Economy
NNPC to Pick Main Investor for Benue Bio-Fuel Project
By Dipo Olowookere
All is now set for the selection of a core investor for the proposed Bio-fuel plant in Agasha Guma area of Benue State.
Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Maikanti Baru, said the state-owned firm will announce the main investor shortly after concluding a painstaking due diligence exercise.
The Benue plant, after completion, will generate about one million direct and indirect jobs for the populace.
It would also help link the energy sector with the agriculture sector through the commercial production of biofuels from selected energy crops.
Other components of the project include a sugar cane feedstock plantation of about 20,000 hectares; a cane mill and raw/refined sugar plant capable of producing 126,000 tonnes annually as well as a fuel-ethanol processing plant with production capacity of 84 million litres annually.
The bio-fuels projects will also help to establish the Bio-gas cogeneration power plant which will generate 64 MW; a carbon dioxide recovery and bottling plant that will produce 2, 000 tonnes annually as well as an animal feed plant that will produce 63, 000 tons annually.
Speaking at the end of a follow-up meeting with a Benue State delegation led by Deputy Governor, Engr. Benson Abounu, Mr Baru, who was represented by the Chief Operating Officer in Charge of Ventures Directorate, Dr Babatunde Adeniran, explained that the core investor would provide 70 percent of the required funding for the project, while Benue State government and the NNPC would take up the balance equity contribution.
Commending NNPC on the strides so far recorded, Engr. Abounu said that Benue State was offering the 20,000 hectares of irrigable land space along the bank of the river Benue as its equity contribution to the project in addition to a yet to be specified tranche of funds to shore up its stake to the level of directorship in the yet to be constituted board.
The Benue State deputy governor also assured that the state had since taken concrete measures to sensitize the host communities not only in respect of the bio-fuel project, but also for the ongoing effort by the Corporation for fresh hydrocarbon find in the Benue trough.
In a related development, the Renewable Energy Division of the NNPC is set for a 2-Day Workshop on Climate Action in the Oil and Gas Sector in response to the need for knowledge sharing on the necessary policy actions, plans and strategies to be taken on the subject.
According to Mr Kallamu Abdullahi, the Group General Manager in charge of the RED, the workshop, the 3rd in the series, will bring together policy makers, the executives, industry players, regulators, financiers and other relevant stakeholders to make presentations and stimulate ideas on the various aspects of the discourse.
Minister of Environment, the National Designated Authority (DNA), Chairmen, Senate and House Committees on Environment, representatives of World Bank, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, Civil Society Organizations, Captains of Industry are all expected to grace the occasion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
