Aso Villa Reads for 22/06/2020
Every day, we bring you the best stories that the Media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria
In order to lift the Nigerian equity markets, galvanise new start-ups and expand existing projects, the federal government of Nigeria has inaugurated the National Savings Strategy (NSS) Workgroup, while emphasising the need for adequate provision of naira-based risk capital. Speaking during the inauguration in Abuja, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed stressed the urgent task of diversifying the economy and deepening of the capital market, a statement by Yunusa Tanko Abdullahi, the special adviser to the Finance minister on Media and communication has said. On the NSS initiative, she said: “The Capital Market Masterplan proposed the NSS as one of the key initiatives to drive capital formation and investment necessary to support entrepreneurs and enterprise development in the urgent task of diversifying the economy and deepening of the Capital Market. To lift the equity markets, galvanise new start-ups and expand existing projects, there should be a deliberate provision of naira-based risk capital. In essence, nurturing, growing and channelling domestic savings to fund the creation of new enterprises will result in rapid economic growth, diversification of the economy accelerated job creation and increased productivity and output of the Nigerian economy”. According to her, efforts are ongoing to review the Masterplan to align the assumptions and projections with current realities as it is a critical step in redefining the road map for stakeholder participation in the Nigerian capital market. Daily times reported.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) recorded 11 percent increase on the average daily turnover as at last Wednesday June 17, 2020 when compared to the same period in 2019 recording N3.93billion and N3.52 billion respectively. Significant growth has also been recorded in the Premium Board category with a 28.6percent increase in volume traded up from 50.04 million in 2019 to 64.39 million in 2020. The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) opened strong in 2020, becoming the best performing equities in the world by mid-January with gains of 10.4percent year-to-date (YtD) and recording one of its best January returns at 7.5percent. However, the momentum slowed as the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the world between February and March, which led to unprecedented panic in global financial markets due to economic uncertainty. Despite the volatility in the market, NSE has displayed remarkable resilience amidst the pandemic, with increased investors’ confidence as reflected in the performance of the various asset classes NSE provides. Business Day reported.
The Boko Haram terror group has suffered a major setback with the destruction of its Tactical Command Centre in the Sambisa forest by Military airstrikes, The Nation has learnt. The destroyed Command Centre according to a statement by the Coordinator Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche, was by the terrorists to coordinate its activities. Unidentified number of the Boko Haram fighters were killed in the attack conducted under a subsidiary Operation Long Reach by the Air Task Force of the Operation Lafiya Dole. ccording to the statement , “in continuation of air interdiction missions being conducted under the subsidiary Operation LONG REACH to unhinge the leadership of the Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs) in the North East, the Air Task Force (ATF) of Operation LAFIYA DOLE has destroyed a BHTs’ Tactical Command Centre and neutralized some of their fighters at Yuwe in the Sambisa Forest area of Borno State. The operation was executed on 17 June 2020 after series of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions observed significant presence of BHTs in the settlement and also established that a prominent compound with solar panel-mounted rooftop and a large tree in the middle with a nearby flag-mounted sentry post was being used by the BHTs to coordinate their operations in the area”.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has said the health sector will get N126bn out of the N500bn initial stimulus fund included in the 2020 budget. He stated that the government was hopeful that the response to the COVID-19 pandemic by governments at all levels in revamping health care facilities would be sustained. According to a statement on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, the Vice-President spoke on Friday during a webinar tagged ‘Economic Sustainability Beyond COVID-19’ and organised by Emmanuel Chapel. Osinbajo said, despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic globally, the present regime would not relent in its efforts towards improving the country’s health care infrastructure and economy. This, he said, would be achieved by creating more jobs for millions of Nigerians in different sectors, supporting small businesses, local production and manufacturing, as well as extending the social safety net for the most vulnerable persons in society. The Vice-Pesident stated that improving health care infrastructure remained a major objective of the present regime. Punch reports.
