Economy
Ebonyi Terminates Loan Deal With Bank of Industry for MSMEs
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The loan deal signed between the Ebonyi State government and the Bank of Industry (BoI) has been cancelled by the former.
A statement issued by the state government disclosed that the deal was aborted over the way the BoI has handled the contract meant to uplift civil servants and Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector in the South Eastern state.
Commissioner for Commerce and Industry in Ebonyi State, Ugo Nnachi, announced the withdrawal at the Executive Council Chambers in the Government House, Abakaliki during a joint briefing on the outcome of Tuesday, August 28, State Executive Council meeting by selected officials of Government, led by the Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Senator Emmanuel Onwe.
According to the Commissioner, the state government decided to take over the disbursement due to the delays and inability of the BOI to carry out the disbursement since the funds were lunched several months ago. He added that the state government would henceforth takeover the handling as well as the management procedure to ensure speedy disbursement to benefiting MSMEs and civil servants in the state.
“I want to announce to you that due to the difficulty and delay in disbursing the fund, the state government during the executive council meeting today terminated that programme with the Bank of Industry and the state Ministry of Commerce and Industry will now house the fund and ensure that all the 516 cooperative societies that have applied for the fund get it within the shortest possible time,” Nnamdi explained.
“The termination is not that we are going to stop the loan but the fund will now be driven by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The other thing I will like you to know is that for the SMEs, the fund also is going to be driven by the ministry.
“We want to ensure that the beneficiaries get the money as and at when due. We discovered that the Bank of Industry has made it extremely difficult for the beneficiaries and even in the mail that we sent to them, we told them that the termination was as a result of the delay in the disbursement and the difficulty and stringent conditions in accessing the loan even when most of the beneficiaries have met the requirements.”
According to Nnachi, part of the reason for the decision was based on the inability to carry the SMEs along and the feeling that it was not fair on their part. He informed that for the civil servants, about 516 cooperative societies have been registered to benefit from thibeen fund and to fast track the disbursement, the State Government has processed about 240. He revealed that the bank wrote to them to commence disbursement. However, each of the beneficiaries must pay 1 per cent appraisal fee.
The Commerce and Industry Commissioner stated that for them to deal with the delay and difficulty that have been experienced by the beneficiaries in accessing the loan since the MoU was signed, the state government has decided to pay the 1 per cent appraisal fee.
“They assured us that immediately the payment, disbursement will start. But unfortunately, as I speak with you that disbursement has not commenced and the state government has no alternative than to terminate that relationship and partnership and seek other ways of ensuring that civil servants of the state benefit from the fund at appropriate time.”
Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Power, Emmanuel Uguru during the briefing informed journalists of the Executive Council’s review of the Contract sum for the installation of Solar Power Plants at some strategic locations across the State from the initial N160 million to N207 million, which contracts have also been approved to be awarded at the meeting.
Furthermore, the State Executive Council has approved N52 million to execute sporting activities in the state for the year 2018. The Sports and Youth Development Commissioner in the State, Charles Akpuenika made this known while briefing journalists on his Ministry.
Akpuenika noted that three sports competitions have been earmarked to take place in the state before the end of the year, including the David Umahi Tertiary Institutions Games 2018 for the 10 tertiary institutions in the state. He revealed that the sum of N500,000 has been disbursed to each of the participating institutions to enable them prepare and take part in the games.
The Sports Commissioner named other competitions to hold within the year to include: the School Sports Competitions which will hold in October and the Divine Mandate Football Competition for all the 171 wards in the State. He emphasized that the State Government was intensifying efforts to birth a new Football Club for the state to gainfully utilize the talents that would be discovered through these series of sporting activities lined up in the State.
By Dipo Olowookere
The local stock market firmed up by 1.13 per cent on Friday as appetite for Nigerian stocks remained strong.
Investors reacted well to the 2026 budget presentation of President Bola Tinubu to the National Assembly yesterday, especially because of the more realistic crude oil benchmark of $64 per barrel compared with the ambitious $75 per barrel for 2025. This year, prices have been between $60 and $65 per barrel.
Business Post observed profit-taking in the commodity and energy sectors as they respectively shed 0.14 per cent and 0.03 per cent.
But, bargain-hunting in the others sustained the positive run, with the consumer goods index up by 3.82 per cent.
Further, the industrial goods space appreciated by 1.46 per cent, the banking counter improved by 0.08 per cent, and the insurance industry gained 0.04 per cent.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 1,694.33 points to 152,057.38 points from 150,363.05 points and the market capitalisation chalked up N1.080 trillion to finish at N96.937 trillion compared with Thursday’s closing value of N95.857 trillion.
A total of 34 shares ended on the advancers’ chart, while 24 were on the laggards’ log, representing a positive market breadth index and bullish investor sentiment.
Austin Laz gained 10.00 per cent to close at N2.42, Union Dicon also jumped 10.00 per cent to N6.60, Tantalizers increased by 9.80 per cent to N2.69, Aluminium Extrusion improved by 9.78 per cent to N12.35, and Champion Breweries grew by 9.71 per cent to N16.95.
Conversely, Sovereign Trust Insurance dipped by 7.42 per cent to N3.87, Royal Exchange lost 6.84 per cent to trade at N1.77, Omatek slipped by 6.84 per cent to N1.09, Eunisell depreciated by 5.88 per cent to N80.00, and Eterna dropped 5.63 per cent to close at N28.50.
Yesterday, traders transacted 1.5 billion units worth N21.8 billion in 25,667 deals compared with the 839.8 million units sold for N32.8 billion in 23,211 deals in the preceding session, showing a surge in the trading volume by 76.61 per cent, an uptick in the number of deals by 10.58 per cent, and a shrink in the trading value by 33.54 per cent.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Three stocks stretched the bearish run of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.21 per cent on Friday, December 19, with the market capitalisation giving up N26.01 billion to close at N2.121 billion compared with the N2.147 trillion it ended a day earlier, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) dropping 43.47 points to 3,546.41 points from 3,589.88 points.
The trio of FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, and NASD Plc overpowered the gains printed by four other securities.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc lost N6.00 to sell at N54.00 per unit versus N60.00 per unit, NASD Plc shrank by N3.50 to N58.50 per share from N55.00 per share, and CSCS Plc depleted by N2.91 to N33.87 per unit from N36.78 per unit.
On the flip side, Air Liquide Plc gained N1.01 to close at N13.00 per share versus N11.99 per share, Golden Capital Plc appreciated by 70 Kobo to N7.68 per unit from N6.98 per unit, Geo-Fluids Plc added 39 Kobo to sell at N5.50 per share versus N5.11 per share, and IPWA Plc rose by 8 Kobo to 85 Kobo per unit from 77 Kobo per unit.
During the trading day, market participants traded 1.9 million securities versus the previous day’s 30.5 million securities showing a decline of 49.3 per cent. The value of trades went down by 64.3 per cent to N80.3 million from N225.1 million, but the number of deals jumped by 32.1 per cent to 37 deals from 28 deals.
Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc finished the session as the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units valued at N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 178.9 million units transacted for N9.5 billion, and MRS Oil Plc with 36.1 million units traded for N4.9 billion.
The most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis was still InfraCredit Plc with 5.8 billion units worth N16.4 billion, trailed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.7 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units traded for N524.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
It was not a good day for the Nigerian Naira at the two major foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday as it suffered a heavy loss against the United States Dollar at the close of transactions.
In the black market segment, the Naira weakened against its American counterpart yesterday by N10 to quote at N1,485/$1, in contrast to the N1,475/$1 it was traded a day earlier, and at the GTBank forex counter, it depreciated by N2 to settle at N1,467/$1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,465/$1.
In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) window, which is also the official market, the nation’s legal tender crashed against the greenback by N6.65 or 0.46 per cent to close at N1,464.49/$1 compared with the preceding session’s rate of N1,457.84/$1.
In the same vein, the local currency tumbled against the Euro in the spot market by N2.25 to sell for N1,714.63/€1 compared with the previous day’s N1,712.38/€1, but appreciated against the Pound Sterling by 73 Kobo to finish at N1,957.30/£1 compared with the N1,958.03/£1 it was traded in the preceding session.
The market continues to face seasonal pressure even as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is still conducting FX intervention sales, which have significantly reduced but not remove pressure from the Naira. Also, there seems to be reduced supply from exporters, foreign portfolio investors and non-bank corporate inflows.
President Bola Tinubu on Friday presented the government’s N58.47 trillion budget plan aimed at consolidating economic reforms and boosting growth.
The budget is based on a projected crude oil price of $64.85 a barrel and includes a target oil output of 1.84 million barrels a day. It also projects an exchange rate of N1,400 to the Dollar.
President Tinubu said inflation had plunged to an annual rate of 14.45 per cent in November from 24.23 per cent in March, while foreign reserves had surged to a seven-year high of $47 billion.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was dominated by the bulls but it continues to face increased pressure after million in liquidations in previous session over accelerating declines, with Dogecoin (DOGE) recovering 4.2 per cent to trade at $0.1309.
Further, Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 3.9 per cent to $1.90, Cardano (ADA) rose by 3.5 per cent to $0.3728, Solana (SOL) jumped by 3.4 per cent to $126.23, Ethereum (ETH) climbed by 2.9 per cent to $2,982.42, Binance Coin (BNB) gained 2.0 per cent to sell for $853.06, Bitcoin (BTC) improved by 1.7 per cent to $88,281.21, and Litecoin (LTC) soared by 1.2 per cent to $76.50, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
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