Economy
Dogara Tasks Stakeholders to Address Myriad Power Problems
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, has charged stakeholders in the power sector in Nigeria to ensure they address the myriad of issues frustrating steady supply of electricity in the country.
The Speaker gave this charge on Tuesday during his welcome address at the 2-day stakeholders’ interactive dialogue/workshop on the Nigerian power sector by the National Assembly at the Congress Hall of Transcorp Hilton in Abuja.
Mr Dogara admitted that the power sector in Nigeria has over years been faced with many intimidating and daunting challenges.
He said these challenges run across the entire power value chain of generation, transmission and distribution and that these myriad issues are apparently exacerbated by inadequate funding, poor energy mix, fuel supply issues, flawed regulatory framework, commercial issues among others.
“There is therefore a need for concerted efforts by all stakeholders to address these myriad problems,” he charged.
According to him, the “objective of this workshop is to provide a platform for stakeholders to carry out a holistic diagnosis of the challenges impeding the development of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) and proffer practical solutions.”
“The diagnosis includes but not limited to a critical analysis of the extant legislations and regulatory framework guiding the Nigerian power sector to determine if there is a need for amendments or enactment of new laws that will galvanize the sector to deliver the required results,” he said.
According to him, some of the relevant questions to be asked are:
- Why has power generation remained at less than 5000MW since the last 56 years?
- Why have various policies by successive governments failed?
- Why has the transmission infrastructure remained inadequate in wheeling the available power?
- How can the Federal Government rapidly expand the transmission infrastructure?
- Why are electric meters not available to most consumers thereby leading to contentious estimated billing?
- How can NERC establish a cost reflective tariff and reduce inefficiency in support of affordable end user tariffs?
- Why has there not been an effective Gas Master Plan for Nigeria which would have preceded the building of the gas fired power plants?
- What is the solution to the perennial pipeline vandalism that disrupts delivery of gas to the gas fired power plants?
- What can be done to improve local and foreign investment in gas gathering, processing and distribution?
- Why is there local and foreign investor apathy in investing in the Nigerian power sector?
- Why are the local and foreign financial institutions not funding the sector?
- How can the FGN create and sustain a stable investment climate for private sector participation in the power sector?
- How can the FGN maintain a creditworthy off-taker (NBET) of electricity?
- How can we maximize options like mini hydro and small solar projects to power rural communities?
. Perhaps the most important question is what happened to the N2.74 trillion spent on the sector from 1999-2015?
. Why is it that the more we spent on the power sector, the more darkness we attract?
- Why are most of the companies licensed by NERC not able to start their projects?
- What can be done to improve the poor energy mix?
- Why has the FGN not embarked on Energy Conservation campaign that will emphasize the use of energy saving bulbs etc.?
- What kind of guarantee is needed by foreign investors to facilitate investment in the power sector?
- What role can the legislature play to facilitate a rapid development of the power sector?
- Is there a political will to tackle head on the challenges of the power sector?
- Is there any need for amendment of extant legislations or enactment of new laws to galvanize both local and foreign investment in the Nigerian power sector?
The Speaker said stakeholders and participants at the programme must answer in order to proffer long lasting solutions that will move the Nigerian power sector forward, stressing that he remains “confident that the array of stakeholders gathered here today are eminently capable of dealing with these and many more related questions and puzzles that exist and will arise in the course of deliberations.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
Three bellwether stocks lifted the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.62 per cent on Friday, December 12 with the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) jumping by 22.20 points to 3,600.43 points from 3,578.23 points.
In the same vein, the market capitalisation of the trading platform increased by N13.28 billion to close at N2.154 trillion from the previous day’s N2.140 trillion.
During the session, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc went up by N2.53 to close at N39.71 per share compared with the previous day’s N37.18 per share, Geo-Fluids Plc added 35 Kobo to its price to finish at N5.00 per unit versus Thursday’s closing price of N4.65 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc appreciated by 23 Kobo appreciation to sell at N60.23 per share versus N60.00 per share.
It was observed that yesterday, the price of Golden Capital Plc went down by N1.05 to N9.45 per unit from N10.50 per unit, and UBN Propertiy Plc declined by 21 Kobo to N2.01 per share from the N2.22 per share it was traded a day earlier.
There was a significant improvement in the level of activity for the day, as the volume of transactions increased by 6.2 per cent to 37.4 million units from the previous day’s 35.2 million units, the value of trades went up by 265.1 per cent to N4.9 billion from N1.4 billion, and the number of deals soared by 13.80 per cent to 33 deals from 29 deals.
Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc ended the last trading day of this week as the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units valued at N16.4 billion, the second spot was taken by Okitipupa Plc with 178.9 million units traded for N9.5 billion, and third space was occupied by a new comer in MRS Oil Plc with 36.1 million units worth N4.9 billion.
InfraCredit Plc also finished the session as the most active 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 valued at N420.3 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 537.0 million units sold for N524.9 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
The bullish run on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited continued on Friday with a further 1.00 per cent growth buoyed by gains recorded by Guinness Nigeria, Champion Breweries, and others.
Data showed that the consumer goods space expanded by 1.53 per cent during the last trading session of the week, as the insurance counter grew by 0.51 per cent, and the industrial goods sector marginally gained 0.01 per cent.
However, the banking index depreciated by 0.54 per cent due to a pocket of profit-taking, and the energy industry shrank by 0.09 per cent, while the commodity sector closed flat.
Guinness Nigeria gained 10.00 per cent to trade at N217.80, Morison Industries rose by 9.84 per cent to N4.69, Champion Breweries jumped by 9.69 per cent to N14.15, Austin Laz grew by 9.66 per cent to N2.27, and C&I Leasing appreciated by 9.62 per cent to N5.70.
Conversely, eTranzact lost 10.00 per cent to finish at N12.60, Chellarams slumped by 9.00 per cent to N13.20, Eunisell depleted by 9.89 per cent to N75.15, Africa Prudential moderated by 9.77 per cent to N12.00, and DAAR Communications decreased by 9.18 per cent to 89 Kobo.
The busiest stock on Friday was Access Holdings with 107.6 million units sold for N2.2 billion, Consolidated Hallmark traded 59.9 million units worth N245.8 million, Zenith Bank transacted 48.2 million units valued at N3.1 billion, Transcorp Power transacted 42.8 million units for N13.1 billion, and Champion Breweries exchanged 36.4 million units valued at N510.2 million.
At the close of business, a total of 602.8 million units worth N30.7 billion exchanged hands in 20,550 deals yesterday, in contrast to the 529.7 million units valued at N12.3 billion traded in 18,159 deals on Thursday, representing a surge in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 13.80 per cent, 149.59 per cent, and 13.17 per cent apiece.
Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) soared during the session by 1,485.89 points to 149,436.48 points from 147,950.59 points and the market capitalisation moved up by N945 billion to N95.264 trillion from N94.319 trillion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
An intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the foreign exchange (FX) market eased the pressure on the Naira on Friday.
The apex bank sold forex to banks and other authorised dealers in the official window to defend the domestic currency, helping to calm the FX demand pressure, with the Nigerian currency appreciating against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by 0.11 per cent or N1.57 to sell at N1,454.50/$1 compared with Thursday’s closing price of N1,456.07/$1.
Also, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N3.95 to close at N1,946.15/£1 versus the previous day’s N1,950.11/£1 but lost 10 Kobo on the Euro to quote at N1,706.46/€1 compared with the N1,706.36/€1 it was exchanged a day earlier.
At the black market segment, the Nigerian Naira maintained stability against the Dollar during the session at N1,470/$1 and also traded flat at N1,463/$1 at the GTBank forex counter.
Despite the sigh of relief, demand pressures outweighed the robust supply from the CBN and inflow from offshore players looking to participate at the OMO bills auction.
Gross FX reserves increased for the twenty fifth consecutive week, growing by a strong $396.84 million week-on-week to $45.44 billion.
As for the cryptocurrency market, it was down on Friday as pressure remained after Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s speech on Wednesday, which hinted at a possible rate cut pause in January. As a result, markets now expect only two rate cuts in 2026 instead of three.
However, Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee, who was against a December rate cut, said he expects more in 2026 than the current median projection.
Ethereum (ETH) slumped by 5.1 per cent to $3,090.61, Solana (SOL) declined by 4.5 per cent to $132.79, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 3.8 per cent to $0.4103, and Dogecoin (DOGE) dropped 2.5 per cent to trade at $0.1373.
In addition, Bitcoin (BTC) lost 2.4 per cent to sell at $90,342.74, Litecoin (LTC) tumbled by 1.9 per cent to $81.86, Binance Coin (BNB) fell by 0.6 per cent to $886.93, and Ripple (XRP) slipped by 0.5 per cent to $2.02, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
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