Economy
Nigeria Must Take Economic Diversification Serious—Cole
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Federal Government has been advised to be very serious with its economic diversification strategy as it would do the nation a greater good.
Executive Director and co-founder of Sahara Group, Mr Tonye Cole, gave this charge ahead of the Africa CEO Forum, which commences on Monday, March 26, 2018, in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
Mr Cole hopes to use the occasion to draw global attention to the need for diversification and collaboration in the quest for sustaining Nigeria’s economic growth.
The Africa CEO Forum is an annual gathering of the influential African and international CEOs, bankers and investors united by the mission of shaping an effective and sustainable course for Africa’s corporate agenda. It has enlisted over 3000 participating companies since its maiden event was staged and attracts over a thousand participants over its two day run.
The Sahara Group boss will join a panel discussion on ‘The New Nigerian Economy,’ which is expected to focus on some of the milestones achieved by the oil-rich nation as well as the recurring challenges associated with 50 years of oil wealth dependency.
The ‘New Nigerian Economy’ panel session holds on Tuesday, March 27, 2018 and will be moderated by Nicholas Norbrook-Managing Director of The Africa Report. Other speakers include Kayode Fayemi, Nigerian Minister of Mines and Steel Development and Akin Dawodu-CEO, Citi Nigeria.
Speaking ahead of the event, Mr Cole said, “The architecture for diversification in any sector must include a design for diversification and production in volumes that satisfy domestic and international buyer appetite. We still do not have a solid blueprint for this. What we have is a strong opportunity to repurpose and reposition Nigeria as a globally recognized economic powerhouse.”
The Nigerian government has been very vocal about its ambitions to move away from petroleum dependency although oil still accounts for over 90% of the country’s exports. But the medium-long term outlook is promising due to the new crop of talent and capital injections in the finance, technology, agriculture and entertainment sectors.
“If we are going to sustain the momentum, the political class should end its suspicion of the private sector players and instead seek opportunities for developing shared values and interests. We need continuing collaboration between the government and business community to achieve sustained economic growth,” Mr Cole added.
He listed a number of factors which bode well for diversification not just in Nigeria but Africa at large including, economic reforms, dynamic and youthful entrepreneurial spirit and the sheer size of the population.
“We are a nation of people blessed with creative energy and we are beginning to rank with the world’s most promising and talked about stars in the culinary, music, fashion, cinematic and literary worlds,” the businessman said.
Nigerian music and film are generally considered to be its greatest export to the rest of the continent and possibly the most inelastic in terms of consumer demand.
Concluding on a cautionary note, Mr Cole emphasised that, “A strong eco-system which enables the growth of these sectors is sorely needed. Nigeria needs to be focused on steering the economy towards much greater diversification. It will be most unfortunate if we allow our progress to be impeded by the distractions that will inevitably come with the 2019 presidential election cycle.”
By Dipo Olowookere
The bears resurfaced at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Wednesday, pulling it down by 0.10 per cent after investors offloaded shares of MTN Nigeria, Zenith Bank, Dangote Sugar, Honeywell Flour and others.
Customs Street ended in red despite a strong investor sentiment as data showed the market breadth was positive after recording 31 price gainers and 18 price losers.
The heaviest price laggard was UH REIT, which shed 9.93 per cent to close at N51.25, ABC Transport crashed by 9.80 per cent to N1.38, Universal Insurance depreciated by 8.33 per cent to 55 Kobo, DAAR Communications lost 6.45 per cent to trade at 58 Kobo, and Champion Breweries retreated by 5.00 per cent to N3.80.
On the flip side, Mutual Benefits rose by 10.00 per cent to 88 Kobo, Royal Exchange soared by 9.88 per cent to 89 Kobo, NEM Insurance appreciated by 9.84 per cent to N13.40, Lasaco Assurance jumped by 9.56 per cent to N2.75, and eTranzact gained 9.52 per cent to settle at N5.75.
Business Post reports that the sectorial performance of the bourse encouraging despite the loss suffered by the NGX, as the insurance sector gained 2.64 per cent, the consumer goods index expanded by 0.35 per cent, the banking space increased by 0.13 per cent, and the energy counter advanced by 0.03 per cent, while the industrial goods and commodity sectors closed flat.
But when trading activities ended for the session, the All-Share Index (ASI) tumbled by 107.29 points to 105,485.99 points from 105,593.28 points and the market capitalisation contracted by N67 billion to N66.148 trillion from N66.215 trillion.
Yesterday’s activity chart was robust due to a significant transaction carried out in Lafarge Africa with the sale of 4.5 billion shares for N330.2 billion, closing as the most active.
Sovereign Trust Insurance traded 607.1 million equities valued at N607.1 million, Cutix exchanged 358.3 million stocks worth N860.0 million, Fidelity Bank transacted 61.9 million shares valued at N1.2 billion, and Access Holdings exchanged 43.8 million stocks for N973.8 million.
In all, investors bought and sold 5.8 billion equities valued at N342.6 billion in 10,908 deals at midweek compared with the 349.3 million equities worth N15.1 billion transacted in 12,450 deals on Tuesday, indicating a decline in the number of deals by 12.39 per cent, and a surge in the trading volume and value by 1,548.98 per cent and 2,168.87 per cent, respectively.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Trans Niger oil pipeline has returned to normal operations after it was fully restored following a blast that ruptured the structure last week in Rivers State.
This was disclosed by Renaissance spokesperson, Mr Tony Okonedo, on Tuesday.
The Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP), with a capacity of around 450,000 barrels per day, is one of two conduits that export Bonny Light crude from Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer.
Oil output through the TNP was rerouted to an alternative line after blasts ruptured the main link on March 19, according to Nigerian oil consortium Renaissance Group, which now owns Shell’s former onshore subsidiary that operates the pipeline.
Last week, the Trans-Niger Pipeline, which is one of Nigeria’s biggest pipelines and crucial for oil transportation in the Niger Delta, one of the country’s biggest sources of oil, exploded.
It carries the 450,000 barrels’ worth of oil per day mostly to the Bonny Terminal in the federal state of Rivers.
Although the cause of the explosion is unknown at this time, local media suggested it could be related to threats by militant groups to damage oil production facilities.
Later that evening, President Bola Tinubu, during a broadcast, declared a state of emergency in the south-south state.
He also removed the Governor of the state, Mr Similanya Fubara and his deputy, Mrs Ngozi Odu, and replaced them with a sole administrator.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Dangote Refinery reportedly issued a tender on Tuesday to sell 128,000 metric tons of residual fuel oil in April 2025.
Reuters reported that this is according to a summary of the tender document.
The 650,000 barrel per day Dangote refinery will close the tender today — Wednesday, March 26 by 1 pm (Nigerian time)— as it seeks buyers for 88,000 tons of low sulphur straight run fuel oil and 40,000 tons of slurry oil for loading on April 10-12, the summary showed.
Straight run fuel oil is a feedstock processed through secondary refining units and turned into products like petrol and diesel.
Meanwhile, industry monitor firm, IIR noted that Dangote will shut its current 204,000 barrels per day petrol producing unit for 30 days for maintenance tentatively expected to start on June 1.
Dangote’s fuel oil exports averaged 75,000 barrels per day over the period from March to August 2024, but dropped to 20,000 barrels per day from September, according to shipping data analytics firm Kpler, when its petrol making residue fluidized catalytic cracking unit started production.
The refinery has been buying feedstock from across the world— including from the US, Angola, and Algeria— to add to its domestic deliveries as it looks to meet its full capacity target by end of the month.
In February, Mr Edwin Devakumar, vice-president of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), said the refinery could begin operating at full capacity in 30 days.
The Lagos-based oil facility received above 24 million barrels of Nigerian supply in October and November last year.
The major shareholder in the structure and chairman, Mr Aliko Dangote assured Nigerians that his refinery has over N600 billion worth of premium motor spirit (PMS) in storage that can sufficiently meet Nigeria’s needs.
The buying spree comes as the Naira-for-crude deal with the Dangote Refinery and other local refineries was suspended by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
Nigeria’s decision to cancel the Naira-for-crude deal with the refinery has since created panic in the hearts of marketers and consumers alike.
The 650, 000 barrels per day refinery has also suspended selling petrol in Naira to marketers.
It lamented that there was a mismatch between its sales proceeds and its crude oil purchase obligations, which it said are currently denominated in US Dollars.
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