To End Recession By December, See Dangote's Advice to FG!

Aliko Dangote has recommended remedy to the current recession plaguing the country.

In an interview with CNBC Africa, the billionaire said: “The only way for us to get out of this recession is to make sure we move into action quickly; action by diversifying the economy quickly.

In Dangote exact words, he advised ...

“If I had challenges in my company, I would not hesitate to sell assets, to remain afloat, to get to the better times, because it doesn’t make any sense for me to keep any assets and then suffocate the whole organisation.

“What we need to do now in my own thinking… we have a lot of assets to sell. We can sell part of the joint venture; part of the shares. You know government normally owns 60 percent.

“We can sell in an open tender be it Chinese. We can change the term and make it an operating one, just like what we have in NLNG. We also have another asset I think we don’t really need.

“The African finance corporation; it can fetch them $800million easily. My own suggestion before was that they should even sell 100 percent of NLNG. I don’t think government should be in any business of investing in sectors of LNG.

“A company like that, with earnings of $1.5 billion on the average, they should get anywhere between $12 billion and $15 billion.”

He further spoke about the Nations reserves....

“You will not believe that the crisis that we have today, if we have $15 billion, adding it to our $25 billion, that is $40 billion reserves. That will give confidence, confidence will come back, then government will back it up with proper economic policy, where people can see the roadmap.

“Latest by fourth quarter we will be out of recession. It should be a partnership between government and private sector. We have all the answers, Nigeria falling into recession does not really scare me, if we take action.”

Dangote the Business mogul futher stated that..

 if the government boosts reserves as suggested, the naira may fall to 250 to the dollar and help the economy.

“Once we can sell assets, and put $15 billion together, you’d be very shocked at how much the dollar will actually drop, you can easily see 250. What is happening today is mere speculation.

“To currency, everybody will speculate, banks will speculate, companies will speculate, individuals will speculate, because if you have money you want to send in from abroad you will keep sending in trickles.

“If you know that CBN has $40 billion in reserves today, if you have $100,000, you might even sell it forward because you know that this rate is going to crash and you must quickly sell it.”

Written By Osinubi Martin Abidemi (OMA).

for omaconomy.blogspot.com

Buhari Rejects Marketers’ Call On Petrol Price Hike – Daily Trust/Reuters

Nigeria will not increase its gasoline prices, President Muhammadu Buhari told his oil minister and state oil firm head, summoned to his villa last week, sources at the compound said.

Oil Minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, the head of state oil firm NNPC Maikanti Baru and the entire government have stepped up efforts to keep fuel flowing into Nigeria without repeating the price increase of May and risking civil unrest.

Shortly before the meeting former Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) bosses had said such an increase may be needed.

A steep devaluation of the naira currency has made sales of petrol at government capped prices unprofitable, marketers say. Months of unrest in the Delta region has also cut Nigeria’s oil output and left as little as half the crude available that it needs to swap for refined motor fuel from trading companies.

“Gasoline is the top priority” for NNPC, said one oil industry source who, like many in Abuja was meeting daily with officials in the oil company. The company, and government, the source said, “will do whatever they can” to stop shortages and keep prices stable.

In a statement last week, NNPC’s Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, which oversees downstream regulations, said there was “no basis” for price increase fears, and assured the nation of “uninterrupted supply and distribution.”

Nigeria has four oil refineries, but none of them have been able to run consistently enough to provide Africa’s most populous nation with enough gasoline and diesel - despite its historic position as Africa’s largest oil producer, pumping around two million barrels per day.

That is, before unrest cut output by around a third earlier this year.

Available, affordable gasoline is crucial to the government’s credibility. Shortages bring the nation to a halt, leading to days-long queues for fuel and power cuts at small businesses that rely on generators to withstand frequent power outages.

Nigerian unions have already threatened to take to the streets if prices rise further, as consumers face inflation that is at an 11-year high of 17 percent.

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, which represents small and medium fuel sellers, is, however, calling for higher prices. It argues that the current state cap of 145 naira per litre is far too low, given the devaluation.

The currency fell to 420 per dollar on the parallel market last month, compared with the rate of 285 that the government was using when it set the cap.

Gasoline is imported into Nigeria by NNPC and independent importers, with each usually providing half the total needed, but the government said it has been providing some 90 percent in recent months. (Reuters).

Source:

http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/business/buhari-rejects-marketers-call-on-petrol-price-hike--source/162462.html

Recession: FG Summons Emergency Session Over Economy

The federal government, as part of efforts towards reflating the country’s economy and pulling it out of recession, has summoned an economic session to brainstorm on the issue.

President Muhammadu Buhari, his vice, Prof Yemi Osinbajo as well as ministers and heads of relevant federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) will today converge on Abuja for a one-day retreat to discuss steps to salvage the receding economy.

The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had in August, reported that the nation’s economy had slid into recession for the first time in more than 20 years, as it announced a further contraction in the second quarter of the year. According to the NBS, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted by 2.06 percent after shrinking 0.36 in the first quarter.

This has generated anxiety among Nigerians home and abroad, who have urged the current administration of President Buhari to urgently search for ways out of the economic woes confronting the country.

LEADERSHIP recalls that president of the Senate, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on Tuesday, said that on resumption next week, the Senate would investigate the cause of the country’s receding economy and also pass emergency pieces of legislation to tackle it. He said the time for identifying the cause of the economic recession and those responsible for it was over and that all political leaders should start working together to find a solution.

Saraki also disclosed that the Red Chamber will make “tough” recommendations to President Buhari on the matter.

The minister of budget and national planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, yesterday disclosed that the economic summit will also provide the forum for government to present and discuss priority areas of the 2017 budget and realign the priority areas of the MDAs with national growth and development objectives.

“The key objective of the retreat is to discuss the 2017 budget as well as discuss steps being taken to get the economy out of recession,” the minister said.

Spokesperson of the minister, Akpandem James, quoted the minister as saying that the meeting was part of a scheduled arrangement to fine-tune and set the right parameters for the 2017 budget.

“It (the meeting) will provide an opportunity to discuss the framework of the 2017 budget, the key priorities and the deliverables of the budget,” he explained.

“The retreat is expected to deliver improved understanding of the measures being taken to get the country out of recession, improve synergy among the various ministries for enhanced implementation of planning and budget, and enhance knowledge of how to develop 2017 budget, which is effectively linked with the medium term plan.

“The meeting will also review prioritised projects and programmes of ministries to fit into the 2017-2019 MTSS, 2017-2020 Medium Term Plan and 2017 Budget, and improved understanding on budget ceiling for MDAs for 2017 Budget,” he said.

Akpandem said President Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo would participate in the meeting, while private sector facilitators and some experts on economics are also expected to provide perspectives during the technical sessions.

He said the retreat became necessary as years of the country’s growth and development had been impeded by mismatch between planned targets and budgetary outcomes at the national and sectoral levels, due to the lack of synergy between the various federal MDAs.

Seek experts’ advice – Emir Sanusi

Meanwhile, the Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, has called on the federal government to seek the advice of experts on economics in tackling the current economic crisis in the country.

Sanusi gave the advice during the traditional Sallah Durbar (Hawan Nasarawa) at Government House, Kano.

He said consulting the experts would help in bringing about proper solution to the crisis and reducing the hardship people are currently facing in the country.

The emir, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), also urged wealthy Nigerians to support the less-privileged in the society in order to alleviate their sufferings.

He also urged the people of Kano to remain law-abiding and be their brother’s keeper irrespective of religion or ethnic background, for all Nigerians to continue to pray for economic growth and development of the country.

The royal father appealed to the state government to empower the people with economic skills that would make them self-reliant.

Also, an economist and managing director of Financial Derivatives Company Ltd, Mr Bismarck Rewane, said that in order for the country to come out of recession, the federal government needs to borrow and sell assets to raise funds that would be injected into the economy.

Speaking on the current state of the nation’s economy, Rewane said the government must, first and foremost, inject money into the system.

According to him, since there is a fall in oil revenue, the government has to increase the deficit plan for 2016.

“The government must inject funds into the system and the executive is fully engaged because they know they cannot hide; they have to deal with the problem,’’ he said.

Similarly, the immediate past finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, also urged the present administration to look inwards for solutions to the current economic crisis in the country.

“The solutions to the country’s economic decline could still be found in the country,” she said in an interview on Aljazeera programme, The Stream.

Source:

http://leadership.ng/news/cover-stories/550649/fg-summons-emergency-session-over-economy

What! You wont Believe the Minister Of State For Agriculture said a "Bag Of Rice May Sell For N40,000 By December " Beat That!

Senator Heineken Lokpobiri The Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, has said that Nigeria spends about $22bn a year on importation of food.

The Minister of State made this known on Saturday at a town hall meeting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

He said the development had led to the astronomical rise in price of rice and other commodities, stressing that if Nigerians failed to produce some of the items being imported, before December the price of rice would skyrocket to N40,000 a bag.

He said there was a projection that by 2050, Nigeria’s population would be 450 million, wondering what would happen then if the people could not feed themselves now.

In His Exact words, it was reported Lokpobiri said, “For your information, we spend about $22bn a year importing food into Nigeria. We know how many more dollars … and that is why you see the price of rice going up.

“Price of rice was N12,000 some months ago, but it is now about N26,000 and if we don’t start producing, by December it could be N40,000.

“Rice matures in three months. So, this is a wake up call for Bayelsa people to take the four farms we have seriously. The federal government has four farms in the state in our records. The average land you see in Bayelsa can grow rice, so the colonial masters were not wrong in their assessment when they said Niger Delta could feed not only Nigeria but the entire West Africa sub-region.

“Unfortunately, agriculture till today, is not a priority of the Niger Delta as far as the state governments are concerned because of oil.”

He said the states in the Niger Delta had yet to give priority to agriculture the way the North-West states such as Kebbi, Jigawa, Kano as well as other states like Lagos, Ebonyi, Anambra, have prioritised it.

Vandalism: Nigeria loses 79 million barrels of crude

The attacks  on Forcados export line by militants in the Niger Delta have left a total of 79 million barrels of crude oil shut in since February, causing oil firms and the nation a huge loss of revenue.

The Forcados export terminal was shut down after Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited declared force majeure – a legal clause that allows it to stop shipments without breaching contracts – on February 21.

Militants had a week earlier blown up a pipeline feeding the Forcados export terminal, knocking out at least 250,000 barrels per day. Since then, the terminal has not come back on stream.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, in its latest monthly report, said crude oil production in Nigeria plummeted to 1.69 million bpd in May, following uptick in pipeline vandalism in the volatile Niger-Delta region.

The NNPC said, “The subsisting force majeure at Forcados terminal means that about 380,000 bopd remains shut-in. Cargoes were deferred until repairs are completed.

“Also, the nation has lost over 1,500 megawatts to the damage at Forcados, which accounted for 40 per cent to 50 per cent of gas production.”

The corporation noted that force majeure was declared on May 10 for repair work on Nembe Creek Trunk Line and the resultant shut-in of about 275,000bopd, adding that other far-reaching incidents included production shut-in at Usan, Que Iboe and Brass terminals.

It is still uncertain when the Forcados pipeline will come back on stream, although one of the companies hard hit by the shutdown expects the force majeure to be lifted later this month.

Seven Energy, an integrated gas company in the South-East with upstream oil and gas interests in the region, said it lifted no oil from the Mining Leases 4, 38 and 41 during the first half of the year due to the shutdown of the Forcados terminal and the declaration of force majeure by Shell from mid-February.

“Current expectations are that the force majeure will be lifted late in the third quarter of 2016,” the company said.

On Wednesday, global credit rating agency, Fitch Rating, downgraded Seven Energy International Limited’s Issuer Default Rating to ‘CC’ from ‘B-’. It also downgraded the senior secured rating of the Seven Energy Finance Limited to ‘C’ from ‘CCC’.

Fitch noted that the company’s oil business in Nigeria had been hampered by security issues, leading to the prolonged shutdown at the Forcados oil terminal, and the weak financial position of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company.

The International Energy Agency had in April estimated that Nigeria could lose an estimated revenue of $1bn (N197bn) by May, when repairs of the Forcados terminal were expected to be completed.

The IEA said, “The Forcados terminal in Delta State, one of Nigeria’s biggest terminals, was scheduled to load 250,000 barrels of crude per day. At $40 per barrel, Nigeria stands to lose an estimated $1bn between February, when force majeure was declared, and May, when repairs were expected to be completed.”

The militant group, Niger Delta Avengers, has claimed most of the strikes, which continued even during a one-month ceasefire announced by the government in June. Other groups have also claimed some of the attacks.

The groups have primarily targeted pipelines belonging to oil majors such as Shell, ENI and Chevron, the NNPC, and Nigerian company Aiteo.

Former group managing directors of the NNPC had at the end of a meeting with the current GMD of the corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru, and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, said the attacks were putting the nation’s oil industry at risk of total collapse.

“If the current situation remains unchecked, it could lead to the crippling of the corporation and the nation’s oil and gas sector, the mainstay of the Nigerian economy,” the NNPC reported to have said in a statement.

They urged the corporation and the government to implement necessary reforms in order to prevent the nation’s oil and gas industry from being brought to a grinding halt.

The Chief Executive Officer, Seven Energy, Phillip Ihenacho, said, “The macro-environment in Nigeria and the ongoing issues within our industry present our company with an extremely challenging environment. So far, during 2016, we have received no revenue from our interests in OML 4, 38 and 41 as a result of the shutdown of the Forcados terminal.”

Source:

http://punchng.com/vandalism-nigeria-loses-79-million-barrels-crude/

Recession Will End Soon, Atiku Assures

Former Vice President and Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar has urged Nigerians not to despair or lose hope in the country as the current economic recession will soon give way to economic prosperity.

According to Atiku, while it might take some time to get out of the current situation, so much need to be done to achieve economic prosperity since a lot of things were left undone for too long by the nation’s past leaders.

In a Sallah message released by his media office in Abuja, Atiku said Nigerians, particularly the Muslim umma must learn to be their brothers keepers.

While congratulating Muslims on the celebration of the festival of Eid el-Kabir celebration, Atiku urged them to use the opportunity to reflect on the situation in the country and support themselves.

He said Nigerians should celebrate like other people in the world in spite of the economic situation facing the country, assuring them that this storm will pass away.

He said the Sallah celebration calls for sober reflection, prayers, cooperation and the display of solidarity among Nigerians so that no one feels left out.

He called on Nigerians to continue to work hard, persevere and pray for the success of the policies and measures being put in place by the APC government of President Muhammadu Buhari to restore the nation’s economy to good health and improve the lives of the people.

Source:

http://thenationonlineng.net/recession-will-end-soon-atiku-assures/

Aisha Buhari Flagsoff Program To Train Women On Income Generating Skills

Mrs Aisha Buhari through Future Assured collaborates with the National Directorate of Employment. She flagged off a program to train women on income generating skills which will empower them with jobs.

Source:

http://www.newshelm.com/2016/09/photos-aisha-buhari-flags-off-program.html