The 11 Nigerian electricity distribution companies (DisCos) supplied 79,850 prepaid meters in 2018, despite a 4.6 million metering gap in the country. This is contained in the recently released 2018 fourth quarter power sector report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). According to the report, the total number of electricity consumers with prepaid meters […]
Month: February 2019
South Africa’s MTN expects up to 90 percent jump in 2018 profit
Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator MTN Group expects to increase profits by as much as 90 percent in 2018, as the company continues to recover from a regulatory fine in Nigeria. Founded with the South African government’s help after the end of apartheid in 1994, MTN is touted as one of South Africa’s biggest corporate […]
Nigeria benchmark bond yield drop 40bps as funds buy debt
Yields on Nigeria’s most liquid 10-year bond fell 40 basis point to 13.9 percent on Thursday as uncertainty eases for foreign investors following the conclusion of national elections, traders said. Yields on the benchmark 2028 paper, which is most traded, have been falling with investors locking in attractive rates. The bond dropped to 14.3 percent […]
Aftermath of polls: Mass resignation looms in INEC
THERE are indications that some Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs, and National Commissioners of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, will resign their appointments following alleged intimidation, harassment and threat to life by security agencies during the February 23 presidential and National Assembly elections. INEC, APC, INEC boss, Prof Mahmood Yakubu States electoral commissioners and national commissioners […]
Nigeria incurs huge losses over stalled $30bn LNG projects
More than two years after the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation reiterated its commitment to two Liquefied Natural Gas projects in the country; there is still uncertainty over whether the multibillion-dollar projects will come on stream. Industry experts, who spoke with our correspondent in separate interviews, said the country was losing out on the growing global […]
Oil Sector Tops U.S.$218 Billion Illicit Financial Flows From Nigeria
The oil and gas sector of the Nigeria economy is responsible for 92.9 per cent of illicit financial flows (IFF) with over $217.7 billion said to have flowed out of the country between 1970 and 2008. This is contained in report entitled, “Averting Illicit Financial Flows in Nigeria’s Extractive Industry,” released yesterday by the Nigeria […]
Federal govt, states, LGs share N610.4bn in February
The federal, state and local governments councils in February shared about N610.4billion federal revenue generated in January 2019. The Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, disclosed this in Abuja while briefing journalists at the end of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting at the finance ministry headquarters. Mr Idris said approval was being […]
Controversy surrounds planned diversion of N14.3bn NEPZA fund
There is disquiet at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment over plans to divert the sum of N14.37bn from the budget of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority to the Nigeria Special Economic Zone Investment Company Limited. The N14.37bn is being planned to be diverted from the N48.2bn budget of NEZPA as approved by […]
Banks’ non-performing loans climb to N8.17tn
The banking sector recorded a total amount of N8.17tn as non-performing loans in the 2018 fiscal period. The figure is contained in the banking sector report obtained by our correspondent from the National Bureau of Statistics. The banking sector’s N8.17tn NPLs for 2018 was N1.38tn lower when compared to the N9.54tn recorded in the 2017 […]
Nigeria Earns N3.72trn from Royalties, Petroleum Tax in One Year
Nigeria earned N3.72 trillion from royalties and petroleum profit tax, PPT, in the oil and gas sector in 2018, according to data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. The CBN, in its Economic Report for the Fourth Quarter of 2018, stated that the amount the country earned from royalties and PPT in 2018 […]