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FIDELITY BANK TARGETS IMPROVED FUNDING TO SMES

Fidelity Bank Plc has announced plans to connect Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), to affordable and long tenor funds courtesy of its SME Connect Fair, scheduled to hold in three commercial nerve states – Lagos, Kano, and Rivers. Indeed, the bank said the move became imperative considering the fact that funding SMEs through commercial sources is very expensive and uncompetitive for SMEs. The Managing Director, Fidelity Bank, Nnamdi Okonkwo, represented by the Executive Director, Lagos and South West, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, at a news conference to herald the SME Funding Connect, scheduled to hold on the 7th of August, kick-starting from Lagos, said SMEs are the engine for any economy that is growing. He said statistics from the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), revealed that about 40 million SMEs are registered, contributing 80 per cent of the workforce in Nigeria. “This shows that it is a sector we cannot ignore. We also know that funding i...

CBN POLICY FREES N750B FOR LOANS

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directive for banks not to deposit funds above N2 billion at its Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) window will free over N750 billion for loans, it was learnt on Thursday. Commercial banks are expected to deposit excess funds at the CBN daily and earn interests on such funds, The Nation learnt. The guideline, issued on Wednesday, took effect yesterday. It reduced the remunerable daily placement of SDF from N7.5 billion to N2 billion. SDF is the excess reserve funds that banks deposit at the SDF window of the CBN at the end of each business day. The Standing Lending Facility (SLF) is fund borrowed by banks from the apex bank to square up their positions in the market. The SDR attracts interest rate of Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) minus 500 basis points, which is 8.5 per cent per annum up to the limit of N2 billion. Any deposit over and above the maximum will attract zero interest rate. CBN Director Financial Markets Department Angela Sere-Ejemb...

YOU CAN NOW EARN MONEY BY LETTING FACEBOOK HARVEST YOUR PRIVATE DATA

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 ...

DANGOTE TO EMPOWER MILLIONS IN MEGA-BILLION PROMO

Aiming to better the lives of millions of consumers in the cement industry, Nigeria’s leading cement brand, Dangote Cement, plans to empower about 21 million consumers in a mega promo. The promo, which runs from July to September, will enrich consumers with prizes worth billions of Naira, comprising 43 cars, 24 tricycles, 24 motorcycles, 550 refrigerators, 400 television sets, 300,000 Dangote foods goodies packs, and recharge cards for all networks worth N200 million. Speaking in a media parley to unveil the jumbo consumer promo tagged, “Dangote Cement Bag of Goodies,” yesterday, in Lagos, the Group Managing Director, Dangote Cement Plc, Joseph Makoju, represented by the Group Executive Director, Dangote Industries Limited, Knut Ulvmoen, said the promo was a way to contribute to the economic wellbeing of e customers. According to him, the promo would reward valued consumers for their unflinching partnership in ensuring that the company’s range of cement products remains ...

TAX TRIBUNAL RECEIVES N71.7BILLION-WORTH NEW APPEALS, RESOLVES 42

The Coordinating Secretary, Tax Appeal Tribunal (TAT), Muhammad Lawal Abubakar, has said that between November 2018 and June 2019, 62 new appeals with disputed tax value of about N71.7 billion were filed at the Tribunal by claimants. This is just as he revealed that 42 appeals with disputed tax value of N288.1 billion were resolved mutually in the period under review, noting that some of the resolved cases are at various stages of settlement or recovery, while others might probably go on appeal at the Federal High Court. He explained that 31 of the pending cases are either reserved for judgment or awaiting the filing of terms of settlement Abubakar made the disclosure yesterday in his welcome address at a retreat and workshop organised by the Tax Appeal Tribunal in Abuja, He said: “The number of pending appeals on commencement in November 2018 were 215 with disputed tax value of N607.535 billion, appeals struck out for other reasons such as lack of diligent prosecution, or di...

NIGERIA’S 1.97MBPD JUNE VOLUME HIGHEST SINCE 2015, SAYS SURVEY

Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC’s) compliance with its production quotas fell sharply in June, as output gains in the month by Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, along with Iraq’s continued flouting of its cap, shrank the bloc’s margin despite its supply cut agreement. According to Platts’ data, Nigeria’s production rose to 1.97 million barrels per day (mbpd) last month, up from the 1.69mbpd quota under the cut agreement, signalling the nation’s highest output since January 2015.Among OPEC’s 11 members with quotas, Nigeria and Iraq were the least compliant, as Platts’ survey showed that pressure on both countries to comply with their quotas is expected to grow in the coming months. Nigeria’s 1.97 million bpd output is its highest since January 2015, as its newest deepwater field Egina, which started production six months ago, is already pumping close to its capacity of 200,000 bpd. The June figure was 110,000 bpd rise from May as none of Nigeria’s crude export g...

WEST AFRICA TARGETS $57B INVESTMENT, INTEGRATED PORTS, RAIL SECTOR

West African countries will later this month meet in Lagos to chart path to integrated ports, road and rail transport sector, with new investments in excess of $57 billion for the region. The new cooperation, which is the central focus of the West African Ports and Rail Evolution Event (WA-PoRa) holding in Lagos, is in lieu of emerging needs and opportunities from economic integration in the region. Experts, at a roundtable meeting yesterday, were unanimous that the West African transportation corridor is arguably the least integrated passage in the world, despite enormous opportunities that abound. With a teeming population of well over 390 million and high economic growth index in some of the countries, there is now a greater impetus on the part of governments of the ECOWAS States to help speed up and sustain economic growth through a regional integration transport policy to link West African cities and states together via ports, rail and road. Managing Director, Grolla Po...

LOSS OF BEST BRAINS CONTRIBUTES TO SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHALLENGES IN NIGERIA, SAY FINTECH EXPERTS

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...

CBN, IMF, EXPERTS DISAGREE ON MULTIPLE RATES’ CLAIMS

The officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and financial experts, in Lagos, yesterday, differed on the controversial issue of multiple exchange rates and its implications for the economy. The Senior Special Assistant to CBN Governor, Emmanuel Ukeje, said the development has severally been clarified, except that people have chosen to go with misconceptions.He the nation’s apex bank is not practicing multiple exchange rates, but multiple windows due to the country’s peculiar situation. Making the clarification at the Special Policy Dialogue Colloquium, entitled: “Policy Change – The Enabler of Sustainable Growth”, organised by the Financial Derivatives Company, he said that those rates at N345/$ are forward rates, not spot rates, which when delivered in six months period are equivalent to N360 per dollar at spot rates. He said that such moves are arranged to take care of the various sectors that will naturally not be serviced by the ...

MOMAN SEEKS DEREGULATION, DENIES NNPC’S N305/$1 CLAIM ON FUEL IMPORTATION

The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) has said total deregulation of the downstream sub-sector remains the best option, as no marketer is getting foreign exchange at N305 to a dollar for importation of petrol. Its chairman, Tunji Oyebanji who made the clarifications on the side-lines of the just concluded Nigerian Oil and Gas conference in Abuja, said none of its members were getting foreign exchange at N305 to a dollar for the importation of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol. The Chief Operating Officer, Downstream, NNPC, Henry Ikem-Obih had stated that the state corporation was able to save $1.7billion from the forex intervention scheme which was rolled out by CBN and co- managed by the NNPC, adding that applications that came in for AGO,HHK,HTK also got forex at N305/$1. The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) has said total deregulation of the downstream sub-sector remains the best option, as no marketer is getting foreign exchange a...

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