Economy
Africa Still Attractive To Investors—PenCom Boss
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Nigeria’s National Pension Committee (PenCom) boss, Mrs Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, has disclosed that despite how people downgrade Africa, the continent was still very attractive to foreign investors.
Mrs Anohu-Amazu said, “There is a lot of talk around retrenching from Africa but I’m not seeing this at all,” pointing out that, “Look at what the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are doing in the region for instance. If you look at the amount of money they are putting into Africa, I wouldn’t say this meant that investment was scaling back at all.”
Her remarks come at a time when private equity, the long-term investment vehicle often heralded as complimenting Africa’s long-term development needs, in the continent appears to be losing its shine.
Most recently, the IFC has leant $25m to support the expansion of Nigerian dairy company, Promasidor, invested $200m in Guinea’s bauxite mining sector and arranged a financing package to expand Ghana’s seaport to boost trade.
Although the IFC as part of its mandate often invests in sectors and countries that are not as popular for mainstream investors, for Mrs Anohu-Amazu, this highlights an interesting point: “Institutions such as the IFC are coming into Africa because there are still obvious returns to be made – impact investing can still be profitable.”
In September, Marlon Chigwende announced his departure from Carlyle, and in August, Peter Baird was removed as Africa head from Standard Chartered private equity team. Meanwhile, it is rumoured that John van Wyk may be leaving his post as head of Africa at Actis.
According to the African Economic Outlook Report 2016, published by the AfDB, the OECD and the UNDP, portfolio flows into Africa have fallen from $23bn in 2014 to $13bn in 2015. In the second half of 2015, there was a net portfolio exit of equity while bond flows remained relatively stable. Remittances are still the most important source of external finance accounting for $64bn in 2015.
“Portfolio flows in and out of Africa can be more reactionary,” says Mrs Anohu-Amazu. “Many of these investors will be waiting to see how policy changes react to recent economic headwinds affecting the region.”
The recent fall in commodity prices, inflation and stringent foreign exchange policies that commodity producers have introduced in response to fiscal and economic pressure has been a turn off for some investors.
Nigeria, one of Africa’s major oil producers, has seen foreign direct investment fall 27% from $4.7bn in 2014 to $3.4bn in 2015.
“Foreign exchange receivables from oil in Nigeria have fallen which in itself reduces portfolio flows into the country, but the downturn in the global oil price marks a period of readjustment for commodity and oil exporters, and we hope that in Nigeria, this will mean that government policy will reinvigorate investment into agriculture and technology for instance,” says Mrs Anohu-Amazu.
“I don’t think there is a scaling back in terms of investment into Africa, more a realignment. Investment into the continent is changing,” she adds.
She further said in June 2016, total assets under management for PenCom reached N5.73 trillion up from N2 trillion in 2010 with an average annual growth of 20 percent.
Around 11.43 percent of Nigeria’s total labour force and 3.95 percent of the population contribute to a pension, but new initiatives coming in to increase this.
“Our micro pension initiative aims to attract contributions from the 20m Nigerians who work in the informal sector. The rules for these types of contributors will be more flexible, however, to fit in with the way in which they work,” says Mrs Anohu-Amazu.
“Education around pensions will also be a key part of the initiative,” she added.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited returned to green territory on Tuesday after it chalked up 0.09 per cent on the back of renewed buying pressure.
The market regained strength yesterday despite profit-taking in the banking space, which caused its index to close lower by 0.69 per cent.
Business Post reports that insurance counter was up by 2.80 per cent, the energy sector appreciated by 2.40 per cent, the commodity segment grew by 1.22 per cent, and the consumer goods industry improved by 0.03 per cent, while the industrial goods counter closed flat.
At the close of transactions, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 144.32 points to 166,256.82 points from 166,112.50 points and the market capitalisation gained N93 billion to finish at N106.436 trillion compared with the N106.343 trillion it settled on Monday.
During the session, investors transacted 795.5 million equities valued at N20.0 billion in 45,410 deals versus the 629.6 million equities worth N14.8 billion executed in 57,858 deals a day earlier, indicating a rise in the trading volume and value by 26.35 per cent and 35.14 per cent apiece and a decline in the number of deals by 21.52 per cent.
Tantalizers was the busiest stock yesterday with a turnover of 87.0 million units valued at N300.9 million, Secure Electronic Technology traded 74.2 million units worth N87.6 million, a new member of the NGX, Zichis Agro Allied Industries, transacted 69.6 million units for N138.5 million, Zenith Bank sold 49.1 million units valued at N3.5 billion, and GTCO exchanged 39.1 million units worth N3.8 billion.
On Tuesday, the market breadth index was positive after Customs Street ended with 39 appreciating shares and 25 depreciating shares, representing a bullish investor sentiment.
Deap Capital, NPF Microfinance Bank, and Red Star Express gained 10.00 per cent each to sell for N5.39, N4.73, and N15.95 apiece, as NCR Nigeria soared by 9.97 per cent to N155.50, and Morison Industries also increased by 9.97 per cent to N6.84.
Conversely, Aluminium Extrusion lost 9.95 per cent to settle at N17.20, Jaiz Bank declined by 9.88 per cent to N7.21, FTN Cocoa shrank by 8.44 per cent to N7.05, UPDC decreased by 8.06 per cent to N5.70, and Caverton slumped by 5.59 per cent to N7.60.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices rose on Tuesday on the temporary suspension of output at Kazakhstan’s oil fields and expectations of firmer global economic growth that could drive fuel demand.
Brent futures chalked up 98 cents or 1.53 per cent to trade at $64.92 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude contract for February, which expired on Tuesday, gained 90 cents or 1.51 per cent to close at $60.34 per barrel.
Kazakh oil producer Tengizchevroil said on Monday it had temporarily halted production at the Tengiz and Korolev oilfields after an issue affected power distribution systems.
The Chevron-operated joint venture operating the supergiant 700,000 barrels per day Tengiz field onshore Kazakhstan stated that it had suspended production as a “precautionary measure” after a fire broke out at the field’s power distribution systems.
Tengiz could be halted for another seven to 10 days, cutting crude exports via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC).
Market analysts noted that Tengiz is amongst the largest fields in the world and so the outage is certainly disruptive for crude flows.
The oil market also drew support from better-than-expected fourth-quarter Chinese gross domestic product data released on Monday as data showed that the economy of the world’s largest oil producer grew by 5 per cent last year and the country’s refinery throughput in 2025 climbed 4.1 per cent on a year-over-year basis, data showed on Monday. China’s crude oil output also grew 1.5 per cent.
Prices also gained on an upward revision of this year’s global economic growth estimate by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The IMF in its World Economic Outlook update forecast global GDP growth at 3.3 per cent in 2026, up 0.2 percentage point from its last estimate in October. That’s even with 3.3 per cent growth in 2025, which will also beat the October estimate by 0.1 percentage point.
The lender said that globally, inflation was forecast to continue to decline, from 4.1 per cent in 2025 to 3.8 per cent in 2026 and 3.4 per cent in 2027.
Investors continued to monitor US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats against European states that oppose his push to acquire Greenland.
The American president said he would impose additional 10 per cent levies from February 1 on goods imported from EU members Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands, as well as Britain and Norway, rising to 25 per cent on June 1 if no deal on Greenland was reached.
President Trump’s tariff threats have a negative bearing on crude prices as the levies could lead to lower global economic growth and therefore reduce oil demand growth.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The chief executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, has identified the recovery of shut-in oil and gas volumes as a central strategy for optimising Nigeria’s upstream production and stabilising revenue.
She said the oil and gas sector remains critical to Nigeria’s economic stability, stressing that effective regulation must be anchored on a strong, efficiently run upstream industry.
According to Mrs Eyesan, the commission’s agenda for the sector under her leadership, is built on three core pillars, with production and revenue optimisation taking priority.
“Our agenda rests on optimising production and revenue by recovering shut-in volumes,” she said. Shut-in volumes refer to the amount of oil or gas that is currently capable of being produced but is not being extracted because the wells have been deliberately closed off.
The NUPRC head explained that unlocking idle production requires closer collaboration between regulators and operators, supported by transparent and accountable industry practices.
Mrs Eyesan added that regulatory efficiency is another key enabler of production optimisation, noting that speed and predictability in approvals are essential to sustaining upstream operations.
“We are focused on ensuring regulatory speed and predictability through clear rules and digital processes,” she said.
The NUPRC chief further said that optimising output must go hand-in-hand with safe and sustainable operations, including effective governance of assets and improved host community outcomes.
“Strengthening safe, governed and sustainable operations, including host community outcomes and decarbonisation, is part of our broader objective,” Mrs Eyesan said.
She noted that a stable regulatory environment, combined with production recovery efforts, would support industry confidence and improve Nigeria’s ability to maximise value from its hydrocarbon resources.
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