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Tag: report

  • Report: CBN forex interventions hit $963m in August

    The total foreign exchange (forex) interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) stood at $963 million in August, a report by Financial Derivatives, a financial market research firm, has shown.

    According to the report, the forex interventions have helped to stabilise the naira against global currencies, especillay, the dollar.

    At the parallel market, the naira started the period at N360/$, and inched up marginally, closing at N361/$ on August 28th.

    This can be attributed partly to the CBN’s intervention of approximately $963mn in the period. The naira also appreciated against the pound and euro to close at N464/£ and N412/Euro on August 28th from N474/£ and N415/Euro on August 13th.

    At the interbank foreign exchange market, the naira started the period at N306.05/$, and depreciated marginally by 0.033 per cent to close at N306.15/$ on August 28th.

    The naira depreciated by 0.050 per cent to close at N362.38/$ at the IEFX window from N362.20/$ on August 13th. Total forex traded at the IEFX window was $2.93 billion, compared to $1.73 billion in the corresponding period in July.

    The level of Nigeria’s gross external reserves decreased by 1.24 per cent (down $570 million) to $45.99 billion as at August 27th from $46.56 billion on August 13th. This was partly due to the increase in forex intervention – $963 million in August compared to $909 million in the corresponding period in July. The import cover also decreased to 11.26 months from 11.40 months on August 13.

    Short term interest rates (OBB and ON) declined by 183 basis points and 159 bps respectively to close at 9.92 per cent and 10.83 per cent per annum. Total OMO sales during the period was N251.44 billion compared to maturities of N878.36 billion resulting in a net inflow of N626.92 billion.

    Average opening position of banks during the period was N300.87 billion compared to N295.84 billion in the corresponding period in July. At the last primary market auction on August 15th, the 91-day and 182-day T/Bills tenor remained flat at 10 per cent and 10.40 per cent respectively while the 364-day tenor declined by 8bps to 11.22 per cent pa. At the secondary market, the 91-day T/bill declined to 10.85 per cent from 11.30 per cent, while the 182-day T/Bills and 364-day T/Bills tenor increased by an average of 3 bps in the review period.

    Nigeria’s economy has expanded by an average of 1.73 per cent year-to-date. Whilst Nigeria’s GDP growth rate has remained positive for five consecutive quarters since its exit from the recession in second quarter of last year, it remains below its population growth rate of 2.7 per cent. The decline in quarter-on-quarter growth is also reflective of a much needed boost to the real sector. The introduction of initiatives such as the Differentiated Cash Reserve Requirement and the Corporate Bonds Funding Programme targeted at improving credit to employment elastic sectors including agriculture and manufacturing sectors is a welcome development. This would increase borrowing in these sectors, improve activities and boost economic growth. However, the slowdown in growth rate in Q2’18 would be a key consideration for the MPC at its next meeting on September 24/25.

  • Report: Banking access lowest in Northeast, Southeast

    •Southwest leads in financial access

    NorthEast and Southeast regions have the least access to banking, a report on financial access touch-points released yesterday has shown.

    With five per cent financial access touch-points for the Northeast and seven per cent for the Southeast, both regions remain disadvantaged in access to financial services despite efforts by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Bankers’ Committee and commercial banks to take banking to the grassroots, the Shared Agent Network Expansion Facility (SANEF) report has shown.

    The CBN has voted N20 billion for banks, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Systems (NIBSS), licensed Mobile Money Operators and Shared Agents to accelerate financial inclusion and take banking to more Nigerians.

    Southwest is leading on financial access touch-points with 54 per cent; Southsouth 12 per cent; Northcentral 11 per cent and Northwest 10 per cent. It said Nigeria has 5,600 bank branches, 17,600 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs); 15,000 Point of Sale terminals and 51,754 Agents as at December last year.

    A member of Technical Committee of SANEF, Bolaji Lawal, said the SANEF initiative involves on-boarding 40 million low income and un-served Nigerians into the financial system, increasing financial access points from the current 50,000 to 500,000 by 2020 and deepening access to mobile and digital financial products and services such as savings accounts, microloans, insurance, pensions by Nigerians.

    He explained that the project seeks to deepen financial inclusion through an integrated ecosystem with strong regulatory oversight, consumer protection and interoperable payment systems with limited concentration risk. “It will create a platform for Nigerian owned financial services companies to grow, whilst empowering and creating jobs for Nigerians. So, wherever you see the SANEF sign, you can perform basic financial services such as account opening, cash deposits, cash withdrawals, funds transfers and bills payments,” he said at a media briefing in Lagos .

    He said the project is expected to reduce transaction costs, bring about convenience, create job opportunities, and increased adoption of financial services. The platform is also expected to handle government’s social disbursements initiatives. It will also lead to reduced cash dependency, better tax collections and reduction in crime rates.

    He said the SANEF will help the banks achieve 70 million Bank Verification Number (BVN) Bank Accounts by 2020 from about 34 million at present.

    He explained that Nigeria’s financial inclusion model is similar to Indian model, where over 1.2 billion people gained access to financial services.

    He said that BVN roll-out is aggressive with NIBSS already partnering with Agent Managers appointed by banks, Other Financial Institutions, Mobile Money Operators, Super Agents and other licenced Nigerian companies for remote BVN enrollments. NIBSS will ensure training of Agent/Managers to ensure proper hand-holding as may be required for the BVN enrollment process.

    “NIBSS is expected to provide the BVN enrollment devices for the agents. Remote capture devices will be made available to agents across Nigeria particularly rural areas with priority for North East, North Central and North West. NIBSS will pay N100 to agents for every unique BVN enrolled and targets 40 million unique BVN by 2020,” he said.

    He said BVN enrollment in 774 Local Government Areas across the country will commence in September and that Nigeria had adopted the Indian financial inclusion model where over 1.2 billion people are uniquely identified.

    He said the Nigeria target is to achieve 70 million BVN target by 2020 and create more access to financial system especially at the grassroots.

  • Report, official give concession pass mark

    A lot has changed at the ports since the Federal Government concessioned the terminals in 2006, a senior official of the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMoF) has said.

    He said the report of an impact assessment conducted by Denmark-based consulting firm Quantifying Business Impacts on Society (QBIS) also attested to it.

    The study titled:  “Nigerian Trade Stimulator – How APM Terminals in Nigeria have impacted trade, creating jobs and ensuring a sustainable business environment, ‘’ he said,“was conducted by Mette Dalgliesh Olsen and Thomas Westergaard-Kabelmann.

    APM Terminals, Apapa, based on the report, the official said, has increased Nigeria’s manufactured export by 15 per cent, about N152.5 billion, between 2006 and 2009.

    The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), through the private terminal operators, the official said, has been running the ports effectively, saying NPA generated $140 million in 2005 before the concession and over $450 million from the Lagos Ports in 2014.

    Speaking with The Nation, the official said the government’s revenue has increased geometrically since the concession.

    The official, who asked not to be named, said the government con-cessioned the ports to generate more revenue and allow for greater flexibility, efficiency and better services to importers and other port users by resolving some of the major challenges confronting ports operations.

    “The  $5 billion increase in manufactured exports by the APMT has been associated with the creation of about 255,000 jobs and a contributiion of $1.6 billion to the nation’s GDP.

    “The report indicates increasing Foreign Direct Investment impact in the country and increased non-oil exports, in line with the agenda of the Federal Government.

    “This impact originates from a 50 per cent improvement in Nigeria’s liner shipping connectivity in the period from 2006 to 2009 that the study finds primarily is attributable to the Apapa terminal.

    “Thus, Apapa’s higher terminal capacity and efficiency made it more attractive for shipping lines to call Apapa and immediately increased the number of liner shipping services calling Apapa from eight to 22, while economies of scale, among others, were boosted by bigger container vessels.

    “In the years following APM Terminals’ takeover of Apapa, according to the report,  the number export countries rose from 82 to 144, while manufactured export value soared from $7 billion in 2006 to $47 billion in 2009.

    “The study also states that APM Terminals has made significant contributions to the development of local communities in Nigeria.

    “The health, prosperity and well-being of local communities is often considered of critical importance to terminal operators. Not only do terminal operators depend on local communities for access to resources (labour, land, infrastructure), local communities are often also key to terminal operators’ ‘license to operate’.

    “In that sense, terminal operators have a shared interest in supporting and developing local communities, and like many terminal operators around the world, APM Terminals in Nigeria engages in local community initiatives governed by a local policy on charitable activities, sponsorships and donations,” the report stated.

    “The study said with its capabilities in inland transportation, handling and storage of perishable goods, APM Terminals in Nigeria can play a potentially important role by enabling improved market access for rural farming communities in the Northern and rural parts of Nigeria while reducing food spoilage.

    “To this end, APM Terminals inland services initiated a new project in 2017 aimed at providing modern cold chain transportation alternatives for rural farmers in the agricultural centres of northern Nigeria to bring fresh produce, such as tomatoes, intact and unspoiled to market centres in the South,” the report said.

    “The study further stated that the modern cold chain transportation solution being provided by APM Terminals will create new long-term business opportunities for the country, while contributing to increased market access and improved income for rural farmers as well as create significant reductions in the post-harvest loss levels in the country.

    “The impact study further stated that despite its huge impact on the country’s economy, the full potential of APM Terminals’ investments in Nigeria is currently stifled indicating that additional improvements could be made to enhance the country’s competitiveness and international trade.

    “With Apapa running at 60 per cent of its capacity, APM Terminals can accommodate significantly more import and export if the demand emerges.”

    The turnaround time in 2005, at the Lagos Port complex and Tin-Can port, he said, was 10.0; vessel waiting time was 3.0, adding that between 2014 and 2016, the turnaround time and vessel waiting time have reduced to 4.0 and 1.3 and zero level in 2016.

    He said: “Concession is a process whereby the concession grantor gives the right to operate facility and/or deliver a service of public interest to a merchant concession-aire, against the commitment assumed by the concessionaire to build and manage the subject of the concession, or to manage the delivery of service at the concession-aire’s own risk.”

    Before the 2006 concession, the official said, the ports demonstrated very low levels of efficiency, which resulted in long turnaround times for ships and increased container dwell time.

    In global commerce, he said, seaports play an important role of being many nations’major gateway for international trade and are a good instrument for measuring the economic health of a nation.

    “The ports have considerable influence on the volume and conditions of trade as well as the capacity for economic development of nations still developing.

  • Report on running mate false, says Fayemi campaign

    The Kayode Fayemi Campaign Office has refuted a story being peddled on the social media that the All Progressives Congress (APC) flag bearer has picked Alhaja Habibat Adubiaro as his running mate.

    A statement from the organisation signed by Mr. Wole Olujobi described the story as not only false but misleading.

    It urged members of the public not to believe any report or statement that does not emanate from the appropriate party organs.

    The statement reads: “The attention of the JKF Campaign Office has been drawn to a story that has gone viral on the social media that the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has picked Hajia Habibat Adubiaro as the deputy governorship candidate of the party in the July 14 governorship election.

    “This report is not only false, but misleading.

    “We have since discovered that the story emanated from the same source that concocted a story last week purporting that Dr Fayemi  planned to create cattle colonies across the state.

    “The general public is hereby notified that the APC has a formal way of conducting its affairs in strict compliance with the party’s rules and regulations.

    “At the appropriate time the party would formally announce the deputy governorship candidate.

    “We therefore urge members of the public to stop taking seriously any announcement that does not emanate from appropriate party organs.”

  • Report suggest ways by which Nigeria can permanently defeat terrorism 

    The Federal Government has been called upon to exit the ‎Rome Statute and its creation, the International Criminal Court, ICC.

    According to a C‎ommunique issued at the end of an International Conference on Human Rights and Armed Conflict in Nigeria, Amnesty International was accused of hindering the fight against Boko Haram by blackmailing the military with the ICC.

    ‎According to the conference organised by Global Amnesty Watch in conjunction with the Institute for African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, participants agreed that the government must‎ in the interim assure the military that it is insulated from the International Criminal Court in view of its operations meeting international standard of rules of engagement.

    ‎‎In the communique signed by

    Dr. Mutiullah Olasupo

    Chairman, Communique Drafting Committee and‎ Barrister

    Maxwell Gowon

    Secretary, Communique Drafting Committee‎, the conference agreed that‎ a special task team should be set up  to review and respond to any report emanating from Amnesty International, UNICEF and or their associates.

    “The task team is to help citizens understand when they are being willfully misled by these entities. The task team is made up of representatives from the CSOs that attended the conference”, the communique said.

    ‎Participants also agreed in the communique, “We demand that the Federal Government immediately activate the necessary steps for Nigeria to exit the Rome Statute and its creation, the International Criminal Court, to ensure that the military can fight terrorism without the cloak of blackmail constantly hanging over them.

    “The Government must in the interim assure the military that it is insulated from the International Criminal Court in view of its operations meeting international standard of rules of engagement.

    ‎During the conference,

    participants and resource persons evaluated Nigeria’s war on terrorism in the three years from 2015 till date, the period the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has been in office.

    According to them, the war against terrorism made progress in the three years under review during which senior commanders of the terror group have been killed arrested or surrendered; remnants of the group have resorted to sporadic cross border raids – they launch attacks from neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon as well as retreat back to these places once the Nigerian military is in pursuit.

    ‎”It is regrettable that there has been a stall in the efforts to totally eradicate Boko Haram insurgents owing to several external interferences.

    These interferences include strategic support for the terrorists by international NGOs like Amnesty International and other groups representing its interests in Nigeria and the failure of Nigeria’s neighbors to honor international and regional commitments.

    “The support from these NGOs has ensured that Boko Haram continues to get sympathy to use as propaganda for recruiting and radicalizing new members and continue to attempt occasional attacks on soft targets. It has in this regard moved from using hardened fighters to deploying underage girls that are able to evade security scrutiny to carry out attacks”, the Communique also said.

    The communique also sad, “The International Criminal Court is constantly used to harass and intimidate military commanders and troops to discourage them from being committed to defeating Boko Haram. The myriads of false reports from Amnesty International and other groups usually have built in texts that threaten military personnel with arraignment for war crimes and crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court.

    “It was noted that South Africa, Burundi, Kenya and the Gambia are countries that have taken different steps towards exiting the court created by the Rome Statute because of its confirmed selective justice and usage as a tool for modern day colonialism”.

    Local and international speakers at the conference include David Falt, Global President, Global Amnesty Watch, Geneva, Professor Pita Ogaba Agbese, University of Northern IOWA, [USA]; Mary Johnson, Human Rights Lawyer, [USA]; Dr Malfouz A Adedimeji former Director, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Ilorin Kwara State and Mr. Stuart McGhie, Senior, Expert/Practitioner in Humanitarian Law, London.

    Others are Professor Emmanuel O. Ezeani of the Conflict Resolution and Peace Building Unit, Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Dr. Udenta O. Udenta as Conference Moderator.

  • Report: Banks won’t lower lending rates

    Banks are not keen on lowering lending rates even if the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) brings down its benchmark interest rate, investment and research firm Renaissance Capital (RenCap) has said.

    It projected that the CBN-led Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is likely to cut Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) – benchmark interest rate —to 12 per cent from 14 per cent before year-end.

    The MPR has remained at 14 per cent since July 2016. Nigeria’s lending rates have remained one of the highest and have continued to hurt businesses’ ability to borrow and repay loans. Some banks lend to customers at between 30 and 35 per cent per annum, depending on the borrowers’ risk rating.

    In a report titled: Sub-Saharan Africa: Has inflation bottomed? – Implications for monetary policy RenCap said interest rate for Nigeria would drop as inflation nears or gets to single digit.

    “Over the past two years, we have seen inflation slow year-on-year in the countries we cover – from this decade’s peak of 13 to 14 per cent on average in mid-2016 to seven per cent in April. Except for Nigeria, we think inflation has bottomed. This is the reason why we believe the policy rate cutting cycle in Ghana, Zambia, Rwanda and Kenya, albeit short-lived, has ended. In Nigeria, where we think inflation has fallen further, we expect rate cuts to begin in July,” it said.

    However, it said that rate cut is not likely to have a meaningful policy easing effect, as open market operations will keep yields elevated. “At our 16-18 May Annual Pan Africa 1:1 Investor Conference in Lagos, the banks said lending rates are unlikely to fall on the back of rate cuts, as Treasury bill yields are of greater influence.  They also do not see the CBN lowering the cash reserve requirement for fear of undermining the forex rate,” it said.

    It said Nigeria is already near rate cut. In terms of slowing inflation, Nigeria is the exception in the countries under our coverage, in that inflation has yet to bottom. We see inflation slowing year-on-year to 10.8 per cent at year-end 2018, as against 12.5 per cent in April.

    “The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele would like to cut the policy rate, when inflation falls to the low double-digits/high single-digits. We infer that to mean 12 per cent and below, which we expect from June. We see the policy rate being cut by one percentage point at the July and September meetings, respectively, bringing it down to 12 per cent at year-end 2018,” it said.

    The report added: “We think this implies the impact on credit growth, which stood at 0.3 per cent year-on-year in March, will be small, at best. Lower yields will likely spur a pick-up in lending in 2018; the banks are guiding for 10 per cent credit growth. In 2019, we expect structural factors to keep inflation sticky at  11 per cent. So, expect no policy change,” it added.

    The MPC on Tuesday, kept all policy rates unchanged as with all meetings since July 2016. The committee retained the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR)- benchmark interest rate at 14 per cent; Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 22.5 per cent and Liquidity Ratio (LR) at 30 per cent as well as the retention of the Asymmetric corridor at +200 and -500 basis points around the MPR.

    It said that much to the delight of policymakers in commodity exporting countries, oil prices hit $80.0/barrel mark last week – its highest since June 2014 – against the backdrop of the US exit from Iran’s nuclear deal as well as falling inventory levels and subsisting impact of OPEC’s production cut deal.

  • Report: World Bank targets women economic inclusion

    Governments in 65 economies took steps to improve women’s economic inclusion, enacting 87 legal reforms in the past two years, says the World Bank Group’s Women, Business and Law 2018 report, has said.

    However, women continue to face widespread barriers, entrenched in laws that keep them out of jobs and prevent them from owning a business by restricting their access to credit or control over marital property, says the biennial report, which now monitors 189 economies.

    For example, it finds that in 104 economies women are barred from working at night or in certain jobs in many areas, including manufacturing, construction, energy, agriculture, water and transportation. This negatively affects the choices of more than 2.7 billion women.

    “No economy can grow to its full potential unless women and men participate fully,” said World Bank Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva.

    “Yet, in more than half the world women are still prevented from working in certain jobs simply because of their gender. The report finds that where there is gender equality in labor laws, more women work and earn more relative to men. Women should have the same equality of opportunity as men to provide for themselves, and to give their children the best start in life possible.”

    Now in its fifth edition, the report introduces, for the first time, a scoring system of 0 to 100, to better inform the reform agenda. Scores are assigned to every monitored economy on each of the report’s seven indicators: accessing institutions, using property, getting a job, providing incentives to work, going to court, building credit, and protecting women from violence.

     

  • Lagos NUJ ’ll look into report of N1.6b housing scheme, says chairman

    Lagos NUJ ’ll look into report of N1.6b housing scheme, says chairman

    Lagos Council of Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Chairman Dr. Qasim Akinreti has assured members that the report of an investigation committee on N1.6 billion housing scheme initiated by the National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) will not be swept under the carpet.

    Akinreti said the report will be deliberated on by the state NUJ Executive Council before it will be presented to the State Congress on March 10, for further discussion.

    After four months of investigation into the housing scheme initiated by NAWOJ, in partnership with the Lagos Council of NUJ, a committee set up to investigate the controversies generated by project submitted its findings last Friday.

    Receiving the 26-page report at the Lagos NUJ Council Secretariat on Iyalla Street, Ikeja, Akinreti said he was satisfied with the committee members for helping him to achieve one of his election promises, which he noted, has remained a source of concern to subscribers.

    In the report, the committee recommended outright cancellation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the project’s initiator and NAWOJ President, Mrs. Ify Omowole, former Chairman of Lagos NUJ Council, Mr. Deji Elumoye and the developer, Messers Primewaterview Holdings Limited.

    In arriving at the decision, the committee noted that the contents of the MoU were skewed much in favour of the developer.

    For instance, the developer, based on the MoU, was to take 300 units of houses in the scheme to defray its cost of infrastructural development in the project. The MoU did not state the cost of infrastructure to be built.

    Besides, the firm had spent N21 million of the N73 million it collected from NAWOJ/NUJ on “road stabilisation,” which to the committee, was wrong since it was part of infrastructure development to be paid for with the 300 housing units.

    “The developer has shown gross lack of commitment and diligent execution on the project.  A letter should be sent to the developer terminating the MoU and the project in its entirety. A Quantity Surveyor should be engaged to assess the value of work done by the developer on site. Where the assessment by the quantity surveyor falls short of expenditure submitted by the developer, Messers Primewaterview Holdings Limited should be made to refund the difference.  In the event of failure to comply, the developer should be reported to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to help recover the money,” the report read.

    Besides, the report condemned Mrs. Omowole for her decision to withdraw subscribers’ $227,000 unilaterally. According to the committee’s report, Mrs. Omowole’s explanation for such withdrawal was unacceptable.

    “Omowole’s excuse for the withdrawal of the US$227, 000 because of the falling exchange rate and also to pay the developer (Primewaterview Holdings Limited) the advance of subscribers’ counterpart funding is unacceptable because as at the time of withdrawal of the money, there was no signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between NUJ/NAWOJ Pen Jewel Estate and Primewaterview Holdings Limited as developer. The $227,000 was withdrawn four clear months before the signing of the MoU; hence no need to pay counterpart funding at that time.

    “Also, the excuse that the U.S. dollar was losing value at that time is unacceptable as the Nigerian naira further crashed as at the time of signing the MoU,” the committee noted in its report.

    Mrs. Omowole, the committee said, must pay back N159 per dollar, amounting to about N4.3 million, being the balance of the expired $27,610 purported to have been exchanged for N150. This amount was arrived at using the N309 exchange rate figure earlier agreed on. She was also urged to provide evidence of remittance of the earlier N4 million from this money to the NAWOJ Pen Jewel estate account.

    The NAWOJ President, the committee submitted, must refund the N779,000 collected from subscribers in form of application form fees. Although 713 subscribers were captured on the application list, 779 people actually bought the application form for the PEN-JEWEL project at N1000 each.

    The report did not spared Elumoye, who the investigation committee said must refund N4 million being the excess on the alleged N10 million he claimed to have paid to the traditional land owners, “Omoniles,” after findings revealed only N6 million was paid.

    Elumoye, the report added, is also to refund the N2 million he claimed to have paid for the extra land he bought on behalf of the Lagos NUJ Council in Mowe since he was unable to provide evidence of purchase of same.

    The report advised that “any land allocated to subscribers between 2013 and 2017 must be revoked outright.

  • Oando explains delay in earnings report

    Oando explains delay in earnings report

    Oando Plc yesterday indicated that it would not be able to meet the deadline for the submission of its full-year audited report for the year ended December 31, 2017 due to a review of the report by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN).

    Post-listing rules at the NSE require quoted companies to submit their audited earnings reports, not later than 90 calendar days, or three months, after the expiration of the period. The rules also require quoted companies to submit interim report not later than 30 calendar days after the end of the relevant period.

    Most quoted companies including all banks, major manufacturers, oil and gas companies, breweries and cement companies use the 12-month Gregorian calendar year as their business year.  Not less than 83 per cent of quoted companies use the 12-month Gregorian calendar year as their business year. The deadline for the submission for the 2017 business year is thus March 31, 2018.

    In a regulatory filing signed by Company Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer, Oando Plc, Ayotola Jagun, Oando stated that the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) has indicated interest in undertaking a more detailed review of the company’s audited financial statements as part of their statutory review due to the issues raised by the recent investigation of the company by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

    “We envisage that the FRCN’s review might take longer than originally anticipated. Therefore, the company may not be able to file the accounts until the second week in May, the exact date of filing will be dependent on the turnaround time at the FRCN,” Oando stated.

    SEC has directed a forensic audit of Oando. The forensic audit was precipitated by alleged findings of the SEC, following an investigation into the company which commenced in July 2017. SEC had in October 2017 released the findings of the investigation and called for a technical suspension on the trading of Oando’s shares as well as a forensic audit into the affairs of the company.

    Oando had initially disagreed to what it termed ‘steep penalties’, however, in December 2017, the company issued a statement on its website, saying it would fully cooperate with the SEC on the forensic audit.

    For three consecutive quarters the company has released its results on time and posted strong revenues and profits, despite a challenging environment.  Following in the footsteps of the company’s cooperation with the SEC, Oando recently reached a peace accord with one of the shareholders who petitioned the SEC, AlhajiDahiruMangal with the Emir of Kano, SanusiLamido as the arbitrator.

  • Sagay: Transparency International report erroneous

    Sagay: Transparency International report erroneous

    Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) chairman Prof Itse Sagay (SAN) yesterday described the latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released by Transparency International (TI) as erroneous.

    The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

    While Nigeria scored 27/100 and was ranked 136th in 2016, the latest CPI scores Nigeria 28/100.

    It ranks 148 out of 180 countries surveyed —12 places below where it was the previous year.

    Sagay said corruption was perceived to still be high because of frequent revelations of acts of graft.

    To him, TI misinterpreted the fact that acts of corruption were being exposed on daily basis.

    He said: “Transparency International is making a major error. It is confused between the actual level of corruption and the level of revelation of acts of corruption. Corruption was worse than now.

    “But, because of the activities of the anti-corruption agencies, particularly the EFCC, virtually no day passes without one act of corruption or the other being revealed.

    “To someone who is just relying on statistics of what is revealed, it’d seem that corruption is increasing. In fact, it is decreasing, because those that are revealed involve prosecution of suspects or forfeiture of assets.

    “Corruption is being dealt with. So, that’s the error there.”

    PACAC Executive Secretary Prof Bolaji Owasanoye said the index relies on public opinion, but that fighting corruption was an ongoing process.

    “The way the study is conducted is that public opinion is sought on perception,” he said.

    According to him, people may perceive corruption as being high because of low conviction rate.

    “They have not seen people in jail, but of course that is a process that cannot be short-circuited, and all manner of reforms are going on around that,” Owasanoye said.

    Special Assistant on Prosecution to the President, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, described the report as a “sham” which does not reflect the reality.

    “Indication cannot be the reality. Those reports are based on assumptions and sometimes they are not true. Are we not fighting corruption? We cannot kill people. Do they expect us to slaughter everybody before they know that this government is fighting corruption?