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GOVT, CORPORATE BODIES RAISE N4.9TRN FROM CAPITAL MARKET IN TWO YEARS in investment management need to give the mutual fund additional support. “ Government could offer tax incentives to investors who are committed to a regular investment plan in mutual funds. It should also create an enabling environment that will lead to job creation in the country in order to increase savings and investable funds. Regulators could promote innovative legislation to increase investment in mutual funds and expand investment channels to increase returns on the funds invested. The Fund Managers Association of Nigeria (FMAN) should continue to create public awareness on the benefits of mutual funds in order to generate interest from the investing public,� it said. CBN PLEDGE TO INCREASE CREDIT GUARANTEE TO FARMERS cassava, potatoes, groundnut and legumes were dominant across the country during the month, the report stated. In the livestock sub-sector, farmers continued with breeding of birds to take advantage of the end of the year sales. The Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme (ACGS) guaranteed a total of N442.22 million to 3,055 farmers in the review period. The amount represented a decline of 19.2 per cent and 18.3 per cent, below the respective levels in the preceding month and the corresponding period of 2017. Sub-sectoral analysis showed that food crops got the largest share of N205.8 million (46.5%) guaranteed to 1,410 beneficiaries, followed by the livestock sub-sector, N74.8 million (16.9%), guaranteed to 324 beneficiaries. Also, the sum of N70.1 million was disbursed to mixed cropping (15.9%), guaranteed to 913 beneficiaries; while fisheries, cash crops and ‘Others’ got N43.0 million (9.7%), N39.8 million (9%) and N 8.7 million (1.97%) guaranteed to 116, 248 and 44 beneficiaries, respectively.
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Fashola: Four Turbines at Kaduna Power Plant Ready Chineme Okafor in Abuja The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has said four out of the eight turbines installed at the site of the 215 megawatts (MW) Kaduna power plant have been completed and ready to begin producing electricity to the national grid. Fashola, also said progress had been made at the plant since he last visited it about a year ago, noting that every megawatts of power that can be gotten from the plant would be added to the national grid. The minister stated this during his recent inspection of progress of work at the plant located in Kudenda area of Kaduna State. Fashola said about the progress of work at the plant: “We have also tested four of the turbines, preparatory for commissioning, so there are essentially four turbines that are ready to go. “So, every megawatt we can deliver from this project, considering that each of the turbines is 25 megawatts, is additional power. Clearly this will boost our incremental power objective and we are on our way. It will just take those man hours and those challenges to get to our destination,� he added. Similarly, the Project Manager at Rockson Engineering which was contracted to build the plant, Mr. Sunny Okwedi, stated that four out of the eight turbines in the plant had been completed and ready to be powered, but that the four completed turbines would not be switched on until the Power Control Motor (PCM) was installed with the switch yard commissioned.
According to Okwedi: “We have done the cabling works, the pipe connection, the fuel tank with the switch yard and its control building almost completed. “The PCM is already on site and from the discussion with our receiver managers, we are going to start the process of installation by next week.� Meanwhile, the power ministry, in statement also stated that the federal government has signed a grant aid project with Japan for emergency rehabilitation and reinforcement of the
Lagos electricity transmission substation. It explained the grant was worth $21.088 million and the project would strengthen the power infrastructure and supply of Lagos as a commercial hub and industrial centre in Nigeria. According to the ministry, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr. Udoma Udo, signed the agreement recently in Abuja for the federal government, while Japanese Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Nigeria, Yutaka Kikuta, signed for the Japanese government.
It said, Udoma, explained that attaining some level of power sufficiency was one of the goals of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) of the government. He reportedly stated: “As you know, the ERGP sets out our four-year plan for the transformation of our country, the ERGP aims to restore growth, invest in people and build a globally competitive economy. “But not just to restore growth, but a growth that is diversified, inclusive and sustainable.� Udoma, further said:
“Amongst its execution priorities is the attainment of energy self-sufficiency in power and petroleum products.� He said in 2016, Nigeria signed an Exchange of Note (E/N) for emergency improvement of electricity supply in Abuja with the government of Japan, adding that the project has been completed and ow contributing to improving power supply in Abuja. Udoma, equally noted that Japan had played a role in the design of a master plan study on national power system development in Nigeria.
COURTESY VISIT
L-R: Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Export Promotion Council, Segun Awolowo and Founder/Chairman, Zenith Bank Plc, Mr. Jim Ovia, during Awolowo’s visit to Ovia in his office in Lagos‌recently
PensionersTask FG, PTAD on Deductions on Pension Benefits Ebere Nwoji A group of pensioners under the aegis of the Association of Retired Federal Senior Public Officers of Nigeria (ARFESPON), has urged both the federal government and Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate(PTAD) to make specific statement on the outstanding 20.4 per cent deductions from their pension entitlement made by the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration since 2010. ARFESPON, though expressed
its appreciation to PTAD for the recent six months areas it paid its members, however said both PTAD and federal government have decided to sweep the outstanding 20.4 percent arrears of deductions from their entitlements for eight years under the carpet without any comment despite several calls by the various pensioners’ groups. President of Lagos Chapter of ARFESPON, Mr Olufemi Odewabi, while addressing the media in Lagos, said it was painful to the pensioners that government decided not to yield
to their demand for payment of the outstanding arrears. He said for almost eight years, his members and other pensioners’ groups had been calling on government to direct attention to this but that neither government nor its agency for retirees under the Defined Benefit Scheme deemed it fit to say something in that regard. Odewabi urged President Muhammadu Buhari and Sharon Ikeazor of PTAD, to comment on the matter. Explaining how the eight-year arrears came about, Odewabi
said it was incurred by government when government effected a 53.4 increase in workers’ salaries and pensioners’ benefits. He said a committee was set up by the administration of former president, Goodluck Jonathan to look into the 53.4 per cent increase in pension entitlements, but the committee made some illegal deductions from pensioners’ benefits. According to him, the committee recommended deductions such as pensioners benefits tax, contributory pension, housing and NHIS, all totalling 20.4 per
cent and also recommended that only 33 per cent of the increase effected by government should be paid to pensioners. Describing the development as wrong and illogical, the ARFESPON Chairman said: “It is a rape on the right of the pensioners, viewing this deduction from possible two dimensions, it is obvious that the conclusion of the committee that reviewed the approved 53.4 per cent increase for pensioners acted in nullity and was even not logical in arriving at such conclusions.�
Sekibo Calls for Innovation to Maximise Agric Potential The Managing Director/Chief Executive, Heritage Bank Limited, Mr. Ifie Sekibo, has called for innovation in the agricultural sector in order to maximise the sector’s contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Sekibo, made this call while speaking to a group of investors. According to him, innovation is necessary to tackle challenges to productivity in the agricultural sector. Speaking on the challenges and potential of Nigeria’s agricultural sector, he said: “Statistically, we are about 198 million people
as nation though we believe we are about 210 million, with GDP growth 1.5 per cent. “Before recession, we were doing about six per cent and we are at 11.28 percent inflation, but still hoping it comes down. “Agriculture is 22.86 percent, Industry 23.18percent and services at 53.97 per cent. Essentially, we will say our economy is driven by services. “Nigeria has a very large market, plenty labour force, plenty of waterways because almost every part of Nigeria has waterways and enough land to feed ourselves and nearly half the world because
we truly have a land fertile for agriculture and we have only utilised 40 per cent of which we waste about 70 per cent of the lands. “For rice, Nigeria should be producing about 6.3 metric tonnes and one begin to wonder why we are poor as a nation if we have such opportunities. Instead we are doing about 2.3 metric tonnes and you can see the gap of about four million metric tonnes that we could have produced but we are importing. “That is a negative for our economy. A lot of other gaps in the Agricultural sector shows
that indeed we have a lot of room for investments. “You will realise that every state of this federation and every geo-political zones has a lot to offer, the north-west, north-east is a hub for agriculture only if we do the right thing and maximise the opportunities. “The south, we can spoon the world only if we maximise the opportunities that abound in the zone. “So why are we not making progress as a nation especially in the areas of Agriculture? They are due to some few challenges which include our import sup-
plies, production, processing and basically trade which are components of agriculture. “The vulnerability shocks we have out there can be dealt with if we put in place innovations platform, strategies and the likely outcomes. “These are essentially what we need to do. If we can achieve some of these innovations in agriculture, we will turn our country around. “We need to look at the issue of climate change; we need to look at why we have been unable to create inventions and innovations that make our work in the agricultural space.�