Economy
Cross River Slashes N1.1trn ‘Olympotic Meristemasis’ Budget by 91%
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Cross River State Government has slashed its 2020 budget of N1.1 trillion by 91 per cent to N147.1 billion and sent it to the state House of Assembly for deliberations.
This was announced by the state’s Commissioner for Finance, Mr Asuquo Ekpeyong, on Monday in Calabar at a media briefing.
Mr Ekpeyong said the downward review of the budget stylised as the Budget of Olympotic Meristemasis became necessary due to the effect of COVID-19 pandemic which made the over N1 trillion naira proposed earlier by the government unrealistic.
“As we are all aware of the current pandemic ravaging the entire world, the situation has come with both health and economic challenges.
“As a state, Cross River is not in isolation; we are affected economically. We have decided to review the 2020 appropriation to tally with the present economic realities.
“We have forwarded a reviewed budget of N147, 130, 166, 966 to the State Assembly for deliberations,” Mr Ekpenyong said.
The Commissioner said that the government had also taken some far-reaching humanitarian measures to cushion the effects of the pandemic on the residents of the state.
He said the state government is also mindful of extortionist agents who still go ahead to illegally collect taxes from those exempted from paying.
He said the tax exemption policy had been put in place and an anti-taxation committee set up to implement it, adding that anyone caught violating the policy would be prosecuted.
Also speaking at the briefing, the Chairman of the state Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Mr Okpanke Ogar, said Governor Ben Ayade had approved some incentives for individual taxpayers and businesses in the state.
He highlighted some of the incentives to include, tax exemption for individuals in the public sector who earn less than N100,000 monthly.
“Others exempted are the self-employed, including artisans, hawkers, commercial motorcycle riders, taxi drivers, barbers/hairdressers and restaurant owners.
“Tourism revenue, sale of tickets by various agencies and Local governments have also been put on rebate till November,” he said.
The chairman noted that although the measures would drastically affect the revenue profile of the state for 2020, the action was in the best interest of the people.
“In 2019, we generated N22 billion, but all these taxes abating, it will surely affect our internally generated revenue for this year. But the governor has done this in the interest of the people,” Mr Ogar said.
Last year, Governor Ben Ayade had proposed to spend N1,100,167,507.09 in the 2020 financial year.
He explained that: “The budget of Olympotic Meristemasis is a budget that believes in the spiritual force which is the third energy. Meristemasis is the active growth of a young variant plant in extension, the state.
“So, olympotic as it is, Meristemastic as it is, it is also having sociological agglutination. So I believe that the budget of olympotic meristemasis would catalyse into existence, a great opportunity for us all to put our hands and legs on the paddle and speed it off.”
Cross River State was the last state to officially declare a coronavirus case in Nigeria and as at the time of this report, it has 40 cases on record, out of which nine have been discharged and three casualties.
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.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira continued to appreciate on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), gaining 0.7 per cent or N10.23 on Tuesday, December 10 to trade at N1,542.27/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,552.50/$1.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-backed Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) platform introduced to tackle speculation and improve transparency in Nigeria’s FX market has been attributed as the source of the Naira’s appreciation.
Speculators holding foreign currencies, particularly the US Dollar, have seen the value of their money drastically drop due to the appreciation of the local currency. This is forcing them to dump greenback into the system and take the domestic currency alternative- a move that has seen available FX increase.
Equally, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the trading day by N6.81 to sell for N1,955.12/£1 compared with Monday’s closing price of N1,961.93/£1 and against the Euro, it gained N10.84 to close at N1,613.00/€1, in contrast to the previous day’s rate of N1,623.84/€1.
Data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange showed that the value of forex transactions significantly increased yesterday by $228.85 million or 257.2 per cent to $401.17 million from the preceding session’s $112.32 million.
However, in the parallel market, the Nigerian currency weakened against the US Dollar on Tuesday by N5 to settle at N1,625/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,620/$1.
In the cryptocurrency market, Dogecoin (DOGE) lost 4.8 per cent to sell at $0.39116, Litecoin (LTC) depreciated by 3.3 per cent to trade at $110.25, Binance Coin (BNB) went south by 2.3 per cent to $681.44, Ethereum (ETH) dropped 1.6 per cent to finish at $3,671.08, and Cardano (ADA) slid by 0.5 per cent to $0.8837
Conversely, Ripple (XRP) jumped by 5.4 per cent to $2.23 amid a continued shift for the coin with its parent company seeing the benefits of a crypto-friendly regulatory environment for US-based companies.
XRP is closely related to Ripple Labs, a high-profile payments company targeted by the SEC in 2020 on allegations of selling the token as a security to U.S. investors. Ripple fully cleared a long-drawn court case in 2024.
Further, Solana (SOL) expanded by 0.8 per cent to $219.75, Bitcoin (BTC) grew by 0.4 per cent to $97,446.95, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
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