Economy
Solid Minerals Areas Development Commission Bill Passes Second Reading
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Bill for an Act to establish the Solid Minerals Areas Development Commission (SMDC) in Nigeria that will address environmental devastation and scaled second reading at the Senate on Tuesday.
The bill seeks to provide for the accelerated development of the Nigerian solid minerals sector in a bid to diversify the Nigerian economy and reduce the over-dependence on the dwindling oil revenues.
The bill was read for the first time in the Senate on Wednesday, May 5, 2021, and was sponsored by Mr Yakubu Oseni.
Leading the debate on the bill, Mr Oseni observed that the country is richly endowed with a variety of solid minerals of various categories ranging from precious metals to various precious stones and industrial minerals.
He emphasised that the sector offers a viable alternative to petroleum for foreign exchange earnings.
Specifically, the lawmaker further revealed that “globally, the mining industry has been a close rival to the petroleum industry, while Nigeria only earns a paltry $89 million per annum from it.
“The commercial value of Nigeria’s solid minerals has been estimated to run into hundreds of billions of dollars.”
Justifying the need for the bill, he argued that when passed into law, it will provide the template for the formulation of policies and guidelines for the development of mineral producing areas in the country.
“Conception, planning and implementation in accordance with set rules and regulations, of projects and programmes for sustainable development of the minerals producing areas in the field of transportation including roads, health, employment, industrialization, agriculture among others,” the lawmaker submitted.
He said according to the United Nations Environmental (UNEP), small-scale gold processing operations in developing countries employ one million children, stressing that children, who are more susceptible to the impacts of heavy metals, tend to have higher exposures and generally account for the majority of deaths and diseases associated with mass poisoning incidents from these operations.
Following the end of the debate, the Senate leadership referred the bill to its committee on solid minerals, giving it a time frame to report back in four weeks.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited was further pulled back by 0.50 per cent on Tuesday as a result of profit-taking in some heavyweight stocks.
Like the preceding session, the key sectors of Customs Street were depressed yesterday, with the banking index down by 2.82 per cent. The consumer goods declined by 0.52 per cent, the insurance space lost 0.10 per cent, and the energy counter shrank by 0.03 per cent, while the industrial goods segment was flat.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) eased by 1,437.54 points to 241,984.80 points from 243,422.34 points, and the market capitalisation contracted by N922 billion to N155.204 trillion from N156.126 trillion.
The worst-performing stock was International Energy Insurance, which gave up 10.00 per cent to close at N5.76. Vitafoam dipped by 10.00 per cent to N189.00, Austin Laz crashed by 9.93 per cent to N3.90, SUNU Assurances depleted by 9.82 per cent to N3.58, and Sovereign Trust Insurance lost 8.37 per cent to finish at N2.30.
On the flip side, Conoil gained 9.79 per cent to trade at N213.00, Prestige Assurance also expanded by 9.79 per cent to N1.57, Neimeth jumped 9.74 per cent to N8.45, eTranzact chalked up 9.40 per cent to close at N16.30, and Cornerstone Insurance improved by 9.09 per cent to N5.40.
The bourse witnessed heavy sell-offs in some equities, with Sterling Holdings recording the sale of 100.9 million units worth N782.8 million to lead the activity log. UAC Nigeria transacted 49.4 million units valued at N9.1 billion, Access Holdings sold 28.8 million units for N699.3 million, Zenith Bank exchanged 29.4 million units worth N3.0 billion, and GTCO traded 20.2 million units valued at N2.7 billion.
At the close of transactions, market participants bought and sold 535.5 million shares worth N36.8 billion in 55,123 deals compared with 569.1 million shares valued at N31.4 billion traded in 77,652 deals on Monday. This implied that the trading value went up by 17.20 per cent, while the trading volume and the number of deals went down by 5.90 per cent and 29.01 per cent, respectively.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange was further down by 0.48 per cent on Monday, June 16, as a result of the losses printed by three bellwethers, led by MRS Oil Plc, which fell by N15.80 to N142.20 per unit from N158.00 per unit.
Further, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc dipped by N2.94 to close at N180.14 per share versus the previous day’s N183.08 per share, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc crumbled by 38 Kobo to N80.24 per share from N80.62 per share.
Consequently, the market capitalisation of the trading platform moderated by N12.55 billion to N2.605 trillion from N2.605 trillion, while the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) weakened by 20.98 points to 4,333.35 points from 4,354.33 points.
During the trading day, the value of transactions surged by 16.5 per cent to N45.6 million from the preceding session’s N39.2 million, and the number of deals soared by 34.8 per cent to 31 deals from 23 deals, while the volume of securities declined by 30.6 per cent to 688,290 units from 992,164 units.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion. The second spot was occupied by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc, with 2.3 billion sold for N6.5 billion, and the third position was taken by CSCS Plc, with 66.9 million units exchanged for N4.6 billion.
GNI Plc also ended the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira suffered a 0.55 per cent or 91 Kobo loss against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Tuesday, June 16, closing at N1,357.18 /$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,356.27/$1.
It also weakened against the Pound Sterling at the official market during the session by N11.53 to trade at N1,820.39/£1 versus Monday’s rate of N1,808.86/£1, but appreciated against the Euro by N2.06 to quote at N1,573.79/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,575.85/€1.
In the black market, the Nigerian currency crashed against the Dollar yesterday by N5 to sell for N1,385/$1, in contrast to the N1,380/$1 it was traded a day earlier, and at the GTBank FX desk, it traded flat at N1,373/$1.
Nigeria’s gross external reserves surged to $50.505 billion, the highest international Dollar balance since January 2009, affirming expectations that the local currency will remain along a stable band. The FX reserves position was buoyed by inflows from oil sales.
In its Article IV consultation report on Nigeria, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that the Naira remains significantly undervalued despite recent gains from FX reforms. It noted that its Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER) assessment showed the local currency was still trading below levels supported by the country’s economic fundamentals, saying the Naira should have traded around N1,142.04/$1 using the end-of-2025 exchange rate benchmark, or N1,130.88/$1 when calculated using the average exchange rate for the year.
As for the cryptocurrency market, prices showed renewed risk appetite as total 24-hour trading volume jumped 51 per cent to $207 billion, open interest rose 2.4 per cent to $113.41 billion, and liquidations surged 64 per cent to $561 million, with shorts accounting for the bulk of the forced exits, according to Coindesk data.
Cardano (ADA) slid 2.7 per cent to $0.1731, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped 1.6 per cent to $605.80, Ripple (XRP) declined by 1.5 per cent to $1.22, Bitcoin (BTC) fell 0.8 per cent to $65,739.70, Dogecoin (DOGE) also tumbled by 0.6 per cent to $0.0873, and TRON (TRX) depreciated by 0.6 per cent to $0.3166.
However, Ethereum (ETH) grew by 0.5 per cent to $1,795.40, and Solana (SOL) rose by 0.2 per cent to $73.81, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
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