NSIA Partners London Firm to Unlock Funding for Infrastructure Wigwe predicts rise in NPLs
Obinna Chima with agency report The Nigeria Sovereign Wealth Fund (NSWF) is setting up a company in partnership with London-based local currency guarantee firm, GuarantCo to
enable pension funds to invest in Nigerian infrastructure bonds. Also yesterday, the Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank Plc, Herbert Wigwe predicted that the level of troubled loans in Nigeria would continue to climb before an economic
recovery in the second half of the year brings relief to the country’s lenders. The Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Uche Orji, who unveiled the partnership with GuarantCo yesterday,
said the new business would be launched in a few weeks' time and aims to overcome some of the challenges facing the financing of infrastructure projects in Nigeria. "The company will provide enhancements for infrastructure
bonds, and we believe this will make an effective platform for Nigerian pension funds to invest in them," Reuters quoted Orji as saying. GuarantCo facilitates infrastructure development in low income countries by providing
credit guarantees denominated in local currency to financial institutions and bond investors. It is funded by Britain, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands and Australia, and Continued on page 6
AGF Meets Buhari, May Have Submitted Report on Magu, Babachir… Page 10 Saturday 7 January, 2017 Vol 21. No 7933. Price: N250
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Court Orders Forfeiture of Diezani’s $153m to FG Davidson Iriekpen
A Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday ordered the temporary forfeiture of the sum of $153,310,000, which a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani AlisonMadueke, allegedly siphoned from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and stashed in three banks in the country. The presiding judge of the court, Justice Muslim Hassan, made the order in favour of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which appeared before him with an ex-parte application
seeking the temporary forfeiture of the funds. Out of the allegedly stolen $153.3 million, a sum of N23,446,300,000 (after convertion to Naira) was kept in Sterling Bank Plc, and another converted sum of N9,080,000,000 in First Bank and $5 million in Access Bank Plc. In a nine-paragraph affidavit filed in support of the ex parte application, an EFCC investigator, Moses Awolusi, claimed that the anti-graft agency discovered through its investigations how Alison-Madueke sometime in Continued on page 6
Airforce Chief: We'll Never Allow Boko Haram Regroup Again Paul Obi in Abuja The Air Force has vowed to ensure that remnants of Boko Haram terrorists are not allowed to regroup again in any part of the country to pose a threat to lives and properties. Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Air Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar stated this yesterday while giving account on the activities of the Air Force in 2016. He said the Nigerian Air
Force was expanding its operations to checkmate security threats in the North-east, Southsouth, South-west and other parts of the country. He explained that the incessant cases of insecurity in the country where armed groups in the North-east and some part of the South have continued to hold the nation hostage will be checkmated with the expansion. Abubakar said: "We are Continued on page 6
Rivers Rerun: Police Dismiss 6 Officers Attached to Wike … Page10
ARISE STUDIO OPENS IN ABUJA…
Minister of Trade, Investment and Industry, Mr.Okechukwu Enelamah (right) answering questions from the ARISE TV, Anchor, Mr. Charles Aniagolu in the studio as it began contributor service at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja …..yesterday GODWIN OMOGUI
FG Clarifies Tariff Hike, Says No Increase in Food, Luxury Items ...Page 55