The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigerian Newspapers

  • Cornerstone recovers from loss, makes N2b profit

    Cornerstone Insurance Plc has returned to profitability. Its 2018 financial year end. Its Profit before Tax for  2018 stood at N2.66 billion. This is coming after a period of losses.

    The company’s Gross Premium Written (GPW) for the financial year ended December 31, 2018 stood at N11.5 billion, an increase of 25 per cent from the previous year.

    The largest contributor to this result is the Group Life portfolio, which contributed N2.01 billion, representing 17 per cent of GPW.

    The entire life insurance portfolio recorded a growth of 48 per cent from that of previous year.

    Read Also: FBN General Insurance settles N902m claims

    Its Chairman, Mr Segun Adebanji said at 27th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company, that the financial performance of Cornerstone Insurance has continued to record growth in revenue, despite challenging market conditions.

    He said: “The growth was driven by regulatory changes to Group Life Insurance pricing limits and the introduction of a new product targeted at retail segments. The Individual Life Insurance portfolio grew by 370 per cent from the previous year, representing N621 million in 2018 from N132 million in 2017. The Engineering, Oil & Gas product segments continued to dominate our General Business portfolio with a combined contribution of 57 per cent of General Business Premiums (N4.13 billion), giving credence to the emergence of Cornerstone Insurance as a leading special risks underwriter.

    “A review of our overly prudent claims reserving methodology during the year saw our Gross Claims incurred for the year drop to N4.53 billion from N7.74 billion in the previous year, aligning more with the Industry average.

    ‘’In accordance with the provisions of IFR S 11, the completion of our Head Office building, which had been represented as a non-earning asset in our accounts, unlocked some value and contributed N2.31 billion to the Group’s profit.

    ‘’Nonetheless, the Board of Directors and Management did not relent on the cost control measures put in place in the previous year and our efforts reduced Operating and Personnel expenses by 13 per cent from N3.09 billion in 2017 to N2.69 billion in 2018.’’

  • Pupils develop app on traffic gridlock

    Four female pupils have developed a solution to address obstructive parking in the country.

    The innovative application (app), called Frostbits, will be useful in cities, such as Lagos, with its use of location sensors, database, and the app inventor’s interface and more.

    The four pupils from Princeton College, Surulere, Lagos under the tutelage of New Horizons Computer Learning Centres Limited, the school’s information communications technology (ICT) partner,  emerged African regional winner for this year’s Technovation contest held at Pan Atlantic University, Lekki, Lagos.

    The app came first in the ‘Senior Division Regional 2019 Technovation competition.  The app developers are Daniella Ekekwe (Grade 11);  Gbopemioluwa Olukoga (Grade 11);  Victory Yinka-Banjo (Grade 11); and  Tanyalouise Ekekwe (Grade 12).

    According to them, users can easily park their cars without worrying about interference from other drivers.

    Education Director, Princeton Schools, Dr Dolapo Bankole  said: ”Our emphasis in Princeton School is to produce pupils with 21st Century skills in sciences and technology, so that students from our school can compete effectively with their counterparts in Europe, America and Asia.”

  • ‘Fed Govt paid rent on its Osun land for 50 years’

    The Federal Government has paid rent on a piece of land that houses the National Control Centre, Osogbo, Osun State, for 50 years, it was learnt. The Centre belongs to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

    TCN Managing Director, Mr. Usman Gur Mohammed, who spoke in Abuja said the power firm has, however, stopped paying the rent.

    He said the Federal Government  paid rent on it for five decades, adding that at the point of planning to install a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) in the centre, it realised that it was inappropriate to install it in a rented property.

    Read Also: How we’re eliminating transmission losses, by TCN chief

    While deciding to relocate the centre, the TCN was told that the property on which it has paid rent for 50 years actually belonged to the Federal Government.

    On this discovery, he said the  government has stopped further rent payment on the property.

    He, however, did not say anything on whether the government will recover the fund from the private individuals that had fraudulently collected the rent for five decades.

     

  • FDI dips by 36.5% in seven months

    Total transactions by foreign portfolio investors in the stock market have declined by 36.53 per cent, about N305.3 billion, as foreign portfolio outflows continued to outpace inflows.

    Total transactions at the stock market also dropped by 31.2 per cent, equivalent to N542 billion.

    Official report on foreign and domestic portfolio transactions in the past seven months obtained at the weekend indicated that total foreign transactions dropped to N530.57 billion by last month,  compared with N835.89 billion recorded by last year.

    Foreign inflows had declined by 39.24 per cent from N400.48 billion by July 2018 to N243.35 billion by July, this year, representing a drop of N157.13 billion. Foreign outflows, however, also dropped from N435.41 billion to N287.22 billion.

    The report showed a consecutive seven-month net portfolio deficit as foreign transactions tended more on sales than buys, leading to a net portfolio deficit of N43.87 billion for the seven-month period ended July 2019.

    The report, coordinated by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), included transactions from nearly all custodians and capital market operators and it is widely regarded as a credible measure of foreign portfolio investment (FPI) trend.

    The report uses two key indicators-inflow and outflow, to gauge foreign investors’ mood and participation in the stock market as a barometer for the economy.

    Foreign portfolio outflow includes sales transactions or liquidation of equity portfolio investments through the stock market while inflow includes purchase transactions on the NSE. Segmental analysis delineates the proportion of foreign to local participation, institutional to retail investors as well as the momentum of activities among others.

    Total transactions at the Nigerian equities market had also dropped 31.2 per cent or N542 billion to N1.20 trillion in July 2019 as against N1.74 trillion recorded in comparable period of 2018. Domestic transactions also followed the foreign portfolio flows, albeit at a slower pace, dropping by 26.12 per cent or N236.99 billion from N907.44 billion in July 2018 to N670.45 billion in July 2019.

    Retail domestic investors appeared to be filling the space as domestic institutional investors mused over the outlook. Retail domestic investors traded N355.15 billion as against N315.29 billion traded by institutional domestic investors in the year compared with the situation in 2018 when institutional domestic investors outpaced retail domestic investors with N528.18 billion against N3379.26 billion.

    The latest report highlighted the continuing decline in foreign transactions amid general slowdown in the stock market.

    Foreign transactions saw a steep decline in the immediate past month from N96.74 billion in June, this year to N57.78 billion in July 2019. Domestic transactions also dropped significantly from N200.51 billion in June, this year to N55.69 billion in July 2019.

    Total foreign transactions for the six-month period ended June 30, 2019 had stood at N472.78 billion, a decline of 40.9 per cent from N799.70 billion recorded in the comparable period of 2018. Alongside the steep decline in foreign transactions, foreign outflows had also continued to outpace inflows with net foreign portfolio investment (FPI) deficit rising from N38.41 billion in first half of 2018 to N42.84 billion in 2019.

    Foreign inflows dropped from N380.65 billion in first half 2018 to N214.97 billion in first half 2019 while foreign outflows also declined from N419.06 billion in first half 2018 to N257.81 billion in first half of the year.

    Total transactions at the equities market had dropped by N509.71 billion or 31.91 per cent from N1.597 trillion in first half 2018 to N1.088 trillion in first half 2019. Domestic transactions had increased consecutively from N54.02 billion in March 2019 to N71.99 billion, N143.87 billion and N200.51 billion in April, May and June 2019 respectively.

    Low appetite for equities had led to significant depreciation in share prices at the stock market. The Nation had reported that investors in Nigerian equities had lost N1.38 trillion in capital depreciation over the past seven months as the onset of the first half earnings season failed to sustain expected recovery at the stock market. Equities had suffered their worst price depreciation, so far, this year in July, dropping by an average of 7.50 per cent, valued at about N990.45 billion.

    The steep decline in July had worsened the average year-to-date return, which had closed first half at -4.66 per cent, to -11.81 per cent, equivalent to net capital depreciation of N1.38 trillion for the seven-month period.

    With a drop of 17.81 per cent last year, the continuing decline at the equities market implied average decline of 29.62 per cent over the past 19 months. This implied that average investors who had invested over the period had lost almost a third of their portfolios, altogether implying a loss of about N4 trillion for the entire market.

    Equities have traded mostly on the negative this year, declining in five out of the seven past months. The market also closed both the first and second quarters on the downside and most analysts remained cautious about the outlook for the third quarter.

    The All Share Index (ASI) – the main value-based index that tracks share prices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), closed July at 27,718.26 points as against its month’s opening index of 29,966.87 points, June’s closing index. The ASI had opened 2019 at 31,430.50 points, 17.81 per cent down from its 2018’s opening index of 38,243.19 points. It had however rallied a world-leading gain of 42.30 per cent in 2017.

     

  • €150m probe: Detectives comb Obasanjo Library

    Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have visited the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) in Abeokuta, Ogun State, as part of the probe of ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s son-in-law and the 150 million euros cash-for-poll bribe scandal.

    It was learnt that the investigators went to the Library on August 8 to authenticate the claims by one of those under probe that he gave $140,000 (about N50 million) to a library official.

    Sources said the EFCC officials, accompanied by policemen, combed some offices at the expansive ex-President’s Library.

    It could not be confirmed whether any document was taken away by the operatives, but nobody was arrested.

    A source said: “Our operatives went to the library with some riot policemen in anticipation of a possible resistance. But there was none.

    “We did our job lawfully without any inhibition. We are still investigating the case. We are screening some documents in our possession on the matter.”

    The Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library was opened on March 4, 2017. It is a historic, tourist and academic centre established as a national archive for the preservation of documents and materials used by the President during his tenure between 1999 and 2007.

    Atiku’s son-in-law Abdullahi Babalele is being investigated alongside others for allegedly laundering 150 million euros. The money is believed to have been spent to influence the 2019 election in which Atiku was the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate.

    About 67, 950,000 euros was traced to ex-VP Atiku’s associate Mr Uyi Giwa-Osagie’s account, Babalele’s account, two slush firms and two Bureau de Change operators.

    Read Also: EFCC begins probe of Obasanjo govt’s $16bn power project

    Of the 67.9m euros, Uyi’s account was credited with 26,050,00 million euros between January 9 and 28, 2019, it was learnt.

    Babalele is expected to account for 41,900,000 euros.

    Sources said of the cash credited to Babalele’s account, he gave about N50million ($140,000) to his childhood friend, Bashir Mohammed to deliver to an official at the Presidential Library in Abeokuta. The anti-graft agency is investigating why the money was taken to the Presidential Library.

    Bashir has reportedly admitted that he delivered the cash to the Presidential Library.

    A document obtained by our correspondent on the preliminary investigation reads: “That between 05/02/2018 and 27/11/2018 €41,900,000 (forty one million, nine hundred thousand euro) which sums are reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities, was received by a firm linked to Babalele.

    “That on February 20, 2019 Babalele called Bashir Mohammed his childhood friend and informed him that he will transfer N50million to him which should be converted to United States dollars.

    “That Bashir converted the N50 million at the rate of 360 per dollar amounting to about $140,000

    “That on the instruction of Babalele, Bashir took the money to Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, and delivered it to an official in cash.

    “That the cash delivered is in excess of the amount authorized by the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011 as amended.

    It was learnt that Bashir was taken by detectives to the Presidential Library.

    Those interrogated including Babalele, Osagie and Mohammed, are on administrative bail pending the filing of a case against them.”

    The EFCC gave details of how it foiled the alleged cash-for-poll laundering.

    A report said: “On receipt of this intelligence, the team arrested two BDC operators, namely: Abdullahi Shehu who works with Abdullahi Munaciki of Hasbunallahu BDC, Abuja and Lawal A. Abdullahi of three Brother BDC. The team also recovered the said $1.6million but $141,000.00 had been exchanged to Naira at N358/ per dollar which amounted to N50, 500,000.00 while the balance of $1,459.000.00 USD could not easily be exchanged due to the naira scarcity in the market.

    “Investigation conducted regarding the ownership as well as the source of the money so far revealed that Hasbunallahu BDC who is also the owner of Clean and Integrity Services Ltd received three transfers amounting to $5,000,000.00 on February 4 and 114, 2019, from Guernsey Trust Company Nigeria Limited which is an investment company that is being managed by one Uyiekpan Giwa-Osagie in trust on behalf of xxx.

    ”Investigation carried out on the accounts of Guernsey Trust Company Nig Ltd revealed that various transfers in millions of dollars and cash payments were made to various individuals and companies.”

    Attempts by The Nation to speak to the ex-President failed last night.

    Repeated calls to Chief Obasanjo’s spokesman Kehinde Akinyemi’s number did not go through.

    Also SMS sent to Akinyemi’s phone number were not responded to.

  • Recap plan: AXA Mansard, Allianz, others beat deadline

    Many companies have met the August 20 deadline set by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to submit their recapitalisation plans, The Nation has learnt.

    AXA Mansard Insurance Plc, Allianz Nigeria Insurance Plc, SUNU Assurances Plc, FBNInsurance, NEM Insurance Plc, Cornerstone Insurance Plc,  LASACO Assurance, AIICO Insurance Plc and Mutual Benefit Assurance Plc met the deadline.

    Leadway Assurance, on the other hand, already has more than the required capital and may not submit submit a new plan to the commission, it was gathered.

    Deputy Director and Head of Corporate Communication, NAICOM, Rasaaq Salami, in an interview, said majority of the firms had submitted their plan.

    He noted with satisfaction the rate of compliance, saying that it indicated that  the companies understood what the import of recapitalisation.

    ‘’There is compliance by the companies and the Commission knows their plans. The next step for us is to  review what they have submitted,’’  he added.

    NAICOM, on July 23, mandated insurance and reinsurance firms to submit their recapitalisation plans to the Commission on or before August 20, 2019.The companies are required to increase their share capital not later than June 30, 2020. Going by this, the minimum paid-up share capital of a Life, Non-Life and Composite insurance companies, including re-insurance companies will be N8 billion, N10 billion, N18 billion and N20 billion respectively, from N2 billion, N3 billion, N5 billion and N10 billion.

    The commission said: “Insurers and Reinsurers shall submit their recapitalisation plan to the Commission on or before 20th August, 2019. The plan should include among others a capital status of the Company based on the above referenced circular as at the last Audited Financial Statements; Board resolution on how to comply with the directives; and Detailed action plan on how the funds for the recapitalisation are to be sourced with timelines and deliverables.

    “Also, companies intending to seek funds from the capital markets are required to submit their plan of action on a file-and-use basis while companies that intend to merge or acquire another should submit their proposal after which they must comply with Sections 30 and 31 of the Insurance Act 2003.

    “The commission shall review and provide responses on the submitted recapitalisation plans on or before September 17, 2019. The review may require meeting with the Board and Management of each of the insurance company on its recapitalisation plan.

    Similarly, the Commission is engaging with other regulatory bodies for possible palliatives in addition to those being considered by the Commission,” the commission added.

  • NIRSAL, German group boost agric projects

    The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) has entered into a partnership with the German Agribusiness Alliance (GAA) to establish agricultural industrial projects.

    The aim of the partnership is to create a platform where economic ideas are exchanged to boost the successes recorded in agriculture and agribusiness.

    Read Also: Agric-value chain can provide 50m jobs – NASME

    Receiving the German delegates in Abuja, NIRSAL Managing Director Mr. Aliyu Abdulhameed said: “The partnership with the German Agribusiness Alliance and by extension, German agribusinesses, has been identified as a potential strategic leverage for obtaining invaluable benefits for NIRSAL and Nigeria towards the establishment of agro-industrial projects.”

    He noted that the partnership “will have enormous impact in Nigeria’s rural communities, given that upstream segment of Nigeria’s agricultural value chain is dominated by smallholders in rural areas,’’ adding that with the pull and push vibrations in the upstream segment, the midstream and downstream will also be impacted.

  • SEC regularises 3.4b fictitious shares

    Apex capital market regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has regularized 3.4 billion ordinary shares which hitherto were fictitious.

    The Capital Market Committee (CMC) – a consultative assembly of stakeholders in the Nigerian capital market – last November, extended the deadline for investors that used fictitious names and other surreptitious means to buy shares to claim their shares from December 31, 2018 to December 31, 2019.

    At the weekend, the CMC announced that 3.4 billion ordinary shares had been regularised under the “Multiple Subscription Initiative (MSI)”.

    The MSI is aimed at the regularisation of shares purchased with multiple identities, by investors-otherwise known as ghost shareholders that conjured up many identities to secure large allocation of shares, especially during public offerings.

    The 2005-2008 boom period of the capital market had witnessed significant increase in public offerings as several banks, insurance companies and other non-financial quoted and unquoted companies jostle to raise funds through the capital market.

    Read Also: FAAC shares N769.523b JULY 2019 revenue to Fed Govt, States and LGAs

    Acting Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mary Uduk, said that after extensive discussions with the CMC, the Commission intends to partner with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the issue of charges on the e-Dividend Mandate Management System (E-DMMS) transactions.

    According to her, the CBN has published charges for the banks, this means that any transactions carried out by any bank, there is an established charge. The e-dividend charge is not part of the charges from the CBN and so because of that investors are having issues with banks where for instance they are charged for some transactions that are not listed as bank charges which they do not know.

    She said: “They complained to us and so we decided that we will engage CBN to actually make this part of their charges and so any e-dividend carried out will be charged by the CBN. This came up as a result of us stopping the payment of the e-dividend mandate as we were underwriting the initiative before we mandated investors to pay a token of N150 per mandate.”

    The director-general further noted that brokers and registrars are required to make available to the Committee on multiple subscription account, on a periodic basis, the number of regularised accounts and added that the commission will continue to engage with relevant stakeholders on e-Dividend and multiple subscription accounts.

    Also speaking, Acting Executive Commissioner, SEC’s Corporate Services, Henry Rowland, said more than 3.4 billion shares have been effectively regularised and 2.7 million accounts have been mandated on e-Dividend.

    “As we all know the unclaimed dividend issue is a dynamic one, while we were solving the issue, new ones come in. we can confirm that about 2.7 million accounts have been mandated and when you look at that, you go back to think that if each mandated account will attract a number of dividends unclaimed, then it is of essence,” Rowland said.

  • NASSI to CBN: release funds to SMEs

    The Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to release funds to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to enable them overcome the harsh business environment in the country.

    Speaking with The Nation at the monthly programme of the Business Club Ikeja (BCI), Nigeria Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NSAME) President,  Prince Degun Agboade, appealed to the CBN to release funds to small business owners that had been trained and interviewed by the apex bank.

    He added that this was necessary for the investors to inject funds into their businesses.

    He said if the funds were delayed before their eventual release to the beneficiaries, the aim of the exercise would be defeated.

    Read Also: Food import restriction has taken effect – CBN

    He said the Agricultural Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS) was meant for  SMEs to access affordable funding as against going through money deposit banks because the conditions set by commercial banks were hard for small businesses to meet.

    He said the association has trained many entrepreneurs, adding that last December alone, about 120 of them attended an interview at the CBN.

    He lamented that up till now, the money was yet to be released to the supposed beneficiaries.

    He applauded the decision of the Federal Government to place food on the CBN’s foreign exchange exclusion list. He said the move was favourable to the small businesses, noting that the policy statement would help in strengthening the country’s currency, conserve foreign earnings and enhance the already weakened naira.

    Commending the government for the bold step, he said this was the only way Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) could grow, adding that more jobs would be created if the policy was well implemented.

    He said the government’s pronouncement was an opportunity for the members of the association and other manufacturers to explore the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, saying the round table was apt.

  • Averting another strike

    The five-day warning strike embarked upon by the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) threatens the fragile stability of the country’s tertiary education system, and all efforts must be made to resolve it.

    The causes of the latest warning strike  are depressingly familiar: the non-payment of over N30 billion in earned allowances, government’s refusal to pay workers in university staff schools, and its non-implementation of the renegotiated agreement it reached with the unions in 2009.

    As expected, the strike paralysed activity on the campuses of public universities across the nation. The main gates were sealed off by the striking workers, preventing many students, academic staff and visitors from entering, and often resulting in severe traffic congestion. Aggressive strike-compliance teams sent by SSANU and NASU ensured that the suspension of work was obeyed. Precious man-hours were lost, schedules were disrupted, and important tasks were left undone.

    The right to withhold work is a cornerstone of labour relations in a functioning democracy, and both unions have fully exercised their privileges in this regard. They gave a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to address their concerns; this was ignored. They then went on a three-day protest in Abuja in July, finally embarking on this warning strike to press home their demands. SSANU and NASU say they are currently reviewing their options, and may undertake a total and indefinite strike if they deem it necessary.

    The real tragedy in all this is that it is a confrontation which could have been avoided. Instead of following the normal trajectory of ignoring worker appeals that has been the standard tactic of successive administrations, government could have demonstrated a willingness to explore new approaches by keeping the lines of communication open. Government intransigence is all the more surprising, given the fact that both unions had gone on a debilitating three-month strike in December 2017.

    If the Buhari administration had agreed to the payment of earned allowances to SSANU and NASU, it should have sought to engage the unions if it was unable to adhere to agreed-upon timelines. The same stance should have been adopted in the matter of the renegotiated 2009 agreement. Even the vexed staff school matter is not an insurmountable dispute; tripartite discussions involving government, the unions and university authorities would certainly have arrived at a mutually-beneficial solution to the problem.

    All parties must now take advantage of the opportunity offered by the warning strike to re-engage with one another and genuinely seek to head off an indefinite strike whose negative effects will only worsen an already-bad situation.

    The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, and his labour and productivity counterpart, Dr. Chris Ngige, both return to office with the benefit of hard-won experience in dealing with these issues, and they must put it to good use in ensuring that the nation does not have to endure yet another needless strike. A knowledgeable government negotiating team must be put together as soon as possible and mandated to talk to the unions in good faith.

    For their part, SSANU and NASU would do well to drop the unproductive strategy of waiting to see what the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) gets from government in its own negotiations, and then proceeding to make exactly the same demands.

    Academics and non-academics do not do the same work, even though they are all university workers. The former, for example, has teaching and examination duties that are not undertaken by the latter, whose main focus is essentially administrative in nature. Such tactics only betray a poverty of thought that can easily be exploited by those seeking to knock heads together.

    Strikes are ultimately disastrous to everyone. They waste valuable time and energy, dissipate precious resources, harden attitudes and make eventual resolution that much harder to attain. The best antidote to them is to prevent them from starting in the first place. But achieving this requires that all parties show tact, display forbearance and demonstrate a preparedness to rise above selfish interests and narrow concerns.