Economy
Firm Builds Gas Plant in Lagos to Deepen LPG Penetration
By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government, in line with its goal to expand its footprint in the manufacturing of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) or cooking gas, over the weekend announced the groundbreaking of Rungas ALFA plant.
The event was performed by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Timipre Sylva, at Alaro City, Free Trade Zone, Epe, Lagos State.
It was gathered that plant, alongside its sister plant – Rungas Prime in Polaku, Bayelsa State, is being developed with equity investments by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).
The federal government said upon its completion, the plant will have a combined capacity of over 1.2 million cylinders per annum, surpassing the record held by a European firm that produces 900 cylinders.
The Minister described the cylinder plants as key to achieving deeper penetration of LPG and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), in line with the Federal Government’s commitment to ensure economic diversification.
He stated that cylinders are the most visible element of the LPG value chain and the manufacturing facilities will not only bring affordable and durable cylinders to Nigeria but also create countless direct and indirect jobs for citizens.
Mr Sylva also commended NCDMB for recording another milestone in the drive to enhance domestic participation and capacity building of indigenous companies in the oil and gas industry.
On his part, the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr Simbi Kesiye Wabote noted that the expected completion date of the facility would be about 12 months and noted that he was confident that the Board will successfully deliver on any project it participates in.
He said the ground-breaking event confirms that Private-Public Partnership is an effective model for putting in place the needed infrastructure, facilities, and manufacturing base, to position Nigeria for the opportunities that abound in the region and continent.
Mr Wabote also affirmed the board’s excitement for being an active participant and a front-runner in taking practical steps to deliver on lofty goals of the ‘’Decade of Gas’’ that is being championed by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources.
Other interventions by the board in the gas value-chain include the development of LPG storage terminals and jetties, inland gas processing for the production of LPG and propane, infrastructure for gas gathering and injection into gas pipeline networks and CNG facilities.
He said NCDMB was deliberate in going for the Type-3 Composite LPG cylinders considering the unique features such as safety, lightweight, and durability.
In his words, “Our handshake with the Rungas Group will catalyse the transition away from the heavy metallic LPG cylinders. It will also address the issue of high importation of LPG cylinders with the attendant economic losses.”
Other benefits of the project include helping to eliminate deaths and illnesses caused by smoke and wood fumes associated with cooking with firewood and bringing the products closer to end-users.
The NCDMB Chief noted that its interests in equity investments in strategic oil and gas projects were because the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act mandates the Board to build capacities in the oil and gas industry and harness opportunities to create jobs.
“You cannot create jobs if you do not get involved in projects. We expect that during the construction phase, hundreds of people will be involved and during the operations phase, direct and indirect jobs will be created. There is no way to create jobs if you do not create the opportunity.
“As a country, we cannot continue to sit and wait for people to bring opportunities for us. We must create those opportunities so we can employ our youths.
“We have proven the concept with regards to a modular refinery and today, the Waltersmith modular refinery cannot even meet demand from customers for its products. Imagine that we had done this in the past; today we would not be discussing the issue of fuel availability or scarcity in this country.”
Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer, Rungas Group, Mr Lanre Runsewe lauded the NCDMB for triggering the local manufacturing of safe cooking gas cylinders and becoming the catalyst for the rapid industrialisation of gas-based Industries.
He stated that “without the NCDMB initial and extended facilitation for the local manufacture of cooking gas cylinders in Nigeria, it would have been more difficult and expensive to implement the imminent National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) rollout, due to lack of locally manufactured safe cylinders. The country would have had to resort to importation.”
He also revealed that NCDMB’s participation and the substantial quantity of cylinders to be manufactured had “triggered a clause in our contractual agreements based on one million cylinders with our Italian, Portuguese Original Equipment Manufacturers which will result in direct investments of over $40 million to produce some of our key raw materials in Nigeria. We are currently working in conjunction with our Alaro City Partners to position them in this Free Trade Zone.”
The Chairman, Rungas Group, Mr Shuaibu Ahmed added the facility in Bayelsa was Africa’s first composite cylinder manufacturing plant and expressed hope that the facilities would produce enough products to meet local demand and export to other countries, earning the nation much needed foreign exchange.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The federal government, the 36 states of the federation and the 774 local government areas have received N1.727 trillion from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) for December 2024.
The funds were disbursed to the three tiers of government from the revenue generated by the nation in November 2024.
At the December meeting of FAAC held in Abuja, it was stated that the amount distributed comprised distributable statutory revenue of N455.354 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N585.700 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N15.046 billion and Exchange Difference revenue of N671.392 billion.
According to a statement signed on Friday by the Director of Press and Public Relations for FAAC, Mr Bawa Mokwa, the money generated last month was about N3.143 trillion, with N103.307 billion used for cost of collection and N1.312 trillion for transfers, interventions and refunds.
It was disclosed that gross statutory revenue of N1.827 trillion was received compared with the N1.336 trillion recorded a month earlier.
The statement said gross revenue of N628.972 billion was available from VAT versus N668.291 billion in the preceding month.
The organisation stated that last month, oil and gas royalty and CET levies recorded significant increases, while excise duty, VAT, import duty, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), Companies Income Tax (CIT) and EMTL decreased considerably.
As for the sharing, FAAC disclosed that from the N1.727 trillion, the central government got N581.856 billion, the states received N549.792 billion, the councils took N402.553 billion, while the benefiting states got N193.291 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.
From the N585.700 billion VAT earnings, the national government got N87.855 billion, the states received N292.850 billion and the local councils were given N204.995 billion.
Also, from the N455.354 billion distributable statutory revenue, the federal government was given N175.690 billion, the states got N89.113 billion, the local governments had N68.702 billion, and the benefiting states received N121.849 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.
In addition, from the N15.046 billion EMTL revenue, FAAC shared N2.257 billion to the federal government, disbursed N7.523 billion to the states and transferred N5.266 billion to the local councils.
Further, from the N671.392 billion Exchange Difference earnings, it gave central government N316.054 billion, the states N160.306 billion, the local government areas N123.590 billion, and the oil-producing states N71.442 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.65 per cent gain on Friday, December 13, boosted by three equities admitted on the trading platform.
On the last trading session of the week, Okitipupa Plc appreciated by N2.70 to settle at N29.74 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N27.04 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc added N2.49 to end the session at N42.85 per unit compared with the previous day’s N40.36 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 50 Kobo to close at N16.30 per share, in contrast to the preceding session’s N15.80 per share.
Consequently, the market capitalisation added N6.89 billion to settle at N1.062 trillion compared with the preceding day’s N1.055 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) gained 19.66 points to wrap the session at 3,032.16 points compared with 3,012.50 points recorded in the previous session.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors increased by 171.6 per cent to 1.2 million units from the 447,905 units recorded a day earlier, but the value of shares traded by the market participants declined by 19.3 per cent to N2.4 million from the N3.02 million achieved a day earlier, and the number of deals went down by 14.3 per cent to 18 deals from 21 deals.
At the close of business, Geo-Fluids Plc was the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 1.7 billion units worth N3.9 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with the sale of 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.3 million units sold for N5.3 million.
In the same vein, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 108.7 million units for N89.2 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with a turnover of 297.3 million units worth N5.3 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira appreciated further against the United States Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by N1.50 or 0.09 per cent to close at N1,533.00/$1 on Friday, December 13 versus the N1,534.50/$1 it was transacted on Thursday.
The local currency has continued to benefit from the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) this month.
The implementation of the forex system comes with diverse implications for all segments of the financial markets that deal with FX, including the rebound in the value of the Naira across markets.
The system instantly reflects data on all FX transactions conducted in the interbank market and approved by the CBN.
Market analysts say the publication of real-time prices and buy-sell orders data from this system has lent support to the Naira in the official market and tackled speculation.
In the official market yesterday, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling by N12.58 to wrap the session at N1,942.19/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,954.77/£1 and against the Euro, it gained N2.44 to close at N1,612.85/€1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,610.41/€1.
At the black market, the Nigerian Naira appreciated against the greenback on Friday by N30 to sell for N1,650/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N1,680/$1.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was largely positive as investors banked on recent signals, including fresh support from US President-elect, Mr Donald Trump, as well as interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank (ECB).
Ripple (XRP) added 7.3 per cent to sell at $2.49, Binance Coin (BNB) rose by 3.5 per cent to $728.28, Cardano (ADA) expanded by 2.4 per cent to trade at $1.11, Litecoin (LTC) increased by 2.3 per cent to $122.56, Bitcoin (BTC) gained 1.9 per cent to settle at $101,766.17, Dogecoin (DOGE) jumped by 1.2 per cent to $0.4064, Solana (SOL) soared by 0.7 per cent to $226.15 and Ethereum (ETH) advanced by 0.6 per cent to $3,925.35, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
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