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German, Swiss and Austrian companies in Nigeria may not consolidate on existing investments until the economy improves. A recent survey indicated that the tough economic climate and growth stagnation are forcing most of the companies to withdraw new investments. The report, fourth Austrian-German-Swiss Business Outlook (AGSBO) 2019, by the delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Nigeria, recently disclosed in Lagos, showed four major factors affecting their operations. They are: compliance and corruption, infrastructure and insecurity, access to forex, and overall security, which also forms part of the major factors affecting Nigeria’s ranking on the 2019 ease of doing business analysis. However, majority of the companies remain optimistic about the economic condition of Nigeria and hope to see future improvements. The delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Nigeria, organised a survey among the Austrian, German and Swiss companies operating in Nigeria, to unders

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that the replacement of burnt or damaged currency notes is not automatic. The CBN, at a two-day public sensitisation forum in Umuahia, Abia State, advised those in possession of such notes to take them to the CBN branch near them for inspection and replacement, if approved. The apex bank, however, said that this consideration will not apply to forged or counterfeit notes, adding that holders of such should be reported to the Police. At the forum, CBN officials demonstrated to participants how they could identify a fake note among genuine ones. The Umuahia CBN Branch Controller, Michael Ogbu, said the forum was part of the bank’s public enlightenment drive at promoting financial stability, economic development and education on how the public can benefit from its various facilities. “This public fair is an enlightenment campaign programme by the CBN Corporate Communications department to sensitise the public on the various initiative

Imagine spending your weekend with #50,000 for just doing a video. Let your smartphone make some money for you as Naira.com will be giving out One Hundred Thousand Naira (#100,000) to three (3) lucky winners this weekend. All you need to do is follow the simple steps below. 1. Record a one (1) minute video. 2. Talk about Naira.com and How the FUND WALLET service it Works. 3. Post it on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and make sure you tag @thenairadotcom. 4. Use the hash tag #NairaDotComChallenge and tag your friends. What are you waiting for? Take your smartphone and do the video now. Oya gbe body eh Social Media: Instagram: @thenairadotcom Facebook: Facebook.com/thenaira.com Twitter: @thenairadotcom Email: info@naira.com www.naira.com

               Head of Service of the Federation (HoSF), Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, has stressed the need to deploy technology in public service to enhance transparency, accountability and efficiency. Speaking yesterday at the flag-off of the second batch of the ‘ICT for Change’ programme by the federal government and Huawei Technologies Company Nigeria Limited, in Abuja, Oyo-Ita explained how technology could help to reduce corruption. “If we deploy technology in the civil service system, the level of transparency and accountability will be very high. The less you have of human interference, the more we see improved accountability and transparency,” she said. According to the HoSF, government plans to see an efficient, productive, incorruptible and citizen-centred public service.“We have a vision to develop an elite corps of civil servants who can compete favourably with their counterparts all over the world.“I commend Huawei for what they are doing. “We want to dig out some h

Following price losses suffered by most blue-chip stocks, trading on the Nigeria equities market extended its bearish run yesterday, causing the All-share index to decline further by 0.2 per cent.Yesterday, the All Share Index (ASI) shed 59.68 absolute points, representing a dip of 0.2 per cent to close at 29,609.00 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation shed N26 billion to close at N13.048 trillion. The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Nestle Nigeria, Beta Glass, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN), Cadbury Nigeria and MTN Nigeria.Analysts at Cordros Capital Limited said: “Our outlook for equities in the short to medium term remains conservative, amidst absence of a positive catalyst.” Also, APT Securities and Funds Limited said: “We retain our cautious trading advice in the short run. However, accumulation of fundamentally justified and dividend paying stocks for mid to long term is recommended.” M

Microsoft has called for safer online community in Nigeria, stressing that cybercrime will cost the global economy $6 trillion by 2021. Microsoft said the call became necessary following increasing phishing attacks on the Nigerian community. The firm said phishing, which is the biggest security headache for businesses and individuals, is among the hardest to tackle. The American technology company said phishing increased by over 250 per cent in Nigeria and other parts of the world.Phishing is the fraudulent attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by disguising oneself as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. It is typically carried out by email spoofing or instant messaging. It often directs users to enter personal information at a fake website which matches the look and feel of the legitimate site. Speaking with Journalists yesterday, in Lagos, Country Manager for Nigeria & Ghana at Microsoft, Akin Banuso, d

The federal government is planning to increase the rate of value-added tax to 7.5 percent from the current five percent by 2020, says the former finance minister, Mrs Zainab Ahmed. The ex minister made the disclosure on Tuesday, June 25 at the Bloomberg Emerging & Frontier Forum in London, ThisDay reports. Nigerians had previously opposed earlier plans by the federal government to increase VAT. Ahmed, whose tenure ended with President Muhammadu Buhari’s first term on May 29, said that her main preoccupation while in office was how to raise government’s revenue with only 55 percent of targets being met. She said: “We have developed a strategic revenue growth initiative, which we have started to implement. “Our target is to increase revenue to 65 percent minimum in 2019 so that in the next three years we are able to attain 80-85 percent of our revenue target.” The head, Communication and Servicom Department, Wahab Gbadamosi, made this known in a statement in Abuja. H

Strong indications emerged yesterday that a strategic investor assumed to be Adebutu Kensington, is taking controlling stake of Wema Bank Plc, given the quantum of transactions executed on its shares on Monday and Tuesday. Specifically, at the close of trading on Monday, June 17, transactions in the shares of Wema Bank topped the activity chart with 2.7 billion shares valued at N1.71 billion. This volume of shares traded by the bank lifted total volume, as turnover rose 1,867.26 per cent to 2.86 billion units, valued at N3.92 billion, exchanged in 3,360 deals. Also, similar massive transactions were recorded in the shares of the bank on Tuesday, June 18, which traded 2.4 billion shares valued at N1.48 billion, resulting to 1.65 per cent rise in turnover to 2.91 billion units, valued at N11.225 billion, exchanged in 3,324 deals. The share price of Wema Bank, which stood at 0.60kobo at the close of trading last week Friday, rose to 0.63kobo on Wednesday, adding 0.03 gain. A

Refineries operated by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), recorded deficits running into N141billion within 13 months, between January 2018 and January 2019. Indeed, the sum is capable of addressing capital projects in critical sectors of the economy as captured in the 2019 Budget. A breakdown showed that the losses are capable of funding projects worth N80.29billion, which are expected to drive the agriculture sector in order to address food insecurity and set the economic diversification drive of the current administration on track. Without borrowing, the current losses would have taken care of practically all capital allocations for health, education, as well as the Niger Delta region in the 2019 budget. President Muhammadu Buhari recently assented to the 2019 budget of N8.916trillion, with the hope of borrowing to the make the projections a reality. In the 2019 fiscal spending plan, the Federal Government proposed to execute capital projects worth N47.2

Naira.com is a payment platform that works with a wallet function. You download the app, register, fund your wallet (that's from your bank account) and you can do any form of transactions you want, like, buying airtime or transfer money to someone's bank account or receive money from people in different countries, all both of you need is to have a Naira.com account (once you open one, you'll have a Naira.com account number). This month, Naira.com will be giving out One Hundred Thousand Naira (#100,000) to three (3) lucky winners this month. HOW TO WIN: Follow this simple steps - 1. Record a one (1) minute video. 2. Talk about Naira.com and How the FUND WALLET service it Works. 3. Post it on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and make sure you tag @thenairadotcom. 4. Use the hash tag #NairaDotComChallenge and tag your friends. Oya gbe body eh Social Media: Instagram: @thenairadotcom Facebook: Facebook.com/thenaira.com Twitter: @thenairadotcom Email: info@n

The Chairman of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Aliko Dangote has warned that Nigeria is losing over 300,000 metric tonnes of local sugar demand to smuggling on yearly basis.   This figure is huge, as smuggling continues to adversely affect the nation’s sugar industry, he said on the sidelines of the 13th yearly general meeting of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, in Lagos. In his words, “Sugar smuggling is in the range of over 300,000 metric tonnes, which is a lot with some coming to Lagos, but majority of the smuggled commodity goes to Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi and Sokoto. These are the places we are having the most hit. The government needs to stand up to curb smuggling so that we can create jobs for Nigeria’s teeming unemployed youths.” He said local production of sugar should be about 1.5 million tonnes, which he said has the capacity to employ over 250,000 people, but stressed that smuggling has continued to hinder the growth of Nigeria’s sugar industry. He pointed out that 2018 wa

The reign of bears continued unabated on the trading floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), as more bellwether stocks depreciated in price, resulting to a further decline in the All-share index by 0.4 per cent.   Yesterday, the All Share Index (ASI) shed 117.53 absolute points, representing a dip of 0.4 per cent to close at 29,818.80 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation lost N52 billion to close at N13.140 trillion.   Tuesday’s performance was influenced by price depreciation in medium and large capitalised stocks, among which were, Nestle Nigeria, Okomu Oil, Chemical and Allied Products (CAP), Julius Berger, and International Breweries. Analysts at Afrinvest Limited maintained a bearish outlook for subsequent trading sessions, but were optimistic that investors would continue to position in undervalued stocks with good fundamentals.   Also, analysts at Cordros Capital Limited, stated: “In the absence of a positive catalyst, we guide investors to trade cautiousl

The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, says the country’s daily oil production is currently 2.32million barrel per day. Mr Baru disclosed this on Tuesday when a delegation of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) led by its President, Chris Isiguzo, visited his office in Abuja. “Since we came in July 2016, we are focused on increasing production of oil and gas and condensates. “At some point, our national combined production was about a million barrels; I am happy that as at the end of 2018, we have moved on averaging last year, about 2.1 million barrels. “As I am speaking, this morning, I look at our production figures, combined oil and condensates we are pushing 2.32 million barrels a day,” he said. According to him, the stability and ability to push production has come as a consequence of several factors, both internally, externally and also with the help of the media. Commenting on the gas sector, he said the cor

The ministry said that to develop Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector, it executed the Growth and Employment Programme (GEM), and disbursed N3.7 billion to 910 entrepreneurs. The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) says it attracted $139.36 billion dollars investment commitment from 2017 to September 2018 through its various reforms. The ministry made the disclosure on its official Twitter handle @TradeInvestNG, saying the amount was the highest on record. It said that in its efforts to attract investment, it revamped incentive programmes for investors, including a new Pioneer Status regime, and released the first compendium of investment incentives in Nigeria. It established bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of over $50 billion with the U.K., Germany and China for local investment commitments. To boost the competitiveness of states, it also established the Nigerian Investment Certification Programme (NICP). The ministry sai

For the third year in a row, foreign direct investment (FDI) is down all over the world, but not in Africa. Global money is banking on African growth, reduced barriers to cross-border trade and affordable access to commodities. From 2017 to 2018, global FDI fell from $1.5 trillion to $1.3 trillion, according to an analysis by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The conference released its 2019 World Investment Report this week, showing that global FDI not only hit its lowest level since the global financial crisis, but has also been on the decline for three consecutive years. One region defied this trend: Africa. In 2018, roughly $46bn worth of FDI flowed into Africa, an 11 percent increase compared to 2017. This is significant for the continent because when a company or an individual makes an FDI, they are said to be establishing a long-term business interest in a foreign country. The expectation is that they will not only invest money, but also t

The African Development Bank and its partners on Wednesday launched the Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI), designed to aid safety and expansion of digital financial transactions in Africa. The Fund, launched at the Bank’s Annual Meetings in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the Government of Luxembourg, as initial contributors. Bank Vice President Pierre Guislain, Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization, said the goal is to ensure that at least 320 million more Africans, of which nearly 60% are women, have access to digital financial services. Financial inclusion, achieved through digital financial service models, is simultaneously a powerful anti-poverty strategy. The fund will deploy $100 million in grants and $300 million in the form of debt from the Bank’s ordinary capital resources by 2030, to scale up electronic financial services for low-inco

Nigeria’s central bank said it made no change to its naira policies, after a revision on its website led some analysts to speculate that it was ending a system of multiple exchange rates. “Nothing has changed in Nigeria’s exchange-rate structure,” and the naira’s value continues to be determined by trading in the Investors’ & Exporters’ FX Window, Isaac Okorafor, a spokesman for the Abuja-based institution, said in a text message. The I&E FX window, also know as the Nafex window, was introduced in 2017 as Nigeria sought to attract capital inflows by offering investors a weaker and market-determined naira rate. The central bank pegs an official rate — meant for government bodies and fuel importers — at a level about 20% stronger than the market price. The central bank’s homepage on Tuesday stated that the official rate was “market-determined,” whereas it previously gave a value. The website reverted to its original form on Wednesday. The naira was little changed at 3

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it is unaware of crude debt recovery methods adopted by some microfinance banks. It, however, said it is taking steps to ‘curb the use of inhumane and unethical debt recovery practices.” In response to an earlier enquiry on its position over the reported cases of harassment of debtors by some microfinance institutions, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has distanced itself from the allegations. In a mail sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Monday, the CBN said it is not aware of the practices and never approved of the unethical and embarrassing methods deployed by the said banks to recover debts from their customers. The mail was signed on behalf of the Director of the Consumer Protection Department by an official, I. Yahaya. PREMIUM TIMES had earlier reported the pain, frustration and embarrassment suffered by customers of some microfinance institutions over failure to repay loans drawn from them. The report was titled; ‘Breasts on lantern’: Ag

Facebook has launched a new app which will pay users to allow the social network to collect data on how people use their device and the apps downloaded to it. The new app, called Study from Facebook, will collect data on the amount of time spent using the apps on a device, as well as the names of activities used inside different apps and the participant’s country, device and network type. Facebook said it would recruit participants by running adverts for the app, which people will be able to click on and register their interest, and if they qualify they will then be invited to download the app from Google Play Store.  The app will only initially be available to people in the US and India. ‘Market research helps companies build better products for people. We believe this work is important to help us improve our products for the people who use Facebook,’ Facebook’s Sagee Ben-Zedeff said in a blog post on the new app. ‘We also know that this kind of research must be clear about what

It’s one thing to start a business and another to scale it. Here are ten tips for massively growing your company from leading entrepreneurs and Advisors in The Oracles who have done just that. 1. CREATE A SENSE OF URGENCY GRANT CARDONE You need three things to scale a business. First, hire well so you can delegate. You’ll never scale if you have to handle everything yourself. Second, pick your battles. Don’t spend days deciding on things like the perfect logo color — your brand will evolve anyway. Focus on acquiring more and bigger customers. You want volume and margin; so start hunting for big game, not mosquitos. Third, create urgency. Set specific timelines for action and achievements. One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is not operating with enough urgency. You’re in a marathon, but it includes many sprints. Start winning the little races and you’ll create momentum! —Grant Cardone, sales expert, who has built a $750 million real estate empire, and NYT bestselling a

The Central Bank of Nigeria signaled it will allow the naira to weaken past its official rate as it gradually unwinds its regime of multiple exchange rates, data on its website shows. The Abuja-based central bank stopped publishing the fixed naira exchange rate on its website and it now says that the rate will be “market-determined.’’ The central bank used to have an official rate as strong as 305 naira per dollar. That rate was used to ensure that some traders including, fuel importers, got cheap dollars. Then and now: the top block shows the central bank website two weeks ago and the bottom block is on Tuesday. A move toward a market-determined exchange rate will be welcomed by investors, who have long accused the government of some level of capital controls and bemoaned the system of multiple exchange rates. The central bank is in talks with other agencies to move to a single rate for the nation’s currency, Yewande Sadiku, the head of the Nigerian Investment Promotion C

African financial technology (fintech) experts and entrepreneurs have identified Nigeria’s inability to retain her best talents as major contributor to socio-economic challenges facing the country. Speaking at the 2019 IE Africa Centre Forum yesterday in Lagos, they noted the need to re-invent the country’s education and make it a place for business opportunities. The experts include Head, TQM Wholesale Banking Access Bank, Tomilayo Aluko; President of IE University, Santiago Iñiguez de Onzoño; Managing Partner, Sahel Capital, Ndidi Nwuneli; Head Africa Fintech Foundry, Access Bank, Olusegun Adeniyi; Co-founder, Telnet Nigeria, Dr. Nadu Denloye; Principal Lead, BugIT, Gabriel Okeowo; and Lead Partner, Detail Commercial Solicitors, Ayuli Jemide. Themed ‘Africa Solutions, Global Challenges’, the event was designed to create a space to discuss how Africa’s unique innovations can offer instructive path to the world. It, however, created a platform to share how African change-maker

Ericsson says that "rapid early momentum" and consumer enthusiasm means the switch to 5G is happening much faster than anticipated. The Swedish telecom-equipment maker said in a report Tuesday that 45% of the world's population will be able to access the next generation wireless networks in 2024. Ericsson (ERIC) also revised its estimate for global 5G subscriptions, which refers to active devices on 5G networks. It now expects 1.9 billion subscriptions by the end of 2024, up 27% from its forecast in November. "This is going much faster than we thought," said Patrik Cerwall, executive editor of the report. The world's mobile providers are racing to deploy the infrastructure necessary to support super-fast 5G networks, which will power technologies of the future such as self-driving cars and smart cities. Limited 5G launches have already taken place in the United Kingdom, the United States and South Korea. China is expected to follow shortly. Chip

Naira.com is a payment platform that works with a wallet function. You download the app, register, fund your wallet (that's from your bank account) and you can do any form of transactions you want, like, buying airtime or transfer money to someone's bank account or receive money from people in different countries, all both of you need is to have a Naira.com account (once you open one, you'll have a Naira.com account number). This month, Naira.com will be giving out One Hundred Thousand Naira (#100,000) to three (3) lucky winners this month. HOW TO WIN: Follow this simple steps - 1. Record a one (1) minute video. 2. Talk about Naira.com and How the FUND WALLET service it Works. 3. Post it on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and make sure you tag @thenairadotcom. 4. Use the hash tag #NairaDotComChallenge and tag your friends. Oya gbe body eh Social Media: Instagram: @thenairadotcom Facebook: Facebook.com/thenaira.com Twitter: @thenairadotco