Economy

NCDMB Intervention Fund Grows 75% to $350m in One Year

Published

4 years ago

20/05/2021

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigerian Content and Development Board (NCDMB) intervention fund has increased by 75 per cent to $350 million in one year.

This was revealed by the Executive Secretary of the board, Mr Simbi Wabote, at the Nigerian Bar Association-Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL) and NCDMB Colloquium on Wednesday.

The NCDMB chief, while delivering his keynote address at the conference titled NOGICD Act: Strides Challenges and Opportunities, said that the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCIF) increased from $200 million to $350 million in the last 12 months.

According to him, the increment came with additional products for working capital and for women in the oil and gas sector.

Mr Wabote also revealed that a forensic audit of the Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF) remittances has been held, leading to recoveries close to $100 million.

He said that the agency had successfully exited appropriation since 2018 and that it intends to maintain its self-funding status through the prudent management of the NCDF entrusted in its care.

Listing some of NCDMB’s achievements since its establishment in 2010, Mr Wabote said the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act has restored hope to the nation’s oil and gas industry as no country can survive under the negative trend of capital flight, loss of jobs and community discontentment.

“Since inception in 2010, the implementation of the act has resulted in 35 per cent of in-country value retention compared to the less than 5 per cent value retention before the NOGICD Act.

“Before the act, we had an annual spend of $20 billion with little or nothing retained in-country. Today, I can confidently say that we spend over $6 billion in-country annually,” Mr Wabote said.

He continued, “We have 2 world-class pipe mills and five impressive pipe coating yards. About 40 per cent of marine vessels used in the oil and gas industry are owned by Nigerians. We have four active dry docking facilities in Port Harcourt, Onne, and Lagos. In cable manufacturing, all cables required in the oil and gas sector are manufactured in-country. Over 50,000 direct jobs have been created on the back of the implementation of the NOGICD Act.

“We have 76 operating companies and over 8,000 oil and gas service companies pulling their weight in the industry. Our indigenous operators are responsible for 15 per cent of our oil production and 60 per cent of our domestic gas supply.”

“In fabrication, today Nigeria can handle fabrication of more than 120,000 tonnes per year. In cable manufacturing, all cables required in the oil and gas sector are manufactured in-country.

“Over 10 million training manhours have been delivered via our human capacity development programs. No surprise that our indigenous workforce was able to sustain oil production at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown,” he said.

Furthermore, he said that NCDMB in the last four years, had delivered on the completion and commissioning of a 17-storey headquarters building complete with a 1,000-seat auditorium and multi-level car park; completion of 10MW power plant at Elebele Bayelsa State for the supply of electricity to its new headquarters building and the oil and gas park in Bayelsa State, completion and commissioning of the 5,000bpd Waltersmith modular refinery; the Egina FPSO which is the largest in the world was integrated into the SHI-MCI yard in Lagos, STEM Education training for 1,500 teachers in Bayelsa and Katsina States; among other achievements.

Mr Wabote implored members of the bar to position themselves towards taking full advantage of the copious opportunities present in the sector, adding that it would play its part in ensuring proper utilisation.

Despite the challenges present in the global business environment, he said the board will continue to make concerted efforts towards tackling them.

Economy

NGX All-Share Index Jumps 0.17%

Published

21 hours ago

18/01/2025

Dipo Olowookere

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.

Economy

NASD OTC Exchange Gains 0.26%

Published

21 hours ago

18/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

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.

Economy

Naira Rallies by 0.06% to N,1547/$1 at NAFEM

Published

22 hours ago

18/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira extended its appreciation against the US Dollar by 0.06 per cent or N89 Kobo on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, January 17, trading at N1,547.58/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,548.47/$1.

Market analysts expect that the Naira will appreciate in the first quarter of the year, backed by continued policy support by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Vestance Nigeria, an agribusiness advisory firm, projects that the exchange rate will trade between N1,650/$1 and N1,750/$1 this year in its Resilience and Recovery for Agribusiness in 2025 outlook report.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will continue implementing reforms to enhance exchange rate market transparency while maintaining higher interest rates to curb inflationary pressures and attract foreign portfolio management,” it said.

Also, the Nigerian currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling by N20.84 to wrap the session at N1,883.59/£1 versus the preceding day’s N1,904.43/£1 and against the Euro, the Nigerian currency gained N10.45 to settle at N1,590.34/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,600.79/€1.

In the parallel market, the domestic currency appreciated against the greenback by N5 yesterday to sell for N1,675/$1 compared with the N1,675/$1 it was traded a day earlier.

As for the cryptocurrency market, there was profit-taking amid excitement for a new era of crypto-friendly US government mounts ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration next week.

Crypto investors expect a change from Mr Trump who promised on the campaign trail to position the US as a leader in the crypto space including creating a national stockpile of Bitcoin, in stark contrast to past years’ regulatory crackdowns and enforcements.

Litecoin (LTC) fell by 9.9 per cent to trade at $124.56, Ripple (XRP) slumped by 6.2 per cent to $3.10, Cardano (ADA) dipped by 4.9 per cent to $1.06, Ethereum (ETH) dropped 3.1 per cent to finish at $3,270.61, Binance Coin (BNB) went down by 2.3 per cent to $698.57 and Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 2.2 per cent to $0.3927.

However, Solana (SOL) rose by 8.8 per cent to end at $235.12, Bitcoin (BTC) expanded by 0.8 per cent to $102,494.03, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) sold flat at $1.00 each.