Economy
Oyo IGR Terribly Low, But We’ll Survive—Ajimobi
By Dipo Olowookere
Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has said that his administration is engaging in survival strategies to meet its obligations to the entire citizens and workers of the state, promising that the government would use its share of the Paris Club over deductions funds when it is paid for the workers’ welfare as recommended by the federal government.
Mr Ajimobi, at the 2017 Inter-Faith Service of the Oyo State government held at the Governor’s office, Ibadan, noted that every cost saving measure is a disservice to certain groups of people, adding that his administration is deploying the necessary machinery to survive, by blocking loopholes, restructuring of the public and civil service, improved Internal Generated Revenue (IGR) and cut unnecessary government wastage.
He explained that government as an enterprise requires funds to serve its citizens and the government is looking for ways to cut cost and meet its obligations to the people despite the dwindling revenue being realized by the government.
According to him, “We are looking for ways to reduce our cost and every attempt to reduce it, is disservice to a certain group of people.
“We have suspended car loans, subventions to higher institutions, allowances, assistance to organisations/individuals among others. All these, are without uproar from the people and we are all aware of the criticisms that trailed the withdrawal of subventions to higher institutions.
“Maintenance of our infrastructure and executing new ones have been extremely difficult. Oyo State is a big state. Ibadan alone is bigger than seven states and to govern Oyo state is a big responsibility with big problem and difficult to manage.
“Our IGR is still abysmally low and allocations from federal allocations continue to dwindle. Over 50 percent of our IGR is from PAYEE and our average monthly allocation from FG is N2.5 billion while salaries, subventions, pensions, overhead cost and allowances still stand at about N5.2 billion.
“We need survival strategies to block loopholes, renewed IGR drive and restructuring of the public and civil service for optimal performance so that the government will meet its obligations to the people.”
The Governor reiterated that the state has not collected its share of the Paris Club over excess deduction funds, stressing that the government is hopeful that the state would also get its share and whatever the state gets, would be used for the welfare of the workers.
Mr Ajimobi said that President Muhammad Buhari is passionate about the people, adding, “President Buhari wants to help the people, he wants us to stop the sufferings in the country and he has introduced so many poverty alleviation programmes to ameliorate the sufferings in the country.
“The president has suggested that we use 50 percent of the Paris Club fund for workers’ welfare and we are ready to do that whenever we get our share of the funds as we did with the bailout funds given to us by the federal government.”
He described the workers as the engine room of the government, saying that the government would not renege on its promise to use 100 percent of the allocation from federal government for workers’ salaries and consequently assured that his administration is ready to give the civil servants a percentage of the excesses of its IGR whenever the government reaches the threshold set for good governance in order to appreciate their dedication and commitment to service delivery in uplifting Oyo State.
“If I deliberately punish the workers, God will ask us. We will do everything humanly possible to ensure we give the people of the state the best. I am passionate about Oyo State, I want a state that will be the best in the country. I have nowhere to go, Oyo State is my state and I will continue to strive to make it great,” the Governor emphasized.
Governor Ajimobi tasked the workers to be committed and dedicated to their work and show appreciation to government’s goodness, explaining that the government has started a system that encourages, recognizes and appreciates productive performance by creating an efficiency unit to appraise and grade workers on their output.
The Governor charged the labour leaders in the state to always embrace dialogue and help the government to seek ways to meet its obligations to the workers instead of being confrontational with the government, noting that the era of table banging unionism should be a thing of the past.
Mr Ajimobi appealed to the entire citizens to work with the present administration in the state, promising that his administration would continue to prioritize citizens’ welfare.
Speaking at the service, the Oyo State Head of Service, Mr Soji Eniade commended the state governor for his wise and bold decisions that has kept the state afloat despite the present economic situation in the country.
He said, “Even in the face of the present harsh economic condition, Governor Ajimobi, under no influence and pressure, decided to commit 100% of the monthly allocation from the federation account to pay salaries and pensions.
The Governor even directed that the free bus service for workers among other existing welfare schemes should under no condition be stopped. All the past kind hearted decisions of His Excellency, that were in favour of workers, must be appreciated while we all work hard and pray that the present situation be positively turned around.”
The HOS charged workers in the state to be diligent, dedicated, devoted, committed and work assiduously towards ensuring financial sufficiency for the state, stating that the ongoing restructuring exercise in the civil/public service was embarked upon to clean and sanitize the system.
Highlights of the program included prayers and praise worship from Muslim and Christian leaders as the Chief Imam of the Government House, Sheik Bello Rufai prayed for a successful year for the workers and the Ajimobi-led administration.
Rev. John Adika of the Providence Baptist Church, Iyana Church, Ibadan in his own sermon, reminded the workers that all leaders were chosen by God for the special attributes they possess which according to him would make possible the delivery of succour to their people.
He also prayed for the State and its workforce to be prosperous in the new year while admonishing workers to do their best in delivering their best.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Energy stocks influenced the 4.76 per cent loss recorded by the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Friday, December 5.
The culprits were the duo of 11 Plc and Nipco Plc,with the former shedding N32.17 to end at N291.83 per share compared with the previous day’s N324.00 per share, and the latter down by N21.00 to sell at N195.00 per unit versus the previous session’s N216.00 per unit.
Consequently, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) slumped by 170.16 points to 3,401.37 points from 3,571.53 points and the market capitalisation lost N101.81 billion to close at N2.035 billion from the N2.136 trillion quoted in the preceding session.
The OTC securities exchange suffered the decline yesterday despite the share prices of three companies closing green.
Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc was up by N1.80 to close at N39.80 per share compared with Thursday’s price of N38.00 per share, Air Liquide Plc appreciated by N1.09 to N11.99 per unit from N10.90 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc grew by 78 Kobo to N56.57 per share from N55.79 per share.
During the session, the volume of transactions rose by 6,885.3 per cent to 18.2 million units from 4.3 million units, the value of transactions ballooned by 10,301.7 per cent to N389.7 million from N347.2 million, but the number of deals declined by 29.7 per cent to 26 deals from 37 deals.
Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc ended the day as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units worth N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 170.4 million units valued at N8.0 billion, and Air Liquide Plc with 507.5 million units worth N4.2 billion.
InfraCredit Plc also finished the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units transacted for N16.4 billion, followed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.2 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units worth N524.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira depreciated further against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, December 5, as FX demand pressure mounts.
The Nigerian currency lost N2.60 or 0.18 per cent against the greenback to close at N1,450.43/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,447.83/$1.
Equally, the domestic currency declined against the Pound Sterling in the official forex market during the session by N4.48 to trade at N1,935.45/£1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,930.97/£1 and shrank against the Euro by 43 Kobo to end at N1,689.17/€1 versus the preceding session’s rate of N1,688.74/€1.
Similarly, the local currency performed badly against the US Dollar at the GTBank FX counter by N2 to close at N1,455/$1 versus Thursday’s N1,453/$1 but traded flat at the parallel market at N14.65/$1.
As the country gets into the festive period, pressure mounted on the local currency reflecting higher foreign payments and lower FX inflows.
However, there are expectations that the Nigerian currency will be stable, supported by interventions by to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the face of steady dollar Demand and inflows from Detty December festivities that will give the Naira a boost after it depreciated mildly last month.
Traders cited by Reuters expect that the Naira will trade within a band of N1,443-N1,450/$1 next week, buoyed by improved FX interventions by the apex bank.
As for the crypto market, it was down yesterday due to profit-taking associated with year-end trading. However, the December 1-Year Consumer Inflation Expectation by the University of Michigan fell to 4.1 per cent from 4.5 per cent previously and 4.5 per cent expected. The 5-Year Consumer Inflation Expectation fell to 3.2 per cent from 3.4 per cent previously and 3.4 per cent expected.
With the dearth of official economic data of late, these private surveys have taken on a new level of significance and the market banks of them to make decisions.
Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 5.7 per cent to $0.4142, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 5.1 per cent to $0.1394, Ethereum (ETH) dropped by 3.9 per cent to $3,039.75, Solana (SOL) declined by 3.8 per cent to $133.24, and Litecoin (LTC) fell by 3.7 per cent to $80.59.
Further, Bitcoin (BTC) went down by 2.6 per cent to sell at $89,683.72, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 2.2 per cent to $883.59, and Ripple (XRP) shrank by 2.1 per cent to $2.04, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The oil market was up on Friday on increasing expectations the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next week, which could boost economic growth and energy demand.
Brent futures rose by 49 cents or 0.8 per cent to $63.75 per barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures expanded by 41 cents or 0.7 per cent to $60.08 per barrel.
Investors digested a US inflation report and recalibrated expectations for the Federal Reserve to reduce rates at its December 9-10 meeting.
US consumer spending increased moderately in September after three straight months of solid gains, suggesting a loss of momentum in the economy at the end of the third quarter as a lackluster labor market and the rising cost of living curbed demand.
Traders have been pricing in an 87 per cent chance that the US central bank will lower borrowing costs by 25 basis points next week, according to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.
Investors also focused on news from Russia and Venezuela to determine whether oil supplies from the two sanctioned members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) will increase or decrease in the future.
The failure of US talks in Moscow to achieve any significant breakthrough over the war in Ukraine has helped to boost oil prices so far this week.
A loss of Venezuelan oil production in case of a US military intervention will materially impact global benchmark prices as the market will have to replace Venezuela’s heavy crude.
Venezuela is estimated to pump about 1.1 million barrels per day of crude oil at present, so if the US-Venezuela tension escalation into an invasion in the South American country, this volume of crude would be at risk.
Reuters reported that the Group of Seven countries and the European Union are in talks to replace a price cap on Russian oil exports with a full maritime services ban in a bid to reduce the oil revenue that helps finance Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Any deal that could lift sanctions on Russia, the world’s second-biggest crude producer after the US, could increase the amount of oil available to global markets, weakening prices.
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