Economy
Nigeria, UK Signs Landmark ETIP to Boost £7bn Trade, Investment
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria on Tuesday signed the Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership (ETIP) with the United Kingdom (UK) to boost trade and investment between the two countries and unlock new opportunities for businesses in both countries.
The UK Secretary of State, Ms Kemi Badenoch signed the ETIP alongside her Nigerian counterpart, the Minister of Trade and Investment, Mrs Doris Nkiruka Uzoka-Anite, in Abuja.
The ETIP is the first the UK has signed with an African country and is designed to grow the UK and Nigeria’s already thriving trading relationship, which totalled £7 billion in the year to September 2023.
This arrangement will pave the way for opportunities in sectors crucial to both economies such as finance and legal services as well as foster new collaborations in innovative areas like the creative industry.
The visit by the Secretary of State comes a week ahead of a UK Government-led fashion and beauty trade delegation to Nigeria.
The ETIP also initiates further collaboration on the UK’s ambitious Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS), launched last year which puts in place simpler and more generous trading terms for Nigeria and 36 other African countries.
Nigeria is a major beneficiary of changes introduced by the DCTS and will see tariff reductions on over 3000 products, meaning that 99 per cent of existing Nigerian exports to the UK by value will be duty-free.
Tariffs have been removed on Nigerian goods that promote value addition in important non-oil export sectors such as cocoa butter and paste, sesame oil, and clothing and apparel.
These changes will boost trade with the UK and support the Federal Government of Nigeria’s wider trade policy priorities.
Speaking on the partnership, Ms Badenoch said, “The UK and Nigeria are vital partners, with longstanding historical and economic ties. UK businesses are already seeing huge success in Nigeria – one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
“I’m delighted to be here to sign our new enhanced partnership which will allow UK firms to export their world-class goods and services more easily and expand their footprint in Nigeria.”
On her part, Mrs Uzoka-Anite added, “The UK is one of our long-standing strategic partners with whom we share strong ties, and it gladdens me that this relationship is set to deepen as we sign the Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership.
“This partnership will see Nigeria-UK relations move beyond one of shared history and strong ties to one of shared economic prosperity. From increasing market access and supporting our vibrant businesses to creating more jobs and accelerating greater investments in sectors of mutual interests.”
The ETIP will help to build on the significant progress already made in resolving market access barriers in the education and financial sectors, which have led to a more favourable trading environment for UK and Nigerian businesses.
In addition, through this partnership, there is an opportunity to leverage UK and international investment from the City of London, which is home to the top financial and professional services.
TheCityUK International Managing Director, Ms Nicola Watkinson said Nigeria is an important growth market for the UK-based financial and related professional services industry, adding that “TheCityUK welcomes the signing of the new ETIP.
“We look forward to continuing our engagement through the working groups to increase market access and remove regulatory frictions.”
During the visit, Minister Badenoch will also hold a groundbreaking ceremony at Abuja’s first industrial park built by UK-Turkish construction firm Zeberced Ltd to open its support services areas at the site.
The UK government has been supporting the firm in several areas. The $144 million industrial park is set to create 620 direct jobs and 1,650 indirect jobs and provide a base for major firms to access central and northern Nigeria.
The UK trade minister will, in addition, witness the signing of a landmark energy agreement between UK-based energy firm Konexa and Nigerian power generation company North South Power (NSP).
The agreement will enable Konexa to supply Nigerian Breweries PLC with 100 per cent renewable power, promote sustainable development and clean energy adoption, and lead to infrastructure investments of over £14 million.
Speaking on this, Konexa CEO, Mr Pradeep Pursnani said, “This is a very important milestone for Konexa, North South Power, Nigerian Breweries, and all our investment partners. Over the last few years, Konexa has been working on a disruptive model that matches customer energy demand with renewable energy supply.
“We are looking forward to investing more than £120m in renewable energy generation, transmission, distribution, and battery storage solutions to help our customers transition away from the use of fossil fuel.”
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Stanbic IBTC Nominees Limited has been commended for its critical role in the Nigerian capital market, especially for safely keeping non-pension assets.
For the past 30 years, the company has provided custody services in Nigeria, and to celebrate this milestone, it was honoured with a closing gong ceremony at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
The milestone reflects the institution’s longstanding contribution to investor confidence and the continued development of the nation’s capital market.
Welcoming the organisation to Customs Street, the chief executive of NGX, Mr Jude Chiemeka, commended its three decades of custody services, recognising the firm’s role in strengthening investor confidence and enhancing market safety.
He highlighted NGX’s continued investment in technology, which he said has enabled over 2.6 million active retail investors to trade on the platform.
“Technology continues to be at the heart of our strategy,” Mr Chiemeka said, noting that a vibrant and secure marketplace remains essential to investor participation.
In his remarks, the chief executive of Stanbic IBTC Bank, Mr Wole Adeniyi, thanked NGX for its continued partnership, saying, “We are thrilled to be here today, commemorating not just our journey, but also the remarkable progress made by the NGX.”
He noted that the collaboration between the two institutions has continued to drive innovation, product development and thought leadership across the industry.
“We are dedicated to raising standards within the industry as part of Standard Bank Group. Our focus remains driving the growth and development of Nigeria’s capital market. Indeed, Nigeria is our home, and we drive her growth,” he added.
The chief executive of Stanbic IBTC Nominees, Mr Babatunde Majiyagbe, reflected on the evolution of the business from the era of physical share certificates stored in fireproof vaults to today’s fully dematerialised market, where securities are held electronically.
“We started with holding custody of physical certificates, investing in vaults with fire and dust protection, so those certificates could be presented when needed,” Mr Majiyagbe recalled, noting that while the market has evolved significantly, the commitment to service excellence has remained unchanged.
“What has endeared a lot of investors to the market is that they are dealing with a reputable organisation like ours. We are high on good governance, and high on technology, making the process of investment in Nigeria easier,” he said.
Mr Majiyagbe added that Stanbic IBTC Nominees’ role goes beyond just attracting foreign portfolio investment (FPI) and capital.
“For us, it’s not just about FPI; but also about the value we have delivered over 30 years. Stanbic IBTC Nominees continue to be the eyes and ears of foreign and domestic investors in our market,” he stated.
Mr Majiyagbe added that the firm has also supported the development of market rules and safeguards, noting: “We have, over the years, advocated for growth, change, transformation and stability in our capability to provide services to domestic and foreign portfolio investors continuously.”
The deputy chief executive of Stanbic IBTC Bank and Chairman of Stanbic IBTC Nominees, Mrs Bunmi Dayo-Olagunju, said the next phase of growth will build on the institution’s legacy of trust.
“For 30 years, we’ve delivered growth, security, and client confidence. That’s why investors have stayed with us and why new business keeps coming.
“Our target for this new phase of growth is simple: build on that trust and ride the acceleration in Nigeria’s economic activity.
“With custody, settlement, capital raise, and advisory integrated on one platform, we’re not just a custodian. We’re an infrastructure. We look forward to building on that trust for generations to come, serving both local and international clients. Hopefully, we’ll have another 100 years of maintaining that trust with local and international markets,” Mrs Dayo-Olagunju said.
By Dipo Olowookere
The positive market breadth index recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited could not save it from further claws of the bears on Friday.
The major performance indicators, the All-Share Index (ASI) and the market capitalisation, depreciated by 0.03 per cent and 0.01 per cent, respectively.
The ASI was down by 78.58 points to 245,283.68 points from the previous day’s 245,362.26 points, and the market capitalisation receded by N14 billion to N158.326 trillion from Thursday’s N158.340 trillion.
Business Post reports that market participants traded 943.0 million equities valued at N46.7 billion in 55,480 deals compared with the 2.1 billion equities worth N230.8 billion transacted in 48,231 deals a day earlier.
This implied that the trading volume shrank by 55.10 per cent, the trading value reduced by 79.77 per cent, and the number of deals surged by 15.03 per cent.
An analysis of the sectoral performance showed that the consumer goods space crashed by 0.60 per cent and the energy index went down by 0.09 per cent.
However, the banking sector improved by 1.90 per cent, the insurance counter expanded by 0.75 per cent, and the industrial goods segment soared by 0.10 per cent.
There were 33 appreciating stocks and 29 depreciating stocks during the last trading session of the week and month of July, indicating bullish investor sentiment despite the poor outcome.
CAP lost 9.97 per cent to trade at N128.25, Veritas Kapital depreciated by 9.49 per cent to N1.43, Vitafoam Nigeria slipped by 7.70 per cent to N179.80, The Initiates dipped by 6.67 per cent to N28.00, and NAHCO crashed by 6.63 per cent to N155.00.
Conversely, Eterna gained 10.00 per cent to sell for N33.00, Consolidated Hallmark also grew by 10.00 per cent to N8.36, McNichols expanded by 9.52 per cent to N5.75, Honeywell Flour increased by 8.96 per cent to N18.25, and First Holdco chalked up 8.00 per cent to quote at N129.55.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange extended its bullish run on Friday, July 31, by 0.99 per cent.
This raised the NASD Security Index (NSI) by 43.54 points to 4,431.71 points from 4,388.17 points, and lifted the market capitalisation by N26.13 billion to N2.659 trillion from N2.633 trillion.
The growth came amid a significant decline in the activity level, as the volume of securities decreased by 73.0 per cent to 690,990 units from 2.6 million units, the value of securities slid by 15.0 per cent to N75.0 million from the preceding session’s N88.3 million, and the number of deals contracted by 31.6 per cent to 26 deals from the 38 deals recorded a day earlier.
The most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis remained Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc, with a turnover of 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 76.6 million units exchanged for N5.5 billion.
The most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis was also GNI Plc, with the sale of 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units traded for N415.7 million.
Investor sentiment was bullish yesterday after a positive market breadth index triggered by five price gainers and two price losers, led by 11 Plc, which gave up N14.99 to close at N225.01 per share versus the previous day’s N240.00 per share, and MRS Oil Plc, which shed N14.55 to settle at N132.00 per unit versus N146.55 per unit.
However, Nipco Plc gained N41.50 to sell at N456.50 per share compared with the preceding session’s N415.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc appreciated by N12.93 to N147.93 per unit from N135.00 per unit, Nitrox Industrial Gases Plc improved by N1.00 to N20.00 per share from N19.00 per share, CSCS Plc soared by 54 Kobo to N102.00 per unit from N101.46 per unit, and Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc jumped by 1 Kobo to 50 Kobo per share from 49 Kobo per share.
