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