Economy

Senate Rejects Cement Liberalisation, Seeks Incentives for Local Producers

Published

4 years ago

21/04/2021

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Senate has declined to advise the federal government to liberalise its current policies on cement production but rather called for more industrial incentives and industrial protections to boost production, reduce price and encourage more valuable producers in the country.

Rather than calling on the central government to lift restrictions placed on licenses, the upper chamber has called on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to offer concessionary loans and larger tax incentives for local players to enter into the cement industry.

The Senate also rejected a call to set up a committee to investigate anti-competitive practices by local cement producers; direct the cement industries in Nigeria to increase their production, and reduce the price of the commodity.

These followed a motion titled Need for liberalization of cement policy in Nigeria sponsored by Senator Ashiru Oyelola and co-sponsored by Senator Bima Enagi, Senator Oriolowo, Adelere, Senator Samuel Egwu, Senator Gaya Kabiru and Senator Nnachi Michael.

In the motion, the lawmakers noted that cement is considered of strategic importance to the development of infrastructures such as roads, bridges, drainages as well as in the construction of residential and public buildings.

The Senate argued that “cement is one of the few building materials in which Nigeria is self-sufficient. As of 2018, the installed capacity of cement producers was about 47.8 million metric tonnes (MMT) which is far above the estimated (2018) consumption of about 20.7 MMT. Yet, the prices of cement in Nigeria (N380) is about 240 per cent higher than the global average.”

It further said it was “cognizant that cement takes a large share of domestic expenditure, and the price of such commodity significantly impacts the government’s ability to provide much-needed infrastructural works required for the growth of our economy.”

The senate noted that the recent increase in the price of cement from N2,600 – N3,800 slowed down the amount of construction work being embarked upon thus negatively affecting labour engagement and almost collapsed the procurement plan of the governments in 2020 Appropriation Act.

The upper parliament noted that it was “mindful that the Nigerian cement market is oligopolistic in nature with three players (Dangote Cement (60.6 per cent); Lafarge Africa Plc (21.8 per cent) and BUA Group (17.6 per cent) largely dominating the scene, therefore, making it susceptible to price-fixing practices.”

The senate said it was “convinced that if the status quo persists, the negative consequences of high prices on the economy will outweigh the benefits of producing cement locally, noting that it was also “worried that the significant rise in cement prices in the country and the low purchasing power of Nigerians may result in substandard building constructions and non-completion of planned infrastructural works.”

According to the red chamber of the national assembly said it “strongly believes that there is an urgent need to encourage more local production of cement to satisfy the demands of Nigeria with a steady growth rate of approximately 3 per cent per annum; a housing deficit of 30 million units and less engagement of over 10.5 million workforces of the building and construction industry.”

The Senate said it believes that the unfavourable government policies such as the imposition of multiple taxes, erratic power supply, a government ban on importation in violation of ECOWAS Trade liberalization Scheme (ETLS), and subsequent lifting of importation in favour of few producers have negative implications on the growth of infrastructures.

Economy

NGX All-Share Index Jumps 0.17%

Published

15 hours ago

18/01/2025

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

A 0.17 per cent growth was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday, extending the stay of the local bourse in the positive territory.

This uptrend was maintained despite profit-taking in the banking sector, which left its index down by 0.23 per cent at the close of trading activities.

Business Post reports that the insurance industry expanded by 4.04 per cent during the session, the energy counter improved by 1.05 per cent, and the consumer goods space gained 0.58 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 170.62 points to 102,353.68 points from 102,183.06 points and the market capitalisation grew by N541 billion to N62.851 trillion from N62.310 trillion.

There were 34 price gainers and 22 price losers yesterday, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.

The trio of Caverton, Livestock Feeds and Sovereign Trust Insurance appreciated by 10.00 per cent each during the session to quote at N2.20, N5.94, and N1.10, respectively, as Neimeth jumped by 994 per cent to N3.43, and Royal Exchange increased by 9.88 per cent to 89 Kobo.

On its part, Academy Press lost 9.74 per cent to close at N3.15, PZ Cussons declined by 9.09 per cent to N25.00, DAAR Communications weakened by 8.64 per cent to 74 Kobo, Transcorp Power shed 5.91 per cent to settle at N46.95, and Dangote Sugar fell by 4.94 per cent to N38.50.

A total of 327.8 million shares valued at N11.8 billion were traded in 11,905 deals on Friday versus the 472.2 million shares worth N16.7 billion transacted in 12,336 deals on Thursday, representing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 30.58 per cent, 29.34 per cent and 3.49 per cent apiece.

Access Holdings recorded the highest sales with 49.1 million stocks sold for N1.2 billion, Fidelity Bank exchanged 20.4 million shares valued at N359.0 million, UBA traded 20.1 million equities worth N681.0 million, Oando transacted 14.8 million shares for N998.1 million, and Universal Insurance traded 13.8 million stocks worth N8.7 million.

Economy

NASD OTC Exchange Gains 0.26%

Published

15 hours ago

18/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange extended its upward movement with a 0.26 per cent gain on Friday, January 17 amid renewed interest in unlisted stocks.

This raised the market capitalisation of the trading platform by N2.79 billion at the close of business to N1.075 trillion from the N1.072 trillion it closed in the preceding session.

In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) went up by 8.08 points at the close of transactions to 3,111.91 points from the 3,103.83 points recorded at the previous session.

Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors went down by 606 per cent to 486,215 units from 1.2 million units, the value of shares shrank by 84.7 per cent to N2.8 million from N18.0 million, and the number of deals decreased by 65 per cent to 14 deals from the 33 deals carried out a day earlier.

In the final trading day of the week, there were three price gainers and one price loser, Geo-Fluids Plc, which lost 9 Kobo to finish at N4.70 per unit versus the preceding session’s price of N4.79 per unit.

On the flip side, Okitipupa Plc gained N3.60 to settle at N39.59 per share compared with the previous day’s N35.99 per share, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc added 3 Kobo to wrap at 36 Kobo per unit compared with the preceding session’s 33 Kobo per share, as FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved its value by 49 Kobo to N39.65 per unit from N39.16 per unit.

At the close of business, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 million units worth N134.9 million, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and Afriland Properties Plc with 690,825 sold for N11.1 million.

The most active stock by volume (year-to-date) remained IGI Plc with 23.5 million units worth N5.3 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 3.4 million units sold for N134.9 million.

Economy

Naira Rallies by 0.06% to N,1547/$1 at NAFEM

Published

16 hours ago

18/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira extended its appreciation against the US Dollar by 0.06 per cent or N89 Kobo on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, January 17, trading at N1,547.58/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,548.47/$1.

Market analysts expect that the Naira will appreciate in the first quarter of the year, backed by continued policy support by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Vestance Nigeria, an agribusiness advisory firm, projects that the exchange rate will trade between N1,650/$1 and N1,750/$1 this year in its Resilience and Recovery for Agribusiness in 2025 outlook report.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will continue implementing reforms to enhance exchange rate market transparency while maintaining higher interest rates to curb inflationary pressures and attract foreign portfolio management,” it said.

Also, the Nigerian currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling by N20.84 to wrap the session at N1,883.59/£1 versus the preceding day’s N1,904.43/£1 and against the Euro, the Nigerian currency gained N10.45 to settle at N1,590.34/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,600.79/€1.

In the parallel market, the domestic currency appreciated against the greenback by N5 yesterday to sell for N1,675/$1 compared with the N1,675/$1 it was traded a day earlier.

As for the cryptocurrency market, there was profit-taking amid excitement for a new era of crypto-friendly US government mounts ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration next week.

Crypto investors expect a change from Mr Trump who promised on the campaign trail to position the US as a leader in the crypto space including creating a national stockpile of Bitcoin, in stark contrast to past years’ regulatory crackdowns and enforcements.

Litecoin (LTC) fell by 9.9 per cent to trade at $124.56, Ripple (XRP) slumped by 6.2 per cent to $3.10, Cardano (ADA) dipped by 4.9 per cent to $1.06, Ethereum (ETH) dropped 3.1 per cent to finish at $3,270.61, Binance Coin (BNB) went down by 2.3 per cent to $698.57 and Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 2.2 per cent to $0.3927.

However, Solana (SOL) rose by 8.8 per cent to end at $235.12, Bitcoin (BTC) expanded by 0.8 per cent to $102,494.03, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) sold flat at $1.00 each.