Economy
FG Records N318.5bn Revenue Inflow in Q1 2024—Accountant-General
By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government recorded a revenue inflow of N318.5 billion between January and March 2024, says the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mrs Oluwatoyin Madein.
Mrs Madein made the disclosure when she appeared before an interactive session organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Finance on Wednesday.
The accountant-general, who was represented by the Director of Revenue Expenses, Mr Felix Ogundayero, said the reconciliation of revenue inflows was still ongoing, and what was declared was the figure presented to the committee.
“Reconciliation is still being done but the total revenue inflows to the federal government for January to March amounts to N318.5 billion as against a total budget of N2.691 trillion,” she said.
“For the budget, the bottom-up cash planning policy is on course and the 2024 budget is going to be implemented via that policy, officers have been retained and sensitisation is ongoing to ensure that MDAs are well equipped on the modalities and conditionalities,” she stated.
Mrs Madein said the revenue for 2024, will significantly increase due to the economic policies being implemented by the federal government.
Also addressing the committee, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI), Mr Armstrong Takang, said N101 billion has been declared as dividends by some agencies, noting that some agencies are yet to declare their dividends due to various factors.
“So far, we have received dividends declared by some companies. But for many others, their reports are either being prepared and have not been completed or have been completed but they have not gone to their boards for approval,” he said.
“As such, we cannot use the number of their dividends until that has been done based on the corporate governance rules.
“Based on the number so far, it is about N101 billion from the entities we have identified. We continue with other entities whose dividends have not been paid to ensure we go through the process of them passing it at the board level and the AGM before the figures are sent to us and the money rendered to the treasury,” he added.
In his response, the Chairman of the Committee, Mr James Faleke, said the purpose of the interactive session with heads of ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) is to ensure that the revenue estimates submitted to the parliament by each agency before the passage of the 2024 appropriation bill into law are achieved.
“We have to ensure that those estimates are met. The appropriation has become a law and so that the revenue that you proposed to generate in the year we take it upon ourselves to do it quarterly to measure your performance.
“We want to ensure that revenue activities from January to March are in line with your appropriation. When you are giving us your figure — tell us what the figure was expected for the generation and what you have achieved. Also, tell us your expenditure.”
The committee ruled that all the agencies under MOFI should produce their annual report for the past 10 years.
“All organisations under MOFI should produce their annual report for the past 10 years and the dividend that ought to have been paid.
“What ought to have been paid, and what was paid by each of the agencies and of course evidence of payments,” he added.
By Adedapo Adesanya
President Bola Tinubu on Friday presented a budget proposal of N58.47 trillion for the 2026 fiscal year titled Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity to a joint session of the National Assembly, with capital recurrent (non‑debt) expenditure standing at 15.25 trillion, and the capital expenditure at N26.08 trillion, while the crude oil benchmark was pegged at $64.85 per barrel.
Business Post reports that the Brent crude grade currently trades around $60 per barrel. It is also expected to trade at that level or lower next year over worries about oil glut.
At the budget presentation today, Mr Tinubu said the expected total revenue for the year is N34.33 trillion, and the proposal is anchored on a crude oil production of 1.84 million barrels per day, and an exchange rate of N1,400 to the US Dollar.
In terms of sectoral allocation, defence and security took the lion’s share with N5.41 trillion, followed by infrastructure at N3.56 trillion, education received N3.52 trillion, while health received N2.48 trillion.
Addressing the lawmakers, the President described the budget proposal as not “just accounting lines”.
“They are a statement of national priorities,” the president told the gathering. “We remain firmly committed to fiscal sustainability, debt transparency, and value‑for‑money spending.”
The presentation came at a time of heightened insecurity in parts of the country, with mass abductions and other crimes making headlines.
Outlining his government’s plan to address the challenge, President Tinubu reminded the gathering that security “remains the foundation of development”.
He said some of the measures in place to tame insecurity include the modernisation of the Armed Forces, intelligence‑driven policing and joint operations, border security, and technology‑enabled surveillance and community‑based peacebuilding and conflict prevention.
“We will invest in security with clear accountability for outcomes—because security spending must deliver security results,” the president said.
“To secure our country, our priority will remain on increasing the fighting capability of our armed forces and other security agencies by boosting personnel and procuring cutting-edge platforms and other hardware,” he added.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The deadline for the recapitalisation of the Nigerian pension industry has been extended by six months to June 2027 from December 2026.
This extension was approved by the National Pension Commission (PenCom), the agency, which regulates the sector in the country.
Addressing newsmen on Thursday in Lagos, the Director-General of PenCom, Ms Omolola Oloworaran, explained that the shift in deadline was to give operators more time to boost the capital base, dismissing speculations that the exercise had been suspended.
“The recapitalisation has not been suspended. We have communicated the requirements to the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), and we expect every operator to be compliant by June 2027. Anyone who is not compliant by then will lose their licence,” Ms Oloworaran told journalists.
She added that, “From a regulatory standpoint, our major challenge is ensuring compliance. We are working with ICPC, labour and the TUC to ensure employers remit pension contributions for their employees.”
The DG noted that engagements with industry operators indicated broad acceptance of the policy, with many PFAs already taking steps to raise additional capital or explore mergers and acquisitions.
“You may see some mergers and acquisitions in the industry, but what is clear is that the recapitalisation exercise is on track and the industry agrees with us,” she stated.
PenCom wants the PFAs to increase their capital base and has created three categories, with the first consists operators with Assets Under Management of N500 billion and above. They are expected to have a minimum capital of N20 billion and one per cent of AUM above N500 billion.
The second category has PFAs with AUM below N500 billion, which must have at least N20 billion as capital base.
The last segment comprises special-purpose PFAs such as NPF Pensions Limited, whose minimum capital was pegged at N30 billion, and the Nigerian University Pension Management Company Limited, whose minimum capital was fixed at N20 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Three securities weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.68 per cent on Thursday, December 18.
According to data, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc led the losers’ group after it slipped by N2.87 to N36.78 per share from N39.65 per share, Golden Capital Plc depreciated by 77 Kobo to end at N6.98 per unit versus the previous day’s N7.77 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc dropped 19 Kobo to sell at N60.00 per share versus Wednesday’s closing price of N60.19 per share.
At the close of business, the market capitalisation lost N16.81 billion to finish at N2.147 billion compared with the preceding session’s N2.164 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) declined by 24.76 points to 3,589.88 points from 3,614.64 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities bought and sold increased by 49.3 per cent to 30.5 million units from 20.4 million units, the value of securities surged by 211.8 per cent to N225.1 million from N72.2 million, and the number of deals jumped by 33.3 per cent to 28 deals from 21 deals.
Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc remained the most traded stock by value with a year-to-date sale of 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 worth N4.9 billion.
Similarly, InfraCredit Plc ended as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units traded for 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 exchanged for N524.9 million.
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