocks in the NSE-Consumer Goods, Banking, Insurance and Oil/Gas Indices are 15, 10, 15 and seven respectively.
The committee explained that the stocks were selected based on their market capitalisation from the most liquid sectors.
“The liquidity is based on the number of times the stock is traded during the preceding two quarters. To be included, the stock must be traded for at least 70 per cent of the number of times the market opened for business,” the committee said.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Holders of unlisted securities will have cause to cheer from tomorrow as a platform for them to trade those securities, the NASD Plc over-the-counter (OTC) market will become operational.
The platform will be launched today in Lagos while trading will commence tomorrow.
The special guests expected at the launch include: Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, and Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, while the keynote address would be delivered by , Chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Suleyman Ndanusa.
According to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NASD Plc, Mr. Bola Ajomale, the NASD OTC market is to fuel economic growth in the West African sub-region by developing and operating active markets that adhere to the highest standards of performance and principles of integrity whilst also creating value for stakeholders and the investing public.
“It will offer investors a platform from where they can obtain information on available investments that are not listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. This information includes prevailing prices/or last deal price on a security that they are interested in new and exciting opportunities to invest in an expanded range of asset class to choose from. It will also provide financial performance of non-listed companies and corporate governance of companies that hitherto might not be in the public domain,” he said.
Meanwhile, Heirs Holdings, the pan-African investment company said last Friday it had taken a strategic stake in the new NASD OTC. Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu, said: “The NASD offers investors an alternative way of accessing capital for growth in an efficient manner. We have invested in the platform because Heirs Holdings is committed to financing projects that contribute strategically to the growth of entrepreneurs across Africa.”
The statement also quoted Ajomale as thanking shareholders like Heirs Holdings, “who appreciate the importance and far-reaching impact of the exchange, that the NASD will commence trading shortly. Their ambition to build commodities exchanges across Africa has meant they intrinsically understand what the NASD wants to achieve. Heirs Holdings is the sort of partner we need to ensure that the NASD is supported in its mission to deliver a world class alternative trading platform for unlisted entities in Nigeria. ”
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Dangote Cement has assured consumers that it would continually strive to stabilise the price of cement without compromising on quality, so as to create reasonable profit for all categories of stakeholders in the cement and construction value chain.
The Group Executive Director, Sales and Marketing, Knut Ulvemoen, gave the assurance while speaking at a one-day sensitisation workshop in Abuja for block makers in FCT and its environs, organised by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and sponsored by Dangote Cement Plc.
Knut decried the prevalence of substandard blocks and explained that some block makers, in an attempt to maximise profit, ended up not using the right blend of cement and sand; thus causing defects in structures.
He explained that because of the sensitive nation of the construction and building industry, inappropriate mix of all the materials would have negative effect on the structures, noting that this was the major cause of building collapse.
According to him, Dangote Cement does not compromise its product quality and would therefore support all relevant agencies to ensure protection from poor quality blocks, adding that the company has the highest quality anywhere in the world.
He assured the block makers not to succumb to the urge to reduce the quantity of cement in their mix for blocks with the hope of saving more money, pointing out that whoever buys less quality blocks would not patronise makers of such blocks at another time.
In his paper, Director General of SON, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, who was represented by the Regional Coordinator of SON, Mr. Nelson Adebiyi, said the federal government’s transformation agenda, coupled with the SON’s policy of zero tolerance to substandard products, underlined the need to sensitise block molders to operate in conformity with the national standard.
He said the benchmark for fair competition is standard, which takes into account the customers’ satisfaction. According to him, “the organisation has elaborated standards to ensure quality in block molding and promote safety in our building sector and also to ensure that block moulders operate to the international standard.”
He highlighted the standards and codes elaborated by the SON as standard for Sancrete blocks part one non-load bearing; standard for precast concrete, pavement blocks and standards for pre-stressed and reinforced concrete poles for transmission and distribution lines.
Odumodu commended Dangote Cement for its interest in supporting efforts geared towards ensuring quality in the building industry, noting that the company’s readiness to sponsor the workshop was a demonstration of this.
Also making a presentation on the causes and remedies for sub-standard sancrete blocks, a Dangote staff member, Johnson Olaniyi, said the issue of substandard sancrete blocks should be of concern to all and sundry and should be discouraged in the interest of all.
He said visitation to locations where blocks are moulded revealed a lot of challenges facing the block makers, which he said contributed in a large extent to the quality of blocks produced.
Olaniyi identified lack of functional tools; operational expenses; lack of basic technical knowledge; lack of basic raw material and lack of adequate training, and said some of these and a combination of some generate a situation where production of sub-standard blocks is seen as an attractive option.
The Dangote official noted that some block makers resorted to the use of just any sand because the required quality of sand is not only expensive but not readily available in some locations.
According to him, “most block makers could not take the pain of getting their sand from the right source; they lack consistency in the mixing of multiple sand, even with their poor selection of the multiple sand in the right proportion.
“More often, most people believe that block making does not require additional technical knowledge. This has been proven wrong over the years. To this end, mixing sand, cement and water do not conform to with the laid down principles of three wet before feeding vibrating machine with mortar.”
Olaniyi said it was in recognition of this that Dangote Cement organises periodic technical training for willing block makers. He also enlightened the block makers on how to handle cements to get the best results.
The block makers commended the company for sponsoring the workshop and called on other cement manufacturers to emulate the good gestures and help them to do well in their business.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Investment One Financial Service Limited has grown funds under its management by 300 per cent in the last 12 months, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. Nicholas Nyamali, has said.
Investment One, formerly known as GTB Asset Management Limited is a leading financial services institution in Nigeria registered with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm provides asset management, trusteeship, securities brokerage and financial advisory services to individual and corporate clients.
Speaking at the company’s second seminar on the Nigerian capital market organised last week for institutional investors in Lagos, Nyamali disclosed that funds under management rose from N6.577 billion June 2012 to N26.546 billion June this year.
He explained that the growth has been mainly organic driven by institutional clients, high networth individuals and recent acquisition of some new firms/funds.
The CEO noted that the company’s focus was to become a one-stop investment services shop rendering excellent customer service with commitment to client objectives powered by dedicated and professional members of staff.
According to him, it was the need to attain one stop investment services shop that informed some of the recent acquisitions the firm made.
Investment One acquired fund and management rights from Fidelity Bank Plc of the Nigerian International Growth Fund (NIGFUND), a mutual fund of over N3 billion in size.
It also acquired 99.9 per cent of Kakawa Asset Management Limited, which owns Kakawa Guaranteed Income Fund. The company has acquired Royal Trust Pension, a pension fund administrator.
Highlighting some of the achievements of Investment One, Nyamali said the firm received an award for being one of the top 50 Fast Growing firms in Nigeria in last March.
He added that Investment One Stockbrokers International Limited attained top 10 ranking among stockbroking firms by volume and value on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2012 and is one of the only companies to be licenced by NSE to function as Fixed Income Market Makers (FIMMs), Supplementary Market Makers and Designated Adviser.
As one of the 12 companies appointed as supplementary market makers, the company will provide two-way quotes for a basket of 10 stocks made up of United Bank for Africa Plc, Access Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Flour Mills, Mansard, Julius Berger, May and Baker, CAP (Chemical & Allied), Total and Redstar. Also as Designated Adviser (DAs), Investment One will advise companies listed on the Alternative Securities Market (ASeM) of the Nigeria Stock Exchange.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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