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Nigeria Plans 10-Year Bonds in First Foreign Sale (Update3)
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By Paul Okolo and Jason Webb


Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Nigeria will start meeting investors in London tomorrow to build support as President Goodluck Jonathan’s victory in a primary election boosts confidence in the political stability of Africa’s most-populous nation.

Nigeria will seek to raise $500 million after Finance Minister Olusegun Aganga meets with investors, his spokesman Bayo Adeniji said by phone from Abuja today. The proposed bonds will mature in 10 years, said Jeremy Brewin, who helps manage $2.5 billion at Aviva Investors in London and was among the investors who received notice of the meetings.

The continent’s biggest oil exporter is pushing ahead with its bond sale plans, first announced in September 2008, as crude trades near the highest level in two years and before the final presidential election scheduled for April 9. Jonathan won the nomination of the ruling People’s Democratic Party on Jan. 14, ending uncertainty over his candidacy.

“Jonathan has just had a resounding victory in the PDP primaries, so that element of political risk will for the moment at least not be at the forefront of investors’ minds,” Razia Khan, head of Africa regional research at U.K.-based Standard Chartered Bank, said by phone today. “Top of everyone’s concerns would be the political risk, and that’s simply because of the extent it had been ignored by holders of the Eurobonds in Cote D’Ivoire.”

Ivory Coast missed an interest payment Dec. 31 on its $2.3 billion of dollar-denominated bonds amid a political standoff over disputed results of the Nov. 28 election between incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, who refuses to step down, and internationally backed winner Alassane Ouattara.

Ivory Coast Record Low

Ivory Coast’s Eurobonds fell to a record low today as the country said it would pay the interest if creditors recognize Gbagbo as president.

The bonds of the world’s biggest cocoa producer declined 0.2 percent to 37.667 cents on the dollar as of 1:38 p.m. in Abidjan, the commercial capital, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That drove the yield on the 2.5 percent debt due 2032 up 3 basis points to 16.876 percent.

Nigeria is rated B+ by Standard and Poor’s, four levels below investment grade. Senegal, a similarly rated West African country, has $200 million of dollar bonds due in 2014 that yield 8.543 percent, according to prices on Bloomberg.

Nigeria may get a lower yield at 6 to 6.5 percent for 10- year notes, Stuart Culverhouse, chief economist at Exotix Ltd., a London-based brokerage, said in a phone interview today.

Liquidity

“Investors would prefer a larger issue say of $1 billion or $750 million,” Culverhouse said. A $500 million issue may not be “particularly liquid,” he said.

Nigerian officials will meet investors in two cities in the U.S. after London, Adeniji said, without providing further details.

The country’s credit quality may suffer if it is drawn into any military conflict resulting from the political crisis in Ivory Coast, said David Damiba, managing director of London- based Renaissance Asset Managers, with $150 million of assets in Africa.

Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States pledged on Dec. 24 to use military force to remove Gbagbo from power if he refused to step down. Military leaders from the region are due to meet this week in Mali to discuss possible intervention plans.

An eventual Ivory Coast default would be “an independent event” that shouldn’t affect the pricing of other regional bonds, Damiba said.

Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest economy, plans to use the Eurobond as a benchmark for local companies to price debt and fund development projects, Aganga said in September. The country appointed Citigroup Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG to manage the bond sale, helped by Barclays Capital and FBN Capital Ltd.

Nigeria Stocks to Gain Further 13.7% in 2011, CSL Says (Update1)
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By Vincent Nwanma

Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Nigerian stocks, Africa’s best this year, may gain a further 13.7 percent in 2011 as President Goodluck Jonathan was named his party’s candidate for the April election, raising chances that reforms in the banking, oil and power industries will take place, CSL Stockbrokers Ltd. said.

The measure is expected to reach 31,000 by the end of the year, and 39,000 by end-December 2012, analysts including Guy Czartoryski said in an e-mailed note to clients dated today.

Jonathan won the nomination on Jan. 14 of the ruling People’s Democratic Party to compete in the April 9 presidential election, easing concern that infighting in the party would destabilize the nation. The opposition Action Congress of Nigeria named Nuhu Ribadu, the former head of Nigeria’s anti- graft agency, as its candidate.

The events “have reduced political risk,” wrote the analysts at the brokerage, which has offices in Lagos and London. “The election this April of President Goodluck Jonathan, and with him the reform program, appears more likely now. We still see further upside potential but we expect things to cool off in the short term now that the news is out.”

Nigeria’s All Share Index climbed for eight straight years, gaining 75 percent in 2007. In 2008, it plunged 46 percent in 2008 and 34 percent in 2009 amid a banking crisis sparked by loans to equity speculators.

The gauge increased 19 percent last year after the state company set up to buy bad debts from banks began its purchases, signing agreements with 21 of Nigeria’s 24 banks on Dec. 31. Asset Management Corp. of Nigeria sold 1.04 trillion naira ($6.8 billion) of bonds on Dec. 31 to fund the purchases.

The 215-member index snapped four days of gains, retreating 0.5 percent to 27,121.72 at 2:33 p.m. in Lagos, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It has risen 9.5 percent this year, compared with a 1.7 percent increase in the MSCI Frontier Market Index over the same period. The MSCI Emerging Market Index has gained 0.3 percent this year.

Golden Sugar of Nigeria Gets $143.3 Million Loan (Update1)
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By Vincent Nwanma

Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Golden Sugar Co., a unit of Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, secured a $143.3 million, multi-currency syndicated loan to fund the construction of a refinery in Nigeria’s Lagos State, Standard Bank Group Ltd. said.

Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc and Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd. managed the sale together with Standard Bank (Mauritius) Ltd., First Bank of Nigeria Plc and Zenith Bank Plc, the lender said in an e-mailed statement today.

The complex will include a refinery that can produce 750,000 metric tons of sugar annually, a storage facility for 60,000 tons and a 12 megawatt gas-fueled power plant. Sugar production capacity will be doubled, it said, without providing a period.

Golden Sugar plans to expand the project to include growing, milling and processing the sweetener in within 7 to 10 years, according to the statement.

Nigeria is expected to import 1.4 million metric tons of raw sugar in 2010-11, up from 1.3 million tons in 2009-10, according to an April 13 2010 estimate by the Foreign Agricultural Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Local production is less than 5 percent of total consumption, according to the agency.

The debt raised by Golden Sugar also included a $13.3 million Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme facility to partly finance the development of the sugar farm, and a naira commercial-bank standby facility to hedge against foreign exchange risk, Standard Bank Group said.

Flour Mills last year raised 37.5 billion naira ($247 million) in a bond sale to finance existing bank loans, expand the company’s milling business and invest in a sugar refinery, it said Dec. 9.

The stock retreated for the first time in seven days, losing 0.3 percent to 81.8 naira by the 2:30 p.m. close in Lagos.

To contact the reporter on this story: Vincent Nwanma in Lagos via Accra at vnwanma@bloomberg.net.

Nigerian Growth Accelerated to 8.29% in Fourth Quarter

Nigeria’s economic growth accelerated to 8.29 percent in the fourth quarter, boosted by agriculture and higher oil prices.

Growth picked up from 7.86 percent in the previous three months, Information Minister Labaran Maku told reporters today in the capital, Abuja. Lamido Sanusi, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, had presented the growth figures to the Cabinet earlier.

Non-oil industries, led by agriculture, grew 8.87 percent and may continue to fuel expansion as the government encourages banks to lend more to farmers, Maku said, forecasting growth of 8 percent in the first quarter of this year. The country’s 24 lenders have agreed to triple their lending to agriculture to 3 percent of loans, Phillips Oduoza, chief executive officer of United Bank for Africa Plc., said yesterday.

“Without support for agriculture, it’d be very difficult to develop the economy,” Maku said. Agriculture is the largest provider of jobs in the country, accounting for 60 percent of all employment, he said.

Fourth-quarter growth surpassed the expectation of some analysts, including Gbadebo Banmeke of Renaissance Capital in Lagos, who had forecast 8 percent.

Oil Production

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and top oil producer, has seen crude production stabilize at 2.16 million barrels a day as a result of the relative calm in the Niger River delta, the hub of the country’s oil industry, according to Maku.

Attacks by armed groups targeting the oil industry cut more than 28 percent of the country’s oil output between 2006 and 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Assaults subsided after thousands of militants campaigning for more local control of the delta’s energy resources accepted a government amnesty and disarmed in 2009.

Crude oil for March delivery rose 52 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $91.29 a barrel at 10:31 a.m. today on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Nigeria’s economy, surpassed only by South Africa in sub- Saharan Africa, will grow about 7 percent this year, compared with 7.8 percent in 2010, President Goodluck Jonathan said on Dec. 15.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-02-02/nigerian-growth-accelerated-to-8-29-in-fourth-quarter.html

2011-02-04 Nestle inaugurates N12bn factory in Ogun State


Nestle Nigeria Plc, a scion of Nestle Worldwide, on Thursday at the Flowergate Industrial Estate, Ogun State, inaugurated a new factory.

According to the company, with an investment of N12bn (CHF 87m), the Flowergate factory is key to Nestle’s growth in Nigeria and in Africa as a whole, and will be initially dedicated to the production of Maggi products.

This new factory is Nestle’s 27th in Africa and has been projected to further strengthen Nestle Nigeria’s role as the largest culinary manufacturing operation on the African continent.

The inauguration was attended by Vice-President Namadi Sambo; Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel; and Nestle Worldwide Chief Executive, Mr. Paul Bulcke.

Spread over an area of 36.3 hectares, the new 12-hectare facility, according to the company, will specialise in the production of Maggi products, and more specifically, in Popularly Positioned Products varieties of this popular brand. Nestle’s PPPs are products adapted to meet the specific requirements of emerging consumers in terms of price, accessibility, format and nutritional benefits.

They are regarded as a key driver for the future growth of Nestle’s operations in Nigeria. Many of the MAGGI products in Africa are iodine-fortified in order to help combat iodine deficiencies among the local population.

Bulcke said, “Nestle has been operationally present in Nigeria for 50 years, bringing meaningful value to society at large by sourcing locally, creating new local employment, offering nutritious products and helping in further development of the region. By opening our new facility in Ogun State, we will be closer to our consumers and can better adapt our products to their needs and preferences.

“This latest investment is proof of our commitment to Africa in which we will invest CHF one billion over the next two years.”

The Managing Director, Nestle Nigeria, Martin Woolnough, added, “Today is a major milestone in the history of Nestle in Nigeria and we are proud to see that our operations in Nigeria are not only measurable in length of time, but also by our positive impact on our stakeholders and our positive visible impact on the Nigerian industrial landscape.”

With this new facility, Nestle will double its production of culinary products in Nigeria and meet the growing demand for MAGGI products in Nigeria and other countries in the Central and West African Region. The factory will offer direct employment to 180 people and indirect employment to hundreds more.

Nestle’s activities in Nigeria amount to around N59bn (CHF 457 million). Since 2009, Nestle has invested N42bn (almost CHF 300 million) in its factories to help sustain its growth in the country.

Nigerian Wealth Fund to Save at Least 20% for Future Generations
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By Paul Okolo

Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) --

Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund, currently under debate in parliament, will set aside at least 20 percent of its assets accrued from crude oil exports for future generations.

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority will be split into the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund, the Future Generations Fund and the Stabilization Fund, according to a draft of the bill obtained by Bloomberg. Each component will represent at least 20 percent of the total fund.

The fund is designed to ensure some of Nigeria’s oil wealth is saved and that it can’t be tapped on a regular basis to finance the government’s running costs. The government of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and top oil producer, has pledged an initial sum of $1 billion for the fund.

Each of the three components will create a “ring-fenced portfolio of investments,” the document says.

The finance minister can only withdraw money from the stabilization segment, “upon a proper demonstration of urgency,” in order to shore up the economy whenever lower crude prices curb government revenue, the document says.

The West African country relies on crude exports for about 95 percent of its foreign currency earnings. It’s the only member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries without a sovereign fund, according former Information Minister Dora Akunyili.

Oil is currently trading at about $86.15 a barrel, compared with the $65 anticipated in Nigeria’s 2011 budget.

Depleting Reserves

The creation of the sovereign wealth fund comes after Nigeria depleted its current excess crude account from more than $20 billion in 2007 to less than $1 billion last year, according to a report in Abuja-based Daily Trust on Jan. 27.

Fitch Ratings lowered its outlook on Nigeria’s BB- credit rating to “negative” from “stable” on Oct. 22, saying it was concerned by withdrawals from the account and a drop in foreign currency reserves.

The sovereign fund, to be based in the capital, Abuja, will have a governing board headed by the president. Other members of include governors of the 36 states, the ministers of finance, justice and planning, the governor of the central bank and the chief economic adviser.

Finance Minister Olusegun Aganga said on Jan. 7 he expected the lawmakers to approve the bill before the end of the tenure of the administration in May.

To contact the reporters on this story: Paul O

Talking about Nigeria's 2011 economic forecast
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NIGERIA’S economy has the capacity to grow by 12 per cent this year, if the Federal Government could conduct a free and fair election and address economic-retarding issues within the system.

This postulation was made on Tuesday in Lagos by the British Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth, Henry Bellingham.
Bellingham, who spoke during a courtesy visit to Leventis Motors at Apapa, Lagos, stressed that Nigeria needed to resolve the lingering crisis in the Niger Delta region, fix the power sector and boost infrastructure, “because the world was looking forward to the country as the economic power in Africa.”

He pointed out that Nigeria remains one of the fastest growing economies in the world and with its economic growth being at seven per cent now, the country could be at the verge of attaining 12 per cent growth after the transition programme, when there would have been stability in governance, adding that successful transition to democratic elected government, would send a ‘positive signal of business investment to the world.’

According to him, bilateral trade between Britain and Nigeria has spanned for decades so the United Kingdom was closely watching events happening in Nigeria, adding that was the reason why he came to Nigeria to deliver the message of Britain’s Prime Minister, David Cameron to President Goodluck Jonathan that the British government was impressed with the stability in the nation’s economy and was ready to assist Nigeria in her transition programme to a democratically elected government.

Bellingham noted that his mission also in Nigeria was to identify how British firms could be encouraged to invest more in Nigeria, and how Nigerian entrepreneurs could also come to Britain and invest, adding that boosting trade investment in Africa and Nigeria in general was one of the priorities of David Cameron’s administration.

He said that global trade has gone nuclear as countries are now looking for new grounds to explore business opportunities, stressing that Nigeria still remains the ideal place for business trade, because of the enormous business opportunities in the country.

“When I was appointed by our Prime Minister, David Cameron as Minister for Africa and the United Nations, I was told that one of my main responsibilities in Africa is to help boost trade and investments. I was to get to Africa, do what I could do to help UK’s businesses and also to encourage African businessmen to invest in UK, because trade is a two-way flow.

“Trade is about wealth creation; creating excellent and; is about moving your country forward. So, there is no country like Nigeria for entrepreneurial drive and shared enterprise. This is a country that her economy is growing at seven per cent. That’s absolutely incredible compare to European ways of growth. And I believe that when the power sector in your country is reformed and when better governance comes in as well, hopefully, after the elections, then your country will even grow faster, may be 10 or 12 per cent. And I think what that means is that there are very bright future for your young people. That is both already with jobs and those without jobs,” Bellingham added.

Speaking on terrorism, he said that there were already some British experts on security in Nigeria assisting the government on how to combat the spat of bombings in the country.

He however stressed that the Niger Delta crisis needed to be resolve urgently by government as the crisis is costing the country to lose about $10 million daily as revenue, adding that the loss revenue could be used and channeled at boosting infrastructure in the country.

“I think the key thing in Nigeria is you need stronger government. You need a completely transparent government that practices good governance. It is essential that a new government after the elections remove corruption. And it is also very important that the government sorted out the problem in the Niger Delta. Everyday, over $10 million is going missing from oil revenue in the Delta. That money should be used for building schools and hospitals, roads and helping young people in skills education,” he added.

On Leventis Motors partnership with British JCB firm, the UK’s minister said: “The Joint Venture partnership is a new chapter for JCB. JCB enormously would be making a big impact in this country because you got a growing economy. You are spending a lot of money on infrastructure. You got a lot of civil engineering projects taking place here. So it’s a huge opportunity for JCB and for me.

He continued, “the visit to Nigeria here today is to celebrate this joint venture and his part of my trade diplomacy in Africa, because am doing my possible best to boost UK’s trade in Africa, in Nigeria, which is possibly the most popular country in Africa and one of our most economy allies in the world,” Bellingham disclosed.

Opportunities in Nigeria's Hospitality Sector

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Cashew Prices Double in Nigeria, Lifted by Ivory Coast Tensions
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By Sam Olukoya

Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Cashew prices doubled in Nigeria in the last few months as political tensions in Ivory Coast, Africa’s second-biggest producer, curbed supply of the nuts, an industry official said.

“The price of a metric ton of cashew from Nigeria to the international market has gone up from about $600 to $1,200 since November,” Olatunji Owoeye, president of the National Cashew Association of Nigeria, said in a phone interview yesterday.

Ivory Coast is in the midst of a standoff as incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo refuses to cede power to Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of a Nov. 28 election. Ouattara and the Cotton and Cashew Monitoring Committee, which tracks Ivory Coast’s cashew industry, have called for a halt in exports of the nuts to cut off funds to Gbagbo.

“The situation in Ivory Coast has reduced access to the country’s cashew nuts, so there is pressure on countries like Nigeria,” Owoeye said. “Buyers who fear that the political crisis in Ivory Coast would get worse are quickly scrambling for Nigeria’s cashew.”

Declining production in countries such as Vietnam and higher world food costs also helped to boost cashew prices on the global market, he said.

The nuts are among the main non-oil export commodities from Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer, along with cocoa, leather and rubber, according to the country’s Export Promotion Council.

Nestle Nigeria Rises Most in Four Months on Profit (Update1)
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By Vincent Nwanma

Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Nestle Foods Nigeria Plc, the country’s biggest food company by market value, rose the most in four months after saying full-year profit jumped 29 percent.

The stock gained 20.55 naira, or the maximum daily limit of 5 percent, its biggest advance since Oct. 15, to 431.55 naira by the 2:30 p.m. close in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital.

Net income increased to 12.6 billion naira ($82 million) as sales climbed to 82.7 billion naira, according to a statement e- mailed by the Nigerian Stock Exchange today. A dividend of 10.6 naira was proposed.

The stock has gained 17 percent this year, compared with a 7.4 percent increase in the Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index over the period

Libyan crisis threatens global crude supply

Libyan crude oil production output may drop by as much as a quarter as Africa's third largest producer faces daunting civil unrest.


Beneficial for Nigeria

However, there is optimism that the spike in oil prices will be beneficial to Nigeria, the world's seventh largest producer. With a 2.3 million bpd output, experts say this is a good time for the country to build up her foreign reserves.


"It is worth noting that elevated Bonny Light prices could also help re-build the excess crude account and/or launch the planned sovereign wealth fund, although this would be conditional on the authorities' willingness to effectively resume the implementation of the oil fiscal rule and save oil-related proceeds for the rainy day," said Samir Gadio, emerging market strategist at Standard Bank.

According to him, this would improve the ability of the Central Bank of Nigeria to meet demand for dollars at the official foreign exchange market. He nonetheless said as an import dependent country, Nigeria should prepare for the downside: "The downside risk is, however, that higher energy prices could have an impact on imported inflation."

The series of uprising sweeping through the Middle East in the last few weeks has heightened fears about the possible slip into another round of global economic crisis.

Tunisia, Egypt, and now Bahrain, Yemen, and Libya have come under unprecedented civilian protests against the authoritarian rule that were hitherto in place. The fear is that this could spread to larger producers like Saudi Arabia. For a region which accounts substantially for global crude oil supply, major economies have cause for worry.

Intense volatility

Brazilian state oil company, Petrobras, has said it will not change its gasoline prices in Brazil despite volatility in global oil prices caused by Middle East turmoil, its president was quoted as saying by Brazilian media on Wednesday.

"We won't pass on the volatility of international prices to Brazil," Sergio Gabrielli told reporters on Tuesday, according to the Valor Economico newspaper, adding he expected months of "intense volatility" in commodity prices, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, in America, economists are warning that the rising cost of crude could dent consumer confidence and stifle economic recovery. Experts fear that a rise in petrol prices could force businesses and consumers to spend less on other things, slowing both the economy and the pace of hiring.

Although Saudi Arabia has promised to make good any shortfall in global oil supplies, the concern is how much calm this would achieve in an already volatile oil market.

Foreign investors maintain interest in Nigerian capital market

By Stanley Oronsaye


Still smarting from their losses in the wake of the stock market crash in 2008, many local investors are yet to regain confidence in the Nigerian capital market. As a result, foreign investors now account for a larger share of transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Interim administrator of the NSE, Emmanuel Ikhazobor, who confirmed this, said the major challenge facing the Nigerian capital market regulators was to build confidence and put in place systems that would enhance efficiency and transparency.

He was speaking yesterday at the annual capital market conference organised by Business Day Newspaper with the theme, ‘Can Nigeria Lead Again?'

"It is true. As at yesterday (Wednesday), foreign investors accounted for 68 per cent of the volume and value of market transactions. Confidence has not grown among local investors, who are interested in taking profit; while the foreign investors are taking longer position in the market," Mr. Ikhazobor said.

Total market capitalisation, which peaked at about N12.6 trillion in March 2008, shed about 70 per cent in value as investors moved to alternative windows. The market has, however, been on the recovery, rising by about 18 per cent in January from the previous month's figures.
Increase trading hours

Mr. Ikhazobor said as part of efforts to improve liquidity, the NSE extended the trading period by two hours from 9.30am to 2.30pm in order to attract more foreign participation. He said the extension resulted in the increase in volume, value, and the number of deals in the market.

He further disclosed that the extension, which became effective December 6 last year, was to be reviewed in less than six months.

"From the result we have achieved, we may not wait for six months. We may need to increase the trading hours again in order to increase trade on our market," he said.

Mr. Ikhazobor also said the regulators were looking at removing the five per cent cap on share price: "We are looking at scenarios. If we discover that it will increase liquidity, we will tamper with that also."

Director general of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Arunma Oteh, said there was need for more institutional investors to play in the market: "Traditionally, our market has been retail driven. What will enhance liquidity in the market is if there are more institutional investors."

She said rather than investing directly, retail investors should be encouraged to pool their funds together under registered investment scheme for fund managers to invest on their behalf.

Increase investor confidence

Ms. Oteh said as part of plans to increase investor confidence in the market, it was putting in place effective regulation and good corporate governance code.

"A world class market is one that engenders investor confidence, has breadth and depth in terms of product offering, is characterised by market integrity, a strong and transparent disclosure and accountability regime, fosters good corporate governance, and is fair and robust, and efficient market place," Ms. Oteh said.

On his part, managing director of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Mr. Mustapha Chike-Obi, said the challenge was to get investors back to the market and create more products to deepen the market.

"I think we must have securities lending to encourage investors to express themselves. Luckily, AMCON is going to end up with a large portfolio of securities which we pledge to hold for two years at the minimum. I want to tell you, if you want to borrow AMCON's portfolio of shares, you have those already. That will be a start," Mr. Chike-Obi said.

He said operators need to rise up to the challenge of creating products that would suit the investment needs of Nigerians.

Libyan crisis threatens global crude supply

Libyan crude oil production output may drop by as much as a quarter as Africa's third largest producer faces daunting civil unrest.


Beneficial for Nigeria

However, there is optimism that the spike in oil prices will be beneficial to Nigeria, the world's seventh largest producer. With a 2.3 million bpd output, experts say this is a good time for the country to build up her foreign reserves.


"It is worth noting that elevated Bonny Light prices could also help re-build the excess crude account and/or launch the planned sovereign wealth fund, although this would be conditional on the authorities' willingness to effectively resume the implementation of the oil fiscal rule and save oil-related proceeds for the rainy day," said Samir Gadio, emerging market strategist at Standard Bank.

According to him, this would improve the ability of the Central Bank of Nigeria to meet demand for dollars at the official foreign exchange market. He nonetheless said as an import dependent country, Nigeria should prepare for the downside: "The downside risk is, however, that higher energy prices could have an impact on imported inflation."

The series of uprising sweeping through the Middle East in the last few weeks has heightened fears about the possible slip into another round of global economic crisis.

Tunisia, Egypt, and now Bahrain, Yemen, and Libya have come under unprecedented civilian protests against the authoritarian rule that were hitherto in place. The fear is that this could spread to larger producers like Saudi Arabia. For a region which accounts substantially for global crude oil supply, major economies have cause for worry.

Intense volatility

Brazilian state oil company, Petrobras, has said it will not change its gasoline prices in Brazil despite volatility in global oil prices caused by Middle East turmoil, its president was quoted as saying by Brazilian media on Wednesday.

"We won't pass on the volatility of international prices to Brazil," Sergio Gabrielli told reporters on Tuesday, according to the Valor Economico newspaper, adding he expected months of "intense volatility" in commodity prices, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, in America, economists are warning that the rising cost of crude could dent consumer confidence and stifle economic recovery. Experts fear that a rise in petrol prices could force businesses and consumers to spend less on other things, slowing both the economy and the pace of hiring.

Although Saudi Arabia has promised to make good any shortfall in global oil supplies, the concern is how much calm this would achieve in an already volatile oil market.

just a quick question....
the money we get when the oil is over the benchmark budgeted it goes to the ECA Excess rude Account now that it has been wiped and killed to be replaced by Sovereign Wealth fund which has not been passed by the legislature.. this excess crude money goes where?

if it is foreign reservers after some months when the foreign reserves are announced am SURE it would still be no reasonable change -- but neva mind


where is the money kept ?

just a quick question....
the money we get when the oil is over the benchmark budgeted it goes to the ECA Excess rude Account now that it has been wiped and killed to be replaced by Sovereign Wealth fund which has not been passed by the legislature.. this excess crude money goes where?

if it is foreign reservers after some months when the foreign reserves are announced am SURE it would still be no reasonable change -- but neva mind


where is the money kept ?

The money goes to the Excess Crude Account. . . . until the SWF is passed
The ECA is not killed until its replaced by the SWF. . .

Hopefully the Legislators do the right thing and pass the bill quickly

Tougher than BRICs

The 11 "3G" Countries That Will Win The Future


Karen Maley

The global economy is poised to enjoy decades of robust growth, as a number of poor countries play "catch-up" to the rich industrialised countries in terms of income and living standards, according to Citigroup’s global chief economist, Willem Buiter.

In a major new report, Global Growth Generators, Buiter nominates 11 countries that are most likely to drive global growth – and generate profitable investment opportunities – over coming decades.

These '3G' countries are Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Mongolia, Nigeria, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

The six components of the index are (1) a measure of domestic saving/ investment, (2) a measure of demographicprospects, (3) a measure of health, (4) a measure of education, (5) a measure of the quality of institutions and policies, and (6) a measure of trade
openness.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/willem-buiter-3g-countries-2011-2#ixzz1F7Afbk00


As well, Buiter says that other countries, such as Mexico, Brazil, Turkey and Thailand, will likely enjoy rapid growth. But these countries need to make some economic adjustments, including boosting their domestic savings and investment levels, before they qualify for the 3G list.


Despite his relatively upbeat outlook for the global economy, Buiter warns that the path ahead will be "bumpy".

"There will be busts as well as booms. Beware of any proclamations of an end of volatility. Poor policies, conflict and natural disasters will change the growth equation for some countries in a negative way."

Dangote Invests $1 Billion in Senegal

Chris Ugwu

3 March 2011

Lagos — The senior adviser to the Senegalese president on foreign investment, Serigne Mbacke says Dangote Group has over one billion dollar (N150 billion) investment in cement manufacturing and sugarcane refinery in Senegal.

Mbacke who disclosed this to journalists in Senegal during a facility tour of the factory, said that the Senegal government gave about 8,000 hectares of land to the group for the cement manufacturing and sugar refineries.

According to him, the group's investment was one of the biggest Foreign Direct investments by an Africa company in Senegal.

Mbacke said that the investment was an indication of a strong believe in the future growth of African economy.

He said Dangote's target production of about 45 million tonnes of cement was feasible with the level of massive investment in the expansion of old plants and construction of new plants in African countries.

The senior adviser said that Senegal, with a population of about 16 million, was becoming one of the fastest growing economies, adding that the demand for cement was high, because of the demands to meet housing needs.

He said that the country has all the raw materials to produce enough cement and export to other continents.

Also speaking at the forum, Mr Ganapathy Balasubrahanian, General Manager, Project, Dangote Industries in Senegal said that the cement plant had installed capacity of one million metric tonnes per annum.

"We are hoping to have more than 1,500 direct workers and 7,000 indirect workers at the site.

"Before the end of 2011, that is, between November and December, we will start operation.

"We are hoping that Dangote's investment in the country will complement the government's efforts in stimulating economic growth and creating jobs," he said.

According to Balasubrahanian, at the moment only two cement manufacturing companies, SOCCOSIM and SEHEM are operating in Senegal.

He said that the companies produce 2.5 million tonnes per annum as against the local demand of 3 million tonnes per annum.

"The investment marked a significant milestone in Senegalese quest to be self-sufficient in cement production.

According to him, the plant is being constructed by SINOMA, a Chinese company in a site with abundant raw materials that can last for 50 years life span.

He said that in spite of the availability of power in the country, the company would build a coal power of about 30 mega watts to power the plant.

On why the choice of coal, he said "it was chosen because of lack of adequate water to build hydro power and insufficient gas in the country for now

"For now going hydro or gas will not be prudent but one thing about the group cement plants is that they are built in such away to ultilise different types of power ," he said

Balasubrahanian noted that the investment was strategic, adding that Senegal with a population of about 16 million was becoming one of the fastest growing economy with it attendant need for more housing.

He added that Dangote's target of producing about 45 million tonnes of cement in Africa was very feasible with the level of massive investment in old and new plants in some African countries.

Lauding Senegalese investment and trade policy, he said that the land was free and the company also enjoyed tax holiday for about 10 years and free duty for all imported equipment for the construction of the factory.

On challenges faced in distribution of the cement being a bulking product, he said "there is rail system from the factory to the various parts of the country and Mali.

He said that Dangote presently had cement manufacturing firms in 14 countries in Africa
Balasubrahanian, who have over eight years experience in cement manufacturing and had worked as plant manager in India Bilia Cement Group said the company had increased its stake in South Africa's Sephaku Cement (Pty) Limited, from 19.76 per cent to 64 per cent in October 2010.

He said that the investment was worth R779 million ( about $113 million), making it the largest foreign direct investment by an African company into South Africa.

Besides, he said the firm would soon invest over $100 million in building a new cement manufacturing plant in Cameroon.

According to him, the move was to ensure that African remains self-sufficient in cement production and making the product available and at an affordable cost to the end users.




allAfrica.com

Nigeria’s Billionaires Plan to Conquer Africa
Mar. 9 2011

This year, Nigeria adds a new billionaire Mike Adenuga, and sees Aliko Dangote’s fortune skyrocket.

Alike Dangote

In the past year Aliko Dangote’s fortune surged 557% to $13.8 billion, up from $2.1 billion, after he consolidated all his public and private cement holdings throughout Africa into the continent’s largest cement manufacturer and took it public on the Nigerian stock exchange in October. Dangote Cement now has a market value in excess of $13 billion, and accounts for a quarter of the Nigeria Stock Exchange’s total market capitalization.

The dearth of native suppliers to meet increasing cement demand is driving the stock price. Dangote projects demand at 72 million metric tons and growing because of the drive to build infrastructure in Nigeria, Africa’s most populated nation, as well as other countries; current supply is 67 million metric tons, a shortfall of 5 million metric tons.

For perspective, he is now richer than longtime white South African billionaires Nicky Oppenheimer of Debeers and Johann Rupert of luxury goods group Richemont, which owns Cartier, Dunhill and other premium brands.

For now he’s gearing up to introduce Dangote Cement to foreign investors. Companies listed on the Nigerian stock exchange are required to have a minimum free float of 25%, Dangote initially listed 5% of shares. According to analysts at Thaddeus Investment Advisors, the Nigerian market is too shallow for a stock of Dangote Cement’s size to be listed on the exchange; this is why the balance of the free float will be listed outside of Nigeria. Dangote, who recently bought himself a $45 million Bombardier aircraft for his birthday, has been shuttling back and forth to London for months, in anticipation of a public offering in London later this year.

He is certainly one to watch. After a lucrative career in trading, Dangote ventured into manufacturing pasta, salt, sugar, and flour in 1997, in part encouraged by the policies of former president Olusegun Obasanjo. Eventually Dangote went from importing and rebagging cement to production as well; he was awarded the government’s then state-owned cement business and began building his own plant in 2003. Cement revenue which has been primarily based on imports grew 15% a year between 2001 and 2005; once the Obajana plant was fully operational in 2007, revenue quadrupled; in fiscal 2009 revenue was $1.2 billion.

Dangote Cement now owns three cement plants and two terminals in Nigeria where he both produces and still imports cement. The Obajana plant is Dangote’s largest to date and controls the largest market share in Nigeria; Dangote terminals at Lagos and Port-Harcourt have the highest import quotas of all local companies. With additional capacity coming on line this year, total capacity is expected to reach 26 million metric tons by the end of 2011. (also helping boost profits: Dangote’s newly combined entity is tax exempt through 2017.)

But he won’t stop there. Dangote has started building investments in cement plants and terminals across Africa including Senegal, Zambia, Tanzania, Congo, Ethiopia, Cameroun, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Ghana.

Mike Adenuga

Meanwhile his compatriot Mike Adenuga who founded Globacom, the mobile, fixed, broadband, and international gateway carrier, joins Forbes’ billionaires list with a net worth of $2 billion. Globacom launched services in Nigeria in 2005, in the Republic of Benin in 2008 and has licences to operate in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire (with Togo and Senegal next). He took a big gamble laying a $1 billion undersea fibre optic cable, Glo-1, to link Africa with the rest of the world. (partnered with Alcatel-Lucent) The connection will help lower prices for customers as well as help Adenuga expand more quickly.



http://blogs.forbes.com/tatianaserafin/2011/03/09/nigerias-billionaires-plan-to-conquer-africa/

This has swiftly changed my mind....I will most definately be marrying a Nigerian man now:):):)

This has swiftly changed my mind....I will most definately be marrying a Nigerian man now:):):)

:lol::lol:
kai!!!
woman and moni, b like ant wey dey look for suga!!!! :p

Guinness Nigeria Plans 52 Billion-Naira Capacity Expansion (1)
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By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo

March 11 (Bloomberg) -- Guinness Nigeria Plc, the local unit of Diageo Plc, plans to spend 52 billion naira ($335.8 million) on expanding brewing capacity in the country this year, Managing Director Devlin Hainsworth said.

“We’re lifting capacity of two existing plants in Ikeja and Benin,” he told reporters today in Abuja, the capital.

The expansion project will create about 2,000 jobs and it is expected to be complete before December, Hainsworth said.

The brewer’s Harp lager brand has taken market share from Star, which is produced by Nigerian Breweries Plc, CSL said in a research note dated Oct. 4. Sales volumes for Harp more than doubled in the first half of 2010 and crossed the 1 million- hectoliter mark for the first time in the second half, CSL said.

The stock closed unchanged at 195 naira by 2:30 p.m. in Lagos. The shares have gained 2.3 percent this year.

Guinness Nigeria Plans 52 Billion-Naira Capacity Expansion (1)
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By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo

March 11 (Bloomberg) -- Guinness Nigeria Plc, the local unit of Diageo Plc, plans to spend 52 billion naira ($335.8 million) on expanding brewing capacity in the country this year, Managing Director Devlin Hainsworth said.

“We’re lifting capacity of two existing plants in Ikeja and Benin,” he told reporters today in Abuja, the capital.

The expansion project will create about 2,000 jobs and it is expected to be complete before December, Hainsworth said.

The brewer’s Harp lager brand has taken market share from Star, which is produced by Nigerian Breweries Plc, CSL said in a research note dated Oct. 4. Sales volumes for Harp more than doubled in the first half of 2010 and crossed the 1 million- hectoliter mark for the first time in the second half, CSL said.

The stock closed unchanged at 195 naira by 2:30 p.m. in Lagos. The shares have gained 2.3 percent this year.

There are signs of positive movements in the Nigerian economy. Fantastic!!!

Nigeria’s Senate Approves 4.97 Trillion-Naira 2011 Budget (2)
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By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo

March 16 (Bloomberg) -- Nigeria’s Senate passed a 4.97 trillion-naira ($31.8 billion) budget for the 2011 fiscal year, 17 percent more than what President Goodluck Jonathan proposed in December.

Africa’s top oil producer is basing its spending plans on crude output of 2.3 million barrels a day, an oil price of $75 a barrel, $10 more than was originally in Jonathan’s budget, and an exchange rate of 150 naira to a dollar. Jonathan must sign the plan before it becomes law.

The budget includes 2.47 trillion naira for recurrent spending and 1.56 trillion naira for capital projects, Senate President David Mark said in parliament today in the capital, Abuja. Statutory transfers to government agencies will account for 496.6 billion naira, and 445.1 billion naira will go toward servicing the debt.

The government is determined “to establish and strengthen sound macroeconomic environment” and “to facilitate private sector growth, boost employment generation and ensure wealth creation,” said Iyiola Omisore, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation and Finance.

The budget deficit will narrow to 3.62 percent of gross domestic product, he said, from 6 percent in last year’s 5.16 trillion-naira spending plan. Oil provides Nigeria more than 80 percent of its revenue.

Power Investment

The government plans to invest in infrastructure projects, including power and railways, that will help create employment in Africa’s most populous nation, Jonathan said on Dec. 15.

Sub-Saharan Africa’s second-biggest economy should expand by 7.98 percent in 2011, up from 7.85 percent last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The 7 percent GDP growth is achievable as oil output continues to rise, Bismarck Rewane, chief executive officer of Lagos-based fund manager, Financial Derivatives Co. Ltd., said by phone today.

“The exchange rate at 150 naira to a dollar is a bit ambitious,” he said.

Dangote plans to invest $3.9 bln on cement plants in Africa
TUESDAY, 12 APRIL 2011 14:00 ANONYMOUS

Dangote
The Dangote Group says it will invest 3.9 billion dollars (N585 billion) in the expansion of its cement plants in some Africa countries. Aliko Dangote, Chairman of the company, disclosed this on Tuesday in Lagos while signing an agreement between his company and a Chinese firm, Sinoma International Engineering Co. Ltd.

He said that the expansion project, expected to be completed in 2013, would produce additional 16.5 million tonnes of cement to achieve a target of 50 million tonnes in the next two years. Dangote, who was represented by Devakumar Edwin, the company’s Group Executive Director ( Business Development), said that the projects included installation of equipment, mining, quarry and power facilities, among others. “Cement plants with installed capacity of 1.5 million tonnes each per year will be constructed in countries like Tanzania, Gabon and Republic of Congo”, he said

Excess Crude Account rises to $6.9bn as FG, states, LGAs share N424.6bn
TUESDAY, 12 APRIL 2011 00:00 ONYINYE NWACHUKWU, ABUJA

The Accountant General of the Federations’ office on Monday hinted that the nation’s Excess Crude Account (ECA) has strengthened to $6.9 billion from about $2 billion as at the end of last year.

This amount excludes the $1 billion set aside for Sovereign Wealth Fund and the development soothes rising concerns that government has embarked on a ‘spending spree’ of its earnings, refusing to save its excess even in the face of current high oil prices.

At the end of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting in Abuja where the three federating units shared N424.578 billion as March Allocation, Babayo Shehu, Director of Funds at the AGF office said that about $1 billion was transferred to the dollar component of the Account this month while N70 billion went into the domestic part.

“The rise to about $7billion is a reflection of the increase in the oil price as well as stability in the Niger Delta that has allowed production to be very stable,” he said.

http://mea.economistconferences.com/sites/default/files/Nigeria%20640x320.jpg?1297753119

Nigeria matters. One in six Africans is Nigerian, the country vies with Angola for first place as the continent’s biggest oil producer, and it boasts the second largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa. These abundant natural and human resources make Nigeria a market that international companies cannot afford to ignore. Yet the fragmented nature of the Federal Republic, which counts 36 states and over 250 ethnic groups, Nigeria’s reputation for corruption, and the persistent lack of infrastructure create significant barriers to entry.

As Nigeria enters its second half-century of independence, it is a good time to define a clear roadmap for the country’s future. The Nigeria Summit is a forward-looking conference which brings the country’s political leaders together with international investors and CEOs to discuss the country’s transformation, confronting Nigeria’s challenges head-on during two days of open dialogue. During discussions led by editors from within The Economist Group, expert speakers will critically examine the government’s reform programme, shed light on the realities of operating a business and identify emerging investment opportunities.

Nigeria matters, as this high-level event will confirm.

The Nigeria Summit 2011 agenda.

http://mea.economistconferences.com/event/nigeria

New minimum wage bill in Nigeria to drive consumption levels

ARTICLES, CAPITAL MARKETS, NIGERIA | IMARA AFRICA SECURITIES TEAM | MARCH 3, 2011 AT 22:57


The Nigerian Senate recently announced the passage of the new National Minimum Wage Bill, increasing the monthly minimum wage from N7,500 (US$49) to N18,000 ($117), representing a 140% increase.
However, there have been concerns over the effect this might have on inflation. Recently, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicated that Nigeria’s inflation rate increased to 12.1% year-on-year in January 2011, up from 11.8% in December 2010.
Generally, inflationary pressures are expected to mount in most African states on the back of rising global food and energy prices. On Monday, Kenya and Uganda reported a surge in their February inflation on the back of soaring food prices. The World Cereals Price Index (which tracks the price of wheat, maize and rice) rose by 43% in January 2011.
In a trading economy like Nigeria’s, where the trading sector accounts for 18% of GDP, such a wage increase can translate to demand pull inflation. In addition, this may lead to increased government non-capital expenditure, which may also fuel inflation and challenge price stability.
On the positive side, however, is the effect this would have on disposable incomes. This, we believe will fuel consumer spending and is likely to be supportive of consumer, food, beverages, and brewing sectors.
A GDP growth rate of between 7% and 8% is expected in Nigeria, versus the 5% to 5.8% average that the IMF forecasts for most Sub-Saharan African countries.
It also appears that there is strong demand expectation given the massive investments undertaken by multinational groups. Some of the recent investments undertaken by groups such as Nestle Nigeria, Guinness Nigeria, Nigerian Breweries and Dangote Cement, also indicate rising demand expectations.
According to Reuters, brewer SABMiller plans to spend about $100 million to build a new brewery in Nigeria. The new brewery will be built on a greenfield site at Onitsha in southeast Nigeria. Nigeria’s annual beer market of around 18 million hl is second only to South Africa on the continent and is dominated by Heineken, with around a 70% market share, and Diageo’s Guinness business with over 20%, and SABMiller with less than 5%.
On the basis of an anticipated surge in consumption levels in Nigeria, we forecast the Nigerian Stock Exchange to deliver a 30% return in 2011. We recommend exposure in consumer plays such as Nigerian Breweries, Nigerian Flour Mills, PZ Cussons and UACN. Other picks include Lafarge Wapco and banking stocks such as First Bank, UBA and Zenith Bank.
Article written by the Imara Africa Securities team. Imara is an investment banking and asset management group renowned for its knowledge of African markets

howwemadeitinafrica.com (http://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/new-minimum-wage-bill-in-nigeria-to-drive-consumption-levels/8257/)

Nigeria takes SA seat at Opera

http://africa.bizcommunity.com/c/1104/71331.jpg

OSLO, NORWAY / LAGOS, NIGERIA, JOHANNESBURG, SA: Nigeria has unseated South Africa as the country in Africa with the highest number of users on the Opera Mini mobile browser, according to the latest State of the Mobile Web report issued 19 April 2011 by Opera Software.
Nigeria swept aside China and South Africa to finish March as the #5 country globally for unique monthly users of Opera Mini, rising from its February position as #7. Now only Russia, Indonesia, India and Ukraine are ahead of Nigeria in terms of unique monthly users.

Until now, South Africa has maintained the top spot in Africa and consistently held sixth place globally for the highest number of Opera Mini users, in all but five months since the State of the Mobile Web reports began in April 2008. Nigeria debuted in the top 10 list in March 2009 but has been less stable in its position, sometimes dropping off the list entirely.

A steady climb in the rankings

Despite earlier jumpy trends, Nigeria has shown a steady climb in the list of top Opera Mini user countries since September 2010: spending two months each at the ninth, eighth and seventh spots before rising in March to #5 - pushing back South Africa to seventh place.

In the year to March 2011, Nigeria experienced 143.5% growth in the number of unique Opera Mini users, compared to 67% growth in South Africa. During the same period, South Africa showed higher growth in the number of monthly page views and data transfer (99.5% and 95.5% respectively) compared to Nigeria (87.7% and 80.0% respectively).

"Nigeria is a country to watch," said Jon von Tetzchner, co-founder, Opera Software. "It will be very interesting to see whether its stint as the top African country for Opera Mini turns out to be one-off result or the beginning of a long-term trend for mobile browsing in Africa."

Opera is the most popular mobile browser in both South Africa and Nigeria, with StatCounter's March results showing Opera to have 67.5% share of the mobile browser market in South Africa and 87.7% in Nigeria. Opera has 71.8% market share for mobile browsing in all of Africa.

africa.bizcommunity.com (http://africa.bizcommunity.com/Article/161/160/58907.html)

Market Dynamics & Regulations

Since the time the Government of Nigeria made a tariff reduction on all fishery products in 2001 from 25% to 5% in 2001, Nigeria has become a major destination for imported seafood. The total market demand in Nigeria according to industry sources have grown to more than one million tones per annum, making it the largest market in West Africa in the industry.
There are various species of frozen fish being imported into Nigeria i.e., herring, Horse Mackerel, Mackerel, Croaker, Sardinella, Blue Whiting etc., and specie like Mackerel (TITUS), Horse Mackerel (KOTE) and Croaker are expensive compared to the other Species. Some canned products are also imported. Tilapia and catfish are the major species farmed by local fish farmers.

Given its relatively cheaper cost, fish has become the major source of nutrition for the people of Nigeria, most of who are not economically well off. Fish remains the main product consumed in terms of animal protein in Nigeria.

As fish is a natural product, the nature decides the supply levels. The supply decides the price levels, subject to the buying power. When there is excess catch of particular specie and the end markets are glutted with that specie, the trawlers are under pressure to off-load the fish and return for their refill / production. At that point of time, the prices will be cheaper. At the same time when the season is over or the particular specie in short supply, the prices will be at a premium.

For Full Article (http://www.nigeriafish.org/)

Oil Boosts National Earnings, Hits Over Two and a Half Years' High

Lagos — The crude earning by Nigeria got a boost on Thursday as oil traded for $114 a barrel, the highest price in over two and half years.

Nigeria, Africa's biggest exporter of crude depends on oil proceeds to service over 80 per cent of its budget.

The country, which set $65 as benchmark for oil in its 2011 budget got an excess of $49 on each of its 2.3 million barrels of oil export on Thursday as the commodity rose by as much as 94 cents to hit the new price, which is the highest since September 22, 2008.

Crude futures earlier climbed to a new 31-month high after the United States, consumer of over 1 million barrels of Nigeria's oil said that it will keep record low interest rates in place and stop buying bonds in June.

The gains were trimmed after the U.S. said its economy grew at a slower pace than the last quarter of 2010.

Read More (http://allafrica.com/stories/201105021052.html)

^^ Great news, It was expected. :)

Nestle Nigeria optimistic over growth in 2011
TUESDAY, 03 MAY 2011 00:00 IHEANYI NWACHUKWU

…Commissions N3.6bn tri-generation power plant

Following a turnover of N82.726 billion in 2010, an increase of 21 percent over the preceding year’s level of N68.317 billion, Nestle Nigeria plc is confident that this growth trajectory will continue in the financial year 2011.

As part of the strategy to achieve this, Nestle says that in 2011, it will intensify its marketing efforts to strengthen the awareness and off-take for all its brands. This is coupled with its commissioning of N3.6 billion tri-generation power plant, which will generate power, produce chilled water and hot water, increase energy efficiency from 42 percent to 74 percent, and reduce carbon dioxide emission by 5, 000 tons per year.

Olusegun Osunkeye, chairman, Nestle Nigeria plc, disclosed this while addressing the shareholders at the company’s 42nd Annual General Meeting (AGM), which held Thursday in Lagos.

The company’s financial statement for the year ended December 2010 available to BusinessDay shows that its Profit After Tax (PAT) grew by 29 percent from N9.7 billion to N12.6 billion.

Shareholders fund grew by 41 percent to N14.86 billion in 2010 from N10.54 billion in 2009, while its earnings per share rose by 29 percent from N14.81kobo in 2009 to N19.08 kobo in 2010.

The company declared a final dividend of N10.60 kobo per ordinary share of 50kobo further to the interim dividend of N1.95 kobo ordinary share bringing the annual dividend to a total of N12.55 kobo. Also, a bonus issue of one new share for every five existing shares was also approved by the shareholders at the AGM.

Osunkeye also told shareholders at the AGM that as part of the company’s policy in ‘creating shared value’ “we are pleased to report that 63 percent of all our raw and packing materials are sourced locally from Nigeria.

“The 2010 results reflect the effort of the company to deliver improved top and bottom line performance whilst investing in brands improvement, capabilities, distribution, structures and capacities to ensure long-term profitable growth and value creation,” Osunkeye stated, while assuring the shareholders that Nestle will continue to keep its brand consumers relevant and competitor-differentiated.

Speaking further on the company’s operation, he said: “Nestle recorded another milestone in Nigeria with inauguration of the N12 billion state-of-the-art Flowergate factory in Ogun State in February 2011. The new facility will further strengthen Nestle Nigeria’s role as the single largest culinary manufacturing operation in Africa, and its 27th factory in Africa.”

To further underline Nestle’s strong commitment to Nigerian economy, Osunkeye said “since 2009, Nestle has invested N42 billion in massive infrastructural upgrades at Agbara factory.”

AfDB to Help Country, Rwanda Sell Diaspora Bonds

The African Development Bank (AfDB), on Wednesday said it will partly guarantee and help sell Diaspora bonds to be issued at the international capital market by Nigeria and Rwanda.

Mthuli Ncube, chief economist and vice president of the bank, in an interview with Bloomberg in Cape Town, South Africa, said the bonds will be marketed to people who hail from both countries, but live overseas.

Ncube hinted that Nigeria, which in January issued a $500 million Eurobond and listed it on the London Stock Exchange, has the potential to sell as much as $2 billion of the bonds.

The plan by AfDB, it is believed, is further to the plan announced on February 20, 2011 by Abraham Nwankwo, director-general of the Debt Management Office, about designing appropriate vehicles for attracting funds from Nigerians in Diaspora

Read More (http://allafrica.com/stories/201105050683.html)

Nigerian Breweries Targets Market Share With Acquisitions (1)
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By Emele Onu

May 10 (Bloomberg) -- Nigerian Breweries Plc said the planned purchase of two local beermakers is aimed at adding market share in Africa’s most populous country while avoiding the cost of constructing new factories.

“The acquisition will strengthen our market coverage, market share and efficiency,” Chief Executive Officer Nicolaas Vervelde told reporters today in Lagos, the commercial capital. “If we don’t make the acquisition, we might be forced to build a new brewery.”

Shareholders of Lagos-based Nigerian Breweries, which is controlled by Dutch beermaker Heineken NV, are scheduled at the annual meeting later this month to vote on buying Sona Systems Associates Business Management Ltd. and Life Breweries Ltd. The acquisitions will give Nigerian Breweries five additional beermaking plants across the country.

Nigeria, with more than 150 million people, is potentially the continent’s largest consumer market and is attracting increased investment from global beermakers seeking to expand market share. SABMiller Plc, the world’s second-largest brewer by volume, said on Feb. 25 that it plans a $100 million plant in the southeastern city of Onitsha within two years.

Guinness Nigeria Plc, the local beermaking unit of distiller Diageo Plc, said on March 11 that it will spend $336 million to expand brewing capacity in the west African nation.

The purchase of Sona Systems and Life Breweries will offer “spare capacity,” Vervelde said. Nigerian Breweries isn’t ruling out further purchases, the CEO said.

“If another opportunity calls for acquisition, we will look at it, and if it will add returns to shareholders, we’ll take advantage of it,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Emele Onu in Lagos via eonu1@bloomberg.net.

Non-oil Revenue Records 300% Rise


10 May 2011

Minister of Commerce and Industry, Senator Jubril Martins-Kuye has said that Nigeria non-oil export increased eleven fold from USD 0.2 billion in 2000 to USD 2.3 billion in 2010 indicating over 1000 percent growth.

He made this known during the presentation of the report of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on the comprehensive review of the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) by the Chairman of the Committee Dr. Abubakar Mohammad in his office.

The Minister noted that the prime of Nigeria’s non-oil exports consists of agro-allied products such as cocoa leather, rubber, cotton-textiles, shrimps sesame seeds and gum Arabic which have been growing consistently at a double digit rate.

He said that the EEG is a well calculated sound and unassailable policy in the area of export-oriented and forex-earning industrialisation, adding that its main objective was to compensate export manufacturers for manufacturing cost increases traceable to hashed environment thereby enhancing their products’ competitiveness in the export markets.

According to him, the policy has succeeded to the point that Nigeria’s non-oil exports have been growing consistently at a double-digit rate in the last five years.

Senator Kuye recalled the implementation challenges of the policy which he said ranged from the corruptive and manipulative activities of a few export manufacturers to alleged institutional hindrances on the part of Federal Government’s implementation agencies.

The Minister stated that the report was the effort or the Inter-agency committee which the Ministry of Commerce and Industry established to recommend appropriate reform of the EEG policy in order to enable it accomplish its laudable and indispensable objectives.

He reiterated that his Ministry has substantially discharged the responsibility assigned to it by the directive of the Federal Executive Council of Wednesday, June 23, 2010, to bring to the FEC a report on the reform of the EEG with a sharp focus on the specific imported items/products and payments to which the policy’s redemption instrument, Redeemable Duty Credit (RDCC) may apply.

Senator Kuye however stated that there is the urgent need for the report to be laid before the Federal Executive Council by way of a memorandum. In his words “it is my hope and prayer that I am able to do this in the few days that I have to serve in the present administration.”

Earlier, the Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee, Dr. Abubakar Mohammad pointed out that the committee was charged with the responsibility to comprehensively review the Export Expansion Grant scheme in order to determine the continue desirability or otherwise of the scheme.

He noted that the EEG has been effective in diversification of Nigerian economy by way of increase in non-oil export, creation of employment opportunities and value addition to primary commodities

Nigerian Breweries Targets Market Share With Acquisitions (1)
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By Emele Onu

May 10 (Bloomberg) -- Nigerian Breweries Plc said the planned purchase of two local beermakers is aimed at adding market share in Africa’s most populous country while avoiding the cost of constructing new factories.

“The acquisition will strengthen our market coverage, market share and efficiency,” Chief Executive Officer Nicolaas Vervelde told reporters today in Lagos, the commercial capital. “If we don’t make the acquisition, we might be forced to build a new brewery.”

Shareholders of Lagos-based Nigerian Breweries, which is controlled by Dutch beermaker Heineken NV, are scheduled at the annual meeting later this month to vote on buying Sona Systems Associates Business Management Ltd. and Life Breweries Ltd. The acquisitions will give Nigerian Breweries five additional beermaking plants across the country.

Nigeria, with more than 150 million people, is potentially the continent’s largest consumer market and is attracting increased investment from global beermakers seeking to expand market share. SABMiller Plc, the world’s second-largest brewer by volume, said on Feb. 25 that it plans a $100 million plant in the southeastern city of Onitsha within two years.

Guinness Nigeria Plc, the local beermaking unit of distiller Diageo Plc, said on March 11 that it will spend $336 million to expand brewing capacity in the west African nation.

The purchase of Sona Systems and Life Breweries will offer “spare capacity,” Vervelde said. Nigerian Breweries isn’t ruling out further purchases, the CEO said.

“If another opportunity calls for acquisition, we will look at it, and if it will add returns to shareholders, we’ll take advantage of it,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Emele Onu in Lagos via eonu1@bloomberg.net.

Thats why we have so many drunk people
And we'll get more drunk people
But they would be more jobs

Nigerian Growth Accelerated to 8.29% in Fourth Quarter
Nigeria’s economic growth accelerated to 8.29 percent in the fourth quarter, boosted by agriculture and higher oil prices.

Growth picked up from 7.86 percent in the previous three months, Information Minister Labaran Maku told reporters today in the capital, Abuja. Lamido Sanusi, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, had presented the growth figures to the Cabinet earlier.

Non-oil industries, led by agriculture, grew 8.87 percent and may continue to fuel expansion as the government encourages banks to lend more to farmers, Maku said, forecasting growth of 8 percent in the first quarter of this year. The country’s 24 lenders have agreed to triple their lending to agriculture to 3 percent of loans, Phillips Oduoza, chief executive officer of United Bank for Africa Plc., said yesterday.

“Without support for agriculture, it’d be very difficult to develop the economy,” Maku said. Agriculture is the largest provider of jobs in the country, accounting for 60 percent of all employment, he said.

Fourth-quarter growth surpassed the expectation of some analysts, including Gbadebo Banmeke of Renaissance Capital in Lagos, who had forecast 8 percent.

Oil Production

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and top oil producer, has seen crude production stabilize at 2.16 million barrels a day as a result of the relative calm in the Niger River delta, the hub of the country’s oil industry, according to Maku.

Attacks by armed groups targeting the oil industry cut more than 28 percent of the country’s oil output between 2006 and 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Assaults subsided after thousands of militants campaigning for more local control of the delta’s energy resources accepted a government amnesty and disarmed in 2009.

Crude oil for March delivery rose 52 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $91.29 a barrel at 10:31 a.m. today on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Nigeria’s economy, surpassed only by South Africa in sub- Saharan Africa, will grow about 7 percent this year, compared with 7.8 percent in 2010, President Goodluck Jonathan said on Dec. 15.

Thats why we have so many drunk people
And we'll get more drunk people
But they would be more jobs

People hsve the right to be drunk if they want to. . plz leave your moralizing ass at home

I can sleep with 50 girls a night?. . .marry 4 wives(ppl frown on that in case u havent noticed. . ). . or get an effing cocktail in a bar in NIGERIA. . .pls respect any of the above behaviors. . .its my effing choice. . cheers:cheers:

Nigerian Senate Passes Bill Creating Sovereign Wealth Fund (1)
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By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo

May 11 (Bloomberg) --

Nigeria’s Senate voted unanimously today to pass a bill creating a sovereign wealth fund for Africa’s top oil producer with seed capital of $1 billion.

The legislation creates the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, which will be split into the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund, the Future Generations Fund and the Stabilization Fund, according to a draft of the bill obtained by Bloomberg. Each component will represent at least 20 percent of the total.

The fund will help the country save more of its oil revenue and will also help to funnel money into infrastructure projects in Africa’s most populous nation, according to David Mark, president of the Senate. The West African country relies on crude exports for about 95 percent of its foreign currency earnings. It’s the only member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries without a sovereign fund, according to the Information Ministry.

The sovereign fund, to be based in the capital, Abuja, will have a governing board headed by the president. Other members include governors of the 36 states, the ministers of finance, justice and planning, the governor of the central bank and the chief economic adviser.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elisha Bala-Gbogbo in Abuja at ebalagbogbo@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dulue Mbachu at dmbachu@bloomberg.net.

Thats why we have so many drunk people
And we'll get more drunk people
But they would be more jobs
With at least 70 million Nigerians of drinking (going by the last voters register), present beer capacity is a drop in the ocean.

Business leaders, top govt officials for Renaissance Capital’s ‘Investor Confab’
FRIDAY, 13 MAY 2011 00:00 ANONYMOUS

No fewer than 200 institutional investors, corporate executives and senior government officials are billed to attend this year’s Annual Pan-Africa Investor Conference hosted by Renaissance Capital, a leading emerging markets investment bank. The three-day conference which is the second in the series, holds in Lagos, from Wednesday, May 18. It would focus on introducing local, African and international investors to listed and pre-IPO companies across the continent.

A statement issued by the organisers affirmed that “investors will have the opportunity to meet senior management in a one-to-one environment, with one-day focused specifically on opportunities in the oil and gas and power sectors.”

The conference is coming on the heels of Renaissance Capital’s latest report on Nigerian banking, in which the firm’s banks’ research team reinitiated coverage of nine Nigerian banks. The report gave a positive picture of the nation’s macroeconomic prospects and the country’s financial services sector, following the conclusion of elections in April.

The event will be opened by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, minister of Finance, Olusegun Aganga; Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi; and Renaissance Capital CEO, Stephen Jennings.

More than 800 one-to-one meetings will take place between African companies seeking capital and prospective investors.

The panelists for the oil and gas session includes: Wale Tinubu, CEO of Oando Plc and Scott Aitken, chief executive of seven Energy International Ltd; while Kola Adeshina, chief executive of Sahara Power Resources Ltd and Sam Amadi, chairman, Nigerian Electricity regulatory Commission would be part of the panel on power in Nigeria.

Also billed to attend the event which has BusinessDay as the general media partner are: Renaissance Capital senior management from around the world, including Stephen Jennings; Clifford Sacks, Africa CEO; Rotimi Oyekanmi, CEO of West Africa and Renaissance Capital in Nigeria; Hasnen Varawalla, head of New Markets Investment Banking; and Charles Robertson, Global Chief Economist. Other prominent Nigerians expected include: Mustapha Chike-Obi, CEO of Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON); Arunmah Oteh, director general of Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission; and Oscar Onyema, director general of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

With at least 70 million Nigerians of drinking (going by the last voters register), present beer capacity is a drop in the ocean.

Thats a lie, it cant be 70 million
I lived in Lagos,Kaduna,Illorin and now in Abuja and i hardly see drunk people
Since we are 150 and you said 70 million maths said it is ratios of 1:20 and if statistics would say one in every 2 person in nigeria is a drunkard, which is not
i hardly see drunk people even in Kwara and Lagos in the south so you are wrong

Did Jegas voter registration say 70 million of the 73 voters Reg. are drunkards no .. dont say what is not tru pls

People hsve the right to be drunk if they want to. . plz leave your moralizing ass at home

I can sleep with 50 girls a night?. . .marry 4 wives(ppl frown on that in case u havent noticed. . ). . or get an effing cocktail in a bar in NIGERIA. . .pls respect any of the above behaviors. . .its my effing choice. . cheers:cheers:

DId i say people dont have the right to drink ? were you drunk before you came to this website ?

So you can sleep with 50 girls a night, why are you telling me? Did i ask you ? or do i care ?
And marrying 4 wives if you are a christian you shouldnt because i think it is one that is allowed ( correct ? ) but you i believ you are an atheist - your choice i dont care either
Yes i agree it is your effing choice to be drunk

You came back November i believe in case you dont know drunkards account for many of our accidents on our road even this past week, minister of health said that equipment would be avaiable in hospitals and road safety commisiosn because drunkards cause accidents and you know this is true a drunkard almost killed my friend's brother while cruising in his BMW

and this is good i said it would bring jobs am against and not against it at the same time

Indorama to Build $1.8bn Fertiliser Plants in PH
16 May 2011


Indorama Corporation, the core investor in Eleme Petroche-micals Company Limited (EPCL), has completed arrangements to build a world-class fertiliser and methanol plants for over $1.8 billion (N275 billion) at their complex in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The plants are expected to commence production in 2014-2015.

Chairman of Indorama Group, Mr. S. P Lohia, broke the news to President Goodluck Jonathan and the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deizani Alison-Madueke, when he paid a courtesy visit to the president in Abuja yesterday, THISDAY has learnt.
The Managing Director of Indorama-EPCL, Mr. Manish Mundra, confirmed the development, adding that the projects would help the company to achieve its vision of building Africa’s largest petrochemicals hub in Nigeria.
He said the company would soon announce the project formally. THISDAY however learnt that the company had completed preliminary plans on the project, which is expected to deliver over one million metric tons of ammonia and urea fertilisers annually.
“This is going to be one of the biggest Urea complex in Africa,” the source said.

Industry players are said to be excited over the development as the Indorama initiative is expected to create thousands of direct and indirect jobs and produce fertilisers to boost the nation’s agricultural and industrial sectors.
Currently, much of the nation’s fertiliser needs are imported.

In 2006, Indorama Group invested $400 million to acquire and resuscitate the comatose Eleme Petrochemicals Company Limited, which was a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Within three months, it concluded extensive turn-around maintenance (TAM) of the plants and commenced production of polyethylene and polypropylene, which had hitherto been imported into the country by manufacturers of plastics products.
The company’s second TAM was done in February 2010. Today the company is producing at near 100 per cent capacity and meeting the needs of the local plastics industry, which uses the petrochemicals products as raw materials. The company’s surplus production is channelled into exports. Last year, Indorama-EPCL won the Presidential Award for Exports, organised by the Nigerian Export Promotions Council (NEPC).

When contacted, Mr. Jossy Nkwocha, special adviser to the Managing Director and head of Corporate Communications of the company, said: “In the past five years, Indorama-EPCL has contributed immensely to the economy of Nigeria in various ways. Our company has created employment opportunities (both direct and indirect) for many Nigerians, especially those from the Niger Delta region and the host communities in particular. Indeed, currently, the company has a total of 650 Nigerian employees and more than 600 others employed by contractors working for the company.”

According to him, EPCL has paid more than N11 billion to the government in taxes such as value added tax (VAT), Customs duty, with-holding taxes, and pay-as-you earn (PAYE) and has also paid to date a dividend of over N23 billion to its shareholders, including the NNPC, the Rivers State Government, and the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), which holds shares on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Nkwocha added that EPCL under Indorama has helped Nigeria to save more than $1 billion in foreign exchange through import substitution and has turned Nigeria into a net exporter of petrochemicals products and has indeed achieved 10 per cent of Nigeria’s total non-oil exports.


Link (http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/indorama-to-build-1-8bn-fertiliser-plants-in-ph/91441/)

^^
Sweet. . .

Reps pass wealth fund bill
TUESDAY, 17 MAY 2011 14:29 REUTERS

The House of Representatives passed a bill to create a sovereign wealth fund on Tuesday, paving the way for Africa's biggest oil exporter to improve its management of often-squandered crude oil earnings.

The bill now needs to be signed by President Goodluck Jonathan to be enacted, after the Senate passed the legislation last week. Lawmakers said the process should be straightforward as the lower house of parliament made no major amendments.

The fund is meant to replace Nigeria's Excess Crude Account (ECA), a pillar of IMF-backed reforms launched in 2003 into which the OPEC member nation currently puts any oil revenue above a benchmark price set each year in the budget. Critics of the ECA say there is no clear legal basis on which to determine how the windfall oil savings in the account should be shared between the tiers of government -- federal, state and local -- leading to constant political wrangling. The account contained more than $20 billion when late President Umaru Yar'Adua came to power in 2007. (Reuters)

18 May 2011
CEO STEPHEN JENNINGS' SPEECH AT THE 2ND ANNUAL RENAISSANCE CAPITAL PAN-AFRICA INVESTOR CONFERENCE IN LAGOS

Introduction

Good morning ladies and gentlemen.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to our 2nd annual Pan-Africa Conference. This is the second conference we have held in Nigeria, a country where Renaissance Capital has a strong presence, and where we are particularly pleased to see such a prominent Nigerian and international crowd here today.

I am also very honored to welcome:

His Excellency Olusegun Obasanjo

Representatives of the Ministry of Finance and Central Bank of Nigeria

Over the next three days we will be bringing together over 65 companies from across our markets with 150 investment professionals from around the globe. Corporates from Nigeria, Rwanda, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, DRC, Ghana and South Africa will meet with investors from Nigeria, China, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Mauritius, Switzerland, Estonia, Portugal, Kenya, Singapore and Saudi Arabia.

The range of companies and investors at this conference I think says a great deal about the way in which the world has changed. The global trends which this conference reflects are those around which we at Renaissance Capital have been building out our business over the last 15 years. I would like to spend the first few minutes of this conference outlining our view on these trends. I would like in particular to explain how I think the post-2008 financial world is now finally, and rapidly, shifting to reflect the underlying economic changes that have been taking place over the last 20 years.

Over the last few years – indeed, since Renaissance entered Africa in 2005 – many of you know that I have been preaching widely and positively about the continent. After 20 years of running businesses in emerging markets, I see the opportunity in Africa as one of the greatest in the world today. Parts of Africa will transform their economies in the coming decades just as parts of Asia, America and Europe have done in their time.

I believe that there is a transformation taking place which is global in scale and scope. The transformation is based around a virtuous cycle between the adoption of basic market principles and increased political pressure for improved governance. The economic recipe for transformational growth is almost universally understood in emerging markets today and has proven effective in a wide range of institutional settings. Accordingly, it is impacting a greater portion of the world’s population than at any time in history.
Africa will be as much part of that transformation as anywhere.

Parts of Africa will benefit, or not, as much as Asia, Latin America, BRIC or Europe. Any attempt to geographically confine the economic transformation taking place globally today is missing the point. The process is economic. Those regions of Africa which open themselves up to this process will benefit as least as much as anywhere else globally. The winners will be decided by the political commitment to change and by the economics, not the geography.
I see the opportunity in Africa as greater than anywhere else in the world today not because Africa is different, but precisely because it isn’t a special case. The difference with Africa is simply that the scope for catch up and convergence is greater and is likely to happen more rapidly.

Transformation Growth in Africa

Six years ago, when Renaissance Group and our investment banking arm, Renaissance Capital, became actively engaged across African continent the hard data was beginning to confirm that Africa was becoming one of the fastest growing regions in the world and was making steady progress in addressing many of its most challenging macroeconomic and governance problems. One of the biggest opportunities we saw was to produce high quality capital markets research for the world’s major emerging markets investors. By breaking down investors’ deeply held prejudice against Africa we hoped to accelerate their participation in the continent and to build a new business for ourselves in the process.

Today Africa’s economic success, and the success right here in Nigeria, is widely understood amongst global investors. In fact, within the next couple of years I expect that it will become conventional wisdom that Africa is one of the most attractive investment destinations globally.

Detailed analysis by the World Bank, IMF, investment banks and, most recently, McKinsey and Company means that there is now little debate on the speed, breadth and other key dimensions of Africa’s economic renaissance. Briefly summarized, the key facts include the following:
Economic growth in Africa has averaged 6% over the last decade, greater than that enjoyed by India between 1995 and 2005.

Today 8 of the 20 fastest growing economies in the world are from Africa.
Here in Nigeria, we have a case in point. The macroeconomic and political situation in Nigeria will lead to, as our research team recently wrote, another year of 7-8% GDP growth. The recent election cycle has, on balance, been positive, and the market focus will start to shift away from political risk.
This resurgence across Africa is broadly based – between 2000 and 2008 economic growth accelerated in 27 or Africa’s 30 largest countries. Remarkably, of 43 sub-Saharan countries only Madagascar had negative growth last year in comparison with more than a dozen such economies in the mid-90s. The naysayers’ tired refrain, ‘what about Zimbabwe’, holds little weight today.

Analysis by McKinsey suggests that natural resources account for only a quarter of Africa’s growth with those sectors that benefit from strong domestic activity accounting for the majority.
Similarly IMF data show that GDP growth is remarkably similar between African countries with significant resource exports and those without and the IMF has concluded that “natural resource endowments and geography…..have not been decisive factors in explaining the growth takeoff since the mid-90s”.

In 2009 despite the massive collapse in virtually all commodity prices Africa was the only region of the world not to record a single quarter of negative growth. Just compare the performance that year of two oil-dependent and supposedly hopelessly managed emerging markets: Russia which suffered a 7.5% economic collapse and Nigeria which achieved a stunning 7% growth rate.

Africa’s macroeconomic performance has improved very significantly – between the 1990s and the 2000s inflation has fallen 64%; government debt by 28% and fiscal deficits by 60%.
Finally, according to World Bank indicators the majority of African countries have implemented successful microeconomic reforms and those countries implementing the most reforms and greatest trade liberalization have experienced the greatest acceleration in economic growth.

At a more subjective level, I believe that the transformational economic success experienced by most of Asia and parts of Latin America and Eastern Europe has taken the ideological debate out of economic policy formulation in most African countries. The value of fiscal discipline, modest inflation, economic openness and private ownership are no longer in contention.
Private sector agents have equal conviction in the effectiveness of the basic reform recipe because the movie of economic transformation has been seen so many times before around the world. Local bankers from Lagos to Nairobi are totally aware of the boom in financial services achieved in countries as disparate as Chile, Poland and China. They fully believe they now have the opportunity to create the same success at home.

International strategic and financial investors have also seen the economic transformation movie many times before. It is rapidly becoming conventional wisdom that virtually all of the world’s growth is in emerging markets and that Africa is the last great frontier. For once, investors’ herd mentality is working in Africa’s favour. Hardly a week goes by without another global CEO extolling the virtues of the African investment opportunity.

In the reminder of this presentation, I would like to comment on two aspects of Africa’s future: firstly, the overall outlook for growth in the continent; secondly, the question of where to invest in Africa.
Future Growth in Africa

Given the 50 year global history of growth broadening across different countries while tending to increase in speed, I think it is probable that in the coming decades large parts of Africa will outpace the growth enjoyed by Asia. In the 1950s and 60s it was Asia that was considered the over-populated, politically incompetent, war-riven basket case. It’s hard to imagine now, but in 1970, per capita GDP in China was less than that of Africa. The catch-up between Africa and Asia can spur economic growth which can be just as transformative for Africa as it has been for Asia. Already the IMF expects Liberia, Ghana, Ethiopia, Botswana, Mauritania, Angola, Tanzania, the DRC, Uganda, Niger, Libya and Mozambique to be amongst the 25 fastest growing economies in the world over the next 5 years.

Improved governance, growth and stability across most of Africa have unleashed private sector value creation and investment in a wide range of industries. At an anecdotal level I see numerous examples, wherever I travel in Africa, of this private sector success creating stronger and broader domestic political constituencies for further reform and modernization. Put simply, my perception is that Africa’s growth has kicked off and is being propelled by a virtuous cycle entailing the collapse of discredited ideologies, improved governance and greater business confidence leading in turn to further business and community-based pressure for additional modernization and reform. And this process is greatly increasing the expectations and aspirations of African political and business leadership. I am often stunned by the level of aspiration and commitment to development visible today, especially in comparison with the more muted confidence evident four or five years ago.

Why growth should be faster than that experienced by Asia is an interesting question. In essence I think that a number of the key transmission mechanisms for development simply operate faster than they used to. As I’ve already discussed, Asia’s own success means that redundant ideologies are extraordinarily difficult to sustain and the key parameters of good economic management are clearer than ever. Similarly, business confidence and accelerating domestic investment happens faster because the formula for economic success has been tried and tested so many times before.

The global capital markets also react more quickly to emerging successes because of the increased conviction in the overall emerging market growth story. Through our emerging markets platform Renaissance Capital trades or has an active dialogue with every major emerging market investor in the world. Today we hear little skepticism regarding Africa. Whether we are talking to Sovereign Wealth Funds, the worlds’ largest institutional investors or savvy hedge funds the questions are more about how rather than if or even when to invest.

The process of accelerating capital flows into Africa will be reinforced by the likely massive, tidal movement of capital from the West to the emerging markets. Total foreign capital flows into Africa increased from USD15 billion in 2000 to USD87 billion in 2007; more than 20 African countries received at least USD500 each in foreign investment in 2008. Moreover, according to analysis undertaken by McKinsey returns on African FDI exceed those in other regions of the world.

Similarly, most of the worlds’ major commercial banks have a deliberate strategy of moving their balance sheets out of low-growth Western markets into emerging and frontier markets. The combination of Africa’s strong economic performance and its status as the last great emerging market frontier mean that Africa stands to be one the biggest beneficiaries of this historical reallocation of global capital.

As Renaissance’s Global Chief Economist, Charles Robertson, wrote a few weeks ago in a groundbreaking report on China in Africa, the GDP boom in China and Africa over the past decade has been exceeded by even faster growth in Chinese-African economic relations. While Chinese trade with the world has risen eightfold, with Africa it has seen a tenfold increase, from $11bn in 2000 to $129bn in 2010, and unlike China’s trade with most of the world, it is Africa that has the upper hand in this trading relationship. By 2015, trade turnover could have reached nearly $400bn, with Africa’s surplus around $40bn.

But it is not only China. India, the Middle East, Kazakhstan, Brazil and Russia are also becoming increasingly important sources of African investment. Equally, intra-African investment is also increasing rapidly, and for similar reasons. By some estimates, South Africa has invested more than China into sub-Saharan Africa over the last 5 years.

Another reason to believe that African growth may outpace Asia’s is Africa’s greater ability to leap frog in the adoption of new technologies and innovative governance and financing strategies. Telecom penetration in Africa has increased from 2% of the population in 2000 to 37% in 2008, not far behind the average in the BRIC. This deepening penetration is evident in Nigeria, where the telecom sector has exhibited real growth of 30% over the past two years, making it the country’s fastest growing sector. Competition in African telecom markets, particularly since the arrival of Bharti the Indian operator, is driving costs and tariffs down to extraordinarily low levels stimulating demand and the rapid uptake of new technologies. Safaricom, the leading Kenyan mobile operator, is moving beyond Kenya’s modern telecoms infrastructure and is expanding its fibre optic network right through East Africa including into politically challenging markets like Somalia.

Less well understood is the potential for Africa to find leap frog solutions to one of its supposedly most intractable problems – core infrastructure. Between 1998 and 2007 Africa’s annual private infrastructure investment increased four times, significantly outpacing the increase in global infrastructure spend. Going forward, there are reasons to believe that at least some African countries will find solutions to lack of investment in roads, water, ports, airports and rail which are as revolutionary as those achieved for mobile telephony.

The first reason concerns the way investors are addressing the infrastructure requirements of large-scale resource projects. To mine global scale iron ore deposits in Sierra Leone, Guinea or Cameroon or coal deposits in Mozambique, it is necessary to bring holistic solutions encompassing roads, rail, ports and, in some cases housing. And in an increasing number of cases this is exactly what is happening with mainly emerging market investors making multi-billion infrastructure investments to enable them to efficiently develop global scale resources. These investments will often have considerable positive externalities in the form of improved ability to develop other resources in the relevant region and improved infrastructure and logistics for other industries.

These types of opportunities are not limited to natural resources. Renaissance Partners, our principal investment arm, together with Kenyan partners is building a new multi-use city for 63,000 residents and 30,000 daily visitors on the outskirts of Nairobi. The next stage of the project, called Tatu City, involves USD250 million of investment in roads, water, sewerage and electricity distribution. As we prepare to break ground in Tatu city, we are beginning to roll out similar projects in Ghana, Angola and the DRC. On April 15th we launched a pilot 100 hectare development in Lusaka which is already largely sold. These are not invest-and-exit projects.

They will take many years to implement, and world-class teams with Africa experience. But what we are already finding is: if you build it, they will come. Meaning, when we seed high quality projects with capital for land and infrastructure, global and domestic retailers, corporations, banks and property developers – come calling. They are ready to put their Africa footprint on our developments. It’s good business for us. It’s also good business for Africa. When these projects mature, we will have provided well in excess of 10,000 jobs from Nairobi to Lusaka and beyond, not to mention raising the bar for the quality of urban development and playing a significant role in opening up middle-class mortgage markets in these geographies.

The final reason that I am positive about infrastructure development in Africa is the tremendous scope for greater private ownership and private public partnerships in both funding and operating large scale core infrastructure projects. In many cases the required reforms are not complex. McKinsey calculates that 85% of African utilities set their prices below the level required to recover capital and operating costs. This is something that many African governments will now address.

For example, Nigeria’s notorious power shortages actually represent a massive commercial opportunity which the forthcoming privatization of generating capacity will hopefully address.
Although commodities are not the primary reason for Africa’s economic takeoff they are another factor increasing the likelihood that Africa will become the fastest growing region in the world. The first industrial revolution created several hundred million middle class consumers; the current one will welcome as many as three billion people to the ranks of the middle classes over the next two decades. Just think of the demand for raw materials from supposedly redundant primary products like wool through to the totally new commodities like rare earths.

Africa’s geological history means that it has one of the greatest stores of commodities in the world. The potential is vast. Let me briefly give just to give two examples in which I am involved, iron ore and agriculture. Currently there is about 1 billion tonnes of iron ore shipped globally, none of which comes from Africa. The reserves of ore being brought to market right now in Guinea, Cameroon and Sierra Leone will likely become the biggest supplies of iron ore globally. From zero now to one third of total traded iron ore is likely to come out of West Africa over the next decade.

In agriculture, sub-Saharan Africa, alongside Brazil, Southern Russia and Ukraine, offers one of the last remaining untapped resources globally. Only 10% of the 400 million hectares of land between Senegal and South Africa suitable for farming is actually exploited; Africa accounts for 60% of the world’s arable land that is not in cultivation. And Nigeria is only utilising half of its arable land. The increase in demand for agricultural commodities can only be met by managing the potential in Africa. Improved political and economic stability, the rapid development of local banking markets and improved regulation of land ownership and agricultural markets will, in my judgment, underpin dramatic improvements in agricultural investment and productivity.
Against all expectation, over the last 15 years Brazil has developed one of the world’s most efficient agricultural sectors following decades of under investment and neglect. Wise public policy and the rapid uptake of state of the art crop types, new farming techniques and advanced technologies have transformed yields and production. Improved productivity has in turn unlocked large scale investment in storage, logistics, and transportation and processing.
{Based on the private sector dynamism and policy improvement taking place across Africa there is reason to expect that many African countries will also travel the road of vast improvement in agricultural productivity and output over the next decade or so creating hundreds of billions of dollars of additional economic output in the process.}

The final reason I expect outsized economic growth in Africa relates to demographics and urbanization. It is no coincidence that the fastest wave of urbanization in history occurred in the last ten years, at the same time as the fastest period of economic growth in history. Population growth in general and urbanization in particular are drivers of growth, and they are happening faster in Africa than anywhere else on earth. Of the top ten fastest growing cities in the world today, one is in China, two are in India and three are in Africa. Similarly, Africa’s labour force is the fastest growing in the world. According to McKinsey, over the past 20 years 75% of the continent’s increase in per capita GDP resulted from a growing labour force; the balance from higher productivity. You will not be surprised to know that urban development is rapidly becoming the most important sphere of direct investment by
Renaissance in Africa.

Where to Invest in Africa?
One of the questions I am most frequently asked about Africa is: which countries and regions of Africa will be most successful and where will the most attractive investment opportunities be? Once again, useful parallels can be drawn between Africa and Asia. We tend to talk about Asian growth as a collective concept, as if growth had been uniform across the continent in a steady process of improvement. This is, of course, misleading. Different countries have enjoyed radically different growth paths at different times.
Africa is just as much a geographic term as Asia. Loose talk about a great African revival risks confusing geography with economics.

While the acceleration of economic growth across Africa is very broadly based, there are major regional differences. When it comes to picking specific winners I confess that I prefer circumspection to bold predictions. Africa will have its Chiles and Taiwans. It will also have its Argentinas and possibly (but hopefully not) its North Koreas. How all of this will play out is unclear to me. Most accounts of why a particular country has taken off at a particular point in time amount to ex post or rear vision mirror analysis. The same applies to theories as to why today’s laggards will never make it. These theories often have a cultural or historical bent. Unfortunately their predictive power is virtually nil and they are quickly modified as the view in the rear vision mirror changes.

In one decade we are told that Confucianism is a barrier to capitalism; in the next experts extol the Chinese work ethic. India’s colonial past goes from being a liability to an asset.
The point I am trying to make is that I think it is very difficult to predict which African countries will be most successful and when their success will commence. I certainly don’t think that conformity with simplistic Western notions of good institutions has very much predictive relevance at all. What will stop Ghana from being another Philippines? Who would have expected the economic renaissance underway in Rwanda? Where will Angola really end up on the quality of governance continuum between Venezuela and China?

Nigeria arguably has incredible attributes for emerging market investment banking and consumer finance. It is very big, fast growing and uncompetitive. It will have deep pools of domestic liquidity and the barriers to international players are high. Sounds like – well Brazil and Russia not so long ago; probably the two best emerging markets in the world for domestic investment banks. Accordingly we have made a big investment in and commitment to our investment banking hub in Lagos and are keen to roll out our consumer finance expertise.
Nigeria is home to one out of every five Africans. Its population of 155 million is largely youthful and increasingly urbanizing, which presents significant opportunities in the consumer goods, real estate, construction and services industries. Nigeria’s strong import demand, with China as its biggest supplier, attests to the appetite for consumer goods in this import-dependent economy. More significantly, it demonstrates the opportunity for the manufacturing of fast-moving consumer goods to supply the large local market, which will be taken up as power infrastructure improves. Rural-urban migration is swelling populations of Nigeria’s urban areas. Moreover, strong economic growth is creating jobs and supporting the emergence of a middle class with higher disposable income, which is demanding better housing. On the back of this, Nigeria’s small mortgage is growing, which is positive for the financial services sector. The construction industry will benefit from this growing demand for real estate, and is expected to get further support from infrastructure development.

In making these comments I’m not suggesting that at Renaissance we have mastered African investment. We haven’t and I’m sure we will make plenty of basic mistakes including some quite costly ones. Rather I’m trying to share with you our investment thinking and how it affects our view on individual African countries.
As a general rule, given the dynamism and complexity of the African investment opportunity, to gain real understanding you need to participate in an active and committed fashion. Watching and trying to learn from the sidelines is, in my opinion, basically a waste of time. Active participants will be the first to understand which countries, sectors and businesses provide the best opportunities. More importantly, they will have the skills, credibility and relationships to do something about it.

Conclusion
In summary, Africa has now experienced 15 years of economic growth and is following the trend of transformative growth which has taken place in the great majority of the world’s emerging markets. In this sense Africa is not a special case, it is simply late to the party. Growth in Africa is primarily due to economic liberalization and improved regulation, not to strong commodity prices. This is evident in Nigeria, sub-Sahara Africa’s biggest oil producer, where the non-oil economy is the primary driver of growth, at about 8% in 2010, compared to 4% in the oil economy.

I do predict that over the next five years Africa will become the fastest growing region in the world. Africa has much greater scope than any other region for convergence and leap frogging. In my opinion, Africa is benefiting from the fact that several of the key transmission mechanisms for economic development have sped up. In Africa I believe these factors are reinforcing each other in a virtuous cycle of development.
Africa also stands to be perhaps the biggest beneficiary of the historic movement of capital from the West to emerging and frontier markets and the integration of the emerging markets themselves.

In fact there is every chance that Africa’s structural strengths will become a mirror image of the West’s entrenched structural weaknesses.
Yes, these views are biased – they’re very positive! But what a change that is. We are all brainwashed about Africa’s problems and supposed inferiority. The stunning progress made by Africa is beginning to be understood but its tremendous potential is far from being properly reflected in investment decisions and resource allocation. Positive expectations and high aspirations will be key components of the next chapter of Africa’s dramatic growth story.
Thank you.

http://www.renaissancegroup.com/Media/PressRelease/?id=5065

^^ Sweet :)

Thats a lie, it cant be 70 million
I lived in Lagos,Kaduna,Illorin and now in Abuja and i hardly see drunk people
Since we are 150 and you said 70 million maths said it is ratios of 1:20 and if statistics would say one in every 2 person in nigeria is a drunkard, which is not
i hardly see drunk people even in Kwara and Lagos in the south so you are wrong

Did Jegas voter registration say 70 million of the 73 voters Reg. are drunkards no .. dont say what is not tru pls
What does being of drinking age (18+) have to do with being a "drunkard"?! :wtf:
.

^^ Speak english pls

^^ Speak english pls
If you did not understand what I said...
Then even Sesame Square will not help you! :lol:

^^ :lol::lol:

If you did not understand what I said...
Then even Sesame Square will not help you! :lol:

Was that meant to be funny ?
Try and be funny please

Lagos, developers to sign MOU on Ikorodu, Ikeja plazas
Wednesday, 25 May 2011



BRACING up for its goal of transforming Lagos metropolis into a megacity, the Lagos authorities have begun moves to construct two new shopping complexes under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme.

The complexes known as Ikorodu Regional Plaza and Ikeja Shopping Plaza will soon be kick-started, as the Ministry of Justice has already prepared a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU for the parties to endorse.

Similarly, senior officials of the government disclosed last weekend that the delay in relocating Mile 12 foodstuff market in Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos State to Parafa, in Ikorodu Local government was as a result of an encroachment on the proposed land by illegal developers, adding that discussion is still on between the government and the private investors.

Speaking at the annual Ministerial Press Briefing, the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Bolaji Francisca Abosede, a town planner, said government is not unmindful of the need for urgent completion of the relocation exercise, especially, in view of the chaotic traffic situation along the Ketu-Ikorodu axis of Lagos State.

He said, the completion of the first phase of the exercise, which is the demolition of Ajelogo/Akanimodo, a sprawling slum directly opposite Mile 12 market underscore the seriousness that government attached to the exercise.

The Commissioner noted that the design of the site has been completed since 2005, adding that it is being prepared for possession by the would-be private investors. “The only problem we are facing now is to find solution to the problem of encroachment in a way that it would not create problem to the host communities, who directly or indirectly involved in the encroachment issue”, said Abosede, adding that other delay has to do with infrastructural provisions such as road and water supply, among others.

Apart from the relocation of the market, Abosede said other project that is on top of agenda of government is also the relocation of Okobaba Sawmillers.

He said the initial thinking that government can effectively carry out these relocation exercise were proved wrong by the current economic reality and the general changes in the global economies, that dictates the involvement of private public partnerships as the most effective ways of getting things done.

Abosede, while highlighted some achievements of the ministry, especially, in the areas of physical planning and urban development said under the period, the Lagos State Model City Development Law was enacted and the State Urban and Regional Planning law 2010 signed into law on July 2010. “The new law of 2010 had variously emphasised, the establishment of the Lagos State Building Control Authority and also the reformation of the Ministry and its agencies”, noting that the aim was to firm up all extant regulations on building control to ensure more professionalism on the part of staff, quality of building and wilful compliance with physical planning and building control regulations throughout the state.

On development matters, the Commissioner said the ministry has intensified efforts in the processing of Layout Plans on private and government land, preparation of Development Guide on Excised areas as well as Monitoring of Private Layout Development.

Other activities carried out during the year included determination of alignment and delivery of Right of Way of Roads (ROWR), under construction and those under construction, rehabilitation and/or expansion, removal of encumbrances on the alignment of roads, successful organisation of World Habitat Day celebrations and effective participation and pivotal role in the annual Housing Fair.

He said further that the ministry has paid greater attention to the review of policy guidelines on the preparation and development of planning schemes, land reclamation, environmental conservation/preservation, forest research, development of petrol stations, banks, eatery locations and places of worship, while he noticed the ministry’s efforts in development permits.

“More efforts and emphasis are placed on speedier building permit process being championed by the governor. The Ministry, being the sole agency in the management and issuance of Development Permit is poised to embrace the ongoing reforms and is determined to actualise the objectives behind the reforms”.


Link (http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49064:lagos-developers-to-sign-mou-on-ikorodu-ikeja-plazas-&catid=25:property&Itemid=655)

FG, IOCs guarantee gas supply for 70% of gas needs
FRIDAY, 27 MAY 2011 15:48 AMETO AKPE, ABUJA

Diezani Alison-Madueke
..Says electricity supply to increase

The signing of two critical agreements between the Federal Government and international oil companies in Nigeria has guaranteed 70 percent supply of the total power sector gas requirements in the country, minister of petroleum resources Diezani Alison-Madueke has said.

Furthermore, gas supply agreement negotiations between Chevron joint venture and Nigarjura fertilizer company have also been finalised to pave way for the take-off of the fertilizer project, while the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Chevron, Xenel of Saudi Arabia are currently in Houston, Texas; looking at the conceptual engineering options for the petrochemical and central processing facility.

Meanwhile, Osten Olorunsola, vice president, Gas Shell Sub-Saharan Africa, speaking at the official signing ceremony of the agreements (namely, Gas Sellers Aggregate Agreement (GSAA) and the sellers representative agreement, noted that the new agreement means that SPDC would supply 90 million standard cubic feet of gas to Egbin which would translate to improved electricity supply in the country.

Jonathan signs 2011 budget, NSIA
FRIDAY, 27 MAY 2011 16:46 HORATIUS EGUA

President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria

President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday signed the controversial 2011 Appropriation (Amendment) and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) into law, with a pledge that his administration was “fully committed to making Nigeria’s oil assets a vehicle for wealth creation,

economic diversification and development".

Speaking shortly after the signing of the two bills into law at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Jonathan said the NSIA will provide the country with a “strong, transparent and effective tool for the management of our nation’s petroleum wealth for the good of all Nigerians.”

The president announced that apart from its $1 billion seed capital, the NSIA will be funded every month by the excesses of budgetary revenue from oil coming into the Federation account.

He reassured Nigerians that revenues accruing to the authority will be invested by government through three special funds – the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund, the Future Generations Fund and the Stabilisation Fund.

According to him, “The infrastructure fund will be dedicated to investments in the development of critical national infrastructure, with 10 percent of it going to agriculture and government-sponsored projects that promote economic development in under-served sectors or regions of the country."

^^

Ok its done people. . Nigeria officially now has a Sovereign Wealth fund in place.

Kudos to GEJ and the Finance Minister

This calls for celebrations
:banana:. . .:cheers:

Paddylo, please, If I can have little of your time.....Can u please expanciate/explain this sovereign wealth fund to me, {In teal}???

Paddylo, please, If I can have little of your time.....Can u please expanciate/explain this sovereign wealth fund to me, {In teal}???

In lay man terms. . a SWF is kind of like a retirement or pension fund

or if u are familiar with America a 401K plan. .

but this time instead of being for an individual. . It is actually for the whole country

For Nigeria the implications are huge. .

Every yr we budget a certain amount we think will oil prices will be at to fund our budget. . say $75 a barrell for this budget yr

However oil has gone to over $100 a barrel. . so the SWF will be used to house the excess money above the budgeted oil price. . and then this money is invested in assets like stocks,bonds,infrastructure projects that bring a return etc

This is good because there is no point putting money in a savings account. . (which is basically what the excess crude account is). . when u can invest that money and make 8% per annum or more in returns and grow your money

Secondly in the past such money would either have been stolen (before 1999) or wasted when it is shared to states and local Govt. . because in any given yr there is only a certain amount of money states can absorb or spend without waste and corruption/outright stealing coming into the system. . .

Finally we join the league of other oil/commodity countries in having a wealth fund, This is good because it shows Nigeria as a serious country, and will also leave money for future generations as well as help to smooth out the budget in case oil prices fall precipitously. . .This fund will grow every yr, and teh Finance Minister is mandated to make public 2wice a yr the state of the fund and how much it contains. . .while withdrawal from the fund is tightly controlled and subject to certain terms, like a fall in oil prices below the budget benchmark. . .All in all a win win for Nigeria

^^ Thanks, Patrick. :)

Mar. 23 2011 - 4:23 am

Aliko Dangote has built Africa’s largest cement company. Hardly satisfied, he now has his sights set on the rest of the world.

When billionaire Aliko Dangote sneezes, the Nigerian Stock Exchange catches a cold. And it is understandable. Last October he listed his company, Dangote Cement, on the stock exchange and the company has a market value in excess of $13billion- accounting for a quarter of the Nigeria Stock Exchange’s total market capitalization. His net worth soared to $13.8 billion on Forbes’ 2011 list of the World’s billionaires, up from $2.1 billion in 2010. He ranks as the 51st richest person in the world, and the second richest man in the Middle East and Africa (behind Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Alsaud, who is worth $19.6 billion).

Dangote consolidated all his publicly-traded and private cement holdings in several African countries to form Dangote Cement. The company is now Africa’s largest cement manufacturer and one of the biggest in the world.

Dangote, the man who has made it all happen, dreams big. He believes that one day he’ll oust the French cement giant Lafarge to claim the world’s top spot. “It’s just a matter of time,” he says, with a wide smile. “One day, Dangote Cement will be the world’s number one.” But Dangote doesn’t just dream – he builds out his dreams and makes them real.

Dangote has proved skeptics wrong, and has gone on to become the undisputed lord of Africa’s cement industry. When he ventured into cement manufacturing following a hugely successful career in commodities trading, very few Nigerians gave him any chance of success. In 2000, the Nigerian government decided to privatize the state-owned Benue Cement Company (BCC) to enhance efficiency. BCC was a comatose, floundering cement manufacturer when Dangote took over, and the government depended on him to revive the company’s fortunes. Dangote did not disappoint. He invested heavily in the company, appointed new management and engineered a massive restructuring. Subsequently, the installed capacity of the company’s plant was increased from 900,000 tons per annum to 3 million metric tons per annum.

From his humble beginnings with BCC, Dangote has expanded his cement empire in monumental proportions over the last 11 years. Dangote Cement now owns about six cement import terminals in Nigeria and Ghana, through which it imports and bags cement. His terminals in Nigeria alone have a combined capacity of 9 million metric tons per annum.

His company also owns Obajana Cement, which is the largest cement plant in sub-Saharan Africa, boasting a capacity of over 5 million metric tons per annum. Other factories in Ibese and Shagamu add an additional 10 million metric tons per annum. Dangote recently acquired a controlling stake in Sephaku Cement, a South African company. He has also invested hundreds of millions of dollars towards new cement plants in Zambia and Senegal.

Dangote has come a long way from 1977 when he started a small commodities trading operation with a loan from his wealthy uncle. From that small trading outfit he began while in his twenties, he has built one of Africa’s largest conglomerates with interests in sugar, oil & gas, cement, transportation, banking and textiles. Cement still remains his most prized jewel.

Dangote cement has global aspirations. “We already have operations in Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Zambia and South Africa. We are looking for opportunities in emerging markets like the Middle East and Asia. I think the time has come for us to go global,” he says.

“I have built the biggest cement company in Africa. Now I’m setting out to build the biggest cement company in the world,” he says.

When it is Dangote speaking, better believe.

http://blogs.forbes.com/mfonobongnsehe/2011/03/23/nigerian-billionaire-aliko-dangote-eyes-the-world/

^^ http://blogs-images.forbes.com/mfonobongnsehe/files/2011/03/Aliko-190x300.jpg

It was like he was saying''Fuck you'' in the oicture....LOL

PZ Cussons Nigerian Train Rescue Exposes Emerging-Market Risks
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By David Altaner


June 2 (Bloomberg) -- PZ Cussons Plc Chief Executive Officer Alex Kanellis once spent six months tracking down and recovering a train load of soap lost in Nigerian bush country.

Delayed by rainy-season bridge washouts, the locomotive had run out of fuel, leaving the driver to live off yams from a nearby village and sleep in his cab while waiting to be found.

“He’d probably still be there if we hadn’t rescued him,” said Kanellis, who drove up and down 1,000 kilometers of colonial-era track trying to locate the stricken freight train.

PZ Cussons is benefitting from its foothold in Africa 15 years later as companies including Procter & Gamble Co. turn to emerging markets for growth as consumer demand in Europe and the U.S. cools. The Manchester, England-based maker of Imperial Leather soap gets about 60 percent of sales from developing countries and has more than a century of experience moving goods in Nigeria, which Citigroup Inc. predicts will have the world’s fastest-growing economy over the next 40 years.

Investors are showing faith in PZ’ ability to exploit those ties. The shares have risen 24 percent in the past year, compared with gains of 9.6 percent for P&G and less than 1 percent for Unilever. They trade at a multiple of about 23 times analysts’ estimates of earnings for the year ended May 31, more than Unilever at 14.5 times and P&G at 17 times, Bloomberg data shows.

Sales probably rose about 5 percent in the year just ended, to 813.4 million pounds ($1.3 billion), according to five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. That’s twice as much as the company generated 10 years ago. Profit may gain 3 percent to 65.7 million pounds.

Daily Challenges

“You have to deal with stuff on a daily basis in an emerging market that you take for granted elsewhere,” the 45- year-old CEO said in an interview at PZ’s headquarters.

In Africa, the company’s biggest region, sales declined last year because of a weakening in the dollar-naira exchange rate. Revenue was unchanged in the first half because of violence in the run-up to April’s elections and tighter lending conditions that hampered distributors of its products.

“With emerging-market potential comes risk,” said Nicola Mallard, an analyst at Investec Securities in London.

P&G CEO Bob McDonald has emphasized growth in Brazil and other emerging markets since taking over in 2009, while Dove soap maker Unilever is also expanding in developing economies, where it now gets about 56 percent of sales. Guinness Nigeria Plc, a beermaking unit of Diageo Plc, is investing $336 million to expand brewing capacity in the west African nation, while competitor SABMiller Plc plans a $100 million plant.

19th Century Startup

PZ Cussons has roots dating to 1879, when George Paterson and George Zochonis formed a trading post in Sierra Leone. A Nigerian office followed in 1899. PZ makes its own silicate for detergent and generates electricity for its factories.

That infrastructure and marketing expertise are reflected in the company’s stock multiple, according to Darren Shirley, an analyst with Shore Capital in London.

“They’re not just a seller of branded goods, they’ve got a unique distribution program, second only to the Nigerian military,” said Shirley, who rates the shares “hold.”

With no chain stores, Nigerian retailing “could be someone’s living room,” according to PZ Cussons’ Chief Financial Officer Brandon Leigh. “It could be an empty container someone puts a padlock on, and there’s a retailer.”

The informal nature of selling has helped the company in dealing with raw-materials inflation. Companywide, costs have been rising at an annual rate of as much as 8 percent, with PZ only able to pass on about three-quarters of that because of resistance from retailers and discounting in Europe, Leigh said.

Shrinking Bars

To cope, PZ cut soap-bar sizes to 100 grams from 125, and it’s considering reducing liquid-soap bottle sizes, he said.

In Nigeria, the company increased prices by 10 percent or more, Leigh said. There, PZ Cussons sells detergent in packages ranging from 4-gram sachets to 25-kilo bags for distributors who might sell it by the cup. So changing product sizes is much easier than in Europe -- the company can reduce a 14-gram packet of washing powder to 12 grams, Leigh said.

The poorest Nigerians use cheap laundry soap for their hair, bodies, clothing and tabletops, Kanellis said. PZ sells laundry sticks than can cost less than 10 U.S. cents. As Nigerians progress out of poverty, they trade up to bathroom soaps such as PZ’s Premier brand, he said.

PZ sells beverages in Nigeria that don’t need refrigeration, some through a joint venture with Dublin-based Glanbia Plc. Though its canned and powdered milk compete with drinks made by PepsiCo Inc. and Coca-Cola Co., the company’s long-life or UHT ice tea contends with “a bush-type product that will turn green after several months,” Leigh said.

Palm Oil

PZ is also looking to expand into palm oil, another field which has micro-competition. Most palm oil sold in Nigeria comes from small farmers who boil the fruit in old barrels and process it in pits in the ground, Kanellis said.

He expects the venture, a joint project with Singapore’s Wilmar International Ltd. to build a palm-oil processing plant in Nigeria, to gross at least $300 million annually within three years after construction.

Nigerian transportation has improved each year since 1999, when civilian government took over, Kanellis said. Cross-country deliveries that sometimes took months on the rail network built when the country was a British colony now take four to five days using trucks equipped with satellite navigation devices and mobile phones, he said.

Kanellis still praises the dedication of the 1990s train driver who delivered 600 tons -- 33 rail carloads -- of Canoe, Duck and Imperial Leather soap in a six-month odyssey.

“No stealing, no pilfering whatsoever,” Kanellis said. “Not a bar was missing.”

To contact the reporter on this story: David Altaner in London at daltaner@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Colin Keatinge in London at Ckeatinge@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 1, 2011 19:01 EDT

Nigeria’s Cocoa Bean Exports Climbed by 47% Last Year, Akingbola Says
By Vincent Nwanma - Jun 2, 2011 6:21 PM GMT+0100

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Exports of cocoa products from Nigeria, the fourth-largest producer of the beans, rose 47 percent to $822.8 million in 2010, according to Olakunle Akingbola, business development manager of Cobalt International Services, an inspection company.
This represented about 35 percent of $2.32 billion earnings from non-oil exports last year for Nigeria, Africa’s leading oil producer, Akingbola said by phone today from Akure in western Nigeria.
“We expect to raise earnings from cocoa to 40 percent of non-oil revenue this year,” said Akingbola, whose company inspects all Nigerian non-oil products at ports before export.
Cocoa is Nigeria’s second-biggest foreign-exchange earner after crude oil, according to figures published by the Nigerian government. The Ivory Coast, Ghana and Indonesia produce more cocoa, according to the International Cocoa Organization.

This is because of the trouble and ban on sales in the Ivory Coast

honestly, i think that nigeria should have worked behind the scenes to keep the conflict going for longer lol. We have spent so much time worrying about peace keeping that we can't see the enormous benefits of war making.

imagine if it would have spilled over into Ghana.

Cross River seals pact with ESSAR on power plant
Friday, 03 June 2011



THE Cross River State government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with an Indian company, ESSAR African Holdings Limited, the establishment of a 600 mega watts power plant in Calabar.

The Special Adviser, Investment Promotion, Gerald Adah at the weekend signed on behalf of the state, while the Senior Vice President, Business Development, Inder Kapoor signed on behalf of the company.

The Deputy Governor, Efiok Cobham, speaking after the ceremony, appreciated the company for finding it convenient to invest in the state and hoped that the relationship between the two countries will grow stronger with the realisation of the power plant.

According to Cobham, the plant will boost economic activities in the state as well complement the Power Holding Company (PHC) in supplying electricity to the populace because power is the greatest challenge of the state and nation, adding that with the coming of ESSAR the people will be seeing light in the other end of the tunnel.

The deputy governor said the sitting of the project in Cross River State will strengthen the cordial relationship between India and the State as he looked forward to seeing the company take off soon as the state is equally working hard to have its power plant, stating that the state is the most investor friendly in Nigeria and called on the company to explore other areas where they can invest in the state.

He said government would do everything to ensure that the company’s mission of investing in the state is realised, adding that they took the decision of investing after appraising their feasibility study and hoped the ground- breaking ceremony will take place in no distant future.

The Senior Vice President Business Development, Inder Kapoor, said Nigeria is one of the countries in Africa, where they have investments especially in gas and oil, explaining that they are a major power generating company and that Cross River is the first state they intend to build their power plant.

Kapoor explained that the decision to invest in the state was based on the feasibility study they conducted and they found out that Cross River State has more advantages for them, adding that they will work according to the guidelines and approval of PHC.

The Special Adviser on Investment Promotion, Mr. Gerald Addah, said the 600 megawatts power plant will be constructed in two phases of 300 mega watts each and that construction is expected to commence within one year.

Addah disclosed that the process of acquiring 35 hectares of land for the plant has been completed while the guidelines by Power Holding Company of Nigeria on private companies that want to set up power plants have been met.


Link (http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50037:cross-river-seals-pact-with-essar-on-power-plant&catid=31:business&Itemid=562)

This is because of the trouble and ban on sales in the Ivory Coast

honestly, i think that nigeria should have worked behind the scenes to keep the conflict going for longer lol. We have spent so much time worrying about peace keeping that we can't see the enormous benefits of war making.

imagine if it would have spilled over into Ghana.

And imagine the population displacement that would have occured had the war spread into Ghana,
imagine the chaos should the war have spread to Togo and then Benin and then imagine Nigeria being flooded by all these refuges , we find it difficult as it is right now with the current Nigerians talk less adding additional people

but all the minerals and crops we produce uniquely and in abundance find competition in west africa. yams, cocoa, cassava, millet, gold, coal, now oil.
i think we can handle refugees since out states are bigger then several of these countries.

This is because of the trouble and ban on sales in the Ivory Coast

honestly, i think that nigeria should have worked behind the scenes to keep the conflict going for longer lol. We have spent so much time worrying about peace keeping that we can't see the enormous benefits of war making.

imagine if it would have spilled over into Ghana.

And then into Togo, and then into Benin and finally Lagos. Wow, imagine the possibilities... :ohno:

More money can be made from a peaceful Ivory Coast.

..

Yes, There Are Tech Startups in Nigeria. Here Are My Favorites.
7digg
28 Comments
Sarah Lacy
May 13, 2011

Last week I wrote about Computer Village, where many of the gadget-hounds in Lagos go to get their gadgety fix. But what about new technology being developed in the country? The city’s tech entrepreneur scene is small, but several people are working on changing that.

Oo Nwoye– or @oothenigerian as he’s known on Twitter– is one of the more enthusiastic champions of this nascent scene. (That’s him on the left.) I met him two years ago in London, where he cornered me at an event and made a case for me going to Nigeria, so he was one of the first people I contacted when I finally did.

Since then, he’d moved back home. He’s working on a to-be-determined startup and spending the meantime trying to galvanize a startup community. He organized a fantastic demo day to give me a taste of what people are working on.

In the days leading up to the pitches, I spoke with half a dozen tech entrepreneurs in Nigeria who had a lot of complaints about the ecosystem. There was the ever-present emerging market complaint of not enough venture capital, but the entrepreneurs also complained about the extremely high costs of doing business in Nigeria given how small the online market is so far, the spotty infrastructure, and the lack of enough developers who want to work for startups instead of the big oil companies.

Victor Asemota (pictured at Demo Day with me to the left) moved to back to Nigeria after starting his mobile technology services company in Ghana, lured by the juicy 150 million person population. He pays the same amount for his office space in Nigeria that he used to pay for a house and a comparable office space in Ghana. More galling: Because the infrastructure is so poor in Nigeria, he also has to provided his own power and water backups. “I have to build my own city just to live here,” he said, exasperated.

Asemota also talked about a bigger challenge to building a tech company in Nigeria: The stigma of illicit 419 scams. He’d negotiated a deal with a customer in Florida one time and was wrapping up the meeting by handing the man his business card. Simply seeing that he was from Nigeria killed the deal instantly, Asemota says. The man wouldn’t even keep his business card. I noticed at the end of our dinner, when Asemota handed me his card it listed his company as located in Ghana. And, he says, ground down by the frustrations of doing business in Nigeria, he’ll probably move back there.

So I entered Demo Day halfway through my trip, desperately looking for some hope. I found the first glimpse of it, appropriately, in a guy wearing an Obama Hope T-Shirt. His name was Gbenga Sesan, and he runs a organization called Paradigm Initiative of Nigeria. It takes small delegations of Lagos’s techies into less developed and frequently more violent parts of Nigeria to convince 13-year-olds to get interested in computers. “If you don’t start at 13, they can’t be millionaires by the time they are thirty,” he says.

Another group called Co-Creation Hub immediately caught my attention. It is building an incubator to help entrepreneurs with business advice, funding and mentoring. Their focus is using technology to solve real problems Nigeria faces, not just copying what people read on TechCrunch. It welcomes more than just coders, but teachers, doctors, or anyone from any background that has a dramatic idea of how to make life in Nigeria better. A new co-working space to be opened later this year will operate like an open living lab for social change.

I love that strategy. I always advise entrepreneurs if they want to build a Western-facing consumer Internet company to move for the Valley; it will just be easier. But if they want to be pioneers in their own markets, focus on the problems and endemic strengths there. (And probably read sites like TechCrunch a little less too.)

So right away between Nwoye’s evangelism, Paradigm Initiative of Nigeria’s efforts to build a young generation of coders and Co-Creation Hub’s cushy nest for social change, there was a pretty impressive mix of people actively working to foster an ecosystem. Things were looking up for Nigerian entrepreneurs. The demos started, and I was impressed by many of the companies too. They ran a tight ship doing pitches of no more than five minutes, and there were only a few copy-cat Western Web ideas in the bunch. My favorites are below. I should mention there was also a Garage48 hacker event over the weekend in Lagos that I wasn’t able to attend. The demos from that day are here.

Gyst: This was one of two truly long-term, big-idea, swing-for-the-fences startups I saw in the country. (I’ll write about the other one on Saturday.) Sim Shagaya (pictured to the left) has a Harvard MBA, but don’t hold that against him. After studying in the US and bouncing around the tech and banking world, he returned home to build a traditional old media billboard business.

He’s now leveraging the cash-flow of that to build two exciting new media companies. One is a daily deal site called DealDey. The other is super exciting. It’s called Gyst, and it’s a very local business directory search engine. He hires a bunch of kids throughout the country and gives them each a smart phone with a camera. They go door-to-door, manually getting information and GPS coordinates on every small businesses in the city, gathering the information in a database. Amazingly, nothing like this exists in Nigeria– no Yellow Pages, no local search engines, no 411 service. Like most emerging markets, many cities in West Africa don’t even have a formal system of streets and addresses or a working postal system.

This is an insanely expensive and ambitious project, and it’s 100% bootstrapped by the parent company. The opportunity is huge. It’s Google on a local level combined with Yelp, JustDial, SMSOne, Gigwalk, and a bunch of other exciting companies who rethink cost effective ways to amass huge amounts of local data in one easy-to-access place. “It will take a long time to show the true value of this business, but we’re willing to wait,” Shagaya says. Right now the company has 20,000 business listings, and its ultimate ambition is to index every city in West Africa with more than one million people. And the company will make all that information completely free for users. Whoa.

There are obviously huge synergies between these three businesses. A daily deal site that is tied to billboards and the region’s onlycomprehensive small business directory is a lot more powerful and exciting than a run-of-the-mill Groupon clone. It’s a textbook example of how industries develop in parallel, not serial, in emerging markets, utterly transforming how they develop. Imagine if Clear Channel, Google and Groupon were all the same company. And I love the ambition: Shagaya said he is focused on building nothing less than the Naspers of Nigeria.

Naspers– the South African media conglomerate– is not only one of the most dominant new media companies in Africa, it’s investing in the most important new media companies in the emerging world. One of their companies, DealFish, was even a sponsor of this Demo Day. It’s about time a continent as big as Africa has more than one new media powerhouse. This company is one to watch.

Skoola: This company has taken several years of Nigeria and Western Africa’s standardized tests and converted them into a basic test prep app that can run on any mobile phone, smart or dumb. I asked how big the market is and the whole room laughed. This is the test everyone takes if they have any ambition of higher education.

The business– which is so clear that the entrepreneur pitched in under three minutes– is a no brainer on a lot of levels. More people have phones in the developing world than toilets so it’s the ideal medium, and it’s a way to kill time sitting in traffic and further your education at the same time. It’s a perfect example of how to build a mass market product in a country like Nigeria: It’s distributed on the broadest possible platform, solving a problem a huge percentage of the population has, and priced for volume at less than $.30 per test. The company is working on French translations so neighboring West African countries can use the product too. I’m amazed I haven’t seen something like this in India. I’m sure it already exists. If it doesn’t, it should.

Traffic Nigeria: Speaking of the need to kill time in traffic, this company uses crowd-sourcing to monitor the traffic in Lagos, delivering results over the Web or SMS. Nigerian traffic is not the worst I’ve seen in the emerging world, but it’s pretty awful. As the entrepreneur put it dramatically, “You’re dying gradually sitting in this traffic, and we want to increase Nigeria’s life expectancy.”

I like the idea of attacking a local problem like this, but I’m not convinced crowd-sourcing is the right way. One entrepreneur I talked to later suggested that Traffic Nigeria should charge people for the updates (many people would gladly pay if the information was solid) and then pay motorcycle cabs or delivery guys to report once an hour or so on traffic conditions on their already traveled routes. That could be an instant local hit, and again, something that should exist in the rest of the developing world too.

But the entrepreneur behind Traffic Nigeria seemed sharp, and I have no doubt if the crowd-sourcing approach doesn’t pan out, he’ll iterate his way to a better method. The company is wisely tapping into something people feel passionate about: Everyone in Lagos talks about how brutal the traffic is and routes, meetings, days and plans are all orchestrated to avoid it at all costs.

Several other companies I met were working on important building blocks for any local Web ecosystem. My favorites in that category were Pagatech, a pretty sophisticated company that turns mobile phones into electronic wallets, and Bloovue, a Nigerian-localized ad network that hand-holds small businesses as they start to advertise on the Web and mobile devices. One cool thing about Bloovue is you can build an ad easily on a mobile phone; a small business never has to touch a computer to advertise online. The company cited the example of a woman named Judy the Cheesecake Lady. After one ad ran on Bloovue’s network she got six calls for cheesecakes within twenty minutes, and sixty calls over the next few days. She’d never considered advertising online before, and was stunned by the rapid results.

So that’s the raw, hopeful side of the Nigerian tech scene. This weekend I’ll post two stories about my brushes with the country’s no less entrepreneurial tech underworld

You Think Hollywood Is Rough? Welcome to the Chaos, Excitement and Danger of Nollywood
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Sarah Lacy
May 14, 2011
It was when they pulled out the machetes that I started to worry.

I’d seen men with machetes in Africa before, but they were rusty, practical tools used for clearing away brush by the side of the highway. These were long, shiny and housed in decorative sheaths, pulled out ostensibly so the men could sit down more comfortably, but done with a clear, understated flair. They were more like sultan swords than jungle tools.

The kicking in my six-month pregnant belly had gone eerily silent since we entered the vigilante court at Alaba. I reassured myself that I’d been through things like this before. The time I went to visit Brazilian entrepreneur Marco Gomes’ hometown in the crime-ridden slums of central Brazil, comforted only by his reassurance that “No foreigner has ever died in my hometown, because no foreigner has ever been to my hometown.” And the time I was driving along the boarder between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo and armed Rwandan guards stopped our car, wordlessly got in the backseat and hitched a ride for several miles. And then there was the time we were charged by a baboon.

Looking at those beady baboon eyes rushing towards me, I was instantly convinced I was losing an arm. Now, in this Nigerian “courtroom,” my husband was looking at the machetes having the same thought. I was just hoping they didn’t realize he’d slipped the camera’s memory card in his pocket. I tried to pat my stomach as apologetically as I could. Sorry, son. Welcome to life as my kid.

Sometimes I write provocative leads that aren’t quite what they seem. Like the time I said I was in a wheelchair getting a blood transfusion in Singapore. As the second graph explained, I was actually at a hospital-themed bar where you sit in wheelchairs and drink out of IV bags. My cocktail was called a “blood transfusion.”

But this time, I’m not being hyperbolic or clever. There’s no twist coming. My husband, our unborn child and I were actually sitting in a Nigerian vigilante court being tried for– as near as I could tell– taking photos and not respecting authority. The makeshift courthouse looked like a set of a Western. The judge was named “Bones.” The police? Well, there was a station not too far from here, but the police ceded Bones authority in Alaba. They didn’t what to get involved.

It could have been a scene in a movie. That irony wasn’t lost on us, because our accusers, the people speaking for us, and the judge, jury and — well, let’s just call them the guys with the machetes– were there to protect the interests of the rough-and-tumble world of the Nigerian filmmaking. They call it Nollywood.

Nollywood sprung up a few decades ago and is the second largest film industry in the world by volume. Producers churn out hundreds of movies a month, most shot on a shoe-string budget of about $15,000 per picture. We visited a set of a film called “The Stripers.” It reminded me of the photos in Larry Sultan’s book about low-frills porn sets, “The Valley,” sans sex and nudity of course.

The film– a romantic comedy where one of Nollywood’s hottest actresses turns a gay man straight– was shot in an empty suburban house rented for a few days with a crew of no more than ten. The assistant did the hair and makeup, and the producer did most everything else.

There are few theatrical releases in Nollywood. Most of these movies– which Nigerians consume as rabidly as Brazilians devour their telenovelas– are seen on local TV stations and sold over DVDs. And these producers move fast: Last week we saw a movie on the market called “Dead at Last: Osama Bin Laden, Complete Season One: Life and Death.”

Like most industries in emerging markets, Nollywood is developing in a very different time than Hollywood or even Bollywood developed, and that alone means it’s developing in a very different way. On the plus side, cheap modern digital production tools have made it all possible. But rampant digital piracy means there’s no honeymoon period for producers to build an industry around protected copyrights. They produce content millions of people love, but most of these scrappy street producers are constantly operating on shoe-string budgets, lucky to break even on each film.

Alaba International Market is where the producers all have their store-fronts and distribution hubs. We met dozens of them inside a long, dark cave-like hallway where each producer operated out of a cell-sized office, filled with paper records, movie posters pasted over movie posters, and spindles of thousands of DVDs.

Some of these producers are highly-educated entrepreneurs following their passion the same way the best entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley have. We met one man named Ulzee, a Nollywood pioneer who decided to make movies after getting a science degree. (Pictured right.) His wife, trained as a lawyer, joined him along the seemingly crazy journey. His biggest hit was “Osuofia in London,” one of the first Nollywood films to get international attention. He shot it on location in London and it cost about $6,500 to make– a jaw-dropping investment for a Nollywood picture back in 2003. But it grossed more than $650,000.

Much like the 419 scam business, members of Nigeria’s 50 million-person unemployed class see the glamorous, seemingly easy money of Nollywood and have flooded into the business. Ulzee doesn’t respect many of them, saying they aren’t artists. They shoot once and release the same movie with four different covers just to make an extra buck. Of course, given the rampant piracy that’s destroyed their margins, you can understand why these producers are constantly trying to milk revenues out of the same film.

Here’s what makes the mood at the Alaba market so tense: Before you get to that hallway of producers peddling their movies in their cell-like offices, you walk past the open air markets where the software and DVD pirates have set up shop. Unlike Hollywood where the producers reside in glamourous offices and pirates operate the the shadows and basements of the Internet, in Alaba the content creators and those destroying their hopes of revenues reside in the same place, selling the same product side-by-side. Fire-and-brimstone evangelical preachers set up keyboards and microphones in the middle of the street to save souls, only adding to the chaos. (Video of some of this in the next post.) So I could understand why Bones and his council occasionally need some machetes to keep the peace.

After 40 weeks in emerging countries, markets tend to blur together, but Alaba was unlike any place I’ve seen before. It was rawly and intensely Nigerian. Nigeria isn’t a culture based on pleasantries. A local saying painted on the backs of trucks sums it up: “No Paddy for Jungle,” or no one has friends in the jungle.

And Lagos is like a jungle. On Victoria Island– the ritzy section of Lagos– incomes are high even for a dual economy, thanks to oil and corruption. The most basic four-star hotels cost upwards of $500 a night, and the rich buy up rooms for a whole year or more, artificially constricting supply. Plots of land cost millions and a middle-of-the-road dinner for two without drinks can run $100 or more. But on the mainland in Lagos, you see the real Nigeria, the one where one-third of the population is unemployed. I talked to people furious by the corruption in the country, and what they felt was an unfair nepotism among the rich that made it almost impossible to climb the societal ladder.

Even the people I met in “easy money” businesses such as scamming and Nollywood toil entrepreneur’s hours to build their fortunes, constantly under pressure to outsmart the people out to kill their livelihoods– whether that’s law enforcement in the case of scammers or pirates in the case of Nollywood.

The tension is palpable. Stuck in traffic on the freeways, we saw fist-fights break out. Unlike some other developing countries where hawkers will smile and flatter Westerners in an attempt to sell them outrageously priced goods, Nigerians don’t play that game. They’re happy to sell you something if you show the cash. Otherwise, keep moving. They have little use for smiling, nodding and pandering. It’s not necessarily that there’s more anger, resentment or corruption in Nigeria than the rest of the emerging world; Nigerians just wear it on their sleeves.

Part of me loves that. The warm hospitality many people showed us– in both poor and rich areas of the city– was genuine. You know where you stand in these places; it’s all out in the open. But it makes walking through these markets intimidating. Look at a hawker and smile on the wrong day, and you’ll get screamed at just for being there. As one 419 scammer told me, “If I can’t even trust a man with the black flesh, why should I ever trust you?”

Our guide through Nollywood was an entrepreneur named Jason Njoku (seen on the right in this photo, haggling with producers). His parents are Nigerian, but he grew up in the United Kingdom. He became entranced with Nollywood a few years ago and was bored with London. So he moved here, stunning his family and friends. He started Iroko Partners to catalog this vast Nollywood inventory and give it a new global distribution life on the Web. It sounds like a recipe for a city boy to get fleeced, but so far that hasn’t been the case.

Njoku spent weeks trolling the Alaba markets introducing himself to producers and trying to explain to them how a YouTube channel could be an answer for revenues, not simply another channel for the pirates to steal their intellectual property. Once he sold a few of the bigger ones like Ulzee, word spread and more producers piled in. Just four months in to his business, Njoku has bought the online rights to 500 movies from 100 different one-man production houses. Last month his YouTube channel had 1.1 million uniques, 8 million streams, and is on pace to do more than $1 million in revenues this year from YouTube ads. Those numbers are massive for a Nigerian-based Web company, particularly in such a short time. Facebook has one of the largest user-bases here, feeling ubiquitous in the city. And yet it has less than three million users.

Njoku is playing a long-game. Most of his traffic is from outside Nigeria, because broadband penetration is still so low there. He’s paying more than he would have to for rights; about $3,000 per film, roughly what TV stations pay. That immediately returns about one-third of the production costs, a welcome surprise for a new medium that most of these producers had never really considered before. He provides a lot of other value-added services too, like creating an IMDB-equivalent for the messy Nollywood industry, and watching all movies to strip out things like the unauthorized use of a Beyonce song. In the future, he’s going to provide French subtitles so the movies can find new audiences in surrounding West African nations.

The checks have endeared Njoku to this rag-tag community of producers. One of Njoku’s several cell phones rings constantly with producers calling him to check on contracts, release dates and when they’re getting their next checks.

And that loyalty came in handy about the time a screaming mob broke out in Alaba over the presence of two unknown Americans taking pictures. I’m still not sure if they actually thought we were spying on their business or just wanted to extort us for cash. I’m still not sure whether it was the pirates, the producers or other rabble rousers who were the instigators. The ring leader appeared to be a terrifyingly huge, enraged, bald guy wearing a tight, white muscle shirt that said “SKULL SHIT” in big letters.

We barricaded ourselves in Ulzee’s cell-like office until it died down. We didn’t have another choice. We were half way down a long, dark hallway of offices, and there was no way out without going through the mob. Ulzee’s wife, who’d been lounging on some boxes when we arrived, sprung into action, explaining to the accusers that we were their guests and welcome to do what we wanted.

Eventually, the chaos died down, we promised not to take anymore pictures and we tried to leave. But as soon as we left the office, it erupted again and the crowd encircled us. The screaming intensified, echoing through the cave-like hallway. I tried to go back into Ulzee’s office, but the doors were being locked behind me by Bones’ crew. We were trapped, and the angry faces were circling in tighter, the screaming unintelligible as it echoed from wall-to-wall.

“Trust me, it’s better that this plays out here than on the street,” Njoku said. “Half of the people yelling are on our side.”

News of the uproar reached Bones, the man entrusted to keep the peace between producers, pirates and rare interlopers like ourselves. And that’s when we were summoned to his court. A phalanx of producers escorted us through the streets making sure no more harm came to us before we got there. “Don’t worry,” Njoku whispered. “As long as I have my checkbook, they still need me alive.”

We sat on one bench. The producers sat on the other. And that’s when Bones and the machete-men strolled in. After hearing all the evidence, our insistence that we respected his authority, the producers vouching for us, and of course, some cash changed hands, the machetes stayed sheathed and they let us go.

Njoku didn’t break a sweat. Rather than convincing me he was trying to regulate something that couldn’t possibly be regulated, the whole episode made me more bullish on his company. It was clear how much the legitimate entrepreneurs in this community valued him, the depth of his relationships after just four months, and his innate understanding for navigating crisis in a terrifying situation.

If a businesss like this were being built in the West, there’d be few barriers to entry. Someone can always just pay higher license fees. But in a country like Nigeria, these sort of relationships, this kind of trust in a place where no one trusts anyone are more solid barriers to entry than patents.

The demand is there. The supply is there. Nollywood will emerge out of this chaos as something hugely profitable. There’s suspicion, competition and chaos surrounding the market, but that’s business in emerging markets. At the end of the day the producers weren’t unreasonable. They asked that next time Njoku bring guests, he give them a heads up and they’d provide protection. They’re justifiably suspicious because their industry is finally starting to take off, and they sit next to the people trying to eroding it every day. And my bet is that when Nollywood does take off, Njoku will be one of the guys to reap the benefits.

Of course, we couldn’t leave without pressing our luck and asking to take Bones & Co.’s picture. It’s below, and he’s on the bottom right. Note: Those smiles were nowhere to be seen before the cash changed hands.

Introducing Dealdey.com; a new Nigerian group buying site
FEBRUARY 12, 2011 3:04 AM


Groupon.com is probably the most easily cloned startup out there given that it has inspired so many clones around the world in such a short period of time! A new group buying site, Dealdey.com just launched in Nigeria.

The first group buying site in Nigeria is grop.ly which Webtrends Nigeria covered last year. With the advent of DealDey.comwe hope to see a shake-up in the industry.

With Dealdey users are expected to receive alerts via sms and e-mail. Users are also guaranteed to get their money back should a deal not go through.

..

And then into Togo, and then into Benin and finally Lagos. Wow, imagine the possibilities... :ohno:

More money can be made from a peaceful Ivory Coast.

how would it spill into nigeria. nobody in nigeria give a rats ass about quattara and gbagbo and we don't share ethnic groups with them.

we sell the same things as ivory coast. knock your top opponent out and the market is yours, it's not a complexed concept to understand.

a peaceful ivory coast is a competitor and if you follow foriegn relations CIV has an extremely consistent policy of opposing everything nigeria does right down to forming Ecowas. It see's it's self as a counter to Nigerian hegemony. fuck that lol.

New factories, presidential intervention raise hope on affordable cement
MONDAY, 13 JUNE 2011 00:00 AUSTIN IMHONLELE

In response to federal government’s quest to make cement affordable, manufacturers of the commodity in the country have quickened the pace on factory expansions to boost production capacity and consequently bring about a friendly pricing regime, writes AUSTIN IMHONLELE

By the end of last month the soaring price of cement had peaked at N2, 500 a bag; a price which according to analysts,is three times higher than the going rate in most emerging markets. It took a presidential order to bring about the slight

reduction in price that became noticeable last week. Business Day gathered that members of the Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (CMAN) Manufacturers are already meeting with distributors on ways to further reduce cost of cement. An industry source told Business Day that the stakeholders have already started increasing cement depots nationwide and increase the number of trucks to supply their distributors.

Dangote Cement which is the largest manufacturer in the country has so far deployed 5000 cement trucks for the benefit of up to 50 depots in the country while Lafarge WAPCO plc is adding over 1000 trucks to increase the number of trucks.
Some manufacturers have observed that the nation’s cement production will soon hit over 28 million tonnes from about 12.5 million tonnes annually as Dangote Cement for example has many ongoing cement projects in the country that are at various stages of completion.

Increasing capacity
Dangote’s Ibese cement plant in Ogun State with six million metric tonnes per annum capacity which is in the final stages of completion and commissioning will commence in August this year.

The managing director of Obajana Cement Plc Jagat Rathee, an arm of Dangote Group, also told Business Day that Dangote Group alone produces over 60 per cent of local production as the firm’s expansion project in Obajana, Kogi, and the construction of Ibese Cement Plant would inject about 17 million tonnes into the market annually. The company has already commenced the construction of some facilities to actualise the export dream, but the poor condition of roads has been the limiting factor for poor sales.

He maintains that the current plant capacity is five million metric tonnes per annum, but by the time the two new lines currently under construction are completed, the capacity will increase from five million to 7.5 million metric tones and target 10 million tonnes in the next 2 years. “We should have been making three trips per day but we are able to make one trip per day, we currently export very little quantity to Niger, Togo and Chad. If there is good road or rail lines connectivity, we should be exporting more to Cameroon and other neighbouring States,” Rathee said.

Benue Cement Company (BCC) another subsidiary of Dangote Group has five new generating plants installed at a total capacity of 52 mega watts to boost production capacity. These projects operators say, would inject millions of tonnes of cement into the market and even begin export in large quantity to other ECOWAS countries.

Thirumoorthy Sukumars, told Business Day that its five new generating plants are installed at a total capacity of 52 mega watts to boost production capacity. The company which locally sources raw materials currently produces 6000 tonnes of bagged cement per day an equivalent of 200 trucks per day.

For Lafarge WAPCO Cement, the company has completed the construction of Ewekoro plant which will be commissioned next month to enable it keep pace with the growth in the Nigerian cement market and maintain its market share.

The company say it is part of strategic plans to boost its production capacity by 2.5 million metric tonnes of cement per annum. The Lakatubu plant is expected on completion to add 2.2 million metric tonnes to the current 2 million metric tonnes capacity from the two plants at Ewekoro and Sagamu in Ogun State.

The Lafarge project is expected to create additional 400 jobs for Nigerians and will continue to create value for the company’s shareholders and stakeholders as soon as it begins operations. “The new cement line at Ewekoro plant, which costs a total of 370 million Euros with a capacity of 2.5 million metric tonnes per annum will be using a dry process production technology and will increase to over 4.5 million metric tonnes per annum that means 12,000tonnes of cement will be produced daily,” says, Samy Abdekalder, managing director and chief executive officer of the company.

The Ewekoro project, according to the firm’s management is expected to make more profits and then the local consumers will also gain affordable cement prices that can sustain the building industry in Nigeria.

Lafarge currently has other cement plants such as Ashaka Cement in Northern part of Nigeria, Unicem in the south, south and Atlas in the Niger Delta to easily reach its distributors.

BUA Group, another indigenous firm and owner of Edo Cement has gone into collaboration with FLSmidth, a Danish company, for the expansion of a cement line in Edo Cement plant in Okpella community of Edo State.

The plant, when completed, will produce 2.5 million tons of cement annually. The executive chairman of BUA Group, Abdulsamad Rabiu, announced at the contract signing ceremony for the building of the plant last week in Abuja that the building of the Edo Cement Plant would be completed in August, 2013.

“The building of the Edo Cement will take 28 months to be completed and it is expected to offer jobs to 4,000 skilled workers and over 20,000 indirect jobs to Nigerians,” Rabiu stated.

It was learnt that the financing of the project is to be provided by FLSmidth and a consortium of banks led by Ecobank, which has since provided an initial $50 million for the take-off of the plant’s construction. Other banks in the consortium are FirstBank, Diamond Bank, Finbank and Bank PHB.

The chairman stated that the total project cost of $500 million includes cement equipment acquisition, infrastructure and a power plant of 100 megawatts.

Self-sufficiency in production
Rabiu however posited that with the coming on stream of so many plants, Nigeria can be talking of self-sufficiency in cement supply in the next three to five years. “Now we import about 6-8 tonnnes of cement to bridge the gap between demand and supply. That is why I said in the next five years, when the companies are in full production, the problem will be over”.

These investments are parts of federal government’s initiative to encourage local production of cement. This initiative has resulted in full-scale production of cement locally as the country before the initiative in 2002 was barely producing about 12.5 million tonnes of cement annually and there was a huge gap in demand. Local demand for cement hovers between 19 and 20 million tonnes annually while local production is about 17 million tonnes.

The president of the Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (CMAN), Joseph Makoju, lauded the management of BUA Group for the investment, saying that the plant would contribute significantly to the quest of the Federal Government to make Nigeria a cement-exporting nation.
He lauded the government for its back-integration policy in the cement sector, saying that the policy would assist in the effort to reduce the high cost of cement and other building materials in the country.

Makoju expressed delight at the involvement of the Danish firm in the plant, recalling that the company had been involved in the building of many thriving cement plants in Nigeria.
Closure of Kaduna Refinery

Some manufacturers have also complained that the closure of Kaduna Refinery in February and March affected companies that use LPFO for production. As a result of this Benue Cement factory was short down for two-week; a situation that contributed to the scarcity of cement products recorded recently across the country.

Before now there had been so much anxiety over a trend of arbitrary increase price of cement in the past three months. President Goodluck Jonathan was so worried that the development would negatively affect growth efforts that he last month gave the manufacturers ultimatum to crash the price. Somehow the riot act worked as the price had come down to N1, 900 in the Lagos area by last week end. While the situation subsisted, the position of the manufacturers was that they do not decide the price of cement, adding that their task is to ensure that there is enough cement in the market.

In rationalising the situation Joseph Makoju, president of Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (CMAN) said: “When there is scarcity in any product there is bound to be an increase in price. Now that there is enough cement in the market, the price will gradually come down.”

But now that the Kaduna Refinery is back in production, LPFO supply now restored to BCC plant in Benue State, the plant is now producing at full capacity and supplying the market with an average of over 250 trailers of Cement daily.

The manufacturers have estimated that 17 million metric tonnes which would be produced this year would be supplied to the market. A number of new cement plants with combined capacity of 14 million metric tonnes that are currently under construction are all expected to come on stream at different periods of this year and we expect some considerable additional output from the factories.

The manufacturers claimed that their factory price remained unchanged throughout the year at N1,500 in the Lagos area in spite of the rise in the cost of some inputs in the year. Technically, prices effectively came down in 2010 as companies introduced a number of discount and rebate arrangements to encourage their distributors.

Consequently, open market prices also remained stable and in most areas even came down in 2010, averaging N1500 - N1550 per bag in Lagos compared with N1900 - N2000 at the beginning of 2009.

A 50-kg bag of cement currently sells for N1, 900 at the open market in Lagos. That is about 21 per cent drop from N2,500.

Business Day gathered that in the factories, cement sell at N1, 500 but because diesel has gone up from N80 a litre to N160/N170 a litre, transporters have taken this as an opportunity to hike the price. Said one of the manufacturers: “If they charge more than double on a product that you sell at N1, 500; and a transporter is charging N700. That’s quite a lot.”

According to Makoju, we do not expect anything less that 60% performance from most of the new plants in 2012. “Investments in the industry are ongoing and if the government continues with the strict implementation of the backward integration policy, our expectation is that more new entrants will come into the business of cement manufacturing and the present tempo of growth in the cement industry will be sustained.

The price of cement has continued to rise in the country, making it difficult for many Nigerians to become home owners.

Importation to the rescue
Aliko Dangote, who had earlier reacted to government decision to import cement to force down price, said cement importation was not the solution because there were unavoidable costs which come with importation which cannot be controlled.

Speaking on the dynamics of cement pricing, Dangote said his company’s control over the price of cement “is limited as price is directly related to the price of energy”. “If price of diesel goes up by one naira today, transporters will increase their price and this is passed on to the price of cement,” he said.

Lafarge Cement Bond Issue to Boost Dividend Prospects

13 Jun 2011

By Goddy Egene

Analysts at Meristem Securities Limited, an investment banking firm, have said that the proposed N45 billion bond issue by Lafarge Cement WAPCO Nigeria Plc to refinance its medium-term loan (MTL), will enhance the dividend payment ability of the cement manufacturing firm.

A N45.27 billion multi-currency syndicated MTL comprising $114.5 million and N27.9 billion with tenor of 45 months and 60 months respectively was obtained by the company in 2008 to finance its expansion project called Lakatabu.

Due to a moratorium period of 30 and 45 months respectively that exist on the two facilities, the repayment schedule of the loan will commence from the last quarter of 2011. But in order to mitigate its impact on the profitability of the company, a bond issuance is being planned to refinance the loan facility.

THISDAY had recently reported that the bond would be issued in Q3 of 2011. “We are in the process and while details cannot be given out now due to regulatory requirements, I can tell you that by Q3 Lafarge Cement WAPCO float the bond,” a source had said, adding that Book Building process would be used for the bond.

The source noted that investors were very enthusiastic about the bond given the prospects of the value addition potential of the Lakatabu project, which would commence production very soon.

Assessing the prospects of the proposed bond issue, Meristem Securities noted that issuing a bond to refinance the loan will afford the company an opportunity to optimally manage its cash flow since coupon payment will be bi-annual, which will be lower than making principal and interest payment on the loan as currently structured.

They explained that given the moratorium period of the loan, its implication is that the company will repay the dollar loan (principal plus accrued interest) over a period of 15 months, that is between December 2011 and June 2013, while the Naira loan will be repaid over a period of 15 months, from March 2013 to May 2014.

They said, “Bearing in mind that the project is yet to fully become operational at optimal capacity, the loan repayment as scheduled will be a serious strain on cash flow, which might impair their dividend paying ability. Hence, issuing a bond to refinance the loan will afford the company an opportunity to optimally manage its cash flow since coupon payment will be bi-annual which will be lower than making principal and interest payment on the loan as currently structured. This is also commendable from working capital management perspective.”

The analysts added that given the present interest rate environment, the expected coupon on the bond is likely to be lower than interest in servicing the outstanding syndicated loan. “We expect the expansionary activity (Lakatabu project) to drive enough earnings (cash flow) to finance the bond’s coupon payments,” they declared.

Dangote commissions 6m metric-ton Ibese Cement plant in August

MONDAY, 13 JUNE 2011 00:00 AUSTIN IMHONLELE

Dangote Group is set to commission its 6 million metric tons per annum capacity cement plant in Ibese, Ogun State, as it is in the final stage of completion with commissioning expected to commence in August this year.

BusinessDay gathered that the Chinese experts handling the project have started test running the equipment in preparation for the commissioning.

Bolu Aladeniyi, who is part of the project management team of the company while on a tour of the project, explains that the plant, which is 85 percent completed, has over 750 million metric tons of limestone reserve that will last for over five years.

“The plant consists of three cement mills, six cement silos each of 10,000 metric tons with 37 megawatts by three power plants, 111 megawatts. But the company requires just 70 megawatts to carry out its plant operations. The power plant will be operating with coal, gas and liquefied fuel,” Aladeniyi disclosed.

Dangote Cement, which is the largest cement manufacturer in the country, has so far deployed 5000 cement trucks to haulage cement to about 50 depots in the country, while Lafarge WAPCO plc is adding over 1000 trucks to increase the number of trucks.

Some manufacturers have also complained that the closure of Kaduna Refinery in February and March affected companies that use LPFO for production, as Benue Cement factory was short down for two week, which led to scarcity of cement products.

But now that the Kaduna Refinery is back in production, LPFO supply now restored to BCC plant in Benue State, the plant is now producing at full capacity and supplying the market with an average production of over 250 trailers of cement daily.

The cement manufacturers have estimated a supply of 17 million metric tons this year. A number of new cement plants with combined capacity of 14 million metric tons currently that are under construction are all expected to come on stream at different periods of this year, and we expect some considerable additional output from the factories, according to a manufacturer.

Aliko Dangote had said “Our projection is that by August 2011, we would be in a position to produce 20 million metric tons of cement yearly. With this, we will surpass local demand and export the excess to neighbouring West African countries, where demand for cement is very high.”

The group chairman noted that the group as the leader in the Nigerian cement business had always given priority to quality standards to maintain the value of its products for customers. Our cutting-edge technology gives us a competitive edge in the market, Dangote stated.

Dangote Cement accounts for more than 50 percent of the market share, and currently increasing the capacity of its existing plants and building new ones to take advantage of the proposed ban on imports by 2012.

Joseph Makoju, president,Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (CMAN) told BusinessDay that the manufacturers do not expect anything less that 60 percent performance from most of the new plants in 2012.

“Investments in the industry are ongoing and if the government continues with the strict implementation of the backward integration policy, our expectation is that more new entrants will come into the business of cement manufacturing and the present tempo of growth in the cement industry will be sustained,” he said.

The manufacturers have observed that the price of cement is not for them to decide but to ensure that there is enough cement in the market because when there is scarcity in any product there increase in price is expected to occur, now that there is enough cement in the market, the price will gradually come down, Makoju added.

The manufacturers started this year with stock of about 1million metric tons of cement in their various depots across the nation and also over 700,000 tons of clinker stocks in their factories. This was despite their reduced level of operations necessitated by the exigencies of the market.

Dangote, Adenuga, Elumelu, among 100 influential Africans

Monday, June 13, 2011

President, Dangote Group and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, Chairman, Globacom, Dr. Mike Adenuga and Mr. Tony Elumelu, Chairman, Heirs Holdings and 93 others, have appeared on the list of Top 100 Africans released by London-based New African magazine, in its June edition.

Former CEO of the MTN Group, Mr. Phuthuma Nhleko, President, Africa Development Bank (AfDB), Mr. Donald Kaberuka and Egyptian billionaire, Naguib Sawris, also made the exclusive list from the business and finance category.

The listing, which was not in a particular order, featured “top influencers, opinion-shapers, agitators, groundbreakers and myth busters, who are shaping the face of Africa” and it was divided into categories such as Business and Finance, Poets, Media, Music, Science and Technology and Authors.

President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr. Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Dr. Nelson Mandela, are included in the list of political leaders that have influenced the course of history of the continent. Dangote, who made history in March this year, when he emerged the richest man in Africa in a ranking by Forbes magazine, is one of the continent’s foremost industrialists. Currently, Dangote Group, which he founded over three decades ago, has operations in about 14 African countries including Ghana, Senegal and South Africa.

Dangote Cement Plc, one of the four subsidiaries of Dangote Group that are listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), also emerged the biggest quoted company in West Africa in April in a report released by African Business magazine. Only last month, Dangote Cement was listed among Forbes Global 2000 Companies. This is the first time that a Nigerian company would appear on the prestigious list of top companies in the world.

Commenting on the rating, Mr. Baffour Ankomah, Editor of New African said: “Our continent has produced, and continues to produce some impressive individuals from all walks of life who are having a profound impact not only on Africa but on the international community.

“The names on the list I am sure will be discussed the length and breadth of the continent. And the list in itself is not necessarily an endorsement as such, but what it does show is the diversity of skills, talents and personalities amongst Northern and Sub-Saharan Africans in contemporary times, and who are driving change across the continent and beyond.”

GOLDMAN Sachs International, an American Investment banking and securities firm, yesterday, predicted about three per cent rise in the growth of Nigeria's current Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Nigeria's GDP growth rate increased from 7.36 per cent in the first quarter of 2010 to 7.85 per cent in the third quarter of 2010.

Managing Director Investment Banking Division UK, China Onyemelukwe, told the Europe Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in London that this could, however, only be achieved if the current power problem was fixed.

"Solving the power problem will add two to three per cent increase to the current GDP growth of Nigeria." He said government must demonstrate the will to take the bold steps to turn around the power sector for good.
http://odili.net/news/source/2011/jun/14/13.html

"The power problem in Nigeria can be solved, it is do-able and people know what to do but it will take a lot of strong will and bold steps to effect the necessary change,'' Onyemelukwe said.


He pointed out that Nigeria's economy, being one of the emerging markets, has great potentials.

"There is a lot of interests from around the world because there are huge investment opportunities not just in oil and gas but in infrastructure, power, human capital development and trade in goods and services,'' he said.

He explained that the challenges facing the country's economy include good governance, transparency, rule of law, and democracy.

Onyemelukwe, who commended the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for its ``aggressive'' approach at tackling corruption, said corruption was not unique to Nigeria.

According to him, "Nigeria was one of the countries in the fore front of anti-corruption crusade in the last 10 years, adding that the anti-corruption institutions have been given the platform to perform.

"In spite of the challenges, people will raise issues whether justice has been applied equally across the board, and it is very difficult because there are so many factors to consider.


"EFCC and other anti-corruption institutions have been given a very prominent role, but one can debate whether they are doing exactly what they should be doing

"The fact is they have been given the platform and they have been very aggressive in going about it and I think overall, they are doing a good job.''

Eleme Petrochemicals achieves 100% capacity utilisation

Monday, June 20, 2011

Everest Amaefule, Abuja

Contrary to the experience of most companies operating in Nigeria, the Managing Director, Eleme Petrochemicals Limited, Mr. Manish Mundra, has said the company has achieved more than 100 per cent capacity utilisation.

Mundra, who said this at a post-privatisation interactive session with newsmen, said by switching to new technologies and carrying out turnaround maintenance as necessary, the company was now producing beyond its installed capacity.

The managing director, who was represented at the forum by Finance Director, Mr. Munish Jindal, and Special Adviser to the MD, Mr. Jossy Nkwocha, also disclosed that the company had paid out N20bn to shareholders since the company was resuscitated by the Indorama Group after its privatisation in 2006.

He said, "Since EPCL took over in 2006, it has carried out two major turnaround maintenance to put the plants on world-class technology and operations.

"EPCL now produces about 1,000 metric tonnes of polymer resins per day; and in the next six months, it will also add on 250 tonnes per day of PET polymer. So, the total polymer produced at EPCL will cross more than 1,250 metric tonnes from the first quarter of 2012."

He added, "EPCL has and maintains its own power plant, which generates its own electricity for all its operations 24 hours a day. The EPCL plants now produce at over 100 per cent of installed capacity as a result of modifications, innovations and additional facilities. The company has met most of the raw materials needs of Nigerian manufacturers and exports to 21 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and parts of Africa.

"We have paid, to date, a dividend of over N23bn to shareholders, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the Rivers State Government and the Bureau of Public Enterprises, which holds shares on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria."

According to him, EPCL has paid about N12bn to the government in taxes such as value added tax, customs duty, with-holding taxes, and pay-as-you earn.

Dangote Flour grows capacity, introduces new products

Monday, June 20, 2011

Agency Reporter

The management of Dangote Flour Mills Plc has announced that it has grown the company's production capacity across the country from 4,500 metric tonnes to 7,300 metric tonnes per day.


It also announced that it had pushed its wheat meal brand, Alkama, and retail packs for Danvita into the market.

The company, according to a statement made available to our correspondent on Sunday, has invested in ultra-modern technology with machines that are between three months and nine years old, in an industry where equipment are as old as 35 years old.

The Group Managing Director, Dangote Flour, Mr. Rohit Chaudhr, was quoted as saying that the capacity of the company's Lagos plant was raised from 1,000 metric tonnes to 2,500 metric tonnes per day, while Calabar's was raised to 1,500MT from 1,000MT/day, and Ilorin's from 500MT to 1,000MT/day.

"The investment is despite the global economic meltdown. These projects have since been completed with the exception of the Apapa mill, which is scheduled for completion soon," he said, while announcing the start of direct export into Chad, Cameroon, Niger Republic and the West Coast.

The introduction of both Alkama and Danvita, according to Chaudhry, will lead to an increased turnover for the company and dividend payout for the shareholders.

http://www.thetingles.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/TRACE-logo.gif

TRACE TV COMES TO NIGERIA

France-based urbane music channel Trace has finalised plans to launch full operations in Nigeria and the rest of the West Africa region.

According to information on the company’s website, ‘TRACE is an international brand and media group dedicated to producing and distributing music and sports content to multicultural audiences via all digital platforms’

And eight years after being established, the channel is now hoping to expand its content and audience base; with special interests in the huge mass of young music enthusiasts spread all over the continent. Trace focuses on ‘urban music and culture. No reality shows, no drama, no fiction…’

Read More (http://www.thetingles.net/2011/05/09/trace-tv-nigeria/)

Nigeria becomes first African country to launch OK! Magazine

OK! Magazine, the world’s biggest celebrity lifestyle with more than 50 million readers worldwide is set to launch in Nigeria this year. The magazine which will be published in Nigeria and printed in the United Kingdom will be distributed on newsstands in Nigeria and readers throughout the world can subscribe to the magazine.

OK! Magazine, owned by the independent publishers, Northern & Shell Worldwide, will be managed by Kamson Luxury Group, owned and operated by famed serial entrepreneur Alexander Amosu. Kamson Luxury Group is an acquisition company formed to launch luxury international brands in Africa and its first acquisition is the OK! Magazine brand.
The magazine will be a monthly publication and content will be 60% Nigerian celebrities on a global scale, whilst just 20% of the 60% will be local Nigerian celebrities in Nigeria. The remaining 40% is divided into 30% African American celebrities such as Will Smith and Oprah and the remaining 10% will be the usual celebrities we love to read about such as Paris Hilton and David Beckham.
So well received has this venture been that world famous brands are already signing up for 6-12 months advertising even though the magazine is yet to be launched.

Read More (http://sesema.com/Nigeria-becomes-first-African-country-to-launch-OK!-Magazine)

Nigeria oil exports to rise to 5-1/2 year high
WEDNESDAY, 22 JUNE 2011 14:34 REUTERS

Nigerian oil exports are set to rise in August to the highest level in more than 5-1/2 years, a provisional loading programme showed on Wednesday while benchmark Brent crude has been trading at high premiums against other regional benchmarks.

The August programme showed the African OPEC producer would load about 2.25 million barrels of crude oil per day. If there is no disruption to output, the volume will mark the largest since January 2006, Reuters data showed. "It is a lot of Nigerian cargoes," a London-based crude oil trader said. The July provisional programme showed the export to average 2.06 million barrels per day (bpd) in the month. A relatively large increase is set to come from Bonny Light as the force majeure, which has been in place since the sabotage attack to a pipeline in mid-June, is expected to be lifted.

The August programme showed about 255,000 barrels of the crude will be loaded daily in the month, compared with the estimated 215,000 bpd in July. "The force majeure is for June and July only, as set out in the original statement, issued on 13 June," a spokesman for operator Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote) said on Wednesday. The August volume includes crude oil only. Nigeria also produces Akpo and Oso condensates, which are expected to total roughly 150,000 barrels per day in August. (Reuters)

New Nigeria car imports soar as confidence recovers
Tue Jun 21, 2011 5:03pm GMT Print | Single Page [-] Text [+]
* Consumer confidence recovering after polls

* Bank lending starting to pick up

* New vehicle imports seen up 30 pct this year

By Chijioke Ohuocha

LAGOS, June 21 (Reuters) - Nigerian vehicle imports jumped 78 percent in the first five months of 2011 compared to the same period last year, indicating consumer confidence is recovering after national elections, industry officials said on Tuesday.

Car sales in Africa's most populous nation are a proxy measure for private purchasing power, a leading economic indicator which is not formally available in Nigeria.

Nigerian port figures showed new vehicle imports increased to 18,377 units in the five months to May from 10,324 in the same period of last year, according to Mohan Sethi, general manager at Dana Motors, which imports Kia vehicles to Nigeria.

Industry officials said car demand had started picking up after more than a year of decline as banking reforms forge ahead and lending begins to recover, while the political uncertainty around April's elections fades away.

"We see people purchasing on cash, so those customers who held back due to uncertainty in the African continent are coming out to purchase," one dealer said, adding demand was firm and also supported by bank lending.

Car sales in Nigeria took a hit in 2009 and had since been on a downwards trend after credit dried up in sub-Saharan Africa's second biggest economy in the wake of a $4 billion bailout of nine lenders by the central bank.

In 2008 credit sales had accounted for about 22 percent of all vehicle sales in Nigeria, but that percentage dropped to virtually zero after the 2009 bank bailout.

Sethi told Reuters passenger vehicles had grown the most in the five months to 12,000 units from around 7,000 in the same period of 2010. He expected total imports for the industry as a whole to grow 30 percent this year. (For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: af.reuters.com/ ) (Editing by Nick Tattersall, Ron

Why beer giants are scrambling for Nigerian market

Monday, 28 March 2011 00:00 SIAKA MOMOH


SIAKA MOMOH, industry editor writes that on going expansion in the brewery sector occasioned by new investments would stimulate competition, promote growth and create more job opportunities

It is doubtful if many local industry players knew for a long time that the beer market in Nigeria is a robust one. All that was apparent was the presence of two major players, Nigerian Breweries Plc and Guinness Nigeria Plc, and a number of fringe players doing business in the sector.

But if local players didn’t know or knew, but showed no interest, SABMiller, a South African brewing giant knew and made a grand entry into the market. Its coming has since rattled the market, giving the hitherto two giants in the industry a run for their money.

SABMiller, South African world brewing giant, in 2009, bought Pabod Breweries, Port Harcourt where it owns 57 per cent and Voltic Nigeria Limited (Voltic produces tablewater), Lagos owning 80 per cent of the company, and Standard Breweries in Ibadan, using these companies for soft landing in Nigeria. For over five years or thereabout, this world number two brewer tried to open shop in Nigeria. In its quest to tap is not a $3 billion (N45.9 billion) informal market, the giant brewer is encouraging farmers to raise cassava and barley for its new discount beers.

Beer sales in developed markets, according to industry sources, are losing sparkle so SABMiller is looking to the relatively untapped African market to help drive future growth. But with an estimated 315 million Africans living on less than $1 (N150.90) a day—roughly the same cost as a bottle of beer—commercial brews such as SABMiller’s Peroni and Miller Genuine Draft are beyond the reach of vast swathes of the population.

Low-income consumers have traditionally made home-brewed hooch from local ingredients that range from bananas and watermelons to root vegetables. In Nigeria for instance, we have local beers called Burukutu and Pito. Other variants which fall into the ‘hot drink’ group are known as Shepee and Aburo in the local parlance.

But in an apparent response to SABMiller’s entry into the Nigerian market, Heineken N.V., Nigerian Breweries Plc parent company stepped up the struggle for domination of the Nigerian beer market in Nigeria with its acquisition of two holding companies from the Sona Group which has controlling interests in five breweries in Nigeria.

Heineken’s buying of Sona Group’s Sona Breweries PLC, Sango Ota, Ogun State, International Beer & Beverages Ind. Ltd., Kaduna State, Champion Breweries PLC, Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State, Life Breweries Co. Ltd, Onitsha, Anambra State, Benue Brewery Ltd, Makurdi, Benue State is seen by industry players as a move to strengthen Nigerian Breweries position in the Nigerian beer market and a further response to SABMiller’s entry into Nigerian market. Of the five breweries being acquired, Champion Breweries is listed.

Analysts believe that the acquisition provides Heineken with an additional technical capacity of 3.7 million hectolitres, helping to alleviate the company’s current capacity constraints in the market and improving the geographic location of its breweries.

And interestingly, this Heineken’s move is clearly a smooth move to puncture SABMiller’s momentous strategic entry into the Nigerian beer market from the fringes, what with acquiring breweries in Onitsha, Uyo, and Makurdi. SABMiller which is currently operating from Port Harcourt, moved Voltic Nigeria Limited from Lagos to the South East, and is putting up a brewing plant in Onitsha. Heineken is taking the battle to them.
Guinness has just commissioned a new brewery that has taken its production capacity to about 5.5mn hectolitres, and capacity utilization is expected to be more than 80 per cent. So it is expected the entire beer market will grow by a further 15 per cent to about 22.5mn hl this year.

This will enable Heineken to take advantage of the attractive future growth opportunities that exist in different regions of the country. The acquisition has been funded from existing resources. The transaction price has not been disclosed. It was gathered that Heineken would explore the possibility of consolidating the newly acquired breweries into its existing business structure in Nigeria during 2011. Discussions with Nigerian Breweries and Consolidated Breweries will begin now that the transaction has been finalised.

The acquired breweries will continue to provide and expand contract brewing services to Nigerian Breweries and Consolidated Breweries for the meantime, while continuing to own, brew and support the Goldberg, Williams Dark Ale and Malta Gold brands as well as various smaller regional brands.

Commenting on the Heineken acquisition, Tom de Man, President Africa & Middle East of Heineken, said: “This important move reflects Heineken’s strategy of increasing our exposure to and growth from developing markets. Nigeria is one of the world’s most exciting beer markets and one of the most important countries for Heineken. This acquisition underlines our ongoing commitment to the country and will significantly strengthen our platform for future growth.”

And only two weeks ago, Guinness Nigeria Plc, the local unit of Diageo Plc (DGE), heightened the ongoing beer war tempo by announcing plans to spend 52 billion naira ($335.8 million) on expanding brewing capacity in the country this year. The Guinness move, is no doubt, an apparent response to the Heineken N.V.’s acquisition of two holding companies from the Sona Group, which has controlling interests in five breweries in Nigeria, and SABMiller Africa’s entry into Nigeria.

What Vetiva, other analysts say about the unfolding scenario
Vetiva Research predicts a blooming market for investors in the beer market in Nigeria. It argues according to the IMF, the Nigerian economy is estimated to grow at an average of 7 per cent over the next four years while the population is expected to grow at about 3 per cent. “This along with a youthful population enmeshed in a culture in which entertainment has gained a foot-hold, present key drivers for the Nigerian beer market. A growing, largely youthful population, with increased disposable incomes is expected to drive beer consumption, leading us to estimate that the Nigerian beer market will grow at an average of 8 per cent over the next 5 years,” the Lagos based research company says.

It adds: “The ‘two big giants’ (Nigerian Breweries and Guinness) have long operated in Nigeria, controlling about 90 per cent of the market- Guinness with its niche stout brand and Nigerian Breweries with its prime Star Lager Beer. Both owned by world beer giants (Diageo and Heineken respectively), these two have wielded control of the market, with essentially only each other as competition. With the entrance of another beer giant, SABMiller into the space in 2008, competition has begun to heat up. However, it is unlikely that the ‘two giants’ would concede their hold on the market, without putting up a good show of strength to defend their market shares.

“Nevertheless, the low level of penetration in the Nigerian beer market (as evidenced by the beer consumption per capita of about 10 litres, compared with an African average of 14.6 litres) clearly leaves room for brewers to take advantage of the underlying growth potentials in Nigeria. While the premium end of the beer market still has some play for the brewers to make, the current competition seems set to re-shape the low end of the market. Improving levels of disposable income following economic expansion, means that there is some market to capture at the low end, as drinkers switch from home brewed drinks to low end beers.”

Biodun Adedipe, chief consultant, B. Adedipe Associates Limited, a frontline management and financial consulting company argues that the expansion of breweries will create more jobs, “but the technology being more sophisticated than what existed before now, might mean more capital intensive production technology”. “The number of jobs created might not match the volume of investments. But surely, new jobs will come on line,” he says.

For Adedipe, the volume and efficiency demands that will enable any of the breweries take best advantage of the market opportunities will require investments in new technology. “In particular, for all the existing breweries acquired, it is not so much as engaging them as they are, but completely replacing the plant, which will naturally come with new technology.”

He argues the variety of products in the market that will arise from the consolidation and expansion of the brewery industry will create value for the consumers, while the looming heightened competition will be an incentive for innovation and creativity.

Stimulating Nigeria's Private Enterprise

HQfbNwDRe94

WOW!!!......Epic Rush of Good News!!!!

http://www.thetingles.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/TRACE-logo.gif

TRACE TV COMES TO NIGERIA

France-based urbane music channel Trace has finalised plans to launch full operations in Nigeria and the rest of the West Africa region.

According to information on the company’s website, ‘TRACE is an international brand and media group dedicated to producing and distributing music and sports content to multicultural audiences via all digital platforms’

And eight years after being established, the channel is now hoping to expand its content and audience base; with special interests in the huge mass of young music enthusiasts spread all over the continent. Trace focuses on ‘urban music and culture. No reality shows, no drama, no fiction…’

Read More (http://www.thetingles.net/2011/05/09/trace-tv-nigeria/)

trace has been in nigeria for years now

No, I dont think so....... ^^

i use to watch it all da time

Yeah, They were in Nigeria, On satellite, Like any other station out there, But Now, they would actually have a Real Base in the country.
Dont U know the difference??

Revamping the fortunes of Delta Steel company
FRIDAY, 24 JUNE 2011 00:00 ALEXANDER CHIEJINA

In view of the economic contributions of the steel sector to the growth of industrialized countries, Alexander Chiejina writes that the revamping of the Delta Steel Company (DSC) will no doubt reposition Nigeria's quest towards becoming one of the 20 leading companies in 2020

The history of industrialized nations of the world is the history of steel development. However, a nation that overlooks steel development does so at her own industrialization peril. Such nations are perpetually condemned to remain a consumer nation and a dumping ground for products from the developed economies.

With iron and steel being used widely in the construction of roads, railways, and other large modern structures, such as stadia and skyscrapers, bridges, and airports, which are supported by a steel skeleton, there is no gain saying that its economic relevance is of utmost importance to the growth of any nation.

Taking a cursory look at the nation, Delta Steel Company Plc, located at Ovwian-Aladja, Warri, Delta State, is the only fully integrated steel plant producing steel from basic raw material. In the past, the plant was one of the main projects of the third National development plan (1975-1980) and was conceptualized to satisfy the increasing domestic demand for steel products, the realization of the natural aspiration for self sustenance, rapid industrial growth and technological development.

Sadly, over the years, DSC became prostrate despite its grandiose commissioning in January 1982 after its incorporation in 1979. To stakeholders in the steel sector, the company seemed to have transformed into another failed hope for millions of Nigerians who were eager to conform to global technological advancement that is driven by emerging trends in the steel sector.

With steep public disillusion running high, the federal Government initiated a rehabilitation programme in 2000 but this was never completed. This situation came to a height when in 1995, the commercial operations of the steel plant had ceased due to non availability of funds, raw materials, spares and accessories while its key equipment were in bad condition and non operational. It easily became one among the numerous but failed gigantic projects of government.

In the wake of these challenges, the dramatic turnaround of DSC, following the privatization programme that led to a share purchase agreement (SPA) with Global Infrastructural Nigeria Limited (GINL) has seen the fortunes of the former comatose industrial liability into a fully operational and viable producer and marketer of high quality iron and steel products.

In a chat with newsmen, N.S.Singh, Executive Director, Operations revealed that to the most adventurous businessman, the condition at DSC was very scary as it did not present any prospects for considerable returns on investments, but this outlook did not deter Global Steel when it moved in to revamp the company in 2005.

The executive director disclosed that relying on its strategic experience in revamping comatose plants, the company had within a short period of nine months proved industry pundits wrong that any investment on DSC and similar plants across the country was a lost investment. He maintained that within the period, Delta Steel was rendered inactive but suddenly came back to life as modern control and automation systems have been installed in the plants with remarkable results being achieved.

In his words "from its comatose status before the commissioning of Line 1 in April 2005 and expected commissioning of Line 2 in November 2006, the Pellet Plant has achieved a maximum production of 2200MT/day with average production of about 25, 000 to 30, 000 MT. global steel now plans to install Distribution control system (DCS) in the Pellet Plant to ensure continued double line operations to achieve production of 120, 000MT monthly.

"The Module IV of the DR plant was commissioned on May 3, 2006 and commenced production on May 22, 2006. The company invested huge resources to procure critical and high value equipment and production consumables. Most of the grounded Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) have been repaired and technologically improved for production. Its casters have been commissioned. Don't forget that the Rolling Mill is once again alive as it has successfully rolled 12mm, 16mm, 20mm, 25mm and 32mm steel rods. The mill has so far achieved maximum production of 892.3MT even as the plant has already produced 686, 086 MT till date," Singh disclosed.

Lending his view, Nwabuokei disclosed that Global Steel has commenced investment to enhance its steel making capacity from one million tonnes per annum to 2.4 MTPA. Nwabuokei stated that major modification include rehabilitation in SMS , automation of furnaces and casters, enhancing transformer capacity from 60 MVA to 100 MVA in each furnace, equipping each furnace with oxy fuel burners; co-jets lance, eccentric bottom tapping (EBT) and water cooled panels.

He added that "production performance since takeover has been impressive with the plant constant 24hours non-stop. All the plant yields are available, necessary trainings retraining are going on and the country's production is sold everywhere, even beyond the shores of the country."

No doubt, the rebirth of steel in Nigeria though in its relative nascent stage has been contributing in no small measure to the overall developmental verve of the economy. Little wonder research and development programmes are top priorities to management particularly in terms of the substitution of local materials as well as consolidation of premium quality technology process with the view of keeping abreast with the trends in steel development globally.

While DSC is awarded the ISO 9001; 2000 Quality Management System, the organization has also been awarded the 'NIS 117 Silver Certificate' award in the field of construction rebars for two successive years. Today, Delta steel is changing to meet the challenge of the future, viz-a-viz modernization, re-invention, re-structuring and upgrading of facilities. It is believed that the quality of the company's products has been recognized by major blue-chip clients and customers both in the public and private sector as a reliable, quality and customer driven, and responsive provider of superior steel and casting products.

In view of the abundant fortunes that accrue from steel production, recent records have shown that Nigeria is one of the lowest steel consumption countries in the world with less than about 600 thousand tonnes per annum as against a projected consumption figure of 10 million tonnes per annum. The steel sector in Nigeria, just like most public institutions like NEPA now PHCN and the Nigeria Railways were in total decay and comatose.

The Federal Government has put in place some programmes aimed at driving the economy with the hope of becoming one of the 20 biggest economies of the world by the year 2020. A casual look at this blue print, cast some doubt on the plan as steel has no clearly defined position.

While the steel industry remains the bedrock of any country's industrialisation, It is still the least on the development index in Nigeria. Recently, the Federal Government opted to concession the Ajaokuta Steel Plant, National Iron Ore Mining Company, Itakpe to an Indian Company, Global Steel/Global Infrastructure (Nigeria) Limited, an affiliate of ISPAT Industries of India, a conglomerate with five decades of character certification in Steel business with capacity to produce 14 million tonnes of steel and related products annually and operating in seven countries of the world.

Of all these takeovers and concessions, the case of Ajaokuta and DSC has elicited a lot of passion and criticism from the public. However, it will be obvious that the Nigerian steel industry, hitherto described as the bottomless pit or museum, has come back to life to drive the nation's quest towards becoming one of the twenty leading countries by the year 2020.

Nigeria’s Economy Could Overtake South Africa by 2025, Morgan Stanley Says


The naira may strengthen to 153 against the dollar by the end of the year and reach 150 by the end of 2012, economists at Morgan Stanley in Johannesburg said. Photographer: Suzanne Plunkett/Bloomberg

Nigeria’s economy may overtake South Africa’s by 2025 to become the biggest on the continent as oil prices climb and consumer spending in Africa’s most populous nation expands, Morgan Stanley said.
Gross domestic product, which will probably reach $400 billion by the end of the decade, is forecast to increase 8.4 percent in 2011 and 8.5 percent in 2012, Andrea Masia and Michael Kafe, economists at Morgan Stanley in Johannesburg, wrote in an e-mailed report today.

Crude output in Africa’s biggest oil producer is estimated to climb 9.5 percent to 2.3 million barrels a day by 2012 from last year, while oil prices may average $113 a barrel over the next year, Morgan Stanley (MS) said. Rising wages and an increase in borrowing is also helping to boost consumer spending in a country of 150 million people, the bank said.

“The sources of output growth are broadening and accelerating, retail trade is vibrant and its financial markets are deepening,” Masia and Kafe wrote. “The economy is on a growth charge.”

Nigeria’s economy is forecast to climb to about $400 billion by 2016 from $268 billion this year, while South Africa’s is expected to reach more than $500 billion from $383 billion in the same period, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Economic Boom

South Africa’s central bank expects economic growth of 3.6 percent in 2011 and 3.9 percent in 2012.
Nigeria’s economic boom may push the market value of the equity index to $1 trillion in five years time from $74 billion currently, Oscar Onyema, chief executive officer of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, said today. South Africa’s bourse has a market value of $494 billion.

Minimum wages in Nigeria more than doubled to 18,000 naira ($114.69) a month before elections in April after remaining unchanged at about 7,500 naira since 2000, Morgan Stanley said. Public-sector wages are budgeted to rise 20 percent in 2011 and 10 percent in 2012, helping to spur consumer spending, it said.

The naira, which may strengthen to 153 against the dollar by year-end and 150 by the end of 2012, “should help to lift consumer confidence and support the retail sector,” Morgan Stanley said. The wholesale and retail trade industry accounted for 19 percent of GDP in 2010, higher than oil, which makes up 15 percent, the bank said.
Morgan Stanley recommends investors buy shares in Guinness Nigeria Plc (GUINNESS), Nestle Foods Nigeria Plc (NESTLE), Diamond Bank Plc (DIAMONDB) and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. (GUARANTY)

Nigeria’s economic boom may push the market value of the equity index to $1 trillion in five years time from $74 billion currently, Oscar Onyema, chief executive officer of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, said today. South Africa’s bourse has a market value of $494 billion.

Wow

^^ Yeah, I ''Wow-ed'' to that too............. :shocked:

oi8EqEkdcrI
Jul 1, 2011
(www.abndigital.com)
The global financial services firm Morgan Stanley has released a report which says that Nigeria's economy is on a growth charge and could reach South Africa's current GDP levels of some $400 billion before the close of the decade, and overtake it by 2025. ABN's lerato Mbele speaks with Andrea Masia, Associate Economist at Morgan Stanley.
:cheers:

Senate screens Okonjo-Iweala today
MONDAY, 04 JULY 2011 18:32 ISAAC AREGBESOLA, ABUJA

•Jonathan deploys Ogiemwonyi, Maina

President Goodluck Jonathan has deployed two newly-appointed ministers to their ministries. The two ministers, according to Anyim Pius Anyim, secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), in a statement yesterday in Abuja are Zainab Maina and Oduah-Ogiemwonyi.

Zainab Maina, according to Anyim, is deployed to the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, while Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi goes to the Ministry of Aviation.

The two ministers were among the 14 ministerial nominees cleared by the Senate last week and sworn in by the president on Saturday.

It will be recalled that soon after the swearing in of the ministers, the president directed 12 of them who were re-appointed to revert to their former ministries.

Meanwhile, World Bank managing director, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, will today appear before the Senate to be screened for a position in Jonathan’s cabinet, presidential sources said on Monday.

Okonjo-Iweala, a respected former finance minister who helped negotiate debt relief in 2005, is expected to return to her old position but with added broad powers over economic management, sources close to the negotiations said. “She will appear before the Senate tomorrow as her name has already been sent to the Senate President’s office,” a presidential source told Reuters.

The State Security Service (SSS) gave Okonjo-Iweala clearance to be screened by lawmakers after a meeting at SSS offices in Abuja on Monday, another source said.

The return of so many familiar faces led Jonathan’s critics to question whether his new team will have the reformist credentials it needs. Okonjo-Iweala’s inclusion in Jonathan’s cabinet is expected to bring greater credibility to his reform ambitions.

Dangote concludes arrangements to build biggest fertilizer plant in Africa

From JAMES OJO, Abuja

Friday, July 8, 2011

Industrial and manufacturing giant, Dangote Group, has concluded arrangements to build the biggest fertilizer plant in Africa.


President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote who signed the contract with the Saipem Group’s Nigeria Country Manager, who is also the Managing Director of Saipem Contracting Nigeria Limited, Mr. Giuseppe Surace, said the agreement covers the engineering works for infrastructure that will launch the construction of the plant.


With the agreement, Saipem is to build for the Dangote Group a fertilizer plant for the production of 7.700 MTPD of granulated Urea, (two trains with a production capacity of 3,850 metric tons each per day), and it is expected to start production in 2014.

The plant, located in Edo State will utilize a substantial amount of the country’s significant gas resources, as a raw material in the Ammonia-Urea fertilizer process.


Ultimately, the project, when completed will make the country self-sufficient in fertilizer production, thereby saving it the huge foreign reserves presently spent on importation of fertilizer.


The Plant will be the largest in Africa as its closest competitor has installed capacity of only 1,000 metric tons per day of Ammonia and 1,500 metric tons per day of Urea compared with the Dangote plants of 2,200 metric tons per day for Ammonia and 3,850 metric tons per train per day of Urea.

The project, which will create thousands of direct and indirect jobs in construction and related fields, will provide a major boost to the agricultural sector by significantly reducing the importation of fertilizer in Nigeria and ultimately removing the need for imports when plant is in full production.


After the official signing ceremony, Dangote said he strongly shared the view of President Goodluck Jonathan that the country should not be importing those things we have the raw materials and natural advantage for producing locally and fertilizer is one of such products.


Dangote said: “There is no reason why Nigeria should be importing fertilizer, I am happy that with this agreement, by the time our plant is completed and commissioned, the country will become self sufficient in fertilizer production and even have the capacity to export the products to other African countries. Right now, farmers are forced to utilize whatever fertilizer that is available as they have no choice, but we need to know that the fertilizer that will work in Jigawa State may not be suitable in Adamawa State, as they may not have the same soil type and composition. The same fertilizer you use for sorghum may not be the fertilizer you will use for sugar cane.”


In addition, he said that: “There is no way we can on an annual basis be able to import over one million tons of fertilizer through the ports. There are issues of the capabilities of the Ports and transportation and the capability of the ports. But where are the ports? Even where you have the ports where are the modern equipment for their operations? We don’t have a good network of roads for evacuation anytime you have two or three ships of fertilizer docking, transporters will capitalize on the situation and continually increase the freight charge. Most time, the fertilizer ship arrives late and out of season. By the time we have the Dangote fertilizer plant on the ground, all these distortions will be removed and our economy will boom, because, since the agriculture that is already contributing 46-47 per cent to the GDP, will drastically increase its output and contribution to GDP.”


With an assurance that importation of fertilizer will be a thing of the past in Nigeria after the commissioning of the plant, Mr. Surace of SAIPEM said: “With the agreement signed, we will start the project immediately and by the beginning of 2012, we should start seeing physical construction of structures at the site.

I can confidently assure you that the plant will be ready for commissioning in July 2014.”


The Government of Edo State also lauded the project, describing it as a great initiative that will further enhance the developmental efforts of the government in the area of growth and massive employment generation.


Speaking on behalf of Edo State Government, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor, Amanokha Mika, said the people of the state will be the greatest beneficiary of the project, in terms of employment generation, with an assurance that the government will continue to provide the enabling environment needed for industries to grow and prosper in the state.


According to him: “The government of Edo State is highly delighted with this project. We are happy because the infrastructural development we are putting on the ground in Edo State is what attracted the Dangote Group in to citing the Plant in Edo State. Our people will be the major beneficiary of the initiative because we have seen from the blueprint that thousands of both direct and indirect jobs will be created in Edo State and our Comrade Governor, Adams Oshiomole, being a Labour man to the core, will always support projects geared towards job creation in his state.


Dangote Group is one of the most diversified business conglomerates in Africa with a hard - earned reputation for excellent business practices and products’ quality.


Saipem, after more than 44 years in Nigeria, has emerged as the leader in the provision of engineering, procurement, project management and construction services with distinctive capabilities in the design and the execution of large-scale projects, in the petrochemical sector.


http://odili.net/news/source/2011/jul/8/513.html

South Atlantic Petroleum Limited (SAPETRO), an indigenous oil company owned by General Theophilus Danjuma has reached agreement with ROC Oil Company Limited (ROC) to purchase ROC’s 75 percent participating interest in Juan de Nova Maritime Profond exclusive exploration permit, deep offshore Mozambique Channel.
This transaction, which is subject to partner waiver or approvals and French government approvals, will be completed through France based South Atlantic Petroleum JDN SAS, a wholly owned subsidiary of SAPETRO.

SAPETRO is a Nigerian exploration and production company with interest in the deep water block OML 130 and operatorship of offshore Block 1 in the Republic of Benin.

The Juan de Nova permit area is 53,000 km2 and is located in the Mozambique Channel. This large block contains a substantial portion of a new deep water exploration province adjacent to Anadarko’s recent discoveries in East Africa.


Read More (http://dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22810:sapetro-to-purchase-75-stake-in-mozambique-channel&catid=3:business&Itemid=3)

Written by Sunday Williams Tuesday,
05 July 2011 00:00

Nigeria has benefitted about $1.36 billion out of the $1.7 billion cassava green mite biological control program of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, the institute has said.
It said that Benin and Ghana have also benefitted about $305 million and $54 million, respectively in the last 18 years.

A statement from IITA said Dr. Ousmane Coulibaly, IITA Agricultural Economist describes the figure as ‘a conservative estimate.”

“The figure represents the amount those countries would have spent over the years on other methods such as chemical control and or yield losses if they never adopted biological control,” says Coulibaly during a seminar in Ibadan.

The cassava green mite is a pest that was responsible for between 30 and 50 percent yield loss of cassava in Africa, until a natural enemy of the pest helped contain the devastation


Read More (http://dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22324:nigeria-gets-136bn-from-cassava-bio-control--iita&catid=3:business&Itemid=3)

By Bassey Udo


July 14, 2011 01:08AM


The country's economy, in terms of real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), grew by about 6.64 percent in the first quarter of 2011, with agriculture and trade sectors jointly accounting for over 58 percent of the growth, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown.

Report of the quarterly establishment survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in conjunction with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for the period, attributed the 0.72 percent point decline from the 7.36 percent recorded for the corresponding period last year to decrease in crude oil production, manufacturing and other key sectors.

According to the report, real growth in agriculture in the first quarter of 2011 stood at 5.45 percent, as against 5.43 per cent recorded in the corresponding period last year, with the sector's contribution to the GDP for the quarter declining to 35.29 percent from 35.68 percent for the same period in 2010.

Similarly, wholesale/retail trades, whose output rose by about 0.60 percent points, from 9.54 percent last year to about 10.14 percent for the first quarter, with its contribution to the GDP achieving a marginal increase above the corresponding period in 2010, from 22.28 percent to 23.02 percent.

Read More (http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/National/Economy/5731271-146/story.csp)

6.64%¬!!!? :sleepy::sleepy:

6.64%¬!!!? :sleepy::sleepy:

That is real GDP growth

adjusted for inflation!

Nigeria-Germany bi-national commission under way -Jonathan

Written by
Friday, July 15, 2011


A Nigeria-Germany bi-national commission is to be established soon, to oversee the expansion of economic cooperation between both countries.


This was disclosed in Abuja, on Thursday, by President Goodluck Jonathan, at a luncheon he hosted in honour of visiting German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.


President Jonathan said the commission would be headed by the ministers of Foreign Affairs of both countries and had ministers responsible for finance, trade, commerce and economic relations as members.


The president said he expected further talks on the establishment of the commission to be held in October, when the Minister of Foreign Affairs would lead a Nigerian delegation to Germany, ahead of his official visit to the country next year.


In her remarks, Ms Merkel said she expected a memorandum of understanding for the establishment of the commission to be concluded when the Nigerian delegation visited Berlin in October.


"Germany offers its partnership to you. We are more than willing to work with you on a very broad range of issues and to ensure that both countries and people benefit from increased bilateral cooperation between us," the German chancellor said.


She added that she looked forward to hosting President Jonathan in Berlin next year, expressing the hope that in the course of his visit, more areas of cooperation between Germany and Nigeria would be identified.


The German chancellor also congratulated President Jonathan on his victory in the April 9 presidential election, saying that the overwhelming mandate he received showed that the vast majority of Nigerians had placed their trust and confidence in his leadership.

Investment ministry to create Diaspora fund, targets $18.6bn
Wednesday, July 20, 2011


By Omoh Gabriel, Business Editor

LAGOS - The Ministry of Trade and Investment is planning to float a Diaspora Fund as part of strategies aimed at unlocking available capital for investment in critical sectors of the economy.

Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, who disclosed this at a press briefing to unveil the activities of the ministry in Lagos, yesterday, said the ministry had been expanded, refocussed and re-branded so that it could play its proper role of driving the nation's economy.

He said the ministry was structuring the Nigeria in Diaspora fund to target the well over $20 billion in the hands of Nigerians abroad to invest in the country.

He disclosed that by World Bank record, close to $18.6 billion was remitted by Nigerians in Diaspora into the country, adding that the Diaspora Fund will be inaugurated in September this year "after all the approvals are in place."
Giving further insights into the strategies to be adopted by the ministry to fast track investment flows into the country Aganga noted that the ministry would focus on investments, sources of funds and the creation of a conducive investment climate for industrial growth, adding that there was enough capital within and outside the country to drive the required double-digit growth that would lead Nigeria becoming one of the leading 20 economies in the world by 2020.

He said, "We have so many Nigerians in the Diaspora. The economies of many countries were built based on investments from people living abroad. We are in the process of structuring a fund, which we hope to put in place sometime in September when all the approvals are in place. That fund will be targeting those Nigerians in the Diaspora.

"They will come in, bring their money and invest. According to the World Bank, in 2009, about $18.6billion was remitted to this country by Nigerians in the Diaspora. If we take half of that, and channel it the right way into the country, we will have enough capital to invest in this country. That is just focusing only on what you already have."
He disclosed that the ministry was working with key stakeholders to create a conducive environment for investment in the country, adding that the laws and policies guiding investments must be investor-friendly.

"We have commenced a review of all the laws and policies. However, most of our laws are friendly, just that investors are not even aware of these laws and policies. We want to make sure that we do not just review them but that we also have them in a form that is easily accessible to both local and international investors," the minister noted.

He pointed out that the ministry would also operationalise the Sovereign Wealth Fund, which was created partly because of investments. He added that the N2trillion pension fund was also "sticky, long-term money" that should be unlocked for investment in key sectors, especially infrastructure.

He said, "We will also be looking at pension funds. We are sitting on about N2trillion. Of course, you have to make sure that the assets are safe and that the money is available to pay back pensioners in the future, but in many countries, one of the reasons they have such funds is to be able to put it back in the economy. We have been very cautious about that in the past and that was the right thing to do. But perhaps the time has come for us to say, how can we unlock it in a safe way, in a responsible way, such that it will still be available in the future to pay back pensioners?

"Pension funds all over the world are the biggest investors. If you go to the United States, the United Kingdom, most parts of the world, it is the same. And it is sticky money, long-term money. In this country, we're looking for sticky, long-term money. Since we are looking at investing in infrastructure, it means we are looking for long-term money. And pension fund is sticky and long-term. So, we must find a way of unlocking that."

On the area of trade, Aganga said that the ministry would focus on trade imbalance between Nigeria and other countries. "We will reactivate our export and free trade zones. We have many of them but they are not working the way they should.

We will also be developing a healthy, strong small and medium enterprise sector and make sure that they have all what they require to make them succeed," he noted.

He said a team of experts would be raised to restructure the ministry and professionalise it "with a view to making the various departments efficient and effective. The committee should determine capacity gaps in each of the departments and recommend how these gaps can be filled."

He said that the ministry will activate the various export free zones in the country and create industrial clusters for SME to operate in a more cost effective manner. He said that the Government is working with the Lagos Business School to develop SME through the 23 enterprise centers in the country.

http://odili.net/news/source/2011/jul/20/327.html

^^ diaspora send back remittances, but the gov't has to be entirely transparent in how it handles the money for it to be used successfully..but wow over $18 billion. I read on All Africa that Africans abroad sent home less than $50 billion (I think it was around $35 billion), so that $18 billion is a huge amount.

Flour Mills eyes power sector

REUTERS

July 22, 2011 12:34AM
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Nigeria’s Flour Mills will seek shareholders’ approval to raise fresh capital and diversify its portfolio to include power generation, the company said on Thursday.

Nigeria is planning a multi-billion dollar privatisation of its power sector to end constant blackouts which have long been a brake on growth in sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest economy.

The power road map has solicited interest from investors in electricity distribution and power stations.

Flour Mills, which has business interest spanning cement, haulage, fertilizer and food manufacturing said in a notice it will seek the approval at a meeting on September 7 and could engage in electricity generation and distribution.

Treasury director, Vlassis Liakouris told Reuters in December that Flour Mills intended to invest at least 20 billion naira a year for the next two to three years to finance growth.

Flour Mills in December raised 37.5 billion naira ($246 million) in five-year bonds, the first tranche of a planned 70 billion naira debt programme, Nigeria’s first corporate debt issue outside the banking sector in recent years.

The company, which sells flour to food manufacturers and pasta directly to consumers, plans either a rights issue or approach new investors to raise capital.

Local press reports quoted chairman George Coumantaros in June saying Flour Mills intends to invest in capital projects to expand its operation and said the company planned to raise 30-40 billion naira in equity.

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Guinness, Diageo Set to Invest N56bn in Nigeria

23 Jul 2011

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Vice President Namadi Sambo

By Obinna Chima

The Nigerian brewing industry is set for a major turnaround as Guinness Nigeria Plc and its United Kingdom parent company, Diageo Plc, have concluded plans to invest N56 billion (£225 million) in the industry.
The move is part of Guinness Nigeria’s effort to expand the capacity of its brewing operations in Nigeria. The company said it was also its strategy to extend its commitment to the development of the Nigerian economy.

A statement by Guinness Nigeria Plc, which was made available to THISDAY Friday, explained that on completion of the expansion project, the company would create additional 200 permanent jobs in Nigeria. The investment is also to enable it retain its market share.

According to the statement, the expansion project became imperative in order for the company to be able to meet the growing demand for Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, Harp Lager Beer and its other brands sold nationwide.
It said the investment would include the upgrade of existing facilities as well as increase the brewing capacity of both Benin and Ogba Breweries.

Commenting on the development, Managing Director, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Devlin Hainsworth, said: "Nigeria is an exciting and vibrant place to do business, and the increased demand for our iconic brands such as Guinness and Harp requires us to invest in our breweries and infrastructure.
"Guinness Nigeria is a significant contributor to economic growth through paying taxes to government, generating capital growth and distributing dividends to our many shareholders and creating broad-based wealth through our extensive value chain. We are delighted that we will create a significant number of jobs for Nigerians upon completion of the project."

On his part, President, Diageo Africa, Nick Blazquez, who accompanied the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister, David Cameron to Nigeria, during the week, stated: "Diageo is proud of its history and the heritage that Guinness Nigeria has with over 60 years brewing experience in the country.

"Guinness Nigeria has become a flagship Nigerian company, so much so that Nigerians take pride in the fact that their country is the second biggest Guinness market in the world with ‘Nigerian’ Guinness now being exported to the United Kingdom.
This investment underscores Diageo’s confidence in Nigeria and its people and is an affirmation of our belief in its future as a growth economy and prosperous nation."

Guinness Nigeria had recently established a new brewery house in its Ogba factory which was commissioned in February by the United Kingdom Minister for Africa, Henry Bellingham MP.

THISDAY check showed that Guinness Nigeria continued its strong performance in Nigeria as its revenue grew by 23 per cent in its financial year 2010, due to an aggressive marketing strategy of its broad line of products compared to same period last year.
This growth was primarily driven by its Guinness, Malta Guinness and Harp brands, which all experienced higher demand during the period.

Guinness Nigeria also continues to seek expansion opportunities in Nigeria by acquiring smaller brewers especially those serving the low-end markets, the company had earlier expanded its capacity by 5 million hectolitres in 2010.
The demand for brewery products remains strong in spite of economic downturn and decline in consumer purchasing. The share price of Guinness Nigeria stood at N243 per share as at yesterday.
The company is also reputed for its high dividend payout profile.

^^ diaspora send back remittances, but the gov't has to be entirely transparent in how it handles the money for it to be used successfully..but wow over $18 billion. I read on All Africa that Africans abroad sent home less than $50 billion (I think it was around $35 billion), so that $18 billion is a huge amount.
It is likely to be a privately-managed fund (or funds) targeted at Nigerians abroad.

Nigeria Reviewing Its Trade Policy, to Eliminate Obsolete Regulations

By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo - Aug 24, 2011 5:47 PM GMT+0100

Nigeria is reviewing its trade policy to remove obsolete regulations and evolve a strategy to address imbalance in commercial exchanges with other countries, Trade and Investment Minister Olusegun Aganga said.

“Currently, Nigeria does not have a comprehensive and coherent trade-policy framework to adequately govern and guide the nation on domestic and international trade,” Aganga was quoted as saying in an e-mailed statement today by the ministry.

A draft policy will be ready by November and will come into effect in January next year, according to the statement.

Nigerian investors to spend 1.5 trillion naira on investment
Posted on 24 August. 2011 Back to news home

By Jack Acheme, Lagos

Local investors in Nigeria will in the next one year spend a total of 1.5 trillion naira in various non-oil sector of the nation’s economy, as government approves multiple Visas for foreign investors.

The Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga, at a one-day Agric-business and Agro-industrial seminar organised by the ministry, said the investment commitment from the organised private sectors was as a result of a stakeholders meeting held recently in Lagos, south west Nigeria, with focus on what government and the organised private sector can do differently to improve the economy.

Aganga said that 166 non-oil indigenous firms had finalised plans to invest 1.5 trillion Naira in the Nigerian economy within the next 12 months.

The Minister stated that the 1.5 trillion Naira commitment by the local investors “is an indication that things are moving in the right direction, and shows the confidence they have in the economy.

Ensuring economic growth

The investment figure, which is a conservative one, was arrived at after an analysis of the survey forms filled by the companies during the ministry’s maiden meeting with the Organised Private Sector (OPS) and captains of industry two weeks ago.

The meeting according to him was a major step forward in the efforts aimed at job creation and economic growth.

“During our meeting with the Organised Private Sector, we asked them to fill a survey form to indicate the sectors they want to invest in, and more importantly, the expected investment they intend to bring into that sector going forward. The objective was to know the level of investment we can get from the companies in Nigeria before we talk about Foreign Direct Investments,” Aganga said.

The investors

Report says that of the total 1.5 trillion Naira, the President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, is expected to invest 900 billion Naira in the production of fertiliser and petro-chemicals.

The Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) Plc pledged to invest 45 billion Naira; Guinness Nigeria Plc, 225 million dollars; Odua Investment Company Limited, 37 billion Naira; and Chairman, Ikeja Hotels Plc, Mr Goodie Ibru, 6 million dollars; among others.

According to the survey, the manufacturing, real estate, agro-allied and automotive sectors will get 1.06 trillion Naira, 198.5 billion Naira, 67.8 billion Naira and 45 billion Naira investments respectively, while tourism, trade and commerce, transport and others will make up the rest.

Aganga commended the Nigerian investors for their confidence in the Nigerian economy.

He said that the trade ministry especially, will work with each one of them on how to make it easier for them to invest the proposed 1.5 trillion Naira and invest more in their expansion programme.


Multiple visas for foreign investors

As part of innovation and response to complaints, which was raised by investors on difficulties, which prospective investors faced when trying to obtain entry visas to come to Nigeria, the federal government has approved for foreign investor coming to Nigeria, to have multiple visas.

Aganga explained that the visas could be obtained before or at the point of entry into the country.

“One of the idea that is important is that when investors come into the country, they are able to have multiple visas or they have visa at the point of entry. I’m delighted to announced that the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs and the Trade and Investment have met, discussed and taken the complaints further to the government and it has been approved’’ Aganga declared.

He added that by this development, genuine foreign investors coming to Nigeria can now obtain their visas on arrival.

At the end of the one-day workshop, stakeholders are expected to come out with a roadmap for the implementation of the Nigerian Agric-business and Agro-industries Development Initiative

Nigeria, Africa's most optimistic market - MasterCard survey


By: Issa Sikiti da Silva
29 Jan 2010

Nigeria's consumer confidence scored a huge 89.4, making it by far the most optimistic market surveyed in Africa and the second most optimistic market in the entire Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa region after Vietnam at 90.0, according to a recent survey released yesterday, 28 January 2010 in Johannesburg, South Africa by MasterCard Worldwide.
The MasterCard Worldwide Consumer Confidence Index, which is released twice a year and has for the first time included three African countries, said Nigeria's overwhelming consumer optimism comes as a result of scores of between 90.0 and 96.6 for four of the five measurement indices.

The survey, which was based on economy, unemployment, stock market, quality of life and regular incom
e, said however that Nigeria's lowest indicator is its stock market.
With a population of 130 million, Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation and it is believed that the country has become the primary investment target of foreign companies due to its size of market.

Roelof Botha, independent economic advisor, said: "Where in the world is the country going to get a positive growth if its population continues to shrink? You tell me why Japan should get huge positive growth if its population continues to decline?

"Take the SADC region for instance. We have a population of 250 million people - the third most populated region in the world and it is huge!

In stark comparison, Kenya scored a pessimistic 47.9, the lowest out of the four African markets surveyed.

"Kenyans are only marginally optimistic about their stock market, scoring 51.4 and slightly more optimistic about earning a regular income - with a score of 61.7," Anthony West, general manager of MasterCard Worldwide, said.

The survey said with scores of 40.1, 43.5, and 42.7 for quality of life, economy and unemployment respectively, Kenya has the second-lowest consumer confidence score across the APMEA region, trailed only by Japan's score of 24.4 and narrowly falling behind the Philippines' score of 49.7.

Morocco's score of 66.1 is relatively positive. While employment, economy, stock market and quality of life all scored between 60.8 and 64.0, Morocco's regular Income index is the most optimistic with a score of 80.7.

"When compared to results from the rest of the region, the African markets surveyed displayed resilience in the face of the past recession, however they are not showing as much of a speedy recovery in consumer confidence," West explained.

"It is encouraging that the total score for the African markets surveyed (66.4) is on par with that of the Asia/Pacific region (66.3)," Botha said.

He added: "There is a lot of business ventures going on now in sub-Saharan Africa, and I have no doubt that business in Africa is expanding and will expand as the global economy recovers.

"Although the African markets lag behind those in the Middle East (74.5), the latter region's scores have been influenced by the relatively high level of optimism in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, all of whom are benefiting from the strong increase in oil price since April 2009."

With a population of 130 million, Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation and it is believed that the country has become the primary investment target of foreign companies due to its size of market.
:gaah:

Eddeux, do we honestly know how many people are in Nigeria :lol: 150 milion, 1 in 4 Africans, :dunno:

150 million is the agreed upon estimate, even though it's more than likely higher.

Nigeria's population by year:
2008: 150 million
2009: 150 million
2010: 150 million
2011: 150 million
2015: 150 million
:D

The World Bank and the UN need to compare notes then :D

Where did they get 150 mil from?

The census was highly flawed.. This is all guesswork. I don't think anyone knows what our population is.

Well I suppose a reasonable guess would be anywhere between Japan's (127 million) and Pakistan's (170 million)...

Potential of Mobile Banking in Nigeria

obSY8Y5JfSc
Uploaded by ABNDigital on Aug 30, 2011

(www.abndigital.com)
The growth of mobile telephony in emerging economies has sparked the development of other value added services such as the internet and mobile banking. The Central Bank of Nigeria recently issued operating licences to 11 mobile payment providers, which has set the tone for the possible explosion of mobile money. ABN's Wole Famurewa looks at the potential of mobile banking in Nigeria and its attractiveness to investors

Investment Flows into Nigeria with Zin Bekkali

TEUhQQ20LwQ

Uploaded by ABNDigital on Aug 29, 2011

(www.abndigital.com)
One of the changes made to Nigeria's administrative landscape is the creation by the Federal Government of the Ministry of Trade and Investment as a replacement for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The philosophy behind this change is to lay emphasis on the crucial nature of trade and investment to the country's economic growth. Joining ABN's Lerato Mbele on the line from The Hague in the Netherlands is Zin Bekkali, Chief Executive Officer, Silk Invest Limited.

Nigeria Sees First Iron Ore Output In 2012, Says Aganga

Reuters

Nigeria expects the first significant iron ore production next year from its Itakpe iron ore deposits as it looks to reduce its dependence on oil and gas revenues, a government official said Friday.


"Unfortunately, once we found oil, all the attention went to oil and we neglected (other areas)... mining is one of the key areas that we want to diversify into," Olusegun Aganga, minister of trade and investment, told Reuters at a mining conference in Perth, Australia.


The West African country, which gets nearly 80 percent of its revenues from oil and gas production, will start receiving revenue from iron ore production next year, he said.


The Itakpe iron ore deposit contains 3 billion tonnes of iron ore reserves, according to the minister.


Aganga said initial production from the mine is expected to be 2 million tonnes a year, ramping up to 20 million tonnes annually in five years, a development that will help Nigeria establish a track record in the mining industry and allow it to attract more investors.


source (http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/nigeria-sees-first-iron-ore-output-in-2012-says-aganga/97650/)

Ekiti finalises N25bn bond fundraising
Thursday, 08 September 2011 16:46 Iheanyi Nwachukwu
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The Ekiti State government has finalised the process of raising a N25billion bond from the capital market, the state government officials told BusinessDay Thursday.

This disclosure comes ahead of Governor Kayode Fayemi’s meeting next Friday with captains of industry in Lagos, a platform aimed at attracting the necessary investment to the state.

When raised, the N25billion bond will be channelled into the state government’s eight-point agenda which covers good governance, infrastructural development, modernised agriculture, educational and human capital development, health care services, industrial development, tourism, and women empowerment.

“Successive governments in the state have implemented a number of fiscal and economic policies to put the state on a sound economic footing but with little or no success,” Oska Seyi Aiyeleso, director general, Ekiti State Enterprise & Economic Development Agency disclosed to select journalists in Lagos.

“This business meeting between the Governor of Ekiti State and Captains of Industry in Nigeria is the brainchild of the Ekiti Enterprise Development Agency (EEDA), an agency set up to act as a catalyst for the development of the economy of Ekiti State,” Aiyeleso said.

He added that since creation in 1996, Ekiti has remained an agrarian state struggling with developmental issues which include poor infrastructural supports and poor industrial base. “It is crucially imperative that private sector investment is up-scaled to drive even greater benefits to the current administration and the citizens of Ekiti.

It is therefore against that background that this interactive session between the state government and the business community is being put together to provide the platform for a very robust dialogue centered on economic and enterprise development of Ekiti,” Aiyeleso added.

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Uploaded by ABNDigital on Sep 8, 2011

(www.abndigital.com)
Yesterday Flour Mills of Nigeria held their AGM, at which shareholders approved the dividend, re-elected the director and also approved the proposed rights issue. ABN's Wole Famurewa speaks with Vlassis Liakouris, Group Treasurer of Flour Mills of Nigeria, in our Lagos studio to take the discussion further.

FG secures N3trn investment commitment in 100 days
Thursday, 08 September 2011 15:33 ISAAC AREGBESOLA, ABUJA

…To commence cement exportation next year

Security situation in the country notwithstanding, the efforts of the Federal Government at attracting investment into the country have started yielding positive results, as Nigeria is set to witness unprecedented investment in the next one year.

The Ministry of Trade and Investment said it has secured a firm commitment of investment worth over N3 trillion, out of which about N1.5 trillion is expected to come to fruition in the next one year from about 20 companies in the non-oil sector.


Olusegun Aganga, minister of trade and investment who disclosed this Thursday in Abuja during a press briefing to mark the first 100 days of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, hinted that Nigeria will become an exporter of cement next year as it is set to have the largest cement producing plant in the world.

The minister, while stressing that mechanisms have been put in place to ensure that “we get our industries back to work and encourage the development of new ones”, stressed that the ministry planned to work with the companies which have shown commitment to realising their expansion programmes and to extend the survey to other companies.

Aganga explained that that about N34 billion of investment commitment was also secured from about 18 companies in the agribusiness and agro allied sector at a meeting held with key players in Lagos, hinting that the ministry is working with the sector on a government policy that will lead to significant investments and create jobs in the next few months.

Nigeria's New Import Policy Aimed at Favouring Manufacturers

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www.abndigital.com)
President Goodluck Jonathan recently unveiled a new import policy being pursued by the Federal Government that would favour manufacturers. Joining ABN's Lerato Mbele from Lagos to discuss the new Economic Management Team's economic policies is Esili Eigbe, from corporate and investment banking research at Stanbic Bank.

awesome news! biggest cement factory in the world! damn

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Nigeria Sells 70 Billion Naira of Bonds, Yields Rise




September 15, 2011, 2:07 PM EDT
By Emele Onu

Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Nigeria sold 70 billion naira ($448 million) of bonds at an auction with yields for 5-year and 10- year notes rising while that for 3-year debt declined.

Africa’s biggest oil producer sold 20 billion naira debt due 2015 at 11.25 percent, 6 basis points higher than the last auction on Aug. 17, and 25 billion naira of bonds due in 2018 at 11.49 percent, or 10 basis points higher. The yield for 25 billion naira of 2014 notes was 2.5 basis points lower at 10.50 percent, according to details published today on the website of the Debt Management Office.

“Most traders had high expectations about interest rate hike but some lowered theirs after inflation figures were released yesterday,” Tayo Omidji, head of research at Lagos-based Sterling Capital Ltd. said today by phone. “It explains the rise in yields and also the decline witnessed.”

Nigeria raised its key rate to 8.75 percent on July 26, the fourth increase this year, to rein in inflation. Another rate announcement is due on Sept. 20. Price growth in the West African country decelerated to 9.3 percent in August, the lowest level in more than three years, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.

Though investors bid for 2.7 times the amount on offer, there was no change in allotment, according to the Debt Management Office.

--Editors: Dulue Mbachu, Emily Bowers.

To contact the reporter on this story: Emele Onu in Lagos at eonu1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Ana Monteiro at amonteiro4@bloomberg.net

Jonathan hails Hyundai's Nigerian shipyard plan


The federal government will continue to vigorously implement socio-economic and security reforms that will encourage more foreign investors to come to Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan said Thursday in Abuja.

Speaking at an audience with Jai-Seong Lee, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hyundai Heavy Industries of South Korea, Mr. Jonathan said the Federal Government fully realizes the importance of greater foreign investment for Nigeria's efforts to generate more employment for its youthful population.

The president also welcomed the decision by Hyundai Heavy Industries to establish a multi-billion dollar shipyard at Brass, Bayelsa state, noting that its completion next year will significantly boost Nigeria's economic development and create plenty of jobs for the local population.
He said his administration will, therefore, continue to do everything possible to attract more investors to labour-intensive sectors of the Nigerian economy.
"Hyundai has a long-standing relationship with Nigeria. You have always played a key role in our economy, especially our oil industry. We appreciate what you have done and are elated by your latest investment in the Shipyard at Brass," the President told Mr. Lee.

Mr Jonathan assured Mr Lee that relevant government ministries and agencies will give Hyundai all necessary support to ensure that the shipyard is completed on schedule.

Mr. Lee was accompanied by the Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva and other Hyundai executives.
He told the President that on completion, the first phase of the Brass Shipyard will provide employment for at least 2,000 Nigerians.

Jonathan hails Hyundai's Nigerian shipyard plan


The federal government will continue to vigorously implement socio-economic and security reforms that will encourage more foreign investors to come to Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan said Thursday in Abuja.

Speaking at an audience with Jai-Seong Lee, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hyundai Heavy Industries of South Korea, Mr. Jonathan said the Federal Government fully realizes the importance of greater foreign investment for Nigeria's efforts to generate more employment for its youthful population.

The president also welcomed the decision by Hyundai Heavy Industries to establish a multi-billion dollar shipyard at Brass, Bayelsa state, noting that its completion next year will significantly boost Nigeria's economic development and create plenty of jobs for the local population.
He said his administration will, therefore, continue to do everything possible to attract more investors to labour-intensive sectors of the Nigerian economy.
"Hyundai has a long-standing relationship with Nigeria. You have always played a key role in our economy, especially our oil industry. We appreciate what you have done and are elated by your latest investment in the Shipyard at Brass," the President told Mr. Lee.

Mr Jonathan assured Mr Lee that relevant government ministries and agencies will give Hyundai all necessary support to ensure that the shipyard is completed on schedule.

Mr. Lee was accompanied by the Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva and other Hyundai executives.
He told the President that on completion, the first phase of the Brass Shipyard will provide employment for at least 2,000 Nigerians.

South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy says not building Nigerian shipyard
By Associated Press


SEOUL, South Korea — Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. is denying a statement from Nigeria’s presidential office that it plans to build a multibillion dollar shipyard in the country.

Hyundai Heavy spokesman Kim Moon-ju said Friday that the company has no such plan.

A statement late Thursday from President Goodluck Jonathan’s office said the shipyard would be built in Brass in Bayelsa state, his home region.

Kim said that Hyundai Heavy President Lee Jai-seong made no such comment during a trip to the country. Kim said the company is building a small pipe-manufacturing factory in Bayelsa.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, faces crushing unemployment and poverty. The government has promised other projects in the past that failed to materialize.


Source (http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/south-koreas-hyundai-heavy-says-not-building-nigerian-shipyard/2011/09/16/gIQAfShvWK_story.html)

^^oh well at least they're building something. perhaps a shipyard is a bit far off in the future.

A 1000 mega watts capacity coal power plant will soon be established in Gombe State.
Mr Jitender Sachdev, Group President of Skipper Nig. Ltd., made this known in Gombe when he paid a courtesy visit to the state governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwambo.

He said the state was endowed with some of the finest coals in the world comparable with those from Australia. Sachdev said thatid the project would be the first of its kind in the country.

The group president said they were in Gombe to present a proposal to the state government on agriculture, especially in production and processing of tomatoes, cassava and rice.

"We are going to train farmers, teach them how to cultivate and get the highest harvest.

"Foods are perishable items and so you need to know how to preserve them and market them," he said.

Maize 'Green Revolution' Underway
Olayemi R. Ibrahim


Nigeria will raise maize production to 20 million tons per annum up from the current 8 millions tons in the next few years, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akin Adesina has said.

The move is part of efforts to enhance food security, create jobs and protect Nigeria from the effects of rising food prices, Adesina said during a meeting with a team of maize experts in Abuja.

Dr. Adesina said the new efforts would transform the maize industry and make farming more profitable.

Maize is consumed by millions of Nigerians and its productivity has been hindered by low adoption of improved seeds, poor seed quality, little or no use of fertilizers, low investment in research funding and poor extension services.

In the 1980s, Nigeria experienced a silent Maize Revolution in the savannah but the transformation was not sustained.

"We have begun a journey of transformation, a journey to re-engineer Nigerian agriculture for high impact and success," the Minister said.

Increasing maize production will ensure food security and generate income and jobs.

Adesina called on experts to translate research and innovations into impacts on farmers' fields, adding that "we must do this at a scale that can reduce hunger and poverty."

According to him, government has resolved to "rebuild the broken walls of Nigeria's agriculture, and "Our resolve is clear: Grow Nigerian Agriculture."

The maize team, on Sunday, submitted a blueprint on how to achieve the new targets.

Dr. Sam Ajala, IITA Maize Breeder, said the focus on maize was a step in the right direction.

"If you look at maize, it has the highest return on investment compared with other crops. So if we are able to get it right in maize it will be great," he said.

Consortium to Invest U.S.$600 Million in Power Distribution

A consortium comprising Nigerian, American and French power distribution experts and financiers has indicated interest in investing about $600 million in Nigeria's emerging electricity market.

The team, which was recently received by the Chairman of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi, at a breakfast meeting in Abuja, included an American power company, Symbion Power Limited Liability Company (LLC), and Finagestion of France led by its Nigerian venture partner, Pro-Global Power Consortium.

The group was in Nigeria to ascertain the feasibility of participating in the country's emerging power sector, considering ongoing reforms in the sector.

While enquiring from NERC, the modalities for obtaining operation license to participate in power generation and distribution in Nigeria, they specifically disclosed their intention to commit about $600 million in Nigeria's distribution networks in line with the on-going privatisation exercise in the power sector, adding that they had also been qualified to participate in the bid process for the Enugu and Abuja distribution companies.

Amadi, in his response to their intention and worries said the Nigerian power sector was gradually evolving to attain a zero percent policy reversal considering sustained efforts of government to open up the sector for private investment.

He added that most of the risk factors like Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) associated with the sector were being sorted out by relevant agencies of governments to ensure returns on investment for expected investors.

Consultant to the consortium, Mr. Okigwe Ofoegbu, told reporters that the consortium had apart from putting in bids for the Enugu and Abuja distribution companies, was also in contention for the Geregu thermal power plant in Kogi State and would in due time seek to invest in power generation.

He explained that it had galvanised funds from private equity fund managers in the United States as well as the United States Export-Import Bank to ensure consistency in funding its projects in distribution networks.

"We put in bids for distribution networks in Nigeria and have been shortlisted for the Enugu and Abuja discos, we intend to replicate our expertise within Nigeria, and will be working with these international partners to provide electricity for Nigerians."

Accordingly, both Cymbion and Finagestion are renowned Engineering, Procurement and Construction firms in electricity sector with proven records in power distribution facility management in Afghanistan and some other Middle East countries.

Nokia Siemens Networks to Boost Capacity in the Country

Lagos — As part of efforts to boost Information and Communication Technology capacity utilizations among government's agencies and businesses in the country, Nokia Siemens Networks has opened a new office in Nigeria.

The Head of Africa Region, Nokia Siemens Networks, Mr. Dimitri Diliani, said the opening of the Nigerian office was part of its 'Internet for every African' vision, adding that Nigeria is an important country in this vision.

Diliani who spoke at the inauguration of the office at the Banana Island in Lagos, said having point of presence in Nigeria was as part of the company's renewed focus on the African continent.

He explained that Nokia Siemens Networks restructured and separated its Africa operations at the beginning of 2011.

Diliani said, "The African market is growing at a strong pace and we felt the need to provide additional focus to support this growth. Our new office in Lagos will serve as an integral part of our strategy to strengthen our operations in the continent and deliver superior services to our customers."

The Country Director for Nokia Siemens networks, Mr. Raphael Udeogu in a presentation at the event bemoaned the low utilisation of ICT resources in Nigeria with reference to the results of the 2011 Connectivity Scorecard, which is the first study to rank 50 countries worldwide on ICT infrastructure deployment and the extent to which the infrastructure is put to efficient use.

He said, "On a benchmark scale of 10, Nigeria scores a low '1.09' and ranks 23rd on the list of developing countries (or resource & efficiency driven economies) measured in the overall study."

Even though there is a positive increase in mobile penetration and a strong demand for Internet services, there needs to be a strong improvement in broadband services, literacy rates, business infrastructure and ICT utilisation in business and public sectors, he said.

UK offers Nigeria access to £90bn pounds fund to boost infrastructure

By Taiwo Hassan




BRITAIN has urged the Federal Government to initiate plans to access part of the United Kingdom's 90 billion pounds investment funds to boost the country's infrastructure and economy.


UK offers Nigeria access to 90 billion pounds fund to boost infrastructure

The offer came barely over a month after the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, visited Nigeria.

Stating this was the Lord Mayor of the City of London; Alderman Michael Bear, when he led a trade delegation to the country this week.

Bear said for Nigeria to play important global economic role, the country need to have pursue the three Cs approaches: Commodity-which the oil represent, Capital leverage and Creativity that will enable the country diversify the economy.

The London Mayor, who was hosted by the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) in Lagos, said Nigeria has the potential to attract part of the 90 billion pounds earmarked by the British government for investment in any part of the world that it sees as good opportunity.

According to him, since capital has a choice, Nigeria was among the countries chosen to attract part of the funds, adding that it is now left for government to access the investment fund.

Speaking at the September breakfast forum of the chamber, Michael Bear, said one of the major criteria for a major capital city to attract foreign direct investment is openness to other people and countries.

"We have something we will like to share with Nigeria and so do others," he said.

The mayor also added that a country must possess a business-friendly environment based on transparency.

"What you need", according to him, "is predictability, stability and transparency within the business and financial environment."

He explained that transparency was very important in global business, stressing that Nigeria should entrench a level of predictability in policy, dispute resolution and common law.

Another criterion for making Nigeria a global finance and business centre, the Mayor added, was business infrastructure.

"Every business needs power and communication. People need to get to work without wasting time. Infrastructure pays for itself and creates good jobs. In the city of London, we have realised that one British pound spent on infrastructure generates about two and a half British pounds," Bear said.

He maintained that the fourth prerequisite for a mega city was good communication, which opens the way for global attention. There should be electronic and physical information communication because businesses can only thrive where business risks, financing risks and sovereign risks are reduced to barest minimum.

"The fifth, according to the Mayor, is a business cluster, stressing that "those are the five reasons that make the city of London a world business hub, and we love to share with you a roadmap on how you can achieve your aspirations towards being a world business centre. If you follow our example, your GDP will increase to about $60 billion."

Bear however, stressed that the five major criteria were what make the city of London a number one choice as a global centre for finance and business, adding that these could be replicated not only in Lagos State, but Nigeria as a whole to make the country a choice destination for more British investmentYou need to create jobs. You need to create exports and diversify away from a single commodity economy," he said.

Earlier in his presentation, the NBCC President, Thomas Awagu, while welcoming the Mayor and his trade team, said Nigeria was willing and ready to have more British investments spread into various areas of the country's economy that are yet to be fully tapped into.

"We are seeking to establish new business partnerships in London," Awagu said.

The NBCC President however, called for greater support from the British High Commission, various government agencies in Nigeria and Britain as well as viable private sector leaders willing to have business ties with the British business community.

Lafarge Cement to raise N50bn bond
Thursday, 22 September 2011 00:00 Iheanyi Nwachukwu


•Tranche A rated A+ by Augusto & Co., AA – by GCR

Lafarge Cement Wapco plc, the Nigerian unit of the world’s biggest cement maker, Lafarge, on Wednesday disclosed its plans to issue a N50 billion ($318 million) bond to refinance part of the company’s existing variable interest loan facilities on the Lakatabu Expansion Project at Ewekoro, aimed at doubling its capacity.

This development underlines investors confidence in the Nigerian capital market and the potential of the deep cement market in Nigeria.

Fred Amobi, finance director, Lafarge Cement Wapco, said the company targets a yield of 10-11 percent for the planned three-year bond and that it would issue the paper through a book-building process which would end on September 27, 2011.
There is also a plan to list the bonds on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on October 3. Amobi spoke at the company’s Investors Forum in Lagos and Abuja, where it announced the Bond Issuance Programme which was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on September 16, 2011.

“The bond will be secured using the existing security structure of the Syndicated Multi-currency Medium Term Facilities and the bond holders represented by trustees will share in the all assets debenture set up by the company and will rank pari passu with all the existing facility lenders,” Amobi said.

Also at the forum, Samy Abdelkader, Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer, Lafarge Cement Wapco, said: “The bond issuance is part of a planned programme to optimise the medium term debts of the company and thereby address the volatility inherent in the large proportion of the variable interest loan facilities.”

Abdelkader said: “Currently, approximately 75% of the company’s medium term debts attract floating interest rates”.

The Series 1 of the Bond Issuance Programme was rated A+ by Agusto & Co and AA- by Global Credit Rating Co. (GCR) on the strength of the company’s robust security structure, market positioning and future cash flows.

The lead issuing house for the Bond Issuance Programme is Chapel Hill Advisory Partners Limited. Joint Issuing Houses include Access Bank Plc, Citibank Nigeria Limited, Ecobank Plc, FBN Capital Limited, FCMB Capital Markets Limited, First Securities Discount House Limited, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Keystone Bank Limited, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Standard Chartered Bank Limited and Union Capital Markets Limited.

The company’s new plant, Ewekoro II, code named “Lakatabu” produced its first clinker in July 2011. Ewekoro II has 2.2 million metric tonnes per annum cement production capacity, which will bring the company’s total production capacity to 4.2 million metric tonnes per annum, after inauguration in the next few weeks.

The new plant is supported by a 90 MW power plant, which is in excess of the requirements of the cement plant and the company is currently exploring the possibility of transferring this excess power to the National Grid.

Commenting also on the N50 billion bond, Bolaji Balogun, CEO, Chapel Hill Advisory Partners Limited, a financial advisory service, noted that analysts had expressed interest in Lafarge Cement Wapco plc and the N50 billion bond issue.

WHO to certify Nigerian pharmaceutical manufacturers

Thursday, 22 September 2011 10:08 Alexander Chiejina
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The World Health Organisation (WHO) and other international agencies have concluded plans to certify Nigerian pharmacuetical manufacturers so that they can embrace global standards and best practices.

Briefing newsmen in Lagos, Bunmi Oloapa, chairman, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMGMAN), disclosed that many positive developments have occurred in the sector following the recent commissioning of two new factories by Juhel Nigeria Limited in Awka, Anambra State and May & Baker Pharma centre in Ogun State.

Oloapa disclosed that Nigeria, through the Federal Ministry of Health, has secured technical assistance from WHO/UNITAD towards attaining WHO pre-qualification. Eight Nigerian pharmaceutical manufacturers are benefitting in the first phase.

This is a major breakthrough which will facilitate the process of attaining international certifications for Nigerian companies. Apart from WHO/UNUITAD, Olaopa said technical assistance from other partners such as West African Health organisation, (WAHO) and United Nations Development Organisation (UNIDO) is expected.

Transocean’s semi-submersible rig arrives Nigeria
Thursday, 22 September 2011 00:00 Olusola Bello Energy, Editor
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…To perform shipyard operation

Transocean’s GSF Rig 140 has arrived in Nigeria to undergo the planned 80-day maintenance and upgrade at Snake Island, Lagos. This is the first time in the history of the petroleum industry in Nigeria that a semi-submersible drilling unit will undergo maintenance of this magnitude in Nigeria.

This is a major achievement for the Federal Government’s local content policy as this is the first time such a rig would be serviced in the country. Ordinarily, it would have been taking to South Africa, Spain or Dubai and this would have involved serious capital flight for the country.

Besides, Nigerians would gain a lot of experience while working on the rigs which is being handled by Niger Dock. Over 120,000 man-hours of work will be deployed, involving 180 Nigerians from a combination of Transocean, Nigerdock and other sub-contractors.

A scheduled overhaul and upgrade to the rig’s operational systems will be undertaken including the derrick (or drilling mast); the top drive, the crown block and the travelling block systems. Some piping systems will be replaced, coating operations performed and an upgrade will be undertaken of the closed circuit television (CCTV) system.

With Transocean’s stringent standards and delivery requirements for Rig 140, Nigerdock was selected as the main contractor because of its capability, safety record, and competence to deliver such a strategic project as demonstrated during the maiden maintenance upgrades with GSF Adriatic VIII in late 2009.

“Our driver is largely based on in-country capacity building and developing local competencies and capabilities which are aligned with the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act of 2010,” said Gabriel Oramasionwu, managing director, Transocean’s Gulf of Guinea Division.

“In 2009, we partnered Nigerdock and executed the first ever shipyard project in Nigeria involving a jack-up rig. Last year, in a shipyard involving a drillship which could not be readily done in-country, we still partnered Nigerdock and other Nigerian contractors and performed the work in Las Palmas, Spain.

Today, a majority of those workers are engaged in this current project on the Rig 140 thereby ensuring in-country capacity and capability are retained in Nigeria,” said Oramasionwu. According to him, Transocean has been in operation in Nigeria for over half a century and this historical event further demonstrates its commitment to the growth of the industry and Nigeria at large, and the implementation of the Nigerian National Content Development initiative.

Africa's richest man wants continent to reap what he sows

By Joel Olatunde Agoi (AFP) – 2 days ago

LAGOS — Africa's richest man wants his continent to grow -- and some say his project to build its largest fertiliser plant could provide relief to farmers and help put a dent in food shortages.

The project, set to come on stream in three years, may also serve as an example of how Nigeria, the continent's largest oil producer with massive untapped gas reserves, can put its often-squandered natural resources to good use.

Of course, Nigeria-based Dangote Group, headed by Aliko Dangote, once dubbed Africa's richest man by Forbes, could stand to rake in yet another small fortune along the way.

The company has set out plans for the plant to be located in the south of Nigeria in Edo state. It is to be constructed by Italian firm Saipem, though the cost of the project was not made public.

It would employ some 7,000 people, directly and indirectly, according to Dangote, and eventually allow Nigeria to stop importing fertiliser and use its wealth of natural gas reserves as part of the manufacturing process.

The plant would also produce enough to export, the company says while describing the plant as the biggest in Africa.

"There is no reason why Nigeria should be importing fertiliser," Aliko Dangote said in a statement.

"I am happy that with this agreement, by the time our plant is completed and commissioned, the country will become self-sufficient in fertiliser production and even have the capacity to export the products to other African countries."

The Nigerian programme officer for the International Fund for Agricultural Development, a UN agency, welcomed the plan.

"Whatever happens here will have a multiplier effect on the rest of Africa," said Benjamin Odoemena.

"Once there is food sufficiency in Nigeria, other African countries, including the famine-ravaged Horn of Africa, will benefit."

Of course, there are sure to be sceptics. Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, has had a long list of highly ambitious projects that were either torpedoed by corruption or simply went nowhere.

Whether a similar fate will befall the Dangote plan remains to be seen, but the tycoon certainly has a history of successes to make his case, with his company already strong in areas including cement, flour, sugar and food production.

When operational in 2014, the plant will produce 7,700 metric tonnes per day of granulated urea, consisting of two trains with a production capacity of 3,850 metric tonnes each per day, they said.

Agriculture has long been neglected in Nigeria, with the oil industry providing some two-thirds of government revenue and more than 90 percent of export earnings.

But the oil industry provides few local jobs, while it has been estimated that agriculture employs about 70 percent of the workforce. Most are subsistence farmers.

"It will boost agricultural production in the country and tremendously increase the yields of farmers since more fertilisers will be available to them," said Ahmed Rabiu Kwa, executive secretary of the Fertiliser Suppliers Association of Nigeria, an umbrella body of 27 manufacturers and suppliers.

The president of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Olufemi Deru, however argued that farmers would benefit more if there was a comprehensive policy on agriculture in the country.

"What Nigeria needs at the moment is an agricultural policy that will make the sector the mainstay of the economy," Deru said.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

Nigeria's Free Trade Zones

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Sep 22, 2011

For the Attention of the Cynics


Written by Maureen Chigbo
Wednesday, 28 September 2011

six months after the launching, the gas revolution which was conceived and nurtured by Diezani Alison-Madueke, minister of petroleum resources, is still very much on course and being pursued with zest. The project is to trigger industrial rebirth in the country through gas exploitation that would be based on the building of two world class petrochemical plants, two fertiliser plants, five fertiliser blending plants, a methanol plant and a Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, distribution plant. It is aimed at achieving significant improvement in power availability for all and reposition of Nigeria as the undisputed regional hub for gas-based industries that would engender an unprecedented growth in Nigeria’s gas supply from the current one billion cubic feet per day to more than 10 billion cubic feet per day by 2020.

The petrochemical and fertiliser projects, which would attract more than $10 billion foreign direct investment between 2012 and 2014, would also have a huge impact on the Nigerian economy. The minister had said that based on the planned investment in the 1.3 million tonnes per annum capacity petrochemical plant, more than 200,000 direct and indirect jobs would be created. Other economic benefits of the gas to fertiliser project, according to Alison-Madueke, is that the fertiliser plants were strategically planned to impact positively by revolutionising the agricultural sector such that food would be more available and affordable to millions of Nigerians.

The most important aspect of the project is the explosion in job creation that would arise from the boost in agricultural productivity and the related agro and food processing industries that would emerge. More than 500,000 jobs are estimated from this agriculture-related agenda as well as an attendant increase in the nation’s GDP.

David Ige, group executive director in charge of Power and Gas, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, said the corporation has made tremendous progress with the gas revolution project since March. “The purpose of the gas revolution at the time when it was launched was to create awareness as to what we intended to do and the potential benefit that will arise. Ever since then, we have moved on straight into the implementation phase which is a quiet phase in terms of what the public can hear but we are pretty much working,” he said.

When Newswatch called at his office in Abuja, September 16, to be prised with status report on the project, Ige explained that the first thing NNPC did was to consolidate “our investors particularly for the free trade zone.” This is because a critical requirement for the success of the gas revolution to happen is for the infrastructure in the free trade zone to be in place. “If you recall, the revolution at the time that it was announced was predicated on a 1.3 million tonne petrochemical plant and two fertiliser plants and a central processing facility in Koko. In the future, our plan is to replicate a similar thing in the central area around Port Harcourt, Onne axis. And then in the future again, to now do it elsewhere.” He said that NNPC’s primary short-term arrangement was to work around Koko free trade zone development where the petrochemical plant would be built. “So far we have gone with the investors to do site survey at the location. We have also commissioned one of the investors, Petro Saudi, that will be working with the Delta State government and a couple of private investors to develop a huge infrastructure in Koko,” he said. Right now, the location for the project is 2,300 hectares complete mangrove forest. And so a lot of what has been going on is the initial baseline environmental impact assessment. Without that, NNPC and the investors cannot access the site. Also, the master plan of the free trade zone itself is being developed with NNPC working with the ports authority to identify the navigation route for the big ship that will be evacuating fertiliser. That’s why the corporation is dredging the infrastructure upgrade that would be required at the ports to support this.

Already, a consultancy firm in the United Kingdom is working on the requirements of the port infrastructure to support the investment. Also, establishing the port infrastructure is very important to enable investors in the big petrochemicals to move to financial closure. Without a ready and confirmed port infrastructure where they can evacuate their product and a navigation route that will be navigable for the big ship that will be coming, the financial closure will not be possible thus hindering the project. “This is why our efforts initially are focussed on those two things – getting the ports and the shipping route sorted out; to identify all that needs to be done and the investors are going to start on that. And also to sort out the free trade zone, the location itself so that the access is cleared and the drainage is done, roads are done and the utilities like power and so on are in place following which other people can come and do their fertiliser and so on,” Ige said.

From all indication, the ministry of petroleum resources and NNPC are at the master plan stage of the gas revolution which would be completed in six months. The master plan for the 2300 hectare site will map out the location for the petrochemical plant, fertiliser plant, the central processing facility, a jetty, and the LNG plant. It’s just like a floor plan. With the petrochemical, NNPC needs to know the type of equipment they are bringing in, some of which will be tall towers and the direction of the wind to help the planners decide how to place them on site. “For example, if the steam from the power plant is going to be used by the fertiliser plant you need to locate all of those things. So the plan for all of that is being developed,” he said.

It is not only NNPC that is working hard on of the gas revolution project. The investors, who are going to be working on the free trade zones who are going to be like the landlord creating the infrastructure, and working on the port zone are also doing their own assessment now. Basically, what they are doing now is to complete their own master plan and get their own environment impact assessment. The expectation is that from January/February, NNPC should be in a position to have access to begin site clearing and early site works. Ige said. “Our critical milestone is site access and commencement of early works by January. This will move into commencement of infrastructure development within the free trade zone by April, and then begin fertiliser blending plants by July. By the end of the year, NNPC will begin full construction of the fertiliser blending plant itself.

The benefit of all these activities is that employment will be created. From January 2012, about 1000 jobs would be created when site clearing starts. “It is a huge forest there and efforts to clear all of that is going to employ well over a 1000 people. And from that period you will see the growth in jobs because more people will be on site because as you start to clear you move into infrastructure development and as that one is finishing, the fertiliser investors will start their own and then the petrochemical. That’s where we are right now in terms of schedule,” he said.

This notwithstanding, work on the petrochemical side is also progressing as the NNPC officials are doing the economic analysis. They are also going to Saudi Arabia in two weeks time. On the fertiliser side, the investors have tendered for engineering, procurement and construction, EPC, contracts. “The fertiliser guys in India, have tendered for the EPC contracts and people are expected to submit their bids by the end of October or so,” Levi Ajuonuma, group general manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, said.

Also the fertiliser plant investors have been awarded the contracts to do soil evaluation. But the problem they have now is that they cannot go on site until the site is accessible. They have to test the soil before they can bring in heavy equipment. “As at last week, the fertiliser plant investors were here in Nigeria with their civil engineer consultants to go to site and get soil sample. They are also trying to carry on with the blending plant and do a market survey to know the exact location that this blending plant should be, a place close to the major agricultural zones where their priorities should be and also do market assessment, Ige said.

Reacting to the perception that work slowed down after the gas revolution was launched, Ajuonuma said: “Not at all. We are working. We are getting to a point when it is not talk, talk anymore. We have rolled up our sleeves and getting down to brass tacks.” He, however, said that the period the project is in now is that time when you are doing something and nobody is seeing anything and then all of a sudden, you will see.

Ige agreed: “Right now many things have to be done. For you to see anything concrete, it has to be on site. But we cannot start anything on site until we finish the environmental impact assessment. And that requires two seasons to do – wet and dry seasons – you need that from the Ministry of Environment. It is the statutory requirement.”

According to NNPC, if site is to be cleared, it will have to assess the environmental impact. These are the things that are being done now quietly which the public cannot see but they are statutory work that has to be done. Without that, NNPC cannot cut one tree down in that forest. “So we are accelerating all of those so that by the end of the year once that is concluded and we have our environmental permit from the Ministry of Environment, we now start site access and site clearing. That’s why our site clearing has to wait until around January. But in the meantime work is going on,” Ige said.



http://www.newswatchngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3530&Itemid=1

NRC, WAPCO begin freight train service

October 7, 2011 06:56PM
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The minister of Transport, Idris Umar, says the collaboration between the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) and Lafarge Cement WAPCO Nig. Plc will meet the growing demand for cement nationwide. Mr Umar said this on Friday at the commencement of the Lafarge Cement Freight Train Service at Ewekoro in Ogun. He was represented by the chairman of the NRC board, Ladan Shuni.

The minister also said the collaboration would boost the Public/Private Partnership (PPP) policy of the federal government.

“It is a known fact that rail transport is very crucial to any nation’s economy as it has no rival in the volume of people and goods it could convey.

“I have no doubt in my mind that this singular collaborative effort between NRC and WAPCO Cement would adequately meet the growing demand for cement across the country,” he said.

The minister said that the federal government believed in the ability of the rail transport sub-sector to provide employment opportunities for the citizens and transform the economy.

He said that this belief necessitated the huge investment in the sub-sector.

Umar said that the NRC management had set machinery in motion to extend cement haulage to major cities in Nigeria in the next few weeks with total carrying capacity of 2,700 metric tonnes weekly.

He hoped that the partnership would drastically reduce traffic congestion on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

The managing director of the NRC, Mr Adeseyi Sijuwade, said at the event that the corporation was aware of the growing demand for rail services. He noted that the services were being constrained by the ongoing rail track rehabilitation.

“I believe Nigerians will very soon experience a vibrant rail transport system when work is completed,” he said.

The project director of Lafarge Cement WAPCO, Guy Chaperon said that the collaborative effort was informed by the company’s desire to make cement available to all parts of Nigeria.

“Lafarge Cement WAPCO is committed to making cement available to Nigerians at all times; this is why this partnership is very important to us.

“We are optimistic that the use of rail transport will help to ensure that cement gets to the final users in a safe, reliable and faster way.”

He praised the Federal Government for its support to local cement manufacturers.

In an interview with journalists later, Sijuwade said that the NRC would take delivery of 20 tank-wagons this month for lifting of petroleum products.

He said that the wagons were being imported from China.

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McCulley Leads Nigerian Trade Mission to US

07 Oct 2011

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United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Terence McCulley

From Tokunbo Adedoja in Washington, DC

In what was described as "reverse trade mission", United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Terence McCulley, would lead a trade mission of Nigerian companies to US power trade show in Las Vegas in December.

Also, as part of efforts to promote economic relations between both countries, Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank Chairman, Fred Hochberg, and his team would be visiting Nigeria in two weeks to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan and members of the Economic Management Team.

Announcing this in Washington at a forum on "Doing business in Nigeria", organised by the Council on Africa (CCA), in collaboration with the Nigerian Embassy, Commercial Counsellor of the US Embassy in Nigeria, Rebecca Armand, said: “Commercial relations between our two countries are one of Ambassador McCulley’s top priorities, and it shows in the time he spends meeting with US companies in Abuja and Lagos.

"In fact, he will be personally leading a reverse trade mission of Nigerian companies to the US power trade show in Las Vegas this December.”

Shedding more light on the US power trade show in Las Vegas, Armand told THISDAY that: "We are bringing an International Buyer Delegation to the already existing show. These delegations are an initiative of the US Department of Commerce. The Nigeria group is organised by my office in Lagos."

While presenting, at the forum, what she called "thoughts from the perspective of the US Mission to Nigeria", Armand described Nigeria as US' most strategic partner in sub-Saharan Africa, adding: "Two-way trade in 2010 was 36 billion dollars, making Nigeria our 13th largest trading partner in the world and our largest in sub-Saharan Africa."

She said although US' investment in Nigeria was mainly in the oil and gas sectors, it could be vastly diversified, given the right conditions.

She said key Nigerian sectors such as power, oil and gas, maritime, health care, agribusiness, and safety and security equipment and services were US' top promotion priorities, while other excellent market potentials include information technology (IT), transportation equipment (including aviation), environmental equipment (including waste water and sanitation), consumer products, and building and construction.

She also said for each of these sectors, the embassy had been undertaking market research, leading delegations to trade shows, and providing one-on-one matching between US and Nigerian firms.

Advising US investors on the need to move into Nigeria, Armand said, "Nigeria is on the path to becoming a major economy, the undeniable powerhouse economy of Africa", and that: "Now is the time to include Africa and Nigeria in your company’s business plans for the future".

The US official noted that President Jonathan and his "new team of technically acclaimed ministers" were putting into place a set of programs designed to strengthen the investment climate, promote business and increase Nigeria's competitiveness.

She said these were crucial steps as countries compete on a global scale for increasingly scarce investment funds.

On what Nigeria could do to make doing business easier, safer, faster, the US official said: "I have heard from a number of American companies that they would like to make Nigeria the hub of their operations in West Africa, but that a prohibition on the re-export of goods and equipment makes that impossible. Solving this issue would increase Nigeria’s international competitiveness and attract investment.

"Passing the Petroleum Industry Bill, or PIB, as it is commonly known, would create stability in the oil and gas sector, releasing billions of dollars for lending to additional investment that is currently on hold pending passage of the bill.

"And as we spent all day yesterday talking about - getting power right is a legacy that President Jonathan could leave for all future generations of Nigerians - it is the single biggest obstacle to Nigeria’s competitiveness.

Tags: CCA, Featured, News, Nigeria, Terence Mcculley, Trade, Us

Golden Sugar’s N22bn factory soon to commence operations
Friday, 07 October 2011 00:00 BusinessDay Staff
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Golden Sugar Company Limited, a subsidiary of Flour Mills Nigeria plc, has announced that work on its $143 million, 75000 metric tons state-of-the-art sugar refinery complex in Lagos is nearing completion.

According to Emmanuel Ukpabi, managing director, Flour Mill, the design, financing and phases of the project have been successfully completed. At the moment, 70 percent of the process building and civil works have been completed.

Ukpabi said should our plans satisfactorily materialise, we would commission our new sugar complex during the third quarter of 2012, saying the sugar complex power plant is designed to make a difference as it is targeted to be environmentally friendly with the capability of reducing green-house emissions.

‘’We are happy to report that in keeping with government policy and the strong support and encouragement of National Sugar Development Council, we have gradually commenced the implementation of our backward integration strategy with the first commercial planting of imported sugar cane variety following successful trials last year at Kaboji and Sunti Estate research nurseries,” he stated.

He however disclosed that the canes were planted under centre-pivot irrigation comprising of 60 circular, five hectare sections.

For him, another thing worthy of mentioning is that land clearing and levelling on the 15000 hectare sugar cane estate at Sunti, near Mokwa in Niger State, has been boosted with the acquisition of graders, excavators backhoes and seven modern D7 bulldozers.

He however stated that “the budgeted cost for the fully-developed farm at Sunti has been estimated at $338 million, while that of the Lagos Sugar refinery is forecast at $200 million.”

He also stated that the ultimate goal of the continued investment in the Nigerian economy will thereby reduce currency outflows, while in the interim adding value locally to imported raw sugar to the point of Nigerian self sufficiency in raw sugar supply.

Dangote signs $750m investment pacts in Congo, Ethiopia
By Our Reporter 20 hours 52 minutes ago
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Dangote Group has signed fresh investment agreements worth $750 million with the government of two African countries for the production of cement.

The Dangote group according to a statement, signed a $350million investment agreement with the Central African Republic of Congo and another $400 million of with Ethiopian government.

The deals were consummated at separate occasion in the capital of both countries where President and Chief Executive Officer of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote signed on behalf of his company, while three Congolese Ministers, Mr. Pierre Moussa in charge of Ministries of Planning, Economy, Integration and Coordinator of the Economic Pole; Mr. Rodolphe Adada, Minister for Industrial Development and Private Sector Promotions and Mr. Pierre Oba of the Ministry of Mines and Geology endorsed the pacts on behalf of the government.

Speaking at the event, Alhaji Dangote said the intention of the Group in its foray into Congo was not just to make profit but also to further empower the people of Congo, create new jobs and wealth.

The business mogul hinted that the long term ambition of the Group was to develop 50 million metric tons of cement production and terminal capacity in Africa by 2015. He said that the Dangote Group nursed the ambition to become a truly pan-African champion in the manufacturing sector, capable of competing globally with the largest cement companies in the world.

U4CTUzX2I8I

New World Bank Doing Business Report 2012 :)

http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings

Nigeria projected to become Africa's biggest economy by 2018
Business Thursday, October 20, 2011


BY PROVIDENCE OBUH

Nigeria’s economy has been projected to be Africa’s biggest economy by 2018, overtaking South Africa in the process. Head of Research Africa, Standard Chartered Bank, Mrs Razia Khan, stated this at the Africa Summit organised by the bank in Lagos, with the theme, "Africa in the Super-Cycle".



In her words, "assuming normal GDP growth rates in line with post crisis trend, our simulation suggests Nigeria overtakes South Africa GDP size by 2018. Our own analysis suggests that Nigeria will overtake South Africa to become Africa's largest economy."


Khan explained that the country's increasing urbanisation rates and declining dependency ratio which is coming from the share of working age population will help to derive economic growth. "Despite global uncertainty, Sub-Saharan Africa GDP still forecast to rise strongly, dominates list of world's fastest growing economies," she added. Economic environment

Forecasting Nigeria's economic environment in the nearest future, she stressed that by 2015 the country will become the fourth most populous country globally, lamenting the continual decrease in the country's foreign exchange reserves, despite the regulations put in place in the oil sector.

She bemoaned the level at which the country's budget spending rises, saying the country is spending beyond her means. According to her, the country's GDP went up by 7.3 per cent in the year on focus, half year 2011 compared to 7.5 per cent recorded in the first half of 2010.

She further noted that the non oil GDP went up by 8.7 per cent accounting for 84.1 per cent of the countries economic growth, agriculture also increased by 5.6 per cent, while year by year industrial sector witnessed an increase of three percent.

Khan said Nigeria has a lot going in its favour, adding that removal of fuel subsidies, banking sector reform, among others are reforms that can drive the super-cycle growth.

Also speaking at the event, CEO of Standard Chartered, Shayne Nelson, stated that the super-cycle period will soon return. He said Japan has not done very well in the last 20 years, noting that they need structural reforms, adding that the United States is going through unemployment problem.

"We are worried but optimistic that Europe will solve these problems because it has a better economy than Japan and US," he said.

The Summit was conveyed to articulate Africa's place in the super-cycle: a period of historically high global growth, lasting generation or more. Africa bears characteristics of the current super-cycle, which will impact the world economy over the next few decades.

Standard Chartered estimates global GDP to be around $65 trillion, bigger than before the financial crisis and twice the size from a decade ago. It notes that the pace and scale of growth and change across emerging economies of the world is astonishing, with 70 per cent of global growth coming from the emerging markets in 2010.


http://odili.net/news/source/2011/oct/20/304.html

Nigeria projected to become Africa's biggest economy by 2018


http://odili.net/news/source/2011/oct/20/304.html

4th most populated nation in 2015??
Impossible, I say!!

^^that will never happen, well at least not anytime soon, Indonesia is #4 and a good 60-70 million ahead. 5th or 6th most populous by then is a possibility.

Nigeria is not going to overtake Brazil or Pakistan in 3.1/2 years

I doubt Nigeria even has 150 million people

^^HA!!!, Trust me, it does, 150 Million is even underestimation , IMO

I doubt Nigeria even has 150 million people
I doubt it too

Nigeria is not going to overtake Brazil or Pakistan in 3.1/2 years

true, but ten years, the rate your pop. is growing it'll definitely happen.:laugh:

Nope it won't..... Pakistan and Brazil are not stagnant u know.... Most especially Pakistan.

20...brazil isn't stagnant, but it's growing a lot slower than pakistan and nigeria (which ofc is a good thing!)....

still Nigeria wont over take both anytime soon....................

:okay:

Mr Price H1 profit up, to enter Nigeria

Reuters – Tue, Nov 15, 2011

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's third-biggest listed clothes retailer, Mr Price, reported a 22 percent rise in first-half profit as above-inflation wage increases and decades-low interest rates lift consumer spending in Africa's biggest economy.

Mr Price, whose nearly 1,000 no-frills stores cater mainly to lower-income shoppers, said headline earnings per share totalled 187.3 cents in the 26 weeks to end-September, compared with 153.3 cents a year earlier.

Retailers have been squeezed in recent years as consumers battle high personal debt and unemployment, but low borrowing costs and higher-than-inflation wage increases have helped them mount a recovery.

Mr Price, which competes with larger rivals Truworths and The Foschini Group, said sales increased 11 percent to 5.3 billion rand.

The company, which raised its dividend payout by 22 percent to 93.6 cents, said sales growth would be supported by new store openings, including its first Nigerian outlet in March next year.

Shares in Mr Price, valued at $2.5 billion, were down 0.9 percent at 80.25 rand by 1230 GMT, in line with its rivals Foschini and Truworths.

Earlier this month Foschini reported a 26 percent rise in first-half profit, helped by the same factors.

Source (http://news.yahoo.com/mr-price-h1-profit-enter-nigeria-133300703.html;_ylt=Apg4EqoTjJ2.4ZFi3nV1a_BtzwcF;_ylu=X3oDMTRvaWVzYmcxBGNjb2RlA2dtcHRvcDEwMDBwb29sd2lraXVwcmVzdARtaXQDTmV3cyBmb3IgeW91BHBrZwM1OGYxMzQ5YS1hYzA2LTMwZWItYjRmZi03NDMxMjYwYTdkODAEcG9zAzgEc2VjA25ld3NfZm9yX3lvdQR2ZXIDYzg0OWFkYjAtMGY4ZS0xMWUxLWJmYjctZWJhMGJlMTJhYmU0;_ylg=X3oDMTJsYTZvc2tnBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDMzlkNjRhNmMtNDllNS0zYWRjLTg0ZjktZWFmZTJmODA2MmJhBHBzdGNhdAN1cwRwdANzdG9yeXBhZ2U-;_ylv=3)

Rebasing Nigeria's Economy with Yemi Kale

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Nigeria's statistics office plans to rebase the country's GDP from 1990 to 2008. Most countries rebase their GDP on a regular basis to account for changes in production and consumption.
The announcement of the rebasing is due in early 2012 and it's expected to set Nigeria as the continent's second-largest economy.
To discuss this in more detail, ABN's Lerato Mbele speaks with Yemi Kale, Statistician General at the National Bureau of Statistics.

Privatisation of Nigeria's Power Sector

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Nov 18, 2011

The Nigerian Economy is going through some major reforms in the bid to put it firmly on the drive to becoming one of the 20 leading economies in the world by the year 2020. To this end they hosted the 17th Nigerian Economic Summit this week, and while there ABN's Wole Famurewa spoke with Paul Hinks, CEO of Symbion Power, discussing privatisation of power sector.

Brewery Sector in Nigeria
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Nov 17, 2011

ABN's Wole Famurewa speaks with Efemena Esalomi, Analyst at Vetiva Capital Management, getting an overview of the brewing industry in Nigeria.

17th Nigerian Economic Summit Presidential Dialogue - Part 1

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Nov 16, 2011

The 17th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES17) was hosted in Abuja from November 10 - 12, 2011 by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) in partnership with the National Planning Commission (NPC). The Summit represented the first major interaction of the local and the global business communities on Nigerian soil since the assumption of office of President Goodluck Jonathan following globally acclaimed free elections earlier this year. The theme of the summit was Attracting Foreign Direct Investment through Global Partnerships. ABN's Lerato Mbele moderated a Presidential Policy dialogue with Nigeria 's President and other eminent speakers.

17th Nigerian Economic Summit Presidential Dialogue - Part 2

e8MVmt4UeiA
Nov 16, 2011

The 17th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES17) was hosted in Abuja from November 10 - 12, 2011 by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) in partnership with the National Planning Commission (NPC). The Summit represented the first major interaction of the local and the global business communities on Nigerian soil since the assumption of office of President Goodluck Jonathan following globally acclaimed free elections earlier this year. The theme of the summit was Attracting Foreign Direct Investment through Global Partnerships. ABN's Lerato Mbele moderated a Presidential Policy dialogue with Nigeria 's President and other eminent speakers.

The return of Paddylo been a while since I've watched some of these ABN videos

I'll watch the rebasing one and the power sector...interesting times ahead.

17th Nigerian Economic Summit Presidential Dialogue - Part 2

e8MVmt4UeiA
Nov 16, 2011

The 17th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES17) was hosted in Abuja from November 10 - 12, 2011 by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) in partnership with the National Planning Commission (NPC). The Summit represented the first major interaction of the local and the global business communities on Nigerian soil since the assumption of office of President Goodluck Jonathan following globally acclaimed free elections earlier this year. The theme of the summit was Attracting Foreign Direct Investment through Global Partnerships. ABN's Lerato Mbele moderated a Presidential Policy dialogue with Nigeria 's President and other eminent speakers.


Yes, been waiting on a Video on the 17th summit... Thanks PDL. :)

Uh uh, 16 Mins, Watch later, I guess.

17th Nigerian Economic Summit Regulators Dialogue - Part 1
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Nov 16, 2011

The 17th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES17) will be hosted in Abuja from November 10 - 12, 2011 by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) in partnership with the National Planning Commission (NPC). The theme of the summit was Attracting Foreign Direct Investment through Global Partnerships. The session explores the role of the public and private sectors in mobilizing the funding required to upgrade Nigeria's infrastructure and the opportunities that exist in Nigeria through the deepening of the capital market, leveraging of penbsion assets and special interventions by the central bank. ABN's Lerato Mbele moderated a regulators policy dialogue in panel comprising the Central Bank Governor, the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Director of the Deposit Insurance Corporation, CEO of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Director General of the National Pensions Commission and the Head of Wealth Management at Afrinvest.

17th Nigerian Economic Summit Regulators Dialogue - Part 2

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Nov 16, 2011

The 17th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES17) will be hosted in Abuja from November 10 - 12, 2011 by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) in partnership with the National Planning Commission (NPC). The theme of the summit was Attracting Foreign Direct Investment through Global Partnerships. The session explores the role of the public and private sectors in mobilizing the funding required to upgrade Nigeria's infrastructure and the opportunities that exist in Nigeria through the deepening of the capital market, leveraging of penbsion assets and special interventions by the central bank. ABN's Lerato Mbele moderated a regulators policy dialogue in panel comprising the Central Bank Governor, the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Director of the Deposit Insurance Corporation, CEO of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Director General of the National Pensions Commission and the Head of Wealth Management at Afrinvest.

Nigerian Economic Reforms with Omobola Johnson

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Nov 16, 2011

The Nigerian Economy is going through some major reforms in the bid to put it firmly on the drive to becoming one of the 20 leading economies in the world by the year 2020. To this end they hosted the 17th Nigerian Economic Summit this week, and while there ABN's Wole Famurewa spoke with Omobola Johnson, Minister of Communication and Technology about her ministry's contribution to the transformation agenda.

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Nov 21, 2011

From our studios in Nigeria, ABN's Wole Famurewa speaks with Obi Asika, CEO of Storm 360, about a N75 billion funding facility in support of the nation's fledging entertainment industry.

FG, AfDB to Disburse N75bn Entertainment Industry Fund
This Day Live (http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/fg-afdb-to-disburse-n75bn-entertainment-industry-fund/103288/)

The Federal Government, through the Bank of Industry (BOI) and the Africa Development Bank (AfDB), has concluded plans on a N75 billion funding facility in support of the nation’s fledging entertainment industry.

The Managing Director, BOI, Ms Evelyn Oputu, during an annual general symposium organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), said the fund was at the verge of disbursement.

She stressed that the partnership was now just ‘crossing Ts and dotting the Is’ before the fund would be made available. “The bank is already treating applications for the funds pending when the disbursement will start,” she said.

Nigeria’s Import Rises by 7% in Q2
This Day Live (http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/nigeria-s-import-rises-by-7-in-q2/103279/)

The total value of Nigeria’s import in the second quarter (Q2) of the year rose by seven per cent to N3.32 trillion compared with the N3.10 trillion it stood in the first quarter of the year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.

A report obtained from the NBS website at the weekend, also showed that imports in the second quarter of the year were also 175.5 per cent higher than the N1.22 trillion recorded in the corresponding period in 2010.

It also showed that total exports during the period, out-performed imports, even as it revealed that the total value of merchandise trade in the Q2 of 2011 stood at N6.89 trillion, compared with the N6.32 trillion realised in the first quarter of 2011.

“This increase of N573.8 billion represented an increase in trade of 9.1 per cent in Q2 of 2011, over the previous quarter. Further analysis reveals that on a year-on-year basis, total trade grew by 42.9 per cent in Q2 2011) relative to the corresponding period in 2010 (N4.82trillion in Q2 2010) and by 211.7 per cent relative to the corresponding period in 2009 (N2.21trillion).

The report also said other major imports into the country during the period under review included Boilers, machinery, appliances and associated parts (15.2 per cent or N367.3billion), vehicles, aircrafts and associated parts (N349.02 billion or 11 per cent) as well as vegetable products (N349.02 billion or 10.05 per cent).

It listed China, United States of America, France and Saudi Arabia respectively, as Nigeria’s largest import destinations during the period as they accounted for N395.5 billion, N328.8 billion, N200.8 billion and N197.2 billion respectively of the country’s import.

Gas Revolution: Oando Launches 128-km Pipeline

22 Nov 2011

Leading Nigerian indigenous oil company, Oando Plc, Monday made history with the successful completion of 128-kilometre gas pipeline system from Akwa Ibom to Cross River State, built by Oando Gas and Power, one of its subsidiaries.

Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, immediately announced that the inauguration of the project marked the successful take-off of the gas revolution programme of the Federal Government.

Speaking during the inauguration Monday, Group Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. Wale Tinubu, said the pipeline was built under a joint venture arrangement with the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

He disclosed that the 18-inch pipeline would accelerate industrialisation in the South-south region by providing cheaper, safer, cleaner and environmentally friendly fuel to industries in the region.

“The gas infrastructure has the capacity to deliver up to 100million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) of natural gas and will deliver an initial 22mmscf/d of gas to its maiden customer, United Cement Company (UNICEM), to fuel its new 2.5million metric tonnes per annum cement plant, located in Mfamosing, Akampka Local Government Area of Cross River State,” he said.

Tinubu said his company pioneered the private sector pipeline and distribution of natural gas to industrial and commercial consumers.

According to him, the distribution of natural gas is helping indigenous industries become globally competitive and increasing their profitability by cutting energy cost by as much as 50 per cent.

He noted that first gas was delivered from the company’s Lagos grid, developed under Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) arrangement with NGC in year 2000, to Cadbury, a leading confectioner.

“Today, over 120 industries are connected to the approximately 100 kilometres of gas pipeline in the Ikeja and Greater Lagos business communities and are fast enjoying gas advantage,” he added.

He expressed appreciation to the governments and people of Akwa Ibom and Cross River States for their support in making the project a success.

In her address, Alison-Madueke said the completion of the project marked the successful take-off of the gas revolution programme of the Federal Government, which targets a $25 billion worth of investment, and would generate about $10 billion over the next three years.

According to her, over 500,000 direct and indirect jobs are expected to be created from the Oando gas project and other similar projects contained in the gas revolution agenda.

“The completion of this project marks the beginning of a journey towards the restoration of Nigeria into the league of Nations that have successfully enjoyed the advantage of the abundance of natural gas to positively impact on the lives of present and future generations of their citizens. By 2014, this present government would have positioned Nigeria firmly as the undisputed regional hub for such gas-based industries as fertiliser, petrochemicals and methanol.

“As a nation, we are continually striving to realise the fullness of the great potentials in the vast human and natural resources which Nigeria has been blessed with. One such major resource is our proven gas reserves base estimated at 187trillion cubic feet and a further undiscovered potential of 600 trillion cubic feet,” she said.

Nigeria’s Budget Proposals Ready by December, Minister Says

Nov 22, 2011 6:18 PM GMT+0100

Nigeria’s government may be ready to present its spending proposals for 2012 to parliament by the start of December, Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said.

The Finance Ministry is working to “have something ready around the end of the month or the beginning of December,” Okonjo-Iweala told reporters today in Abuja, the capital. The government plans a 2012 budget of 4.8 trillion naira ($30 billion), according to the Budget Office.

Okonjo-Iweala said on Nov. 11 the proposals would be sent to parliament this month. The government of sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest economy must conduct “a lot of consultations” with the National Assembly and will not “rush” the proposals if parliamentary committees aren’t satisfied with them, she said.

Parliament approved this year’s budget in May. President Goodluck Jonathan’s government plans to raise spending by 7 percent and scrap the fuel subsidies over the next three years that will save the government 1.2 trillion naira next year, according to the Budget Office.

Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer and most populous country, has readjusted its crude oil price for next year’s budget to $70 per barrel instead of the originally planned $75, the minister said on Nov. 11.

Crude for January delivery gained 57 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $97.49 a barrel at 12:04 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent oil for January settlement on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange increased $1.58, or 1.5 percent, to $108.46.

The government will work to lower cargo-clearance time at Nigerian ports to 48 hours from the three to four weeks it takes now, through a Ports Monitoring Committee that was established today, the minister told reporters.

To contact the reporter on this story: Maram Mazen in Abuja at mmazen@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net

Dangote Cement’s 9-Month Profit Rises 23% on Expansion

Nov 2, 2011

Dangote Cement Plc (DANGCEM), Africa’s biggest producer of the building material, posted a 23 percent increase in nine-month profit as cement sales rose.

Net income in the nine months to Sept. 30 rose to 92.8 billion naira ($589 million), or 7.97 naira per share, from 75.3 billion naira, or 5 naira a share, a year earlier, the Lagos- based company said in an e-mailed statement today. Revenue climbed 19 percent to 173.8 billion naira as cement sales advanced 9.2 percent to 6.4 million metric tons, it said.

“The result was driven by growth in volume, which rose more than we had expected at Obajana plant, and a 3 percent increase in cement prices,” Tomi Ajayi, an analyst with Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc (IBTCCB) in Lagos, said in an interview. Stanbic had forecast a 9 percent rise in net income, she said.

Dangote, which is also Nigeria’s biggest company by market value, is spending more than $2.5 billion on eight new plants across Africa as well as constructing cement import terminals in five countries. By the end of this year it expects to have production capacity of 19 million tons in Nigeria, rising to 29 million tons in 2015. A further 19 million tons of capacity is planned in plants across the continent by 2015.

“Dangote Cement is highly optimistic about the future given the increasingly strong economic performance of Nigeria and the African countries into which it is expanding,” the company said.
Nigerian Growth

Nigeria’s economy expanded at an annual rate of 7.7 percent in the second quarter, the company said. Dangote Cement’s full year revenue is expected to be 238 billion naira and operating profit of 124 billion naira.

The Ibese plant in Ogun, in southwest Nigeria will have capacity of 6 million tons by the end of the year and will be twice that size in 2015.

At Obajana in central Nigeria, where the plant is being expanded to double output to 10 million tons, the facilities are “being readied for production,” Dangote said. Expansion at the Gboko plant in central Benue state is expected to begin in the second half of 2012 and planned upgrades will deliver additional 1 million tons.

In Senegal, construction of the plant is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2012, while production will begin in the second quarter, Dangote Cement said.

London Listing

The company “may list on the London Stock Exchange sometime next year,” Executive Officer Devakumar Edwin said on a conference call from Lagos. The company is not in a “hurry” to do so, as it wants to consolidate its expansion into African countries, he said.

The company’s stock fell 5.01 naira, or 4.6 percent, by the close in Lagos, giving it a market value of 1.6 trillion naira. Dangote Cement has declined 14 percent this year compared with an 18 percent decline in Nigeria’s benchmark index.

The fall in price may have been because some investors were disappointed that Dangote failed to pay a dividend for the nine months, as it did last year, Ajayi said. “This could be a reason for the sell-off, but it is unclear that this will be sustained.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Vincent Nwanma in Lagos at vnwanma@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.

the return of paddylo, good to see a real nigerian giving facts

Nigerian tower firm eyes East Africa
BDA (http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Nigerian+tower+firm+eyes+East+Africa/-/539552/1281012/-/x8p64o/-/index.html)

Safaricom and Telkom Kenya’s infrastructure sharing plan could get a boost following an announcement by Nigerian telecommunication towers company IHS that it is seeking Sh18 billion ($200 million) to finance its expansion strategy.

The Financial Times newspaper reported Monday that the mobile phone towers builder, which rents out its infrastructure, had appointed Citibank to raise the extra equity it needs to grow beyond Nigeria.

IHS said it was targeting lease contracts with East African market telecommunication operators.

The firm said it was eyeing Kenya, Uganda Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa in its new bid to increase footprint after a successful bid in Tanzania that saw it enter into a lease back contract with Tigo of Tanzania and Millicom of DRC.

It comes at a time Safaricom and Telkom Kenya are negotiating tower sharing deal that will see the two firms hand over their current infrastructure to an independent operator in a cost-cutting move. “Voice penetration is about 60 per cent across Africa but real penetration is about 10-15 per cent less than that. So there will be a massive growth in voice traffic that will need building to ensure more capacity, while data use is almost non-existent and will grow rapidly,” CEO Issam Darwish was quoted saying by the FT.

The firm, which is West Africa’s largest telecommunications infrastructure provider, wants to increase the number of mobile phone towers it owns to 2,000 next year from its current 850, according to the report.

Some of the money will also be used to buy towers that are being sold by companies such as France Telecom in Uganda, the newspaper said.

Mr Darwish put the total value of the African tower market at around $50 billion and estimated that Africa requires another 50,000 masts for voice and traffic data.

Hisense, Airflow to Establish Factory in Nigeria

This Day (http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/hisense-airflow-to-establish-factory-in-nigeria/103946/)

Hisense, one of the leading Chinese consumer electronics groups, has disclosed its plans to set up a factory in Nigeria.

This, according to the company, is in line with its overseas development strategies, which are designed to expand its global footprint in no distant time to supply the West Africa sub region.

President of Hisense, Middle East and Africa (MEA), Alex Zhu, who disclosed this at a recent media briefing in Lagos, stated that by partnering with Airflow Engineering Works, which is an indigenous firm, Hisense would commence the assembling and distribution of consumer electronic in the country pending when it sets up the plant factory two years from now.

Zhu stated that Hisense will for now, while partnering with Airflow, assemble and distribute home appliances like the deep freezers, and refrigerators, air conditioners, wine coolers, dehumidifiers, etc., until its factory is set up.

“We have been looking for an opportunity to build a factory in Nigeria to take care of the West Africa region. Just as we were looking for partners and locations to build an industrial park in Nigeria which will cater to the West African market, we are in an ongoing discussion with the government, and the factory will soon be deployed”, he said.

Zhu added that the company has a long term strategy for the Nigerian market, and “Hisense will positively impact the country’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) by creating employment opportunities for young people.

He also pointed out that big Chinese company now has clear strategies on the overseas market, and added that Africa is an important market for them. “Trade between China and Nigeria in the future will be reduced greatly and more manufacturing plants will be established instead,” he stated.

great news!! :)
http://s10.flagcounter.com/count/BNdQ/bg_BEADFF/txt_000000/border_CCCCCC/columns_4/maxflags_20/viewers_0/labels_1/pageviews_1/flags_0/ (http://s10.flagcounter.com/more/BNdQ)

New listings, market deepening to trigger activity in medium term

Though, investors appear to be gradually exiting their equity portfolio position in favour of cash to meet year-end spending needs, the proposed dilution of ownership through possible enlisting of major oil & gas and telecoms companies stocks on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) may induce market activities positively in the medium term, stock market analysts have said.

There has been public interest at various gatherings of stakeholders in Nigeria on the need for listing of shares of telecoms and oil & gas companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, so as to trigger market activity.

For instance, analysts from Cowry Asset Management said “If the current move by the Capital Market Committee of the National Assembly to compel the large commercial entities in the telecoms and oil sectors to list their shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange scales through, then the Nigerian capital market is on its ways to major structural transformation both in content and character.”

They added, “We believe there is no better time to ensure the deepening of the Nigerian capital market than now but we also expect the lawmakers to come up with measures that will lure rather than coerce companies to list on the Exchange.”

Herman Hembe, chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Capital market, said the listing of economic interest sector companies on the Nigerian bourse is a measure that will rapidly grow our economy by ensuring that a substantial amount of wealth generated in Nigeria , stays in Nigeria . “It will also grow the market and rapidly encourage the ordinary Nigerian investor to get into the market again. Most importantly, it will greatly reduce and eventually eradicate corruption.”

According to Hembe , “The Nigerian Stock Exchange on its part, needs to speed up its evolution process and become more like its counterparts in other economies in the world by adjusting its business and economic models from being only a source of raising capital for listed firms, to one that creates economic linkages in the resident country, thus becoming a vehicle for infrastructural development, job creation and economic benchmarking through its internationally benchmarked market segments.”

He said: “This committee will thus set out to do the following: Get Telecoms operators in Nigeria listed on the bourse of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. This sector, with a starting market of less than a million subscribers in 2000, now caters for over 90 million users. These telecommunications companies make huge profits from Nigeria and are mostly not listed on our market,”

On getting the energy sector and its players listed on the bourse of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, he said: “This Committee will partner with relevant stakeholders to speed up passage of the Petroleum Industries Bill (PIB) to foster subsequent listing of major upstream players, the NNPC and all other operators in the oil and gas sector. This will imply ownership of these companies by Nigerians and subsequently diminish the secrecy and massive fraud that is associated with the oil and gas sector in Nigeria . We will also legislate to get power generation and distribution companies listed, once the process of their privatisation is completed.”

http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/markets/investor/30358-new-listings-market-deepening-to-trigger-activity-in-medium-term-

Inflows From Migrants to Hit U.S. $351 Billion

London — Remittance flows to developing countries are expected to total $351 billion this year, according to a newly updated World Bank brief on global migration and remittances.

More than 215 million people live outside their countries of birth. Remittances sent home by migrants accounted for 2 per cent of GDP for all developing countries in 2008, but 6 per cent of GDP for low-income countries in particular.

In several small low-income countries, remittances exceed a fifth of GDP and provide the largest source of foreign exchange. Remittances to developing countries are also three times the size of official development assistance.

In 2010, remittances recovered to the 2008 level of $325 billion after having dropped to $307 billion in 2009. The drop was as a result of the global financial crisis.

Flows are projected to rise to $346 billion in 2011 and $374 billion by 2012, although this may well depend on how the financial crisis in Europe in particular unfolds.
The top recipients of officially recorded remittances, estimated for 2011, are India ($58 billion), China ($57 billion), Mexico ($24 billion), and the Philippines ($23 billion). Other large recipients include Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Vietnam, Egypt and Lebanon.

The World Bank says that while the economic slowdown "is dampening employment prospects for migrant workers in some high-income countries," global remittances are expected to stay on a growth path and, by 2014, are forecast to reach $515 billion.

Of that, $441 billion will flow to developing countries.

"Despite the global economic crisis that has impacted private capital flows, remittance flows to developing countries have remained resilient, posting an estimated growth of 8 per cent in 2011," said Mr Hans Timmer, director of the World Bank's Development Prospects Group.

Remittances to sub-Saharan Africa are expected to grow by 7.6 per cent, despite the difficult economic conditions in Europe and other destinations of African migrants.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201112020117.html

NSE Kicks Against FG's Privatisation Time-Table

Ijebu Ode — The Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, has kicked against the decision of the Federal Government to delay the listing of public companies on the stock exchange after their privatisation.

The NSE also said that over 400 companies have indicated readiness to list on the secondary segment of the Nigerian capital market.

Speaking at the 2011 national workshop of the Capital Market Correspondent Association of Nigeria, CAMCAN in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema, represented by Mr. Bola Adeeko, Chief of Staff, NSE, said the Federal Government should direct the Bureau of Public Enterprise, BPE, to ensure that government's holding in the soon-to-be privatised companies was listed on the NSE immediately they were privatised.

He said listing the companies on the NSE will drive the growth of the Nigerian capital market and contribute in the quest of ensuring that the market became a barometer of the Nigerian economy.

Onyema stated that listing the privatised companies will create a sense of belonging among Nigerians.

He also called for an enabling law that will encourage telecommunications companies as GSM service providers, upstream oil companies and multinational companies, among others, to list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

He noted that getting these companies to list on the NSE will help promote the national interest perspective and ensure that Nigerians were seen to be benefiting from the wealth of these companies.

On the over 400 companies set to list on the NSE, Onyema said the companies' decision to list was borne out of a series of discussions between them and the NSE.

The planned listing, according to Onyema, is also an indication that confidence is returning to the market.

He explained that of the over 400 companies, a number of them had indicated interest to list within the next one year, while others said they would approach the market to raise funds to help shore up their capital base and expand their operations.

He, however, said the NSE will not force companies to list or delist, noting that the capital market was a free market with free entry and exit.

The NSE boss reiterated that bringing new companies to the exchange remained one of the core focus of the NSE, adding that this was in line with its broader goal of emerging as the gateway market for the African continent within the next five years.

http://www.broadstreetlagos.com/

Locals Abroad Remit Over $10 Billion Home in 2011

NIGERIA has topped the chart again in the 2011 estimated remittance flows to Africa from abroad according to the updated World Bank estimated data for the year released recently which puts the total remittance flows to Nigeria at $10.6b, Empowered Newswire reports.

A World Bank statement noted that all remittance flows to developing countries, like Nigeria, are expected to total $351 billion this year, and worldwide remittances, including those to high-income countries, will reach $406 billion for the current calendar year. Nigeria has a strong and growing Diaspora community, especially in the US, Europe and Asia, many of whom are responsible for this remittance flows.

Quoting the newly updated World Bank brief on global migration and remittances, the World Bank said 'the top recipients of officially recorded remittances, estimated for 2011, are India ($58 billion), China ($57 billion), Mexico ($24 billion), and the Philippines ($23 billion). Other large recipients include Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Vietnam, Egypt and Lebanon'.

The updated data showed that while last year (2010) it was estimated that remittances flow into Nigeria from its people abroad would be $9.9b, when the actual figures came in, it was over $10b, at exactly, $10.045b. In terms of the share of GDP of the remittances flow into Nigeria, while it was estimated at 4.1 per cent last year, it was actually 4.5 per cent in real terms afterwards.

Noting Nigeria's high ranking in the remittances chart, the World Bank report on Africa added that a few countries account for a substantial share of remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa, and noted that 'Nigeria's $10 billion equalled about half of all officially recorded remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa in 2010'.

The report disclosed that other large remittance recipients in dollar terms in Africa include Sudan, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda. However, as a share of GDP, the largest recipients in Africa are Lesotho (28.5 per cent), Togo (10.7 per cent), Cape Verde (9.4 per cent), Senegal (9.3 per cent), and The Gambia (8.2 per cent).

While the report deals with formal remittances, it is believed that a huge chunk of money is also being informally remitted to Nigeria and other countries. Nonetheless, the report observed that 'formal channels for remittances from outside Africa and within the region are heavily dominated by money transfer companies, particularly Western Union'.

For the Sub-Saharan African countries, according to the report, only about 2 per cent of households receiving remittances from outside Africa use banks; 'the share is slightly higher in Uganda (12.5 per cent), Kenya (16.2 per cent) and Nigeria (22.3 per cent)'.

It was observed that 'the role of other intermediaries, including post offices, microfinance institutions, savings and credit cooperatives, and new technologies such as Internet transfers and mobile money transfers, is even more limited for remittances from outside Africa', from where it is believed most of the remittances flow to countries like Nigeria are coming.

Recorded remittance flows to the African continent are similar in size to official aid flows, according to the report. For instance, they are several times larger than official aid to North Africa (3.3 per cent of GDP versus 0.6 per cent of GDP) and two-thirds the size of official aid flows to Sub-Saharan Africa (2.2 per cent of GDP versus 3.7 per cent of GDP).

Equally, remittance flows in many African countries it was further disclosed 'are larger than private capital flows, such as FDI and portfolio debt and equity flows'.

According to the World Bank, 'private capital flows are more important for South Africa, the largest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa, and for oil and mineral producers (for example, Angola, Gabon, and Sudan) that receive substantial FDI flows. But for many low-income African countries, remittances exceed private investment flows and represent a lifeline to the poor'.

It was also noted that while evidence on the implications of remittances for inequality is less clear, 'households that receive remittances, especially from outside Africa, may have been richer to begin with (allowing a family member to migrate in the first place); they may also have higher incomes because of migration and the receipt of remittances."

Recent household surveys conducted as a part of the World Bank Africa Migration Project and an earlier survey in Ghana find that 'more than half of households in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Nigeria and 30 per cent of households in Senegal receiving remittances from outside Africa are in the top two consumption quintiles'.

The report said by discouraging exclusive partnership, for example, between banks and international money transfer agencies, remittance costs would reduce, 'benefiting both migrants and remittance recipients'.

It stated that this discouragement of exclusive partnerships, has already led to policy changes in some African countries and has been implemented by the Central Bank of Nigeria and by Rwandan authorities. Indeed, remittance costs have fallen steadily from 8.8 per cent in 2008 to 7.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2011 due to increasing competition in large volume remittance corridors such as UK-Nigeria and UAE-India.

However, remittance costs continue to remain high, especially in Africa and in small nations where remittances provide a lifeline to the poor. Globally, the World Bank said while the economic slowdown is dampening employment prospects for migrant workers in some high-income countries, global remittances, nevertheless, are expected to stay on a growth path and by 2014, are forecast to reach $515 billion.

Of that, $441 billion will flow to developing countries, according to the latest issue of the Bank's Migration and Development Brief, released recently at the fifth meeting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development in Geneva.

The World Bank said it has made considerable strides in developing financing instruments for leveraging migration and remittances for national development purposes. Diaspora bonds can be a powerful financial instrument for mobilising diaspora savings to finance specific public and private sector projects, as well as to help improve the debt profile of the destination country.

The bank has established a task force on the Implementation of Diaspora Bonds to facilitate the provision of technical assistance to developing country governments.

www.broadstreetlagos.com

Nigeria: Hoping to topple South Africa


Africa’s largest country has more going for it than its infamous email spammers.--- ''Yeah, right..:|''

Massive oil deposits, for instance.

With proven reserves of 38.5 billion barrels of crude, Nigeria is the leading oil producer in Africa, with a revenue stream of about $40 billion (U.S.) a year.

As oil prices surge, Nigeria’s economy is growing and Canadian companies are anxious to capitalize.
At least 200 Canadian companies are doing business in Nigeria, a number poised to skyrocket as the country’s power sector continues evolves, says Chris Cooter, Canada’s high commissioner to Nigeria.

“Canada will go the whole hog with you,” Cooter said in a recent speech in Lagos. “There is a global awareness that something massive is unfolding in the power industry in Nigeria.”

FULL COVERAGE: Emerging Markets

President Goodluck Jonathan has said reforming the power sector is his “highest priority,” and he has created a government agency to privatize six generating companies and 11 other distributors. Jonathan has pledged to triple electricity supply by 2013.

Some investors already like what they see. Nigeria’s economy is growing at around 7 per cent and Standard Bank says it will eclipse South Africa by 2015 to become Africa’s largest.

Analysts even speculate that Nigeria could become a G20 country, and the country is anxious to improve its international profile. Nigeria contributed most of the troops to the African Union’s first peacekeeping force in Sudan. It has also has sent troops to Burundi and Sierra Leone and recently had a temporary seat on the UN Security Council.

But problems remain.

Jonathan is from southern Nigeria, and is unpopular in the predominantly Muslim north, where the extremist Muslim group Boko Haram is based. Boko Haram doesn’t seem to have much problem stoking discontent.

About 70 per cent of Nigerians live on less than $2 a day and the average life expectancy is just 51 years (compared to 81 for Canada). In 2005, a U.S. intelligence report speculated Nigeria could yet become a failed state, a bigger version of Congo or Somalia.-------- ''I am still waiting :|:|''

Still, several Canadians are optimistic.

CPCS Transcom, based in Ottawa, was hired to develop a master plan for public transport in Lagos and oversaw the privatization of the city’s port, a $1.4 billion (U.S.) deal that was completed in only 14 months, said Lucien Bradet, president of the Canadian Council on Africa.

CPCS recently brought a delegation of Nigerian diplomats to visit the Toronto Transit Commission. The government plans to build a new 30-kilometre subway line in Lagos and is considering buying parts from the TTC, Bradet said.

Toronto’s Nexen Inc. is involved in the oil-and-gas sector, and Montreal’s CRC Sogema won a contract to reform Nigeria’s tax system, helping the government crack down on tax dodgers.

“Canada doesn’t really have a lot of product to sell. . . we’re more in the knowledge business and that’s very important in Africa now,” Bradet said.

“You look at Nigeria and it’s the 7th largest country in the world, one that’s had a government elected fairly and squarely for the past 10 years. There’s no sector where the opportunity isn’t right outside your door.”

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1096275--nigeria-hoping-to-topple-south-africa

Nigeria new car imports soar as credit flows recover
Mon Dec 5, 2011 3:52pm GMT

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Nigerian motorists queue for petrol in Lagos in a file photo. REUTERS/George Esiri
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By Chijioke Ohuocha

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigerian new vehicle imports jumped 45 percent in the first 11 months of 2011 compared with the same period last year, as credit flows recovered after Africa's most populous nation completed a round of banking sector reforms, dealers said on Monday.

Car sales in Africa's second-biggest economy are a proxy measure for private purchasing power, a leading economic indicator which is not formally available in Nigeria.

Nigerian port figures showed new vehicle imports increased to 47,267 units in 11 months to November, from 32,634 units in the same period of last year, as bank credit started to trickle in, according to vehicle importers.

Bank credit to the private sector grew 16 percent at the end of October, compared from the same period a year ago, Nigeria's central bank figures showed, boosting demand for big-ticket purchases including vehicles.

Credit flows grew less than 2 percent in 2010 as Nigeria's banking crisis raged.

Dealers said most consumers in Nigeria rely on bank financing to purchase vehicles and estimated the pent-up demand meant sales could increase by 20 percent as credit recovers.

© Thomson Reuters 2011 All rights reserved

FG Relinquishes Exclusive Powers to Generate Electricity
http://allafrica.com/stories/201112060252.html

Starting from January 2012, which is few weeks away, state governments in Nigeria would formally have the rights to generate and distribute electricity power in their domain.

This would be made possible by the new set of regulations in the works by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) guiding Independent Electricity Distribution Network Operators and Embedded Power Generators.

Embedded Generation is when a power plant is built in a particular locality and not connected to the national grid for transmission. The generated capacity is connected directly to the distribution network.

Speaking at a stakeholder'workshop on the review of the Independent Electricity Distribution Network draft regulation, chairman of NERC, Dr Sam Amadi said by january when the regulation will take effect, it is expected that states with the capapcity to generate power in their domain wil come forward to seek for licenses to do so.

He said the new initiative will ensure that "All the cost associated with transmission is bypassed. It is embedded with the distributor locally. It can cure acute shortages of power in the short and long run. A state that has the capacity can have partnership with private sector, set up a power plant to carter for the need of the state."

President Goodluck Jonathan Monday, said his economic agenda since assumption of office was aimed at ensuring macroeconomic stability through structural reforms.

According to him, the several reforms currently implemented by his administration was expected to yield high growth rate in the country's Gross Domestic Product.

Speaking in Abuja, at the opening of the 66th World Customs Organisation Policy Commission meeting, the President noted that the country was undergoing an economic transformation which would yield results in the shortest time possible.

President Jonathan, who was represented by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the current reforms had been targeted at key sectors of the economy which include agriculture, power, roads, rail and deregulation of the oil sector.

He said: "Nigeria is trying to diversify its economy to non oil exports and in doing this, we are trying to implement an economic agenda which encapsulate ensuring macroeconomic stability, pushing through series of structural reforms be it within our ports and customs as well as power, roads, rail and other infrastructures, deregulation and liberalisation of the oil sector to unleash the potentials of the economy.

A group of investors led by Califco Group at the weekend unveiled plans to develop 2000 Mega Watts of electricity. The group said it is investing $2 billion in the Nigerian power sector in the next five years.

The team is made up of Califco Group, Frazimex Limited, Geiconn Nigeria Limited, NJJ Power Services, and Ecoinvest Capital.

Most of them said they have developed over 200, 000MW of power in different parts of the world, including the United States, the Middle East and several African countries.

Speaking at a meeting with the Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji, the Chief Executive Officer of Frazimex Ltd, Emeka Okwuosa, said the project would involve the development of additional 2000 mega watts using gas fired turbine power plants.

He said: "Our immediate project objective will be the expansion of the Egbin Power Station by an additional 500MW using either land based or Barge Mounted Gas Fired Turbine within 8-12 months.

"The Califco team will facilitate the national priority of improved power generation by providing additional 2000MW of power using power barges where connection points are available to the national grid."

Abuja — FRESH policy on job creation and industrialisation which are targeted at promoting local production against importation is underway as President Goodluck Jonathan has said that a review process of existing policies was being perfected.

The President said yesterday that in furtherance of ongoing efforts to create more jobs in the country, the Federal Government was reviewing national industrial policies to persuade foreign companies that export a lot of finished products to Nigeria to start manufacturing in the country.

Speaking during an audience with the new Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Ryuichi Shoji, Jonathan emphasised the Federal Government's determination to take all necessary action to create new employment opportunities for Nigerian youths.

The President told Shoji that he expected foreign companies from Japan and other nations with a long history of very profitable economic relations with Nigeria to support his administration's efforts in this regard by moving from the importation of finished products to local manufacturing and assembling.

He said: "Japan has been very supportive over the years, but we want you to do more. We consume a lot of Japanese products.

"We currently import more Japanese products than all other African countries. Japanese companies that export so much of their products to Nigeria have manufacturing and assembly plants in other countries. We want them to start manufacturing and assembling some of their products here too.

"We want to boost local production so that we can create jobs, create wealth and boost our peoples' purchasing power," President Jonathan told the Ambassador."

Shoji, who had earlier presented his letters of credence to Jonathan, told him that the Japanese Government was following the implementation of his administration's agenda for national transformation with keen interest.

He assured Jonathan that Japanese companies would welcome an opportunity to contribute more to his government's efforts to boost the productivity of the economy.

President Goodluck Jonathan stated yesterday that effective execution of the mandate of the Nigeria Customs Service had the ability to transform the nation's economy and put the country on the path of economic growth and prosperity.

Abuja — Nigeria and an Indonesian consortium on Monday signed a $960 million investment deal involving the mining, oil and rubber sectors in two southern states, a government statement said.

Trade Minister Olusegun Aganga signed the memorandum of understanding with Indonesia's Bakrie Group chief, Indra Bakrie, for the investments in Ogun and Akwa Ibom states within the next five years, it said.

The investment will be managed by Bakrie's Nigerian affiliate, Bakrie Delano Africa Nigeria Limited.


Bakrie said the group chose to invest in Nigeria because of the abundant investment opportunities as well as high investment returns, said the statement from the Nigerian minister's office.

"Nigeria is an emerging market country. Based on World Bank's report, the country is categorized as a middle income status supported by its abundant supply of natural resources, well-developed financial and legal system, communications, transport sectors and stock exchange, which is the second largest in Africa," he said.

The Federal Government yesterday disclosed its desire to become the world's largest producer of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) by increasing production capacity from the current levels by five times.

The government's intention, according to the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, is to take advantage of the on-going 20th World Petroleum Congress (WPC) in Doha, Qatar, to seek partnerships.

Ajuonuma, who further disclosed to journalists in Qatar that government seeks to secure partnerships in the proposed LNG plants, particularly the Brass LNG and Ok LNG, explained that top government officials have arrived in Doha to unveil opportunities for investors in the nation's gas sector with a view to achieving President Goodluck Jonathan's desires for the sector.

He said, Nigeria's intention is to surpass Qatar, currently the world's largest LNG producer.

He said, "We have abundant proven natural gas deposit capable of increasing Nigeria's LNG production capacity from the current levels per annum by five times which would make Nigeria to surpass the capacity of Qatar, the world's largest LNG producer.

He added; Nigeria has the best natural gas and incentives for investors. "There is improvement in security just as the government is willing to receive all investors."

The NNPC spokesman noted that various incentives have been packaged for prospective investors willing to take advantage of the gas revolution unveiled by the Federal Government.

He expressed optimism that the unveiling of the Nigerian stand in Qatar, scheduled to take place today by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, would attract chief executive officers of multinational oil companies willing to acquire stake in the proposed LNG plants.

Ajuonuma further revealed that top officials of the ministry of petroleum resources and the NNPC will be available at the stand to answer questions from prospective investors who would partner with the Nigerian government towards developing its gas deposits and becoming the world's largest LNG producer.

The Delta Governmenthas invited investors from the UK,China, India and other countries to exploit the abundant business opportunities at the Koko Free Trade Zone.
Chief Afam Obiago, Economic Adviser to Gov. Emmanuel Uduaghanmade the disclosurein Asaba an interview with newsmen.

He said the invitation was in fulfillment of the governor'selection promises that the state would requiredirect foreign investments to create employment. Obiago said that following the governor's trip abroad;three prospective investors had signified their desire to invest in the state.


"We were in China, we were in the UK, we have been quite busy and we do recognise that in order to fulfill our election promise of creating employment, we will need foreign direct investment.

"Foreign direct investment is related to employment creation because it comes with industrialisation and investment. During these trips, we spoke with prospective investors andurged them to consolidate on projects that are on the drawing board," he said.
The Economic adviser explained that while some of the investors gave their commitment to invest in the state, others had already mobilised to site to under take preliminary soil test and environmental impact assessment.

Chinese investors to create jobs in Anambra State
From Chuks Collins, Awka


THE newly crowned traditional ruler of Isiagu Ancient Kingdom in Awka-South Council of Anambra State, Igwe Augustine Nwankwo, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with some Chinese investors for the establishment of some industries in his community.

This was disclosed to journalists at a press briefing at the weekend during a joint consultative meeting between the Chinese investors who came to inspect the sites and the monarch in his palace.

According to Nwankwo, the industries would be established in phases, beginning with the construction of two factories for the production, distribution and marketing of Global System of Mobile (GSM) communications telephone handsets accessories, and another for bags production, in the first quarter of next year.

The visit of the investors and the MoU, the monarch noted, came within two weeks of his ascending the throne and in partial fulfilment of his promise to Isiagu citizens that he would use the platform of his new office to attract development and investors to the community.

FG Relinquishes Exclusive Powers to Generate Electricity
http://allafrica.com/stories/201112060252.html

HA!!, I can see a deep schism in North-South electricity production in the near future.

Whatever will be will be.

This is the way things should be.

^^ uh?? what is the way things should be??

I mean states should be able to benefit from their hardwork.

Akwa Ibom for example invested a lot of money into their IPP, I saw the video, it was in top condition, but I believe the laws about distribution etc, is what was preventing stable electricity.

States that do not invest in Infrastructure should stay in darkness, while those that do, should enjoy it.

Dangote’s N120b Ibeshe cement plant begins production
Wednesday, 07 December 2011



DANGOTE Cement Plc said yesterday that its six million tonnes a year Ibeshe Cement plant gulped $800 million (N120 billion) and would be ready for commissioning soon.

Besides, the company said that the cement plant has started production of cement, which is expected to bring the total yearly production to 20 million metric tonnes.

Speaking during a facility tour of the plant by the Governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun, President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote said that the company has completed work at the plant and has started production of cement.

According to him, with the commissioning, the country will end importation of cement, as total supply of cement into the market by the manufacturers would surpass the total demand of cement in the country.

He explained that Dangote’s investment in the Nigerian economy is part its import substitution strategy adopted by the organisation to gradually move away from outright importation to local manufacturing.

Dangote stated that the Ibeshe plant was part of the expansion drive of the group to ensure that by next year, the cement industry could produce for self-sufficiency and exportation.

He further explained that the Ibese plant is a fully automated factory with constant online monitoring to guarantee high quality cement, noting that the company went for highest grade and the biggest equipment in the assembly of the plant.

“We have raw materials on ground and all the processes are fully automated,” he said.

According to him, the two-line plant was built with latest technology and has a 70-kilometre cable linking the production process from limestone crushing to the bagging of the finished products.

“We have the biggest raw mill in the world here in Ibese plant. In all our plants we ensure Nigerians are paired with their foreign counterpart in line with pour deliberate policy of job creation for the locals”.

He said that company has been involved in giving the staff quality training both home and abroad. “The next batch of our trainees are expected to travel very soon,” he added.

Speaking at the end of the facility tour, Chairman of the Joint Host Communities Forum, Hezekiah Idowu explained that the irreducible minimum that the communities could give to show appreciation for the establishment of the Dangote Cement Plant is to ensure a harmonious relationship exists between the host communities and the cement company.

He stated that all groups, traditional rulers and the youths in the 14 host communities have met and agreed that they would do all within their power to see that the yet to be commissioned cement plant operates in an atmosphere of peace. “I am happy the Ibese Cement plant will soon be commissioned. God will bless Dangote. We made several efforts to attract investors to Ibese. Come and see, we have resources here, no way, they won’t come. Not until we contacted Dangote, I can remember vividly when we took a letter to him in August 2001, inviting him to come and see what he could establish here.



source (http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=69966:dangotes-n120b-ibeshe-cement-plant-begins-production&catid=31:business&Itemid=562)

Oyo Govt. plans $100 bln free trade zone
December 6, 2011


The Oyo State Government will turn the sod of a 100 billion dollars Free Trade Zone in the first quarter of 2012, the Commissioner for Trade, Investment and Cooperatives, Mr Kazeem Adedeji, has said.


Adedeji, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Monday, said that the trade zone would be unique in many ways.

`` We are already looking for investors that would develop the free trade zone in the state.

" This is something that will attract close to 100 billion U.S. dollars investment.

`` You can imagine the advantages it would bring to Oyo State in terms of employment generation, revenue generation and in terms of improving the quality of lives of our people, " he said.

The commissioner gave assurances that positive developments would start manifesting in the area of trade and investment in the state.

" The current administration is focused on transforming and repositioning of Oyo State.

`` As far as I am concerned, as the head of ministry of trade investment and cooperatives, our philosophy is to stimulate trade and enhance the economic growth of Oyo State in such a way that it will impact positively on the lives of the majority of the people, " Adedeji said.

He said government was already doing everything to ensure that the standard of living of the people in the state was improved through trade, investment and cooperatives.

NAN recalls that the immediate past administration released N2 billion to farmers and land owners in Oluyole local government in July where lands were acquired for the proposed free trade zone.


source (http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Money/Finance/5749061-146/oyo_govt._plans_100_bln_free.csp)

The Federal Government Tuesday unveiled a massive $130 billion investment plan for sustainable growth and development in the Nigeria's oil and gas sector within the next five years.

Also, plans are on top gear for the construction of additional 2,000km of oil and gas pipelines across the country in line with government's agenda to fast-track Nigeria's industrial rebirth through a gas revolution programme that would boost domestic gas supply.

Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, made these disclosures in her presentation at 20th World Petroleum Congress (WPC) holding in Doha, Qatar.

She said the five-year investment plan was designed to promote rapid inflow of foreign investments into the Nigerian oil and gas industry as well as develop in-country capacity.

According to her, part of the money would be used for the gas utilisation projects, which include the construction of world class petrochemical plant at Koko in Delta State, fertiliser manufacturing plants and three Greenfield refineries in Lagos, Bayelsa and Kogi States.

She listed some of the areas that required foreign investment intervention as Engineering Design and Related Services, Petroleum Engineering Services, Fabrication and Construction, Pipe Mills, Equipment leasing, Civil Works, Logistics and Haulage, Financial Services, as well as in the areas of hospitality services for construction workers.

The minister stated that the 2,000km pipeline would transport gas to the thermal power generation plants to ensure availability of adequate gas for stable electricity supply.

She added that numerous contractual agreements would soon be signed in this regard.

Owing to low domestic industrial capacity and relatively weak gas evacuation infrastructure, produced gas is under-utilised, resulting in the flare of as much as 1.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, (about 30 per cent of produced gas), she said.

She stated that government was committed more than ever before to end gas flares, disclosing that the focus on gas projects was part of government's concerted effort to stop flaring of associated gas.

Alison-Madueke further revealed government's plan to increase domestic gas consumption from the current one billion cubic feet per day to five billion cubic feet within the next five as provided for in the massive gas infrastructure development projects.

"I can assure you that Nigeria is entering a new phase in the oil and gas industry which is anchored on the principle of using local content to achieve growth, develop in-country capacity as well as attract foreign investment," she said.

She added: "Across the sectors investment opportunities abound for willing multinationals and other partners as the federal government has worked out different investment partnership models to guarantee apt return on investment to all concerned". She stated that though, Nigerian indigenous companies have shown strong capabilities since the advent of the Nigerian Content Act, more foreign investments were needed to help increase the quantity as well as the quality of in-country capacity.

The Government of Canada said it plans to significantly increase its investment and presence in Nigeria within the next couple of months.

Speaking at the Young Entrepreneurs Forum, organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, NESG and the Government of Canada in Lagos, Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Chris Cooter, said Canada is considering investing in youth empowerment, Nigeria's mining, oil and gas, telecommunication and education sectors among others.

Cooter said Canada's minimum investment in mining sites in a number of countries around the world is put at $2 billion, and the country will not hesitate to replicate that in Nigeria's mining sector.

According to him, Canada's presence is currently not being felt in the Nigeria economy, and it is aware that a number of things are missing in its relationship with Nigeria.

He said currently the trade between Nigeria and Canada is going well, but a lot still has to be achieved in this area.

Cooter put the value of trade between both countries at about $2 billion in 2010, noting, however, it has already put machineries in motion to ensure an increase in the level of trade.

He said as part of the process of increasing the bi-lateral trade relationship between it and Nigeria, a number of Canadian companies will be setting up shop in Nigeria within the next couple of months to take advantage of opportunities in key sectors of Nigeria.

He said, "Nigeria and Canada have had a long relationship, but why can't we have a bigger economic relationship. Some of the Oil and Gas companies are here, we are in information technology, blackberry is prepared to set up shop here in Nigeria, our businesses are establishing here, and they are realizing the potential of Nigeria.

We have Canadians in all sectors of the economy doing business here in Nigeria. We have airplanes here, we have services here, among others, and we are looking at doing much more.

Nigeria’s fourth fastest growing economy, says World Bank

http://www.nlng.com/images/nlng-and-the-nigerian-economy.jpg

Nigeria’s economy is the fourth fastest growing worldwide, a World Bank official, Richard Sandock, has said.
He listed other countries that recorded significant growth in their economies to include the BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India China,
Speaking at the Seventh National Conference on Investment in Abuja at the weekend, Sandock said: “Nigeria has slowly been coming up and has finally taken over from Russia and South Africa. “
Nigeria had recorded a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 10.3 per cent, 10.6 per cent, 5.4 per cent, 6.2 per cent, 7 per cent, 6 per cent, 7 per cent and 7.4 per cent in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 . As the second quarter of 2011, the country’s economy had grown by 7.72 per cent and is projected to hit 7.98 per cent by the end of the year.
The World Bank official noted that all sectors of the economy contributed to the growth, adding that in spite of the growth, Nigeria is still facing serious crisis in the labour market.
“In spite of the huge growth Nigeria is making, the labour market is still very choked up, as about four million Nigerians are jobless.Though there are changes in Nigeria, most times, it is not about incentives, but the system of the government.
“The system should be there for every kind of change. Investors need stability and predictability, meaning in 10 years, their investment will be as protected as the day they came into that country,” he said.
Sandock, said, all the government needs is to ensure that the environment is conducive and safe for business to thrive. These days, it is all about the Public-Private Partnership (PPP), let investors do their thing, that is most important in any growing economy, he added.
Two leading experts - Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) and researchers at Standard Chartered Bank, had earlier the year predicted that the Nigerian economy would overtake that of South Africa.
Some economies of the biggest seven emerging countries (China, India, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey – the E7), as well as South Africa, Nigeria, Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam, will by that time be bigger than those of the G7 (the US, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada), according to the report published on the website , forecast that Nigeria and Vietnam will replace South Africa and Australia’s positions on the list of the 20 biggest economies in the world simply because their economies will show faster growth.
Also, analyst at Standard Chartered said Nigeria’s GDP would overtake South Africa’s by 2015.
Speaking in Lagos, Regional Head of Research, Africa Global Research, Standard Chartered Bank, Razia Khan, had also forecast that by 2015, Nigeria would be the fourth most populous country in the world..
South Africa, which is currently the largest economy in Africa, is eager for elevation to the coveted BRIC status of emerging markets, but investors say Nigeria is a more probable African contender, even if promotion for either is some way off.
Khan however, maintained that for these projections to be attained, Nigeria needs a lot of structural growth.She also said the planned removal of fuel subsidy by the federal government would help correct a lot of distortions in the Nigerian economy.

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/business/29453-nigeria%E2%80%99s-fourth-fast-growing-economy,-says-world-bank.html

Honestly, On the fuel subsidy movement, I am serriously torn between the government removing it/phasing it out, and keeping it in place.

Growth will only increase.

Forget that nonsense...6-7-8%..nonsense that has been going on...we will soon hit solid ground soon.

IMF, World Bank, Rencap, Goldman Sachs etc are better off waiting for the full throttle, before they start putting pen to paper, rather than having to constantly review growth prospects upward, every 2 seconds.

Nigeria is the future.

Honestly, On the fuel subsidy movement, I am serriously torn between the government removing it/phasing it out, and keeping it in place.

They should keep it and remove it after the reforms. It is necessary to remove it, but the right mechanisms are not in place yet. This is not the time to remove it.

They should keep it and remove it after the reforms. It is necessary to remove it, but the right mechanisms are not in place yet. This is not the time to remove it.

yeah, but the complaint of the people is about affordability, not Mechanisms......
even if the postpone removal till 2015, people will still whine..... so I say, remove it..... but then, like you said, what will become of the money {Hmmn, It is Nigeria, u know}
Meanwhile, Government savings just hit 6 Trillion, on the back of Increased oil prices.

Dangote’s Ibese Plant Targets 10,000 Jobs
This Day (http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/dangote-s-ibese-plant-targets-10-000-jobs/104906/)

No less than ten thousand job opportunities are on the way with the coming on stream of planned launching of the new six million tonnes-per-annum Ibese plant of the Dangote Cement, due for launch by President Goodluck Jonathan.

President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, who disclosed this, said the opportunities would come both through direct and indirectly jobs.

He explained the efforts put into the multi-million dollar plant as worthy when perceived from the standpoint of the fact that there is the need for job and wealth creation in the country, adding that these two critical necessities could only be achieved through manufacturing.

The Dangote President pledged that he would look into other areas where the group could further create jobs and wealth for the citizenry, saying agriculture holds the ace and that he has invested in some other areas in agriculture like fertilizer, to help the farmers and to provide jobs.

Bayelsa offers huge incentives to investors
Vanguard (http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/12/bayelsa-offers-huge-incentives-to-investors/)

Bayelsa State Government is offering huge incentives including tax holidays, land, and equity partnership to foreign companies willing to invest in the state.

These were parts of the package the state brought to visitors to its stand at the just-concluded World Petroleum Congress, WPC, in Doha, Qatar.

The Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Mr. Gideon Ekeuwei, who made the presentation, said, “As you know, Bayesla is still very young; we will provide free land to investors. We will also offer 24-hour electricity supply from our Independent Power Plant, IPP, we will offer security support for investments, and we are also prepared to share risks with investors through equity participation. We are equally prepared to give tax incentives to investors.”

With regard to infrastructure availability, the SSG told his guests that the state has embarked on massive infrastructure development, including what he described as a “first class health facilities” to open up the state for fresh investments.

To further support investment, he said the state has set up a Local Content Capacity Development Institute to boost indigenous capacity, especially as it also owns its own Bayelsa Oil Company, operator of the Atala Field.

He explained that the electricity offer to investors will be highly subsidised, adding that the state planned to pull out its power from the national grid.

He argued, “Bayelsa is the only state without national power, and we own about 98 percent of our power infrastructure. So in a couple of months from now, we will do a total pull out from the national grid because the power infrastructure belongs to us.

^^
“Bayelsa is the only state without national power, and we own about 98 percent of our power infrastructure. So in a couple of months from now, we will do a total pull out from the national grid because the power infrastructure belongs to us.

Hhaha!!! :banana::banana::banana:
welcome The begining of a new Dawn in Nigerian power sector...
Now that is true Federalism.

Nigeria’s Dangote Cement could be a threat to multinationals like Lafarge
Feature Articles, Manufacturing, Nigeria | Femi Adewunmi | December 7, 2011 at 12:33
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Nigeria’s largest cement company, Dangote Cement, could become the world’s sixth biggest producer if its expansion plans play out as expected, says Ecobank in a research report.


The company is part of the Dangote Group, which also has interests in a variety of industries from real estate to food processing. The group was founded by CEO Aliko Dangote, who according to Forbes magazine, is also the richest man in Africa with a net worth of US$10.1 billion. The company started in 1981 as a trading business.

Dangote Cement produced over 8 million tonnes of cement in 2010, over half of Nigeria’s domestic output. It was also responsible for almost half of Nigeria’s imported cement. In addition, the company has various interests in cement plants and trading in a number of other African countries.

Dangote’s closest rival in Nigeria is French company Lafarge that produced around 4.2 million tonnes in 2010 from its subsidiaries Lafarge-WAPCO and Ashaka Cement. Lafarge also owns a stake in Unicem.

In an earlier statement, Dangote said it will expand capacity at two of its three cement plants in Nigeria, which will boost output to 20 million tonnes per year. “This will more than meet domestic demand, ending the need for large-scale imports and enabling the country to start exporting large volumes to the region,” says Ecobank.

However, Dangote Cement has expansion ambitions beyond Nigeria. The company has invested, or is planning to, in plants and import terminals in Senegal, Ghana, Zambia, South Africa, Benin, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Angola.

Ecobank says that if these investments come to fruition, Dangote’s total capacity will be 46 million tonnes by 2015. “If achieved, this would make Dangote Cement the world’s sixth largest cement producer by volume, and put it among the top five cement traders globally.”

Dangote’s expansion could pose a very real threat to multinationals operating in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Lafarge, Holcim of Switzerland, and Germany’s Heidelberg. “Although all of its planned capacity increases many not come on stream as quickly as scheduled, either because of planning or financing delays, Dangote Cement’s dramatic growth will nonetheless pose a serious challenge to the region’s existing suppliers.”

Ecobank says that even though Dangote Cement’s multinational rivals have far larger revenues, reflecting the global reach of their operations, the Nigerian company has several advantages over them. By far the most significant is its low level of debt which, at just $600 million in 2010, is less than one-thirtieth of Lafarge’s debt burden. “This has resulted in a low debt-equity ratio considering the capital-intensive nature of cement manufacturing, as well as a strong current ratio, which enables the company to easily service it short-term liabilities. In contrast Lafarge’s high leveraging has led to the company’s debt being downgraded to ‘junk’ status, greatly increasing borrowing costs and forcing it to sell off several key businesses, starting with its gypsum subsidiaries,” states the report.

In addition, Dangote Cement’s production capacity is also more concentrated than its competitors, with an average capacity of 1.3 million tonnes per plant, double that of its rivals, making its operations more cost effective.

And it's a French Company too....:cheers2:

To hell with Lafarge.

^^ lol ........"Franco-hater" :lol:

Dangote’s expansion could pose a very real threat to multinationals operating in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Lafarge, Holcim of Switzerland, and Germany’s Heidelberg. “Although all of its planned capacity increases many not come on stream as quickly as scheduled, either because of planning or financing delays, Dangote Cement’s dramatic growth will nonetheless pose a serious challenge to the region’s existing suppliers.”
:cheers:...right?
^^ lol ........"Franco-hater" :lol:

He won't rest till Nigeria develops and drives French influence out of West Africa.:lol:

Growth will only increase.

Forget that nonsense...6-7-8%..nonsense that has been going on...we will soon hit solid ground soon.

IMF, World Bank, Rencap, Goldman Sachs etc are better off waiting for the full throttle, before they start putting pen to paper, rather than having to constantly review growth prospects upward, every 2 seconds.

Nigeria is the future.



weren't you talking about it being a failed state that needed to seperate when that was a more convenient thing to say a few days ago?

Jzm6VOEdlII

Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Nigerian Trade and Investment Minister Olusegun Aganga talks about foreign direct investment in his country. He speaks from Geneva with Linzie Janis on Bloomberg Television's "Countdown."

The Next, Next Global Superpowers: Why Africa Is Rising

The AtlanticBy contributors@theatlantic.com (Jim O'Neill) | The Atlantic – Thu, Dec 15, 2011 8:40 AM EST

As Brazil, Russia, India and China (the BRICs) grapple with their new-found power, it's time to look out for an economic and population boom out of Africa's largest countries, especially Nigeria and Egypt

Demography is destiny, goes the saying, which if true makes Africa an even hotter prospect. In 2011 the United Nations published its revised estimates for the world's population in 2100. Asia will be home to 60 percent of the world's population, as it is today. But Africa will swell. Between 1975 and 2000, it grew from 416 to 811 million. By 2025, it will reach 1.4 billion and by 2100 a remarkable 2.2 billion.

Overall, the African countries lurk near the bottom of our 180-country growth environment scores [a.k.a. GES, Goldman's measure of a country's long-term growth potential] and need to make a lot more progress across the board if they are to achieve their economic potential. Nigeria, though, has shown what can be done.

Nigeria is critical to Africa with around 20 percent of the continent's population. By 2100, Nigeria's population could well be bigger than that of the United States. It has a group of politicians who seem determined to weed out the terrible corruption that has restricted its growth for so long. And, while its GES is the third lowest of the N-11 group* it has nearly doubled in the last thirteen years. A repeat of this over the next thirteen would have Nigeria well in its way to delivering its potential.

In this it will be aided by the technological leaps that are now possible. All over Africa, mobile wireless technology is enabling the rapid development of basic services like education and banking. If this continues and expands, countries like Nigeria may be able to grow at an unprecedented rate, skipping once necessary stages of development. This could be a very positive story in the years to come, and is yet another reminder that the world is about far more than stumbling growth in the United States and Western Europe.

Even small improvements in the growth environment can have an enormous impact on a country's growth trajectory, and we estimated that Nigeria's efforts had helped lift its growth rate by 2 percent. If it could raise its GES to best- in- class levels, it could raise this growth rate by another 4 percent, a massive premium. Of course, there are many variables at work here, but the important point is that the rise of Africa's middle class, when coupled with greater transparency and openness, and an improved environment for economic growth, could lead to one of the great economic stories in the coming years.

Excerpted from The Growth Map: Economic Opportunity in the BRICs and Beyond, by Jim O'Neill and published by Portfolio/Penguin, 2011.

Earnings Forecast: Julius Berger places Q1, 2012 Turnover at N 37.85 billion

http://cdn.businessnews.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/julius-berger-566x424.jpg

By Afolabi Ogunde
Julius Berger Plc has released its Q1, 2012 earnings forecast today on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The construction company projects revenue by the end of March 2012 to be N 37.85 billion, 18% over the N 31.96 billion it actually earned over the same period last year.

Profit before tax is estimated to come in at N 2.08 billion, an increase of 25% over the N 1.66 billion it recorded last year.

Finally net income is forecasted by the construction giant at N 1.14 billion, also an increase of 25% from the N 914 million it recorded in Q1, 2011.

Julius Berger recently announced the formation of a new subsidiary, Julius Berger Medical Services Limited, a healthcare company. It is not certain if revenues from the new subsidiary are captured in the parent company’s revenue forecast, however we feel that this is unlikely at this time.

The company’s stock was trading at N 32.96 as at the close of the market last Friday. The value of the stock has depreciated just over 34% from the onset of the year.
http://businessnews.com.ng/2011/12/19/earnings-forecast-julius-berger-places-q1-2012-turnover-at-n-37-85-billion/

Nigeria’s economy at risk over Euro crisis, IMF boss warns
*Nigeria is not implementing IMF programme – Okonjo Iweala
http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/images/resized/images/stories/goodluck_ngozi_largarde_sanusi_sambo_200_200.png

Nigeria may be on the receiving end of the economic shock from Europe because of the volume of her trade all over the world, Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned yesterday in Abuja , as she buttressed the need for the country to prepare safety measures against any adverse fall out.

“The recipe for resisting the shock has become imperative in order to avoid the ripple effects of the meltdown,” Lagarde said.

Lagarde who was on a courtesy visit to the Senate President David Mark and while briefing on the global economic trend equally asked developing nations to put safe guard measures in place to absorb the shock from the economic crisis in Europe.

Lagarde however said she was impressed with the reforms and transformation agenda of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan and urged the legislature to cooperate with the executive arm of government to make it work.

She said Nigeria is the first African country she would be visiting in her tour of the continent since she assumed office as the managing director of IMF.

Mark pleaded with the IMF “to make its economic and financial policies friendly to Africa because a policy that does not work for a supposed beneficiary is unnecessary” and empahsised that “any economic policy that brings pains rather than succour to the people is worthless.

He also asked the IMF to put necessary measures in place to ameliorate the shock on the nation’s economy resulting from the crisis in the European economy but mentioned that he was pleased to note that the IMF was interested in the reforms and transformation programme of Nigeria and assured that the legislature would partner with the executive arm of government to make it work.

Lagarde who was the Minister of Finance for France when Nigeria secured the $12.4 billion debt relief from the Paris Club in 2005, while addressing the leadership of the House of Representatives led by Aminu Tambuwal reiterated the IMF’s commitment towards provision of technical assistance to Nigeria especially in fiscal policy and building tax system that is efficient in revenue generation.

This, according to her, would allow the Fund to know the “spill-over effect” of various policies being implemented in Nigeria, and what spill over effect it has on Niger, Benin, Mali and other places.

“We are doing that because we realise that there is massive connectedness between countries. As we’ve seen at the moment, the European crisis…and its affecting other countries across the globe and no country is actually immune from what is happening there.” Lagarde told the assembly members.

She added that many European countries are presently canvassing for the policy support instrument (PSI) which was implemented in Nigeria several years ago.

Meanwhile, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the coordinating minister for the economy and finance minister, at the meeting disclosed that Nigeria was not implementing any programme initiated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“We are now partnering with an institution that is here to listen and help us. We set the policies, we set the pace, and they support us to do what it takes for the Nigerian economy. The idea of the IMF coming to tell people what to do is no longer what happens and so we are happy to partner with this institution.”

In his remarks, Aminu Tambuwal, Speaker of the House of Representatives urged the new IMF managing director to “ensure that the financing instruments of the Fund are more responsive to the needs of African countries by increasing the concessions in the Fund’s lending to low-income countries in addition to extending the zero-interest rate policy on Fund concessional resources beyond 2012.

Tambuwal also called for funding of Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) as enhanced through the transfer of a significant portion of the gold sale windfall of SDR 1.7 billion to the Concessional Trust, as well as give due consideration to the access by the low-income and low-middle income countries to precautionary facilities of the Fund.
http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/news/76-hot-topic/31073-nigerias-economy-at-risk-over-euro-crisis-imf-boss-warns

I thought Nigeria's economy was more dependent on domestic demand. Unless Nigerian banks have ties to European banks, or American which may be affected by the Euro fiasco, then I don't see how Nigeria's economy will be severely affected. FDI may shrink, aid too but isn't like Nigerian, non-European investors can't make up the difference.:dunno:

Well, I believe, she was just trying to say that the Nigerian economy {And soo many others around the world}, might be affected by the Euro crisis, ........ but then I dont see that much of a foreign impact, other than decrease in FDI, And reduced demand for commodities, such as oil.
but then, most Nigerian Oil exports, go to the US, And most FDI come from the US And the UK.

^^kk

Lafarge boosts local cement production with N750bn factory
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/12/lafarge-boosts-local-cement-production-with-n750bn-factory/


Following its strategic plan to increase its production capacity and keep pace with the growth in the Nigerian Cement market, Lafarge Cement WAPCO Plc has commissioned its N750 billion investment in Ogun State, which has the capacity to produce eight million tones of cement yearly.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chief Olusegun Osunkeye explained that the state-of-the art cement plant worth N750 billion (€350 million), will more than double the output of the plant to 4.5 million tonnes, noting that about 12,000 tonnes of cement will be supplied to the market every day.

Accordiing to him , In total, Lafarge can now domestically manufacture eight million tones of cement every year.”

^^
@ eddeux..that should read 75Billion(about Euro 225Million), not 750 Billion

PZ Cussons' Nigeria palm refinery starts work in Q3

Friday December 23, 2011 2:41pm/By Chijioke Ohuocha


Consumer product maker PZ Cussons expects a $56 million palm oil refinery in partnership with Singapore's Wilmar International to be operational by the third quarter of next year, the chief executive of Cussons' Nigerian unit said on Friday.


Christos Giannopoulos said the joint venture company PZ Wilmar will invest 100 billion naira ($612 million) in Africa's second biggest economy over the next 5-7 years to develop oil palm plantations that will feed the refinery and reduce import bills.


He estimated that Nigeria imports around 300-400,000 tonnes of oil palm a year.


"We are in the process of expanding our activities into oil palm plantation and creating the raw materials in Nigeria to satisfy not only our own refinery but also the growth of the sector," he told Reuters in his office in the commercial capital Lagos, adding that Nigeria was the biggest oil palm producer in the world 20-25 years ago before Malaysia overtook it.


"Our biggest investment as being announced is with our joint venture with Wilmar, where by we are ... erecting a palm oil refinery. We expect that to be in operation some time in the third quarter of 2012."


Giannopoulos said PZ, the Nigerian subsidiary of the British soap and shampoo maker, contributes around 30-35 percent of the revenues to the group, showcasing the rising middle income class in emerging markets and strong economic growth.


He said PZ also was witnessing strong growth in Indonesia, Thailand, Ghana and Kenya.


Nigeria's government is keen to diversify its economy away from over-reliance on oil, which currently makes up 95 percent of forex earnings, and on imported goods.


Giannopoulos said he expected consumer spending in Nigeria to expand after reforms to the banking sector which boost lending to the economy and the government fixes its shambolic infrastructure.


He said sales grew 20 percent in the first quarter for the company, which has operated in Nigeria for more than 100 years.

Source: Reuters

S&P revises Nigeria outlook to positive
Thu Dec 29, 2011 9:42am GMT

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(The following statement was released by the rating agency)

Dec 29 -

-- The Nigerian government under President Goodluck Jonathan has been undertaking several important reform initiatives and is tightening its fiscal and monetary stance.

-- The authorities have restructured and strengthened the banking sector, and we expect economic growth to remain strong.

-- We are revising our outlook to positive from stable, indicating a one-in-three likelihood of an upgrade if these reforms support economic growth and build stronger buffers against Nigeria's dependence on petroleum revenue.

-- We are affirming the 'B+/B' long- and short-term issuer credit ratings and the 'ngA+/ngA-1' long- and short-term Nigeria national scale ratings.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today it revised its outlook on the Federal Republic of Nigeria to positive from stable. At the same time, we affirmed the 'B+/B' long- and short-term issuer credit ratings and the 'ngA+/ngA-1' long- and short-term Nigeria national scale ratings. The transfer and convertibility (T&C) assessment is unchanged at 'B+'

The outlook revision indicates that there is at least a one-in-three likelihood of an upgrade if Nigeria's reform initiatives support economic growth, build stronger buffers against Nigeria's dependence on petroleum revenue and reduce pressure on the exchange rate.

After national elections in May 2011 and strong GDP growth rates over the past few years, Nigeria has tightened its fiscal and monetary stance by reducing projected fiscal deficits and by raising its monetary policy rate. It plans to cut a fuel subsidy, which we understand has been paid from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) in the past. This is one of several important reform initiatives President Goodluck Jonathan has promoted since he succeeded late President Yar'Adua in February 2010. Over the past two years, the authorities have also strengthened the banking sector. The government furthermore aims to improve predictability and transparency in the oil sector by drafting and passing the Petroleum Industry Bill, and plans an overhaul of the country's electricity sector that should reduce power supply constraints.

The ratings on Nigeria are constrained by our view of the country's internal political tensions, weak political institutions, and faltering efforts to institute buffers that will allow counter cyclical policy options. Nigeria also has a low level of development and significant infrastructure shortfalls, in our view. Inconsistencies in reported external data also constrain the ratings. The ratings are supported, however, by low fiscal and external debt burdens, owing to debt write-offs in 2005 and 2006 and high petroleum prices supporting exports and government revenues in recent years.

Gross general government debt has slightly increased in recent years to an expected still-low 16% of GDP at year-end 2011. Net debt has remained below 6% of GDP. With the government's fiscal consolidation plans and high nominal GDP growth rates, we expect that fiscal debt ratios will somewhat decrease again over the next few years.

Nigeria's current account balance has consistently been reported to be in surplus, although in the past two years errors and omissions have exceeded the surplus, which in our view is probably overstated by unreported imports. Crude oil exports accounted for 72% of current account receipts in 2010.

A potential upgrade would also be predicated upon no worsening of the political tensions between the Islamic north and Christian south and no significant deterioration in the country's fairly weak performance on international corruption and ease-of-doing-business measures.

Alternatively, we could revise the outlook to stable if fiscal and external balances fail to improve. This could be, for instance, as a consequence of a sharp drop in oil production or prices, or if political tensions or violence increase substantially, affecting overall political stability in the country.

The Federal Government yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with an indigenous bio-fuel producer, Global Biofuels Limited, for the construction of 15 integrated bio-fuel plants estimated to gulp about N414 billion to boost industrial development in the country.

Speaking during the signing ceremony, Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said the project had been subjected to stringent feasibility and market studies, adding that the ministry would partner other focal ministries and parastatals of the federal and state governments to ensure the successful execution of the project.

He said the project is expected to create 120,000 direct and 750,000 indirect jobs across the value chain in addition to linking 15 states of the federation to cheap bio-fuel generated electricity at the rate of 30 megawatts per state.

Aganga signed on behalf of the Federal Government, while the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Global Biofuels Limited, Dr. Felix Obada, signed on behalf of his company.

He noted that the project was the culmination of several years of hard work and intensive research between the company and its collaborators in research institutes in Nigeria, China, Brazil and India, adding that when completed, the project would positively impact the nation's economy and attract more Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) into the country.

He said: "The company will commence the implementation of an agro-based industrial activity for the production of ethanol, biomass electric power and food, all from a single industrial complex, using sweet sorghum as raw materials. The pilot project is presently established at Ilemeso, Ekiti State.

"Plant construction is scheduled to commence in the first quarter of 2012, while mechanical completion, test run and commissioning have been fixed for the last quarter of 2012. Following its successful execution, the same project will be replicated in 14 states of the federation, applying similar technology, raw materials and financing

According to him, "The project is expected to create 120,000 direct jobs and 750,000 indirect jobs across the project's value chain, while a minimum of 15 states of the federation shall be linked to cheap biomass electric power supply at the rate of 30 megawatts per state. The work of rejuvenating the real sector of the economy with a strong focus on employment creation, food security, biomass electricity, power generation,
import substitution and economic diversification can thus be said to have become a reality in Nigeria."

Construction work on the pilot plant, which will be established in Ekiti State, will commence in the first quarter of 2012 and completed within 12 months, while 14 additional plants will be established in 14 other states after the completion of the pilot project.

The states include: Ondo, Osun, Kwara, Kogi, Benue, Gombe, Bauchi, Zamfara, Kano, Kaduna, and Nasarawa.

I'm glad the above project is being executed by an indegineous company. Africans need to rise to the occasion and develop our continent.

Imo govt to embark on 4-year development plan
From VAL OKARA, Owerri

Monday, January 2, 2012

Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State says his administration embarked on massive projects few months of its inception due to prudence and sacrifice as against the past culture of heavy spending on recurrent expenditure.


Okorocha dropped the hint in a chat with journalists in the state on his stewardship and projections of activities to the Imo people, titled, “The Journey So Far” at his country home, Ogboko, Ideato South LGA.


He said with the approval of the N224 billion four-year capital development plan by the State Assembly, the state government would construct 425 kilometre rural roads, dualise all roads leading to the cities of Orlu, Okigwe and Owerri, construct 27 new well-equipped general hospitals and a five-star hotel each in the three cities of the state.


He further projected that part of the funds would be allotted to construction of modern markets and industries in parts of the state, Imo Airline, a monumental tower and schools. Okorocha stressed that the present administration would be fixing schools, improving health facilities, creating industries, as well as completing the abandoned projects in the state.

He further recalled that beyond forfeiting his security votes for free education, the state government was constructing 305 primary schools of 12-classroom blocks, training its teachers for best performance, as well as assisting private and mission schools to thrive.


He added that the Imo State University, which monthly subvention had been increased to N100 million, was being relocated to its permanent site in Ideato South LGA, while two standard hostels at the state polytechnic were being constructed as well as the accreditation of the school’s 17 courses. The Imo governor also said the Adapalm had been revitalised while the Avutu Poultry Farm, Nsu Tiles, Okigwe Clay Industry and the State Shoe Industry would soon resume productions, as well as the establishment of 10 agricultural processing industries – all these, according to him, would create over 30,000 jobs for Imo people.


The governor further said the Imo Concorde Hotel was being refurbished to make it reclaim its five-star status while the sum of N350 million was being injected to the Oguta Lake of Treasure to make it the tourism haven of the West African sub-region.

Imo govt to embark on 4-year development plan
From VAL OKARA, Owerri

Monday, January 2, 2012

Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State says his administration embarked on massive projects few months of its inception due to prudence and sacrifice as against the past culture of heavy spending on recurrent expenditure.


Okorocha dropped the hint in a chat with journalists in the state on his stewardship and projections of activities to the Imo people, titled, “The Journey So Far” at his country home, Ogboko, Ideato South LGA.


He said with the approval of the N224 billion four-year capital development plan by the State Assembly, the state government would construct 425 kilometre rural roads, dualise all roads leading to the cities of Orlu, Okigwe and Owerri, construct 27 new well-equipped general hospitals and a five-star hotel each in the three cities of the state.

He further projected that part of the funds would be allotted to construction of modern markets and industries in parts of the state, Imo Airline, a monumental tower and schools. Okorocha stressed that the present administration would be fixing schools, improving health facilities, creating industries, as well as completing the abandoned projects in the state.

He further recalled that beyond forfeiting his security votes for free education, the state government was constructing 305 primary schools of 12-classroom blocks, training its teachers for best performance, as well as assisting private and mission schools to thrive.


He added that the Imo State University, which monthly subvention had been increased to N100 million, was being relocated to its permanent site in Ideato South LGA, while two standard hostels at the state polytechnic were being constructed as well as the accreditation of the school’s 17 courses. The Imo governor also said the Adapalm had been revitalised while the Avutu Poultry Farm, Nsu Tiles, Okigwe Clay Industry and the State Shoe Industry would soon resume productions, as well as the establishment of 10 agricultural processing industries – all these, according to him, would create over 30,000 jobs for Imo people.


The governor further said the Imo Concorde Hotel was being refurbished to make it reclaim its five-star status while the sum of N350 million was being injected to the Oguta Lake of Treasure to make it the tourism haven of the West African sub-region.

I dont think state governments should be in the business of building and running hotels. They should find ways to get private investors to do that.

And they should use the money they plan to use in building flimsy hotels, to bring their populace put of poverty, or develop local infra.

Oil Sector Deregulation, New Course For Indigenous Shipping
http://www.leadership.ng/nga/articles/13165/2012/01/13/oil_sector_deregulation_new_course_indigenous_shipping.html

At a recent forum organised by maritime journalists under the auspices of Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN), maritime industry stakeholders unanimously agreed that the deregulation of oil sector would open investment opportunities in the industry, leading to job creation and infrastructure growth. According to them, the concept of deregulation in any sector is in line with global trends that enable governments to reduce national debts and restructure the economy for growth.

Minister of Transport, Idris Umar, noted that the impact of oil sector deregulation on maritime industry would be a huge attraction for new investors, especially in the area of developing maritime infrastructure that would increase market competiveness and higher productivity

Of note however, is the fact that removal of oil subsidy and deregulation of the oil sector will correct many anomalies in the maritime sector. These include improving the lot of indigenous shippers, through elimination of sharp practices occasioned by presence of subsidy.

According to the minister of transport, Umar said the maritime sector was key to international trade which accounts for about 90 per cent of the global transportation requirement, adding that Nigeria was no exception in this global trend.

He said, “Better opportunities abound to address fundamental issues such as substantial loss of revenue and favourable terms of trade such as cost-insurance-freight (CIF) in preference to free-on-board (FOB). Smuggling of fuel will become unattractive in a deregulated regime. The challenges of piracy and armed robbery at sea will be reduced to the barest minimum because factors that encourage these vices will substantially reduce.”

Maritime agencies and experts believe that with the absence of these fraudulent tendencies in the oil sector expected to be occasioned by the removal of subsidy, the NNPC and importers of PMS would no longer have to shy away from engaging indigenous shippers.

According to the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, it is also expected that if deregulation is achieved in the downstream oil sector, about 20 refineries would be built by the 20 companies that have received licences to begin business over five years ago. Due to regulation in the sector, these companies simply shelved their licences.

“About 20 licences were issued to different private investors to build refineries across the country in the past, but that did not succeed due to regulated pricing of refined crude oil but deregulation will open channels for investment in refineries. The idea is for Nigerian shippers to get set not to import refined crude oil but export refined crude oil products to countries across the globe,” Maku argued.

Infrastructure investment is good :)

I don't get the hotel part though? Does Imo state bring that many people in who need accommodation? That question could be asked for much of Nigeria when you look at it :? Hotels of that quality are usually in tourist destinations?

And why is a government building a hotel? Is this standard practice in Nigeria? I thought that was more private sector stuff...

FEDERAL Government’s effort at boosting economic development through funding support for the agricultural sector has begun to yield positive results as agro-dealers have started accessing single digit loans from deposit money banks (DMBs) across the country.

This is beside the execution of a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Finance and deposit money banks (DMBs) on November 29, 2011 to provide N30 billion funding for agricultural inputs – fertilisers and seeds for the 2012 farming season.

Speaking on this development, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said: “This shows that when we say we will deliver, we are serious. This innovative plan will get seeds and fertilisers into the hands of farmers directly and help boost food production.”
She added: “Nigerians will see the results where it matters in their pockets and on their dining tables...”

Following the execution of the funding agreement with the money deposit banks, the Federal Government through the Debt Management Office of the Federal Ministry of Finance has issued sovereign guarantees to the banks securing 70 per cent of the principal of loans granted by participating banks thus granting agro-dealers access to funds required for successful take off of the current administration’s agricultural transformation agenda.

This is consistent with President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s 2012 budget speech declaration, which emphasised the administration’s commitment to economic growth through the development of the agricultural sector.
According to the president: “We are committed to the total transformation of the agricultural sector of the economy with the primary objective of ensuring food security whilst promoting export in agriculture value chain where the country has a comparative advantage.”

According to the coordinating minister for the economy and minister of finance: “This shows that when we say we will deliver, we are serious. This innovative plan will get seeds and fertiliser into the hands of farmers directly and help boost food production. Nigerians will see the results where it matters-in their pockets and on their dining tables...”
In his remarks the minister for Agriculture and Rural Development noted: “The Federal Government’s agricultural transformation initiative would empower Nigerian farmers, create millions of jobs as well as result to huge savings in foreign exchange.”

Commenting on the initiative, Mr. Ola Richards, vice president of Seed Dealers Association of Nigeria said that the association was extremely grateful to the Federal Government for fulfilling its promise by solving the perennial problems faced by seed dealers and farmers. According to him: “This intervention by the Federal Government is indeed a commendable and noble initiative that will not only accelerate the development of the Nigerian economy but also ensure that the country enters into a season of plentiful harvest while thanking Access Bank Plc for the exemplary role played in the successful execution of the agric financing project.”

Some of the seed companies that are already benefitting from the scheme include: Savannah Seed & Livestock Limited, Seed Project Company Limited, Manoma Seeds Nigeria Limited, Nagari Seeds Nigeria Limited and Da-All Green Seeds Limited. These companies would in turn purchase the seeds from out-growers across the country. It is noteworthy that if not purchased from the out-growers for distribution to farmers, the seeds would have been said to waste or sold for paltry sums thereby resulting to economic loss.

According to the Group Managing Director of Access Bank Plc who is also the chairman of Bankers Committee sub-Committee on Economic Development: “The agricultural input financing deal shows the banking sectors commitment to act as a patch to the Federal Government of Nigeria in the transformation of the Nigerian economy.”

While a budget is an estimation of income and expenditure for a fiscal period, the Osun State governor promises that the 2012 budget will be more than the facts and figures. BUKKY OLAJIDE analyses the budget and the governor’s promises.

WITH a draft budget figure of N146.7 billion, the Osun State people may have been reveling with great expectations from the administration.
The draft 2012 budget, the first to be conceptualised and formulated by the administration of Rauf Aregbesola recalled that the processes for the preparation of the 2011 budget had been concluded by the immediate past administration before he assumed office on November 27, 2010.

According to him, the draft 2012 budget being presented is in consonance with the guidelines of the state’s Vision 20:2020 First Implementation Medium Term Plan (2010 to 2013), which has been comprehensively reviewed to incorporate the Six-Point Integral Action Plan of this administration as the main driver saying that the 2012 budget epitomises their philosophy and vision.

He stated that it is in compliance with the five-year Fiscal Strategy Paper of the state of Osun. In addition, the draft 2012 budget has been fashioned towards the accelerated achievements of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.

He explained that the 2011 budget was reviewed during the year to accommodate the additional provisions required to implement the New Minimum Wage and the implementation of the new salary structures for medical doctors, health workers and the staff of the state tertiary institutions.

With the approval of the House of Assembly, a re-allocation of the budgetary provisions on certain heads and sub-heads was carried out. In all, the realignment brought the total recurrent expenditure to N53. 3 billion or 51.72 per cent while the capital expenditure was N49.7 million or 48.28 per cent. Notwithstanding the review carried out, the size of the initial budget approved by the House of Assembly did not change.
Reviewing the implementation of 2011 budget, the governor recalled that the size of the 2011 Appropriation Bill passed by the House of Assembly was N102.9 billion. The initial total recurrent budget was N49.8 billion or 48.40 per cent while the capital expenditure was N53.1 billion or 51.60 per cent of the total budget.

The quarterly progress report on the implementation of the 2011 budget prepared by the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Budget revealed that the total revenue, which accrued to government from all sources from January to September 2011 was N44.9 billion. The total expenditure of government inclusive of all recurrent and capital expenditure for the corresponding period was N31. 7 billion.

Our government has been very prudent not only in the management of our financial resources but also with regard to human and material resources. From the performance of the 2011 budget just highlighted, it is obvious that the finances of government have been kept afloat. Rather than running into deficit, the state government of Osun will be ending this fiscal year on a credit note. Let me at this juncture concentrate on the object of this gathering by presenting the draft 2012 budget.

The governor promised massive achievements in terms of the execution of developmental projects. Apart from the physical achievements recorded, the attention of our administration in the last 12 months has particularly been focused on laying a solid moral foundation upon which our developmental programmes will be based.

The necessary socio-economic planning frameworks required have now been put in place to pave way for the socio-economic reconstruction of the state of Osun in the coming fiscal year.

Without mincing words, the draft 2012 budget has been carefully packaged for the effective realisation of our vision as encapsulated in our Six-Point Integral Action Plan.

FOR more than six months now, the Federal Government has been stressing the drive for a private sector-led economy that will ensure that the country become a manufacturing giant.

Specifically, the aim of the drive is to reduce the country's total dependence on importation of essential commodities such as cement and food items.

With huge investments already committed by local and international companies to the production of cement, and cultivation and processing of rice, Nigeria is set for self-sufficiency in the two products this year.

Cement production

Two largest manufacturers - Lafarge Cement WAPCO Nigeria and Dangote Cement - are leading the cause for cement sufficiency in Nigerian market with their various new and rehabilitated plants. BUA Group, a fast-growing indigenous conglomerate, and Kebbi State Government are among other companies that have evolved concrete plans in boosting cement production in the country with their newly-constructed cement plants.

With the operations of these companies, industry analysts, dealers and end-users are upbeat that the hitherto high price of cement, which usually comes as a result of scarcity, will be reduced substantially to the barest minimum, while importation of the commodity from Asian nations would also be stopped before the end of the first quarter.

Already, Lafarge has commissioned its new Lakatabu plant at Ewekoro in Ogun State. Lakatabu, which cost whopping N79 billion ($526.67 million), will add extra 2.2 million metric tonnes of cement per annum to the company's Elephant plant which has been producing two million metric tonnes of cement annually. What this translates into is that Lafarge's production capacity will double to 4.2 million metric tonnes per year.

Dangote will also soon officially inaugurate its new 6 million metric tonnes plant at Ibeshe in Ogun State. The new plant, which cost $620 million (N99.22 million), will be operated along two other plants owned by the company. The Ibeshe plant will jack up volume of production of Gboko plant in Benue State, and Obajana plant in Kogi State, both churning out four million metric tonnes and 10 million metric tonnes of per annum respectively.

The new and rehabilitated factories operated by Dangote will churn out a total of 20 million metric tonnes every year, while those of Lafarge will produce 4.2 million metric tonnes annually. This translates into a total of 24.2 million metric tonnes, surpassing the 17 million metric tonnes currently on demand in the country. What this also means is that the firms will be in a prime position to export 7.2 million metric tonnes in surplus to other African nations, thus realising the nation's potential in exportation of cement.

BUA Group, which has also made a giant stride in the cause for making the country a hub of cement, has spent $300 million in acquiring 87 per cent stake in Edo Cement Company (ECC) with a view to increasing the production capacity of the firm to two million metric tonnes before the end of 2011. The deal by BUA is aimed at upgrading and modernising ECC's production processes so as to manufacture two million metric tonnes annually on top of the 350, 000 metric tonnes.

Further, Kebbi State Government has also entered into partnership with Brewtech Engineering Company, a German engineering firm, for the take-off of Equity Cement Company (ECC) in the state. The deal will enable the firm to manufacture an initial 300 metric tonnes of cement on a daily basis and/or 109, 500 metric tonnes a year.

The state Commissioner for Commerce, Sani Rukubulo, signed the N1.8 billion deal on behalf of the state government in Birnin Kebbi penultimate Thursday, while Michael Bjorn signed on behalf of Brewtech Engineering Company

Infrastructure investment is good :)

I don't get the hotel part though? Does Imo state bring that many people in who need accommodation? That question could be asked for much of Nigeria when you look at it :? Hotels of that quality are usually in tourist destinations?

And why is a government building a hotel? Is this standard practice in Nigeria? I thought that was more private sector stuff...

imo state is actually in desperate need of more hotels.
the people of imo travel back to imo in the thousands every december from all over the country and world and dont have a place to stay while visiting.

^^ They dont have Family homes??

As growth in the Nigerian economy moves towards double digits as a result of efforts by the Federal Government to diversify the economy, some experts in the financial service sector have predicted that Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth would hit 8.1 per cent this year and to 8.2 per cent in 2013.

In their review of the nation's economy for the year, analysts at FBN Capital Limited, said the non-oil economy would again be the driving force noting that private consumption would remain robust in 2012.

The experts added that recovery in oil production following the Niger Delta amnesty would only play a supporting role.
GDP is a measure of the total value of goods and services produced by a country in a given period.

Usually, all components of a nation's economy contributes to its GDP.
The experts however, warned that the government must pursue its reform agenda if double-digit growth was to be achieved.

"And has made a start with the deregulation of the petrol price. Its challenge with all its reforms will be to hold its nerve against opposition from vested interests but some additional palliative measures may be required to fully win the argument. If it holds firm on one reform, it becomes emboldened to implement the next, which could be the new electricity tariff, the petroleum industry bill or the sovereign wealth fund."

While observing that fiscal consolidation has also started, the analysts noted that the government was moving to overcome the fiscal laxity of its predecessor, and thereby ease pressure on foreign exchange(forex) and interest rates

"The progress is necessarily gradual because of the predominance of recurrent spending in the budget. Fiscal and monetary policy, if not harmonised, are now set with a shared mindset. In our view the policy rate has peaked at 12.0 per cent. Pressure on the currency will not go away:

The CBN holds its objective of exchange-rate stability dear but has to confront resilient forex demand and an expected softening of oil prices this year. Since it is wedded to the managed rate, we see another adjustment to the central point in 2012, "they said.

The Managing Director of FBN Capital, Mr. Osaze Osifo, stressed that the direction of the economy in 2012 would be determined above all by the success of the reform programme (President Goodluck Jonathan's transformation agenda).

He said: "If the government stands firm over the deregulation of the petrol price, the first major step within the programme, it will be emboldened to move on other core elements of the agenda. If it backs down, which is not our central view, then the vested interests which are opposed to deregulation will themselves feel emboldened and resist other reforms with renewed vigour.

The ongoing registration of cooperatives will assist the Federal Government to achieve the set targets under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda, says the Federal Department of Cooperatives.

Mr Jonathan Dangwaran, the Director of Cooperatives, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.

Dangwaran said that the department had registered more than 121,000 cooperative societies serving over 1.4 million farming families.

He said that the target under the transformation programme was to increase the number of registered cooperatives to 800,000, serving over 20 million farm families.

He said that the registration of smallholder farmers had become imperative for proper monitoring and to ease their access to financial assistance.
He said that the UN had declared 2012 as the International Year for Cooperatives, adding that plans were ongoing to celebrate the event in Nigeria.

He noted that agriculture remained the mainstay of the country's economy as it contributed more than 45 per cent to the GDP.

To this end, he said that the welfare of the smallholder farmers remained a priority to the Federal Government in order to reverse decades of poverty and rising hunger, as well as moving forward to a food secure and prosperous nation.

According to the director, the department is working hard to facilitate and create enabling environment for financial institutions to support registered agricultural cooperatives.

He said that the department had done a lot has to promote registered agricultural cooperatives to render services in the agricultural value chain, leading to the creation of jobs, market outlets and the empowerment of farmers.

NAN reports that the Federal Department of Cooperatives has the mandate for the promotion, registration, regulation and the provision other capacitating services to the cooperative sector. NAN

^^ They dont have Family homes??

most of the time no. people leave imo state to go establish and come back to build a home, but during the process there's no home to hold them while they're visiting so a lot of them cram into their parents home which couldn't support them when they were a family of 7 kids let alone a family of 7 kids with 4 kids of their own now each.

there's also the families based abroad that haven't build a home in the village.

Nigeria: Outdoor advertising gulped N100 billion in 2010 - Survey

According to a survey published in the latest edition of Mediafacts 2010, an annual publication of MediaReach OMD, a media independent agency in Nigeria, a total of N97.549 billion was invested in outdoor advertising (above the line advertising activities).
This figure includes funds invested in television, radio, outdoor, and press advertisements in the course of the past year.

The results

According to the compendium, the figure represents a growth of 7.3% over the amount spent in 2009. In 2010, Lagos region accounted for 52.7% or N51.415 billion, while the North accounted for 19% or N18.578 billion. The Eastern part accounted for N16.218 billion or 16.6% while the western part of the country accounted for the remaining 11.6% or N11.338 billion.

As in 2009, the telecommunication product category spent the highest on ATL advertising having recorded N16.866 billion of ad spend, followed far behind by personal paid announcements which spent N7.854 billion. Lager beer was third in the product category with N4.513 billion.
Read Article (http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/157/87/62687.html)

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Nigeria to drive Sub-Saharan TV growth


There is a fast-growing opportunity for TV operators in Sub-Saharan Africa, including those from outside the region, as populations soar and incomes per capita continue to rise, creating a burgeoning number of middle-class consumers, according to a new report from Digital TV Research.

The number of households in Sub-Saharan Africa reached 148mn at the end of 2011, and this figure is predicted to increase by 20mn over the next six years, bringing it to a similar level to Western Europe.

However, the region's TV household total (38mn at the end of 2011, or a quarter of homes) is currently only equal to that of Germany. This total is predicted to increase to 50mn by 2017, representing 30% of all homes in the region. Nigeria is expected to account for around a quarter of TV households in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2017, with South Africa contributing a further 15%.

Three-quarters of the region's TV households still received analogue terrestrial TV signals by the end of last year, although this proportion will drop to 46% in 2017, or 23mn households.

About a quarter of TV homes (9.2mn) received digital signals at the end of 2011, and penetration of digital TV is expected to "rocket" to 54% by 2017 - with household numbers tripling to 27.3mn.

South Africa (by some distance the market leader for digital TV in Sub-Saharan Africa) will have achieved 100% digital migration by 2017, equivalent to 7.9mn homes. Proportions in other countries will be much lower, although Nigeria will have 7mn digital homes by 2017, up from 1.9mn in 2011.

Pay-TV penetration of TV households is forecast to grow from 19% in 2011 to 28% in 2017. Of the region's 7.2mn pay-TV subscribers at the end of last year, 6.1mn were pay DTH.

The number of pay-TV subscribers in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to double to 14.1mn by 2017, with DTH contributing 8.2mn and pay DTT delivering 5.2mn. South Africa supplied an estimated 4mn of the 2011 total, and is expected to grow to 5.1mn in 2017. Nigeria meanwhile is predicted to climb from 1.2mn in 2011 to 3.1mn in 2017.

A third of homes are expected to take DTT (both pay and free-to-air) in 2017, up from just 4% at the end of 2011. Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to have 16.4mn DTT homes by 2017, of which 11.2mn will be free-to-air and 5.2mn will be pay - up tenfold from 2011. Nigeria is expected to be the region's largest DTT market in 2017, both for free-to-air (3.2mn) and for pay (1.7mn).

Penetration of digital pay DTH services is expected to remain at just over 16% of TV households over the next six years, although this will be distorted by South Africa, where penetration is nudging 60%, thanks to companies like Multichoice.

http://www.iptv-news.com/iptv_news/february_2012/nigeria_to_drive_sub-saharan_tv_growth

More Analysts Predict 13% Growth for Stock Market


http://cyberinvestmentguide.com/images/global-stock-market/bombay-stock-market-india.jpg
Despite recording a decline of 0.7 per cent in the first month of the year, more capital market and financial analysts remain optimistic that the Nigerian equities market would close 2012 on positive note.

Analysts from two leading investment bank and research firms, FSDH Securities Limited and FBN Capital Limited had before last week predicted the Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index would grow by 13.3 per cent and 14 per cent respectively in the current year, and the next.

Analysts from another investment bank and research firm, Meristem Securities Limited (MSL), last Friday said the index would close 2012 at 23,532.91, representing 13.5 per cent over the 2011 close of 20,730.63.

MSL, which was among the top 10 stockbroking firms that led equities transactions on the floors of the NSE in 2011, noted that their expectation was being driven by the bullish outlook on the financial service (majorly banks), Nigeria’s stable foreign exchange market, expected downward trend in yield on fixed income instruments and anticipated positive macroeconomic performance.

“Our valuation suggests a robust 2012 return of 22.53 per cent for the NSE index, which we believe is justified by the attractive valuations of our coverage companies (which represent 90 per cent of the entire market).However, we are inclined to adopt a conservative outlook. This is informed by the outlook on global economy and the increased possibility that the Nigerian market might witness reduced foreign participation in 2012. We therefore discount our forecast by 40 per cent to arrive at an adjusted 23,532.91 index level,” they said.
The analysts explained that their sectoral returns distribution showed their upside bias for the financial service sector particularly the banks, given their fundamentals, weight and volatility.

“We expect the sector to dictate and lead market performance in 2012. Our 22 per cent target return is 82 per cent overweight on the financial sector particularly the banks. We will however, subject our forecast and underlying assumptions to testing and review as events in both the economic and financial markets warrants. Our understanding of market performance and returns distribution is that market returns are always skewed towards a short period of time, and this is expected to play out in 2012.

Though we remain watchful on the economic climate
given the increasing level of uncertainties that overshadow 2012, we anticipate a fragile first quarter rally and a much stronger rally in the second half of 2012,” they said.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/more-analysts-predict-13-growth-for-stock-market/108678/

Future of Nigeria is manufacturing, not banking – Dangote

http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/markets/companies-and-market/32728-future-of-nigeria-is-manufacturing-not-banking-dangote

Nigeria set to become net exporter of fertilizer by 2016
http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/news/76-hot-topic/32859-nigeria-set-to-become-net-exporter-of-fertilizer-by-2016

In a bid to transform Nigeria's massive Agricultural potential into profits, almost $6.8 billion of expected Investment into the Fertilizer sector has been announced by diverse companies as the Dangote Group, Indorama, Notore and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in partnership with Xenel and Nagarjuna of India.

The funds will go into building new Fertilizer plants and petrochemical complexes (all expected to be completed by 2016), as well as to increase the existing Fertilizer capacity which will boost agricultural production in the country, tremendously increase the yields of farmers and potentially lead to exports.

Nigeria: No. 1 in Africa by 2014? (http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2012/02/08/nigeria-no-1-in-africa-by-2014/#axzz1lq5mtm00)

Nigeria is by far Africa’s most populous nation but in 2010 its GDP was less than two thirds that of South Africa, the continent’s richest country.

That, at least, is according to the IMF – but the figures don’t reveal the whole picture. This year, Nigeria will change the base year for its GDP to 2008 from 1990. This looks likely to revise the size of its economy dramatically upwards. Depending on the scale of the revision, Renaissance Capital says Nigeria could surpass South Africa as the continent’s largest economy as soon as 2014.

http://blogs.r.ftdata.co.uk/beyond-brics/files/2012/02/Nigeria-RenCap-GDP-forecasts-after-rebasing-Feb-20122.png

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Hmmn, Lets, wait, for the results!

^^agreed. I'm more interested though in seeing how a huge gdp revision would affect Nigeria's credit rating, government bond yields, etc.