Economy
Nigerdock Attracts More Investments, Deepens Nigeria-UK Ties
By Dipo Olowookere
The new British Deputy High Commissioner for Lagos, Ms Laure Beaufils, visited Snake Island Integrated Free Zone (SIIFZ) to see first-hand the significant potential to further strengthen the bilateral relationship between the United Kingdom and Nigeria, by enabling UK businesses to partner with Jagal Energy and Nigerdock and to promote exports to, and investment in, Nigeria.
Ms Beaufils made this known during her visit to the company’s extensive facility, located at Snake Island Integrated Free Zone in Lagos, as part of her familiarization of the oil and gas industry in her new role to explore opportunities for UK firms to do business in Nigeria. To date, Jagal has invested over $550m at the Free Zone and continues to expand to drive greater local content capability, working with the UK and many others.
Speaking during the visit, the British Deputy High Commissioner lauded the significant contributions of Jagal Energy and Nigerdock to the growth of Nigeria’s energy sector by stating:
“The scale of investment within Nigerdock here is much more than I had anticipated. The facility is very large and there is so much strategic investment in terms of materials and facilities which provides massive opportunities for companies working in oil and gas supply chain to partner with Nigerdock and Jagal Energy.
“There is a lot more I know that can be done here and I have been incredibly impressed by what is available here.
“We all know that oil and gas industry contributes hugely to Nigeria’s export revenue, so it is fundamental that this industry continues to be effective and efficient. Stakeholders like Jagal Energy are key players in the field. And they are at the heart of growth, job and economic development in Nigeria,” she noted.
The British Deputy High Commission will explore opportunities for UK businesses to partner with Nigerdock as this can further strengthen the socio-economic and political ties between the two countries.
She was received and conducted on a tour by a team of top executives of Jagal and Nigerdock.
While presenting an overview of Jagal Energy to the delegation, the Group MD Chris Bennett explained that Jagal has been at the forefront in providing world class services in Nigeria’s energy sector for many years, driven by its core values of leadership, excellence, accountability and dynamism.
Nigerdock is a wholly owned Nigerian company with diverse capabilities that support highly complex oil and gas projects, during all stages of an asset lifecycle.
The company’s facility is an integrated hub that offers services to broad range of leading global IOC’s and National clients across the energy sector.
The Group MD also stated that at the very core of these major oil and gas deliveries is Nigerdock’s committed passion for developing a highly skilled indigenous workforce in-country in line with local content development standards.
Nigerdock is also the largest shipyard facility in West Africa and continues to strive to achieve its vision to maximize its stakeholder returns, thus fostering National economic development, enhance the capabilities and most importantly the competencies of its people, and build a sustainable and efficient skills base. In terms of capacity building in Nigeria, Nigerdock provides the highest quality needs-based training and development.
This track record is delivered through the Nigerdock Training and Development Academy, a fully-equipped facility which has trained over 6,000 personnel in a range of skills including project management, quality, occupational health and safety, welding, fitting, painting and coating, machining, lifting and rigging as well as scaffolding etc.
Even before the enactment of the NOGICD Act, Nigerdock was at the forefront of Nigerian content development and has come to be known across the industry as the Champion of Nigerian Content. We have attained this recognition not only by consistent investment in our people, infrastructure, equipment and facilities, but also by our dedication to lead the market in building National capacity in Nigeria,” Chris Bennett explained.
The British Deputy High Commission delegation was given an extensive tour of the facility including viewing where Nigerdock are currently preparing to load out, on schedule, to budget the second phase of some 6,500 tonnes of fabricated FPSO structures; the single largest fabrication location in-country for the Egina project. The Egina project involvement, a flagship project for Total, attests to Nigerdock’s massive contributions to local content development in Nigeria.
Nigerdock also added that several global blue-chip businesses and smaller service providers have become investment Partners with Jagal and Nigerdock, due to Jagal Energy’s track record of successful Partnering relationships and bespoke Partnership methods and agreements.
The delegation commended Nigerdock for its commitment to Nigeria and the energy services sector. Over the years, Nigerdock has continuously demonstrated its project execution expertise by taking on and delivering complex projects of an ever-increasing scope and complexity; these projects include the Ofon Phase II Project for Total, the Satellite Field Development project and Erha North Projects for ExxonMobil, and the DSO (Meren and Sonam) project for Chevron among others.
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.
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.
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.
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