A Recap Of Top Stories In The Nigerian Economy Today

Summary of the top business, economic & political news in Nigeria today. 

1. The 10 oil producing states in the country received N22.64 billion as 13 per cent derivation funds for the month of April.  Overall, a total of N415.730 billion was distributed as Federal Allocation for the month of April 2017 by the three tiers of government. Gross statutory revenue received by the Federal Government for the month was N248. 110 billion, which is lower than the N331.583 billion received in the previous month by N54.473 billion. 
2. Nigeria’s trade volume with the United States (U.S.) reached $5.3billion in 2015, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Managing Director, Ms Hadiza Bala Usman said yesterday. Represented by the Executive Director, Engineering and Technical Services, Prof Sanni Abubakar, she said goods exported from Nigeria to the U.S stood at $1.9 billion while the imports from the same country stood at $3.4billion. She said U.S goods trade surplus with Nigeria was $1.5billion.
3. More than 40 per cent of media advertising expenditure by companies in the country last year was unaccounted for, according to a report by a marketing and advertising publication. An estimated N13.4bn of media advertising that would have been paid for, according to Marketing Edge, was either misplaced (i.e. advert not carried as planned and ordered) or unaccounted for (i.e. advert not monitored to be sure it was carried in the first place). 
4. Between April and May this year, Nigeria spent N5.8 billion ($15.2million) on the importation of maize. This is the market value of the three vessels that berthed at Rivers and Lagos ports with 70,000 metric tonnes of maize. At current global market of maize that has reached $217 per metric ton, this translates to $15.2million. At the Rivers Port in Port Harcourt, Ocean Glory berthed with 20,000 tons, while Interpid Eagle and Interlink Utility were moored  at Lagos Port Complex, Apapa  to offload 22,000 tons and 35,000 tons respectively.
5. The Federal Government on Tuesday charged property developers to reduce their rents and the value of properties in consideration of the economic hardship across the country. Speaking at the inauguration of board members of the Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria in Abuja, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said many houses in Nigeria were empty while a lot of people lacked accommodation. Fashola made it clear that the board must work out ways of tackling the problem of high house rents and advance payments, particularly in major cities across the country.
6. Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves fell to $30.49 billion as of May 25, the lowest level since April 18 and down 0.87 percent from a month ago, central bank data showed on Wednesday. The forex reserves were up 15.27 percent year-on-year, the data showed. 
7. The Nigerian investing public lost N11.9 billion to the Mavrodi Mundial Moneybox, MMM, Ponzi scheme, according to the Annual Report of the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum, NeFF, which was unveiled, in Abuja, yesterday. It indicated that Nigerians invested over N28.7 billion in the scheme between June and December 2016. 
8. Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has signed two new laws that would help facilitate access to more affordable credit facilities for businesses in the country. The Cable understands that the new laws will empower Nigerians to use their reputation, generators, deep freezers, school certificates, farm produce such as rice and beans, and many unconventional properties. 
9. Nigerian drug makers have raised their investments in the country to N500 billion, as against N300 billion it was nearly a decade ago. The industry is also responding positively to government’s 2016 Fiscal Policy and the Executive Orders, say stakeholders. 
10. Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday inaugurated the Nigeria Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council, which will spearhead the industrial agenda that will boost the contribution of manufacturing to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 250 per cent over a five-year period. The ambitious agenda will make Nigeria a manufacturing hub for West Africa and diversify the economy from its over-dependence on oil. 
11. Top management employees at the MTN Group head office in Johannesburg, South Africa, have hinted that the company will take a stand by the end of June on its plans to acquire MultiChoice Africa. This is coming two years after MTN acquired a N34bn licence to provide digital pay television broadcasting services in Nigeria, and spent N25bn extra to get the service running in May 2016. The whole gambit depends on the outcome we get from MultiChoice Nigeria, which is the cash cow for the pay television company.” A source said.
12. Nigeria’s cabinet approved on Wednesday a plan to set up a joint venture with pharmaceutical firm May & Baker Nigeria Plc to produce vaccines, the health minister said. The company will have an initial capital of 100 million naira ($328,515). Health minister Isaac Adewole told reporters the joint venture would be based in the commercial capital Lagos with the government holding a 49 percent stake and the pharmaceutical firm the rest. “The company between 2017 and 2021 will produce basic vaccines that we need,” he said. 
13. The National Directorate of Employment has entered into a partnership with the Simba Group for the establishment of a tricycle assemblage plant in Nigeria. According to the NDE, its interest is to establish partnerships with manufacturers and other corporate organisations to create jobs for Nigerians. 
14. The Governor of Benue State Samuel Ortom has said that the Dangote Cement Plc, Gboko Plant, has paid a staggering N7000million tax to the Government of Benue State. 
15. Five years after, one of the investors at Lekki Port, International Container Terminal Services Incorporation (ICTSI), has backed out from its N85.5 billion ($225 million) investments from the $1.5 billion public private partnership project (PPP) between the Nigerian Ports Authority, the Lagos State government and the Tolaram Group. ICTSI’s subsidiary, Lekki International Container Terminal Services LFTZ Enterprise (LICTSE) terminated the subconcession agreement signed with Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise (LPLE) in 2012 because of delays in the execution of the project. 
16. To stabilise the tomato value chain, government needs to review its policy on triple concentrate tomato paste importation in a bid to boost the implementation of the backward integration agenda, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Sonia Foods Industries Limited, Nnamdi Nnodebe, has said. According to him, the increment, coupled with the imposition of additional levy of $1500 per metric tonne will collapse the tomato packing industry. 
17. The Board of FBN Insurance Brokers, an FBN Holdings company, has announced the appointment of Mr. Olumide Ibidapo as its new managing director and chief executive officer. 
18. The managing director/CEO, Linkage Assurance PLC, Dr. Pius Apere, has charged the National Pension Commission (PenCom) on the implementation of the Guaranteed Minimum Pension(GMP) as specified in thePension Reform Act (PRA) 2014.
19. A Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday adjourned the debt recovery suit filed by Sterling Bank Plc against a former Aviation Minister, Senator Stella Oduah to June 29. The court adjourned the suit, in which the bank alleged that Senator Oduah and her company, Sea Petroleum and Gas Company Ltd, were indebted to it in the sum of $16.4 million and N100.5 million, due to the absence of the judge, Justice Ayokunle Faji. 
20. Premium Pension Limited, a Pension Fund Administrator, has announced the appointment of Mr. ‘Bade Adeshina, as a member of its Board of Directors. A statement by the company’s Head of Corporate Communications, Mr. Paddy Ezeala, said that Adeshina’s appointment was ratified during its Annual General Meeting recently. 
21. The Board of Diamond Bank has announced the resignation of Ms Genevieve Sangudi as a Non-Executive Director of the Bank effective March 24, 2017, while Chief John D. Edozien retired as a Non-Executive Director of the Bank effective April 30, 2017. 
22. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has moved from importing around 90 per cent of the petroleum products consumed in the country to being the sole importer since January this year.Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the downstream arm of the NNPC Mr. Henry Ikem-Obih disclosed this in an interview with the corporation’s in-house monthly news publication called NNPC News. 
23. About 65 Nigerian contractor and subcontractor companies were involved in the Turn Around Maintenance, TAM, of the Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, SNEPCo’s, Bonga deep water oil field completed in April this year. According to the company, over 1,000 people were also involved, spread across worksites and vessels, in the exercise described as the biggest in scope in the 12-year history of the asset.
24. The Senate yesterday put on hold the planned concession of the Port-Harcourt Refinery to AGIP and OANDO oil companies by the federal government. The halt, the senate said, is owing to adverse corruption due to the non-transparent transaction relating to the conceding of the refinery by the federal ministry of petroleum resources.
25. The House of Representatives Committee on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) has urged the Federal Government to refund Yobe State government the N15.8bn spent in the fight against Boko Haram insurgency, commending the state Governor for his effort in the rehabilitation of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). 
26. The Benue State House of Assembly yesterday passed the budget of N176.6bn for the 2017 fiscal year. Governor Samuel Ortom had earlier presented a budget draft of N163.9bn to the assembly in December, but, the House made an increment of N12.7bn. The budget christened, ‘Budget of Rural Transformation,’ shows that N66.7bn would be expended on recurrent expenditure and N109.9bn for capital expenditure while deficit financing stands at N36.1bn.
27. What entrepreneurs stand to gain from the Collateral Registry and Credit Reporting Act. The Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, recently, signed into law two bills from the National Assembly. These are the Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Act, 2017 (otherwise known as Collateral Registry Act) and the Credit Reporting Act, 2017. These bills, which have now become Acts, should ultimately boost the Nigerian economy and encourage the diversification drive of the present government as well as improve the Ease of Doing Business campaign of the FG. The Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Act, 2017, provides for the registration of movable assets such as motor vehicles, accounts receivables, and other movable assets  while the Credit Reporting Act provides for credit information sharing between Credit Bureaus and lenders (such as banks), as well as other institutions that provide services on credit such as telecommunication companies and retailers.
    A Credit Bureau is defined as a company that collects information relating to the credit ratings of individuals and makes it available to financial institutions, who need such information to determine an individual’s credit-worthiness and whether or not to grant loan applications to such individuals. 
28. Highlights of the ‘N30,000-per-month’ housing scheme. The Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, during his Democracy Day speech, intrigued Nigerians with his promise of a Family Home Fund housing scheme which Nigerians who can pay as little as N30,000 per month could afford. The scheme forms the first phase of the N1 trillion Social Housing Fund of the Buhari administration, which is the largest in the history of the country. The project has both the World Bank and AFDB, alongside the FG, as contributors to the fund. Developers will borrow 80% of the cost of the building project from the N100 billion pool and counter fund the remaining part of the project with their own 20%. The total cost of the houses could be as low as N2.5m, which means that subscribers paying N30,000 monthly would require 84 months or 7 years to pay off. The project has commenced in 11 states in the country already, with land already provided for the project in these states.