Economy
Senate Passes 2020 Budget
By Dipo Olowookere
The 2020 Appropriation Bill presented to a joint session of the National Assembly by President Muhammadu in October 2019 has been passed by the Senate.
The upper legislative chamber of the parliament read the 2020 budget for the third time after it was presented by Senator Barau Jibrin of the Committee on Appropriations on the 2020 Appropriation Bill.
Business Post reports that the lawmakers later passed the bill after the Senate dissolved into the Committee of Supply for the clause by clause consideration of the report.
But before it was passed, the immediate past Senate President, Mr Ike Ekweremadu, thanked the committee and leaders of the parliament. He said, “In looking at this budget there were a lot of constraints and we would have also done better in some areas.
“The first is the exchange rate, the next year budget should also find a way of addressing unemployment. Nigeria has not shown interest in environmental issues and this year has about N9 billion for the whole of environment.
“We need to do something about security and provide for those key sectors and provide a safe atmosphere for people to go about their business. I move that this Bill be fully considered and passed today.”
On her part, former Minister of Aviation, Mrs Stella Oduah, opined that, “This appropriation prioritizes what we are all clamouring for and that is security. If you look at the budget, the security takes a lion share. I want to commend the Committee and urge my colleagues to support this wonderful bill.”
Former Governor of Benue State, Mr Gabriel Suswam, stated that, “I support that we pass this budget today but I want to make an appeal to have an executive session after we pass this budget to address some issues that affect all of us.”
Senator Solomon Adeola, in his contribution, commended Chairman and members of the Appropriations Committee, saying, “The Committee has worked within the parameters to ensure they give a budget that will work for the common man and a budget that will take us to the next level.”
“I want to extend my gratitude and thanks to all my Distinguished colleagues who worked really hard to make sure that this budget sees the light of the day within the time frame that we have set for ourselves.
“I congratulate everyone for their commitment and for the hard work. I want to thank the executive arm of government for the unprecedented urgency that they have presented the budget and we hope that highest preparations will be done towards the 2021 budget,” Mr Yahaya Abdullahi submitted.
“What is important is the immediate execution of this budget. The issue of oversight should be non-negotiable. We should remind the executive that in this 9th Senate we will take the issue of oversight more serious,” Mr Rochas Okorocha, the immediate past Governor of Imo State, said.
After the budget was passed, Senator Bassey Akpan said, “The focus should now shift on pursuing revenue to ensure the implementation of the budget.”
Senate President, Mr Ahmad Lawan, “This could not have been possible without the efforts all of you have put. When we came in, all of us approved our legislative agenda which was to ensure we take back our budget cycle to a cycle that could easily be defined and to something that could easily be bought into.
“Today, we have been able to achieve this. I must give members of the 9th National Assembly the credit. Let me also commend the executive arm of government.
“We pray that the executive is able to implement the budget fully. Once again, I want to congratulate all of us here and I hope we continue to work together as colleagues to ensure the 2020 budget is fully implemented.”
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The federal government, the 36 states of the federation and the 774 local government areas have received N1.727 trillion from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) for December 2024.
The funds were disbursed to the three tiers of government from the revenue generated by the nation in November 2024.
At the December meeting of FAAC held in Abuja, it was stated that the amount distributed comprised distributable statutory revenue of N455.354 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N585.700 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N15.046 billion and Exchange Difference revenue of N671.392 billion.
According to a statement signed on Friday by the Director of Press and Public Relations for FAAC, Mr Bawa Mokwa, the money generated last month was about N3.143 trillion, with N103.307 billion used for cost of collection and N1.312 trillion for transfers, interventions and refunds.
It was disclosed that gross statutory revenue of N1.827 trillion was received compared with the N1.336 trillion recorded a month earlier.
The statement said gross revenue of N628.972 billion was available from VAT versus N668.291 billion in the preceding month.
The organisation stated that last month, oil and gas royalty and CET levies recorded significant increases, while excise duty, VAT, import duty, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), Companies Income Tax (CIT) and EMTL decreased considerably.
As for the sharing, FAAC disclosed that from the N1.727 trillion, the central government got N581.856 billion, the states received N549.792 billion, the councils took N402.553 billion, while the benefiting states got N193.291 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.
From the N585.700 billion VAT earnings, the national government got N87.855 billion, the states received N292.850 billion and the local councils were given N204.995 billion.
Also, from the N455.354 billion distributable statutory revenue, the federal government was given N175.690 billion, the states got N89.113 billion, the local governments had N68.702 billion, and the benefiting states received N121.849 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.
In addition, from the N15.046 billion EMTL revenue, FAAC shared N2.257 billion to the federal government, disbursed N7.523 billion to the states and transferred N5.266 billion to the local councils.
Further, from the N671.392 billion Exchange Difference earnings, it gave central government N316.054 billion, the states N160.306 billion, the local government areas N123.590 billion, and the oil-producing states N71.442 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.65 per cent gain on Friday, December 13, boosted by three equities admitted on the trading platform.
On the last trading session of the week, Okitipupa Plc appreciated by N2.70 to settle at N29.74 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N27.04 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc added N2.49 to end the session at N42.85 per unit compared with the previous day’s N40.36 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 50 Kobo to close at N16.30 per share, in contrast to the preceding session’s N15.80 per share.
Consequently, the market capitalisation added N6.89 billion to settle at N1.062 trillion compared with the preceding day’s N1.055 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) gained 19.66 points to wrap the session at 3,032.16 points compared with 3,012.50 points recorded in the previous session.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors increased by 171.6 per cent to 1.2 million units from the 447,905 units recorded a day earlier, but the value of shares traded by the market participants declined by 19.3 per cent to N2.4 million from the N3.02 million achieved a day earlier, and the number of deals went down by 14.3 per cent to 18 deals from 21 deals.
At the close of business, Geo-Fluids Plc was the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 1.7 billion units worth N3.9 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with the sale of 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.3 million units sold for N5.3 million.
In the same vein, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 108.7 million units for N89.2 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with a turnover of 297.3 million units worth N5.3 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira appreciated further against the United States Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by N1.50 or 0.09 per cent to close at N1,533.00/$1 on Friday, December 13 versus the N1,534.50/$1 it was transacted on Thursday.
The local currency has continued to benefit from the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) this month.
The implementation of the forex system comes with diverse implications for all segments of the financial markets that deal with FX, including the rebound in the value of the Naira across markets.
The system instantly reflects data on all FX transactions conducted in the interbank market and approved by the CBN.
Market analysts say the publication of real-time prices and buy-sell orders data from this system has lent support to the Naira in the official market and tackled speculation.
In the official market yesterday, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling by N12.58 to wrap the session at N1,942.19/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,954.77/£1 and against the Euro, it gained N2.44 to close at N1,612.85/€1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,610.41/€1.
At the black market, the Nigerian Naira appreciated against the greenback on Friday by N30 to sell for N1,650/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N1,680/$1.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was largely positive as investors banked on recent signals, including fresh support from US President-elect, Mr Donald Trump, as well as interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank (ECB).
Ripple (XRP) added 7.3 per cent to sell at $2.49, Binance Coin (BNB) rose by 3.5 per cent to $728.28, Cardano (ADA) expanded by 2.4 per cent to trade at $1.11, Litecoin (LTC) increased by 2.3 per cent to $122.56, Bitcoin (BTC) gained 1.9 per cent to settle at $101,766.17, Dogecoin (DOGE) jumped by 1.2 per cent to $0.4064, Solana (SOL) soared by 0.7 per cent to $226.15 and Ethereum (ETH) advanced by 0.6 per cent to $3,925.35, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
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