Major Recap Of The Nigerian Economy Today 10/5/2017

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

• The importation of sugar for local consumption would soon be a thing of the past, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Aisha Abubakar , has assured. The Minister asserted that “The government is fully prepared to support genuine investors to succeed in their investment anywhere in Nigeria. “Nigeria is getting into agriculture development proper as the abundance in the past was not well handled, which is the reason for the current hardship the country is presently facing.”  

• An International Monetary Fund (IMF) report on Sub-Sahara Africa economic outlook has projected that Nigeria will maintain a 0.8% growth post-recession in 2017. The IMF also insisted that the growth is premised on a higher oil production subject to maintenance of peace in the Niger Delta and strong agricultural production.  

• Nine states in the country would participate in a new World Bank supported $200 million agricultural programme, an official said in Kaduna on Wednesday. The team leader said 40 per cent of the amount would go to projects to support youth and women in the participating states. He said that Kano, Kaduna, Lagos, Cross River, Kogi and Enugu have been selected to participate in the programme while the remaining three states would be announced after fulfilling set conditions.  

• The Federal Government on Tuesday unveiled a 10-year food security and nutrition strategy for the country’s agricultural sector. The government said the document, which was titled: ‘Agricultural Sector Food Security and Nutrition Strategy 2016-2025’, would mainstream nutrition into all the value chains of agriculture in Nigeria. According to the Government, nutrition will be considered before production of food products are embarked upon.  

• President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the Nigeria Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA) to make Calabar Free Trade Zone a pilot industrial city in the country, the new managing director Emmanuel Jime announced this in Calabar, capital of Cross River State. The government wanta Calabar to be the first of six cities that will be designated as industrial cities in Nigeria.  

• The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and its partners on Tuesday came up with a scheme to increase gas supply for domestic consumption by 285 per cent from 1.3 billion standard cubic feet per day to five billion scf/d by 2020. They plan to achieve thought Seven Critical Gas Development Projects. The projects are said to include Assa North-Ohaji South Field Development; Oil Mining Lease 24 and OML 18 Joint Development and Shell Petroleum Development Company Joint Venture/Nigeria Agip Oil Company Joint Venture Unitized Gas Fields. Others are NPDC’s OML 26, 30, 42 and Chevron Nigeria Limited’s OML 49 Makaraba Cluster Development; SPDC JV Gas Supply to Brass Fertiliser Company; OML 13 Cluster Development and Cluster Development of Okpokunou/Tuomo West (OML 35/62).  

• Nigeria’s Minsiter for Transport, Rotimi Amaechi has said that Nigeria will enter negotiations with General Electric over a railway project. GE was the sole bidder in a $2 billion railway project connecting northern cities to the south of the country. 

• The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, says it is working to upgrade the combined capacity of its four refineries in Warri, Kaduna and Port Harcourt from the present 445,000 to 700,000 barrels per day under the planned repair programme for the plants. The repair work on the refineries, expected to commence after the selection of the contractors by September this year, is expected to put the them in a position to attain optimum performance.  

• Alhaji Muneer Bankole,  Chief Executive Officer, Medview Airline Plc, on Tuesday said the airline would begin flight operations on the Lagos-Dubai route on July 4. 

• The Senate on Tuesday received the report of the Joint Committee on Appropriation and Finance on the 2017 Appropriation Bill (2017 Budget). The bill is expected to be passed on thursday.  

•  The Nigerians Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) amendment Bill scaled through third reading at the lower chamber of the National Assembly yesterday. The bill is contentious and includes provisions that many believe will impact negatively on the operations of the company. For example, the National Assembly seeks to end the company’s status as dollar-denominated. 

• The Senate on Tuesday has insisted on going ahead with its planned probe into the alleged fraud amounting to over $4,926,464,100 against Chevron Nigeria Limited, despite the request by a petitioner, Dr George Uboh of Panic Alert Security System, PASS, who had written to inform the Senate Committee on Public Petitions of his decision to withdraw his petition.