Economy
Nigeria Should Focus on Wealth Creation, Not Poverty Alleviation—Akinwuntan
By Dipo Olowookere
Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria, has been advised to pay more attention to wealth creation rather than poverty alleviation because the former has the potential of making the country achieve its economic goals.
The government of President Muhammadu Buhari is planning to lift at least 100 million Nigerians from poverty in the next 10 years, though he only has less than four years to constitutionally remain in office.
But the focus must begin to move away from poverty alleviation because of the huge human capital and natural resources in the country, Mr Patrick Akinwuntan, the Managing Director of Ecobank Nigeria has suggested.
The banker made this suggestion at the recent Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) 13th Annual Bankers Conference held in Abuja.
“Nigeria needs to move to the level of wealth creation, not just talking of poverty alleviation because we have the human capital and natural resources,” Mr Akinwuntan, who was the Chairman of the CIBN Consultative Committee for the event, said.
“We must, therefore, leverage technology, access to finance to be able to support the developing economy,” he added.
He noted that banks need to support those who need to grow their businesses, support those who need to invest in productive capacity.
The banker reiterated that banks are already deploying digital platforms to take financial services to the underbanked, expressing the desire of lenders to put Nigeria at the forefront of economic development in Africa.
Also speaking at the conference, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, charged banks to make every efforts to boost the nation’s economy by supporting critical sectors.
According to him, the banking sector “should consider ways to increase its loans to the agriculture sector from 4 per cent to 10 per cent by 2024.”
He urged financial institutions to explore “opportunities in the agriculture sector” especially in the areas of the agriculture value chains like storage centres, transport logistics and technology platforms that can enable rural farmers to sell their produce directly to the markets.”
The CBN chief said “agricultural sector also offers significant opportunity for the nation to earn foreign exchange through the exports of processed agricultural products.
“With declining foreign exchange earnings from crude oil, banks should consider supporting agro-processing companies that are export-oriented.
“These measures would help to improve the productivity of farmers, increase our foreign exchange earnings, reduce post-harvest losses while supporting the growth of other sectors of our economy such as manufacturing, and transportation.”
He said the COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on the global supply chains and food supply, saying if “measures had not been taken earlier to improve cultivation and processing of staple crops in Nigeria prior to the onset of the pandemic, we would have had to deal with a major food crisis in the country.”
“The banking sector, therefore, has a significant role to play as a facilitator of growth through its intermediation function,” Mr Emefiele declared.
On his part, the President/Chairman of Council, CIBN, Mr Bayo Olugbemi, noted that “given the recent disruption caused by the pandemic, the role of banks has become more important now than ever before.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The federal government has been asked by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to suspend the implementation of the controversial tax laws.
In a reaction to the tax reform acts, the president of the group, Mr Afam Osigwe (SAN), the suspension of the laws would allow for a proper investigation into allegations of alterations in the gazetted and harmonised copies.
A member of the House of Representatives, Mr Abdussamad Dasuki, alleged that some parts of the laws passed by the parliament were different from the gazetted copy.
To address the issues raised, the NBA said it is “imperative that a comprehensive, open, and transparent investigation be conducted to clarify the circumstances surrounding the enactment of the laws and to restore public confidence in the legislative process.”
“Until these issues are fully examined and resolved, all plans for the implementation of the Tax Reform Acts should be immediately suspended,” the association declared.
It noted that the controversies “raise grave concerns about the integrity, transparency, and credibility of Nigeria’s legislative process.”
“These developments strike at the very heart of constitutional governance and call into question the procedural sanctity that must attend lawmaking in a democratic society,” it noted.
“Legal and policy uncertainty of this magnitude has far-reaching consequences. It unsettles the business environment, erodes investor confidence, and creates unpredictability for individuals, businesses, and institutions required to comply with the law. Such uncertainty is inimical to economic stability and should have no place in a system governed by the rule of law.
“Nigeria’s constitutional democracy demands that laws, especially those with profound economic and social implications, emerge from processes that are transparent, accountable, and beyond reproach. Anything short of this undermines public trust and weakens the foundation upon which lawful governance rests.
“We therefore call on all relevant authorities to act swiftly and responsibly in addressing this controversy, in the overriding interest of constitutional order, economic stability, and the preservation of the rule of law,” the organisation stated.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Demand for hot stocks, including MRS Oil Plc, buoyed the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.52 per cent on Tuesday, December 23.
The energy company was one of the three price gainers for the session as it chalked up N19.69 to sell at N216.59 per share versus the previous day’s value of N196.90 per share.
Further, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc gained N2.95 to close at N56.75 per unit versus N53.80 per unit and Golden Capital Plc appreciated by 84 Kobo to N9.29 per share from Monday’s N8.45 per share.
Consequently, the market capitalisation went up by N10.95 billion to N2.125 trillion from N2.125 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) rose by 18.31 points to 3,570.37 points from 3,552.06 points.
Yesterday, the NASD bourse recorded a price loser, the Central Securities Clearing System Plc (CSCS), which gave up 17 Kobo to close at N33.70 per unit against the previous trading value of N33.87 per unit.
The volume of securities traded at the session went down by 97.6 per cent to 297,902 units from the previous day’s 12.6 million units, the value of securities decreased by 98.5 per cent to N10.5 million from N713.6 million, and the number of deals remained flat at 32 deals.
By value, Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc ended as the most actively traded stock on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units exchanged for N16.4 billion. This was followed by Okitipupa Plc, which traded 178.9 million units valued at N9.5 billion, and MRS Oil Plc with 36.1 million units worth N4.9 billion.
In terms of volume, also on a year-to-date basis, InfraCredit Plc led the chart with a turnover of 5.8 billion units traded for N16.4 billion. Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc ranked second with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.7 million, while Impresit Bakolori Plc followed with the sale of 536.9 million units valued at N524.9 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
It was another bullish trading session for the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited as it closed higher by 0.59 per cent on Tuesday.
The market further rallied due to continued interest in large and mid-cap stocks on the exchange by investors rebalancing their portfolios for the year-end.
Yesterday, Aluminium Extrusion sustained its upward trajectory after it further appreciated by 9.96 per cent to N14.90, as Austin Laz gained 9.81 per cent to close at N2.91, Custodian Investment improved by 9.69 per cent to N38.50, and First Holdco soared by 9.35 per cent to N50.30.
Conversely, Royal Exchange declined by 7.22 per cent to N1.80, Champion Breweries shrank by 6.57 per cent to N15.65, NASCON lost 5.36 per cent to trade at N105.05, Sovereign Trust Insurance depreciated by 5.28 per cent to N3.77, and Japaul went down by 4.51 per cent to N2.33.
At the close of business, 29 shares ended on the gainers’ table and 27 shares finished on the losers’ log, representing a positive market breadth index and bullish investor sentiment.
This raised the All-Share Index (ASI) by 895.06 points to 153,354.13 points from 152,459.07 points and lifted the market capitalisation by N579 billion to N97.772 trillion from the previous day’s N97.193 trillion.
VFD Group finished the day as the busiest stock after it recorded a turnover of 192.0 million units worth N2.1 billion, GTCO exchanged 63.5 million units valued at N5.6 billion, Access Holdings traded 49.8 million units for N1.0 billion, First Holdco sold 45.8 million units valued at N2.3 billion, and Secure Electronic Technology transacted 38.3 million units worth N28.4 million.
In all, market participants bought and sold 677.4 million units valued at N20.8 billion in 27,589 deals compared with the 451.5 million units worth N13.0 billion traded in 33,327 deals on Monday, showing an improvement in the trading volume and value by 50.03 per cent and 60.00 per cent apiece, and a shortfall in the number of deals by 17.22 per cent.
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