Aso Villa Reads for 13/11/18

Every day, we bring you the best stories that the media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria

Authority Ngr reports that “about 21 Small and Medium Enterprises from Nigeria with 25 Made-in-Nigeria goods were the centre of attraction during the just concluded 15th edition of the China International Small and Medium Enterprises Fair (CISMEF), 2018 that took place in China. Also, nine Nigerian SMEs were successfully matched with Chinese companies who are interested in their respective products. The Nigerian delegation was led by the Chairman of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) Governing Board, Otunba Femi Pedro while other members of the team include the Director General and Chief Executive officer of SMEDAN, Dr Dikko Umaru Radda as well as officials of the Federal Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Industry, Trade and investment. In a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, SMEDAN disclosed that about 25 Made-in-Nigeria products were on display at the Nigeria pavilion spanning foods, garments, agro-commodities, arts/crafts and leather works. “With over 3,000 SMEs from various countries in attendance, the Nigeria pavilion was well attended throughout the duration of the Fair with average daily visitors of over 100. While some came to buy, others came to network and seek possible investments advice”.

“The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said that the Federal Government expended N2.7 trillion on agriculture and provision of other critical infrastructure in the 2017 budget. Mohammed disclosed this at a Town Hall Meeting in Dutse on Monday to boost agriculture in the state in particular and the country in general. The meeting had four ministers in attendance: Water Resources, Alhaji Suleiman Adamu, Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, Trade, Industry and Investment (state), Hajiya Aisha Abubakar and Information. He said that the government has been busy in rehabilitating and constructing rail lines to link all parts of the country with one another.” Herald reported that “according to the Minister, it is necessary to ensure transportation of perishable products like tomatoes, pineapples, onion among others to avoid wastage. In his remark, agriculture minister, Chief Ogbeh said that it was unfortunate that most of the perishable items get spoiled on the way due to vehicle breakdown or other reasons, hence the need for alternative transportation. Also speaking, the special assistant to the Central Bank Governor, Mr Olatunde Akande, said the apex bank had intervened to boost agricultural production with N107 billion from 2015 through the Federal Government Anchor Borrowers Scheme. Akande explained that the loan by CBN to farmers was on a single digit interest.”

“The Minister of State for Power Works and Housing II, Surv Hassan Zarma, has restated the commitment of the Federal Government to addressing housing deficits in the country. He disclosed this at the Commissioning of Three Blocks of 12 Units of Two Bedroom Flats in Abuja. The Minister attributed insufficient fund as grossly responsible for the inability to single handedly provide affordable housing. The property was built by Staff Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society (SMCS) in the Ministry, where 12 members of the group benefitted from the project. Zarma, who applauded commitment of the group to addressing welfare of its members, described the gesture as an indication of true representation of the peoples’ interest. “While government is concerned about providing shelter for the teaming population, the gross insufficient funds due to dwindling revenue pose a form of serious challenge to government to single handedly provide houses for all Nigerians,” he said. However, he stressed that the problem was not peculiar to the country, thus need for Public Private Partnerships to address the need.” Peoples Daily reported this.

“Nigeria has been described as one of the leading countries in the financial technology (Fintech) space in the world. The Executive Director, Systemspecs Limited, Mr. AdeRemi Atanda, stated this recently at the Centre for Financial Journalism (CFJ)-Association of Corporate Affairs of Managers of Banks’ (ACAMB) Business Forum held in Lagos. According to him, many things have happened in the fintech landscape in Nigeria that have not happened elsewhere in the world. However, he lamented that the success stories in this area has not been adequately captured and celebrated. This, he said, was because “we are not schooled in value narratives.” He advised that we should “understand the paradigm that shape narratives. This way, we can capture the successes achieved so far in the fintech landscape”. This Day reports that “according to Atanda, despite the successes achieved so far, even well acknowledged by advanced countries, there are still lots of room for improvement. Atanda said fintechs are part of the digital age which evolved partly as a result of revolution in mobile telecommunications. He said fintechs which are driven by data, were transforming the ways financial and business transactions are now carried out.”

“Mr Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, says his ministry has delivered visible and qualitative achievements to Nigerians since his appointment in November, 2015. Fashola said this on Monday in Abuja at a media briefing to give the third year progress report of the ministry under his watch. He said the ministry had in a statement titled “Setting the Agenda for Delivering Change” in December 2015 set out what it inherited, plan to do and what Nigerians should expect from it. According to him, as at May 2015, many contractors have stopped work because of payment and many fathers and wives employed by them have been laid off. He said the possibility to return those who had lost their jobs back to work was the kind of change the ministry promised Nigerians. Fashola said that the progress report on public sector works relating to roads and bridges had confirmed that the ministry had fulfilled its promise. He said that the ministry had recovered the thousands of jobs that were lost as a result of an expansive infrastructure spending on works from N18.132 billion in 2015 to N394 billion in 2018. “The outcome is that there is not one state in Nigeria today where the Federal Government is not executing at least one road project with construction workers engaged on the sites”. Vanguard reported this.

Business Day (Tuesday November 13, 2018, page 33) reports that “the Director- General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Alex Okoh, has revealed that there will be more companies going public by way of Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the coming months, staying that plans are ongoing to bring Nigerian Reinsurance Corporation and Eleme Petrochemical to the market by way of public offer. Okoh discloses this at the recent IPO signing ceremony of Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL), in Lagos. “By way of public offer, we are expecting that in the coming few months, Nigerian Reinsurance should also be coming to the market by way of public offers. So, what we are doing today, we are likely to do for Nigerian Reinsurance Corporation in the next two months,” he said. He also said, “Eleme Petrochemical should also be coming to the market by way of public offer sometimes around March next year. We are in the process of finalizing all the documentation required for the public offer. So, around February / early March next year, we should be having a ceremony similar to this for Eleme Petrochemical plant, which incidentally is also along with SAHCOL, one of the success stories of privatization.”

“The Federal Republic of Nigeria, rated B2 (stable) by Moody’s B (stable) by Standard & Poor ‘s (S&P) and B+ (stable) by Fitch, began its dollar bond roadshow yesterday in London, when officials from Africa’s largest oil producer met with investors about a planned sale of $2.9 billion in bonds. Citi and Standard Chartered are advising on the proposed transaction and benchmark sized dollar dominated bond offering with 7-year, 12-year and a “long” dated USD-denominated maturities under the Nigeria’s established Global Medium Term Note Programme.” According to Business Day (Tuesday November 13, 2018, page 1), Nigeria “last sold $2.5 billion over two tranches in February, 2018. Analysts see Nigeria issuing its Eurobond at higher yield. “I expect the cost of the issuance to be around 8.5 to 9.5 percent, resulting from higher U.S fed funds rates and also the political risk in Nigeria,” Gbolahan Ologunro, an equity research analyst at Lagos based CSL Stockbrokers, said.”

“Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday launched the Federal Government’s N10,000 interest free loans, otherwise known as TraderMoni, in three more Lagos markets. Osinbajo who led other Federal and Lagos state officials to Ikotun, Igando and Ile Epo markets also urged the traders to make judicious use of the loans to secure more. While interacting with the traders, Osinbajo said the objective of the scheme would be defeated if traders do not repay the loan to secure more from Federal Government. “This is one initiative this administration has put in place to address the plights of those at the grassroots. To help you grow your businesses and make lives meaningful to you and your families. That’s why we ensure there is no collateral and when you repay the loans, you can secure more from government because it shows you are serious with what you are doing, “ he said. Some of the traders who spoke to Daily Trust applauded the gesture but pleaded for more loans saying they would be willing to boost their trades and businesses with as much fund as possible made available to them. Yemisi Babalola, a salt trader in Ikotun market expressed readiness to invest the money in her trade”. This is according to Daily Trust.

Daily Trust reports that “the Federal Government and key international donor agencies are finalising arrangements to sign a $956 million (about N347.362 billion) deal for three key transmission projects for the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) before the end of this month. A report obtained on the proceeding of a meeting held by TCN and officials of the of the donor agencies yesterday indicates that the European Union (EU), Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the AFD — French Development Agency — are expected to endorse the projects. The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on its part this month will give approval for the execution of the World Bank funded projects. A breakdown of the report mentioned the project to be the Nigeria Electricity Transmission Access Project (NETAP) valued at $486m and financed by the World Bank. The $200m Lagos/Ogun Transmission Project is the second on the list and is being financed by JICA while the Northern Corridor Transmission Project (NORTHCOR) has funding of $245m and €25 million (Euros) by AFD and the EU.”

OAK TV reports that “Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, has said that all teachers in the nation’s educational system without basic qualifications will be disengaged from the service by December 31, 2019. Adamu, who was represented by the Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Prof. Hamid Boboyi, disclosed this on Monday in Benin at the Edo Summit themed: “Edo of our dream, investing in people.” The Minister said: “We must stop recruiting unqualified teachers into the system especially when we have many qualified teachers roaming our streets without regular jobs. The National Council of Education under my chairmanship has given a clear directive to all our unqualified teachers as well their employers to acquire the requisite qualifications or disengage from teaching on or before December 31, 2019. This remains an irrevocable order of the council,” he said. Adamu expressed President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to sustain and fund basic education sub-sector through the UBEC or support state governments, adding that over N258.5 billion has been expended on basic education in the country. “Between 2015 and 2018, the federal government has allocated to states the sum of N164billion as matching grants, N34.974billion for teachers’ professional development, N52.461billion for instructional materials and N6.994 billion for special education,” he said.”

“The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola said the Federal Government has delivered on raising capacity and infrastructure in the power sector, as transmission wheeling capacity among others has reached 8,000 megawatts (MW). Mr Fashola disclosed this while marking the third anniversary in office as a minister in Abuja on Monday. The third year ministerial anniversary came after President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated his Federal Executive Council (FEC) on November 10, 2015, and merged the Ministry of Power, Works, and Housing into a single Ministry.” Daily Trust reported that “Fashola assumed office immediately and by December 8, 2015, he called a briefing and promised to clear the over N100 billion debts owed by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), increase transmission capacity, improve liquidity for the Generation Companies (GenCos) to get more gas for power generation, and facilitate incremental to stable power supply. He insisted yesterday that a significant milestone has been met, Fashola said: “I am proud and happy to report that we have walked that talk and we have delivered visible results and recorded qualitative progress.” Validating his claims on the sector improvement, he said: “Generation has increased from 4,000MW in to 7,000MW; transmission was 5,000MW, I’m told that the last simulation is around 8,000MW in transmission. Distribution has improved to 5,000MW.” The minister said more generation capacity will be delivered soon to include 215MW from Kaduna Plant, 240MW from Afam IV in few months; 40MW from Kashimbilla, 30MW from Gurara and 29MW from Dadin Kowa plant.”