Zenith Bank Makes 30% Provision on 9Mobile Loan
Emma Okonji with agency report
The Managing Director/CEO of Zenith Bank Plc, Mr. Peter Amangbo has revealed that his bank, one of the 13 Nigeria lenders that loaned 9Mobile (formerly Etisalat Nigeria)
$1.2 billion for its network expansion and upgrade, has made a provision on 30 per cent on its loan to the network operator. Amangbo told Reuters yesterday of the latest development. “We have taken about 30
per cent as a provision which we believe is very prudent as the company (9Mobile) is undergoing restructuring to prepare for a new investor,” Amangbo said in a conference call. Providing further clarification, a senior official of
the bank informed THISDAY that though Zenith Bank had made provisions for a collective impairment charge, it was not specific to any customer since the 9Mobile loan had not gone bad. “We had a conference call with investors yesterday and
explained that a collective impairment charge was made by our bank, which was not specific to any customer. “Also, this was not done because the 9Mobile loan is a non-performing loan since the company is being restructured, but the general provisioning
was done because we were being prudent and in order to recognise the deterioration of the macroeconomic environment brought on by the recession,” he said. Banks involved in the loan Continued on page 9
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Presidency: Buhari Good Enough to Continue in 2019 Faults proponents of president’s resignation Trades barbs with Jonathan over management of economy, projects Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja and Gboyega Akinsanmi in Lagos Despite the uncertainty arising from President Muhammadu Buhari’s prolonged absence from the country over health concerns, one of his media aides, Mallam Garba Shehu yesterday maintained that the president was “good enough to continue” if given the
opportunity to contest the 2019 presidential election. However, the presidential spokesman expressed ignorance over Buhari’s ailment, stating that the president would speak to Nigerians when he returns from his medical vacation. Shehu spoke in an interview on ARISE News Network, a Continued on page 8
ASUU Downs Tools Says Babalakin c'ttee lacks power to resolve its demands
Senator Iroegbu in Abuja and Ademola Babalola in Ibadan For the umpteenth time in as many years, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the main umbrella body of university lecturers in the country, has declared an indefinite nationwide strike, in response to failure by the federal government to fulfill the 2009 agreement it reached with the union.
It also expressed lack of confidence in the Dr. Wale Babalakin-led Committee set up by the federal government early this year to renegotiate the 2009 agreement and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) reached in 2013, stating that it lacked the powers to resolve the issues. ASUU president, Prof. Continued on page 8
MORE VISITORS FOR BUHARI... President Muhammadu Buhari (centre), when the Secretary General of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Mohammad Barkindo (second left) and his sons visited the president in London... yesterday