Economy
FG Establishes Survival Fund for MSMEs
By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government has floated two schemes to support over 100,000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country who suffered the harsh effects of COVID-19.
The schemes; Survival Fund and the Guaranteed Off-take Stimulus Schemes, were inaugurated as part of the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP) of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration by the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs Mariam Katagum.
The minister, who is also Chairperson of the Steering Committee during the inauguration of the initiative at a world press conference on Thursday, said that over 1.7 million Nigerians would be impacted.
According to the minister, part of the terms of reference of the NESP include the support of MSMEs especially microbusinesses, which account for more than 90 per cent of Nigeria’s 41 million enterprises.
“It is in view of the foregoing that the NESP has given high priority to the implementation of the MSMEs Survival Fund and the Guaranteed Off-take Schemes.
“The survival fund scheme is expected to commence immediately while the GOS will follow as soon as the modalities are put in place properly to meet current realities.
“The survival fund is a conditional grant to support vulnerable micro and small enterprises in meeting their payroll obligations and safeguard jobs in MSMEs from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The scheme is estimated to save at least 1.3 million jobs across the country while targeting an average of 35,000 individuals per state,” she said.
She explained that there are two categories of beneficiaries: employees of MSMEs and self-employed individuals.
According to the minister, prerequisites for qualification include that the employees’ company be registered, employees must have a BVN, the company must have a staff strength of not less than three and must be owned by a Nigerian.
For the guaranteed off-take stimulus scheme, she explained that the impact of the lockdown occasioned by COVID-19 led to a fall in Nigerian corporate and household demands, forcing consumers to spend primarily on essential goods and services.
“The MSMEs guaranteed off-take stimulus scheme is one of the federal government’s economic support measures to assist micro and small businesses affected by the pandemic.
“The target beneficiaries for the guaranteed scheme will be micro and small businesses registered in Nigeria.
“We will leverage on the databases of micro and small enterprises in identifying those businesses that will qualify under the program and will save about 400,000 jobs.
“Let me reiterate that the scheme will give preference to products produced in reasonably sufficient volumes in each state which have proven propensity to create jobs and have a multiplier effect on the surrounding economy.
“It is to be noted that the two schemes are expected to be implemented over an initial period of three months in order to provide immediate relief from the economic impact of the pandemic,” she said.
She disclosed that the government was putting in place mechanisms for effective and efficient monitoring and evaluation of the implementation method.
By Dipo Olowookere
The three major partners of the Dangote Refinery in the Lekki area of Lagos, MRS Oil Nigeria, Heyden and Ardova Plc, will retail premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, at its stations across the country at N970 per litre.
This information was revealed by Dangote Refinery, owned by one of Africa’s richest businessmen, Mr Aliko Dangote.
The three independent oil marketers entered into a bulk-purchasing agreement with the oil facility, which has the capacity to refinery about 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
The deal, first sealed by MRS Oil, ensured that it retailed fuel at its petrol stations at N935 per cent litre.
However, last week, Dangote Refinery increased its ex-depot price from N899.50 per litre to N950 per litre due to a rise in the price of crude oil to $80 per litre in the global market from about $72 per barrel.
In a statement on Sunday made available to Business Post, Dangote Refinery said, “All our partners, including Ardova, Heyden, and MRS Holdings, will offer petrol to Nigerians at a retail price of N970 per litre nationwide.
“We have absorbed the increased logistics costs to guarantee uniform pricing across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).”
By Dipo Olowookere
A 0.17 per cent growth was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday, extending the stay of the local bourse in the positive territory.
This uptrend was maintained despite profit-taking in the banking sector, which left its index down by 0.23 per cent at the close of trading activities.
Business Post reports that the insurance industry expanded by 4.04 per cent during the session, the energy counter improved by 1.05 per cent, and the consumer goods space gained 0.58 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 170.62 points to 102,353.68 points from 102,183.06 points and the market capitalisation grew by N541 billion to N62.851 trillion from N62.310 trillion.
There were 34 price gainers and 22 price losers yesterday, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
The trio of Caverton, Livestock Feeds and Sovereign Trust Insurance appreciated by 10.00 per cent each during the session to quote at N2.20, N5.94, and N1.10, respectively, as Neimeth jumped by 994 per cent to N3.43, and Royal Exchange increased by 9.88 per cent to 89 Kobo.
On its part, Academy Press lost 9.74 per cent to close at N3.15, PZ Cussons declined by 9.09 per cent to N25.00, DAAR Communications weakened by 8.64 per cent to 74 Kobo, Transcorp Power shed 5.91 per cent to settle at N46.95, and Dangote Sugar fell by 4.94 per cent to N38.50.
A total of 327.8 million shares valued at N11.8 billion were traded in 11,905 deals on Friday versus the 472.2 million shares worth N16.7 billion transacted in 12,336 deals on Thursday, representing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 30.58 per cent, 29.34 per cent and 3.49 per cent apiece.
Access Holdings recorded the highest sales with 49.1 million stocks sold for N1.2 billion, Fidelity Bank exchanged 20.4 million shares valued at N359.0 million, UBA traded 20.1 million equities worth N681.0 million, Oando transacted 14.8 million shares for N998.1 million, and Universal Insurance traded 13.8 million stocks worth N8.7 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange extended its upward movement with a 0.26 per cent gain on Friday, January 17 amid renewed interest in unlisted stocks.
This raised the market capitalisation of the trading platform by N2.79 billion at the close of business to N1.075 trillion from the N1.072 trillion it closed in the preceding session.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) went up by 8.08 points at the close of transactions to 3,111.91 points from the 3,103.83 points recorded at the previous session.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors went down by 606 per cent to 486,215 units from 1.2 million units, the value of shares shrank by 84.7 per cent to N2.8 million from N18.0 million, and the number of deals decreased by 65 per cent to 14 deals from the 33 deals carried out a day earlier.
In the final trading day of the week, there were three price gainers and one price loser, Geo-Fluids Plc, which lost 9 Kobo to finish at N4.70 per unit versus the preceding session’s price of N4.79 per unit.
On the flip side, Okitipupa Plc gained N3.60 to settle at N39.59 per share compared with the previous day’s N35.99 per share, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc added 3 Kobo to wrap at 36 Kobo per unit compared with the preceding session’s 33 Kobo per share, as FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved its value by 49 Kobo to N39.65 per unit from N39.16 per unit.
At the close of business, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 million units worth N134.9 million, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and Afriland Properties Plc with 690,825 sold for N11.1 million.
The most active stock by volume (year-to-date) remained IGI Plc with 23.5 million units worth N5.3 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 3.4 million units sold for N134.9 million.
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