Economy
Fix Electricity, Economy Will Grow—Dangote Tells FG
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Africa’s richest man and Nigerian billionaire businessman, Mr Aliko Dangote, has advised the Federal Government to concentrate on fixing the electricity problem in the country so as to spur economic growth.
Mr Dangote poor electricity supply in the country remains one of the problems hindering industrialisation in Nigeria.
The business mogul made this observation during the inauguration of the National Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council in Abuja this week by the Acting President, Mr Yemi Osinbajo.
According to Mr Dangote, government should remove the constraints hindering industrialisation such as power, transportation, inconsistencies in policies, and challenges in land acquisition and communal violence.
He said the council was a welcome development which if well utilised could ensure diversification of the economy.
At the ceremony, Mr Dangote was announced as the Vice-Chairman, Private Sector team of the council chaired by the Acting President.
The Acting President charged members of council to create the chance for Nigeria to be competitive in international trade.
Mr Osinbajo said the council’s duty was not just patriotic but one to enable Nigerians to create livelihoods for themselves.
“It is not just a patriotic duty but I believe that it is what will rescue and save our country and give our country a real chance to be competitive in global business and commerce.
“And to give our people a fair chance of being able to create livelihood for themselves, jobs and all of those things that will make for a nation of people who are happy and satisfied,” he said.
The Acting President observed that the council members represented the crème de la crème of industry and business in Nigeria as a group and working with the public sector.
According to him, if the council cannot get it right then it is unlikely that the country can never get it right.
He said the council was important because generally speaking the public sector was not known to be good in business and could not deliver on any industrialisation effort.
Mr Osinbajo said that everywhere the government drove industrialisation, it always ended up in stagnation.
“Even the most successful experiments ended up in stagnation because government simply does not make the best business men or women.
“Government simply is not motivated enough,” he said.
He said it was the entrepreneurs’ drive for profit that saved the industry adding that such drives were initially personal.
He said that many of the council members had come to a point where it was not just enough to be wealthy of successful especially in a country with enormous potential.
Mr Osinbajo added that even to make more profits the environment needed to improve.
“I am really excited that that we are starting something today which I strongly believe that if we do it right we have a chance to turn things around permanently in the country,” the Acting President said.
He acknowledged that the key thing was implementation adding that while the private sector had the smartest people in the world, the public sector had the technocrats and urged for the collaboration of both sectors to solve many of the problems confronting the industrial sector, including creating good industrial hubs and solving power problems.
He also urged the council to hold the government accountable and make the government to act more effectively.
“I think that what we have tried to do by creating this council is to be able to put policy to test and policy to examination.
“So that there is a process by which the private sector is able to contribute to policy implementation but more importantly also to developing those policies,” he said.
On his part, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Enelamah said the council represented what the government was working out in furtherance of the partnership between the public and private sector with respect to industrialisation.
He said he was confident that the council would provide the formula that would work and produce results.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has once again trimmed its 2024 and 2025 oil demand growth forecasts.
The bloc made this in its latest monthly oil market report for December 2024.
The 2024 world oil demand growth forecast is now put at 1.61 million barrels per day from the previous 1.82 million barrels per day.
For 2025, OPEC says the world oil demand growth forecast is now at 1.45 million barrels per day, which is 900,000 barrels per day lower than the 1.54 million barrels per day earlier quoted.
On the changes, the group said that the downgrade for this year owes to more bearish data received in the third quarter of 2024 while the projections for next year relate to the potential impact that will arise from US tariffs.
The oil cartel had kept the 2024 outlook unchanged until August, a view it had first taken in July 2023.
OPEC and its wider group of allies known as OPEC+ earlier this month delayed its plan to start raising output until April 2025 against a backdrop of falling prices.
Eight OPEC+ member countries – Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman – decided to extend additional crude oil production cuts adopted in April 2023 and November 2023, due to weak demand and booming production outside the group.
In April 2023, these OPEC+ countries decided to reduce their oil production by over 1.65 million barrels per day as of May 2023 until the end of 2023. These production cuts were later extended to the end of 2024 and will now be extended until the end of December 2026.
In addition, in November 2023, these producers had agreed to voluntary output cuts totalling about 2.2 million barrels per day for the first quarter of 2024, in order to support prices and stabilise the market.
These additional production cuts were extended to the end of 2024 and will now be extended to the end of March 2025; they will then be gradually phased out on a monthly basis until the end of September 2026.
Members have made a series of deep output cuts since late 2022.
They are currently cutting output by a total of 5.86 million barrels per day, or about 5.7 per cent of global demand. Russia also announced plans to reduce its production by an extra 471,000 barrels per day in June 2024.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
A minority equity stake in Chappal Energies Mauritius Limited has been acquired by a Nigerian energy firm, Aradel Holdings Plc.
This deal came a few days after Chappal Energies purchased a 53.85 per cent equity stake in Equinor Nigeria Energy Company Limited (ENEC).
Chappal Energies went into the deal with Equinor to take part in the oil and gas lease OML 128, including the unitised 20.21 per cent stake in the Agbami oil field, operated by Chevron.
Since production started in 2008, the Agbami field has produced more than one billion barrels of oil, creating value for Nigerian society and various stakeholders.
As part of the deal, Chappal will assume the operatorship of OML 129, which includes several significant prospects and undeveloped discoveries (Nnwa, Bilah and Sehki).
The Nnwa discovery is part of the giant Nnwa-Doro field, a major gas resource with significant potential to deliver value for Nigeria.
In a separate transaction, on July 17, 2024, Chappal and Total Energies sealed an SPA for the acquisition by Chappal of 10 per cent of the SPDC JV.
The relevant parties to this transaction are working towards closing out this transaction and Ministerial Approval and NNPC consent to accede to the Joint Operating Agreement have been obtained.
“This acquisition is in line with diversifying our asset base, deepening our gas competencies and gaining access to offshore basins using low-risk approaches.
“We recognise the strategic role of gas in Nigeria’s energy future and are happy to expand our equity holding in this critical resource.
“We are committed to the cause of developing the significant value inherent in the assets, which will be extremely beneficial to the country.
“Aradel hopes to bring its proven execution competencies to bear in supporting Chappal’s development of these opportunities,” the chief executive of Aradel Holdings, Mr Adegbite Falade, stated.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Afriland Properties Plc helped the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange record a 0.04 per cent gain on Tuesday, December 10 as the share price of the property investment rose by 34 Kobo to N16.94 per unit from the preceding day’s N16.60 per unit.
As a result of this, the market capitalisation of the bourse went up by N380 million to remain relatively unchanged at N1.056 trillion like the previous trading day.
But the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) closed higher at 3,014.36 points after it recorded an addition of 1.09 points to Monday’s closing value of 3,013.27 points.
The NASD OTC securities exchange recorded a price loser and it was Geo-Fluids Plc, which went down by 2 Kobo to close at N3.93 per share, in contrast to the preceding day’s N3.95 per share.
During the trading session, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors increased by 95.8 per cent to 2.4 million units from the 1.2 million securities traded in the preceding session.
However, the value of shares traded yesterday slumped by 3.7 per cent to N4.9 million from the N5.07 million recorded a day earlier, as the number of deals surged by 27.3 per cent to 14 deals from 11 deals.
Geo-Fluids Plc remained the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 1.7 billion units sold for N3.9 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.5 million units worth N5.3 million.
Also, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 108.7 million units worth N89.2 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.5 million units sold for N5.3 billion.
-
Feature/OPED5 years agoDavos was Different this year
-
Travel/Tourism8 years ago
Lagos Seals Western Lodge Hotel In Ikorodu
-
Showbiz2 years agoEstranged Lover Releases Videos of Empress Njamah Bathing
-
Banking6 years agoSort Codes of GTBank Branches in Nigeria
-
Economy2 years agoSubsidy Removal: CNG at N130 Per Litre Cheaper Than Petrol—IPMAN
-
Banking2 years agoFirst Bank Announces Planned Downtime
-
Sports2 years agoHighest Paid Nigerian Footballer – How Much Do Nigerian Footballers Earn
-
Technology4 years agoHow To Link Your MTN, Airtel, Glo, 9mobile Lines to NIN