Economy
NCDMB Meets Stakeholders on Local Content Enforcement
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
In a bid to galvanise collaboration with key stakeholders and ensure broad compliance with the provisions of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has organized a workshop with the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) and Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ).
The Board also held a separate workshop with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and other aviation stakeholders.
The workshop with NEPZA and LFTZ was held in Lagos recently, with the intent to create a modality for effective monitoring of expatriates deployed by oil and gas companies operating in free trade zones.
Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr Simbi Wabote, delivered the keynote address and underscored that Nigerian Content does not encourage Nigerianisation of the industry but promotes the domestication and domiciliation of value adding activities.
According to him, Nigerian Content implementation led to the establishment of two pipe mills in the country, five pipe coating plants, mega fabrication yards, engineering design houses and created over 30,000 direct jobs, with over 6 million training man-hours among other numerous achievements.
He added that the Board’s efforts also made significant impact in the free zones like the establishment of the SHI-MCI yard in LADOL and major fabrication projects executed at the Nigerdock FZE. He underlined that “it is crucial for NCDMB, NEPZA and LFTZ to fashion out a suitable framework for managing expatriate deployment in the free zones to ensure that we achieve the full aspirations of government and enhance capacity utilization of oil and gas facilities within and outside the free zones.”
Mr Wabote affirmed that a framework will be developed to capture the approval process for expatriates deployed by such oil and gas facilities, outline a hitch free process to grant the Board access to free zones in other to conduct statutory performance reviews and assessment visits to oil and gas facilities and outline actions to encourage oil and gas companies to set up free zones.
In his remarks, Managing Director of NEPZA represented by the General Manager, Private Zones, Mr Muazu Mohammed Ruma, commended the Board for the initiative, assuring that NEPZA was ready to collaborate with the Board in the implementation of the Nigerian Content Act.
At a similar workshop with aviation stakeholders, the Board charged them to kick start the process of forming the Aviation Sectorial Working Group, which would operate as a member of the Nigerian Content Consultative Forum (NCCF), so they could address specific issues relating to their sector, especially with respect to capacity development and harnessing of opportunities in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
The group would also utilize the NCCF platform to develop action plans, timelines and strategy that would advance the aviation subsector of the oil and gas industry.
He listed compliance issues in aviation subsector to include expatriates deployment offshore and Nigerianisation of overdue expatriate positions by aviation companies
The Director, Planning, Research and Statistics Division, NCDMB, Mr Patrick Obah, who represented the Executive Secretary, also charged the aviation stakeholders to submit a proposal that would enable the Board to carry out categorization of players in the aviation service sector. Such categorization, he said, would ensure that companies that demonstrate local capacity and Nigerian Content Compliance are given first consideration in oil and gas opportunities.
The Director General of NCAA, represented by the Director General Aviation, Captain Ayodele Sasegbon thanked the Board for seeking to synergize with the aviation sector and promised the support of the agency towards development of the oil and gas industry. Major aviation companies participated in the workshop and they included Bristow Helicopters, Caverton Helicopters, Atlantic Aviation, Flying Doctors, Aero contractors, Heliserve, Taucan Aviation, Tropical Artics Logistics, Arik Air, Glory Airline Services and Anap Jets.
Economy
Afriland Properties Lifts NASD OTC Securities Exchange by 0.04%
By Adedapo Adesanya
Afriland Properties Plc helped the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange record a 0.04 per cent gain on Tuesday, December 10 as the share price of the property investment rose by 34 Kobo to N16.94 per unit from the preceding day’s N16.60 per unit.
As a result of this, the market capitalisation of the bourse went up by N380 million to remain relatively unchanged at N1.056 trillion like the previous trading day.
But the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) closed higher at 3,014.36 points after it recorded an addition of 1.09 points to Monday’s closing value of 3,013.27 points.
The NASD OTC securities exchange recorded a price loser and it was Geo-Fluids Plc, which went down by 2 Kobo to close at N3.93 per share, in contrast to the preceding day’s N3.95 per share.
During the trading session, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors increased by 95.8 per cent to 2.4 million units from the 1.2 million securities traded in the preceding session.
However, the value of shares traded yesterday slumped by 3.7 per cent to N4.9 million from the N5.07 million recorded a day earlier, as the number of deals surged by 27.3 per cent to 14 deals from 11 deals.
Geo-Fluids Plc remained the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 1.7 billion units sold for N3.9 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.5 million units worth N5.3 million.
Also, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 108.7 million units worth N89.2 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.5 million units sold for N5.3 billion.
Economy
Naira Trades N1,542/$1 as FX Speculators Dump Dollars in Panic
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira continued to appreciate on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), gaining 0.7 per cent or N10.23 on Tuesday, December 10 to trade at N1,542.27/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,552.50/$1.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-backed Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) platform introduced to tackle speculation and improve transparency in Nigeria’s FX market has been attributed as the source of the Naira’s appreciation.
Speculators holding foreign currencies, particularly the US Dollar, have seen the value of their money drastically drop due to the appreciation of the local currency. This is forcing them to dump greenback into the system and take the domestic currency alternative- a move that has seen available FX increase.
Equally, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the trading day by N6.81 to sell for N1,955.12/£1 compared with Monday’s closing price of N1,961.93/£1 and against the Euro, it gained N10.84 to close at N1,613.00/€1, in contrast to the previous day’s rate of N1,623.84/€1.
Data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange showed that the value of forex transactions significantly increased yesterday by $228.85 million or 257.2 per cent to $401.17 million from the preceding session’s $112.32 million.
However, in the parallel market, the Nigerian currency weakened against the US Dollar on Tuesday by N5 to settle at N1,625/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,620/$1.
In the cryptocurrency market, Dogecoin (DOGE) lost 4.8 per cent to sell at $0.39116, Litecoin (LTC) depreciated by 3.3 per cent to trade at $110.25, Binance Coin (BNB) went south by 2.3 per cent to $681.44, Ethereum (ETH) dropped 1.6 per cent to finish at $3,671.08, and Cardano (ADA) slid by 0.5 per cent to $0.8837
Conversely, Ripple (XRP) jumped by 5.4 per cent to $2.23 amid a continued shift for the coin with its parent company seeing the benefits of a crypto-friendly regulatory environment for US-based companies.
XRP is closely related to Ripple Labs, a high-profile payments company targeted by the SEC in 2020 on allegations of selling the token as a security to U.S. investors. Ripple fully cleared a long-drawn court case in 2024.
Further, Solana (SOL) expanded by 0.8 per cent to $219.75, Bitcoin (BTC) grew by 0.4 per cent to $97,446.95, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
Economy
Chinese Demand, Europe, Syria Development Buoy Oil Prices
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices rose on Tuesday, influenced by increasing demand in China, the world’s largest buyer, as well as developments in Europe and Syria, with Brent crude futures closing at $72.19 per barrel after chalking up 5 cents or 0.07 per cent while the US West Texas Intermediate finished at $68.59 a barrel after it gained 22 cents or 0.32 per cent.
China will adopt an “appropriately loose” monetary policy in 2025 as the world’s largest oil importer tries to spur economic growth. This would be the first easing of its stance in 14 years.
Chinese crude imports also grew annually for the first time in seven months, jumping in November on a year-on-year basis.
Speculation about winter demand in Europe also contributed to the rise in prices as the period has been known for high demand.
In Syria, rebels were working to form a government and restore order after the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad, with the country’s banks and oil sector set to resume work on Tuesday.
Although Syria itself is not a major oil producer, it is strategically located and has strong ties with Russia and Iran – two of the world’s largest oil producers.
Market analysts noted that the tensions in the Middle East seem contained, which led market participants to price for potentially low risks of a wider regional spillover leading to significant oil supply disruption.
The market is also looking forward to the US Federal Reserve, which is expected to make a 25 basis point cut to interest rates at the end of its December 17-18 meeting.
This move could improve oil demand in the world’s biggest economy, though traders are waiting to see if this week’s inflation data derails the cut.
Crude oil inventories in the US rose by 499,000 barrels for the week ending November 29, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API). Analysts had expected a draw of 1.30 million barrels.
For the week prior, the API reported a 1.232-million barrel build in crude inventories.
So far this year, crude oil inventories have fallen by roughly 3.4 million barrels since the beginning of the year, according to API data.
Official data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) will be released later on Wednesday.
Also, the market is getting relief from the recent decision of selected members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, OPEC+ to delay the rollback of 2.2 million barrels per day of oil production cuts to April from January. Another 3.6 million barrels per day in output reductions across the OPEC+ group has been extended to the end of 2026 from the end of 2025.
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