By Edith Ike-Eboh

The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Malam Mele Kyari, has lamented the death of the pioneer Managing Director of the Corporation, Chief Festus Marinho.

Kyari made this known on Wednesday in a statement issued by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Kennie Obateru, in Abuja.

He described Marinho as “the Father of Oil & Gas Industry in Nigeria” because of the pioneering roles he played in the crafting of the institutional framework, infrastructural development and international best practices being used in the Corporation till date.

“His role in refinery and pipeline construction and human capacity development are all testimonies of his contribution to national development,” Kyari stated.

He added that Marinho’s visionary leadership provided the foundation of what had come to be known as “Nigerian content,” adding that his achievements in the Corporation would be a beacon and inspiration for many future generations of staff and leaders.

“He was indeed a rare gem and we will surely miss his wisdom and wealth of experience,” the GMD said.

Marinho, who passed away, was the first and only Managing Director of the defunct Nigerian National Oil Corporation (NNOC) – the forerunner of NNPC.

He served twice as Group Managing Director of NNPC, having served from 1977-1979 and 1984-1985 respectively.

His last appointment was made by President Muhammadu Buhari as Head of State. (NAN)

By Emmanuel Acha
The Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) says it trained no fewer than 6, 500 entrepreneurs in six Community Trade Groups in Enugu State in 2020.

The Southeast Regional Coordinator of the council, Mr Arnold Jackson, disclosed this on Tuesday, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu.

Jackson said that notable among the trade groups that were trained was the Cashew Community Trade Group in Udenu Local Government Area of the state.

He said that no fewer than 6,000 members of three trade groups, namely, farmer group, processor group and pickers were trained under the cashew value chain.

Jackson said that the move was in line with the diversification policy of the Federal Government.

The coordinator said that the council had in line with its one state one product policy, identified Enugu State as having comparative advantage in cashew production.

He said that such policy was aimed at empowering entrepreneurs to enable them to participate in the promotion of non-oil export in Nigeria.

Jackson, however, said that the state was also doing well in cassava production and spices, adding that the various programmes of NEPC had impacted positively on the active entrepreneurs in the state.

He said that the council would give the operators of small scale businesses the needed exposure to explore international markets.

The coordinator said that with the coming into effect of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), goods produced by local entrepreneurs would in principle reach no fewer than 1.2 billion people in about 54 countries.

He said that the AfCFTA was a noble initiative aimed at increasing the volume of trade among African countries, which currently stands at about 20 per cent.

“With the AfCFTA, local entrepreneurs can choose to supply about 90 per cent of their goods in the international market and reserve 10 per cent for the local market,” Jackson said.

The coordinator said that the council, as part of its efforts to encourage local entrepreneurs in the state, had concluded arrangements for the establishment of Export Promotion Clubs in the state.

By Folasade Akpan
No fewer than One million Nigerians are to benefit from the Federal Government’s COVID-19 Cash Transfer Project which aims to lift the urban poor affected by the pandemic out of poverty.

The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, said this on Tuesday in Abuja while inaugurating the COVID-19 Rapid Response Registration (RRR) Cash Transfer Project.

According to him, the project is a national initiative to build a shock responsive framework for capturing and registering the urban poor and vulnerable populations across Nigeria.

Osinbajo said that the new register complements the already existing platforms under the World Bank supported National Social Safety nets Project (NASSP).

“As of Dec. 31, 2020, we have identified and registered about 24.3 million poor and vulnerable individuals into the National Social Register; equivalent to about 5.7 million households.

“Through this project, we are currently injecting about N10billion directly into the hands of about two million poor and vulnerable households every month.”

According to him, the initiative is about the largest evidence-based effort by any administration on poverty reduction and its impact on the lives of the poor is huge.

“This is by way of improving the livelihoods of the beneficiaries through enhanced household purchasing power, smoothening consumption, increasing savings and acquisition of household assets and improving the local economy.

Osinbajo said that the RRR was designed to focus mainly on the urban poor wards selected using scientifically validated methods of satellite remote sensing technology, machine learning algorithm and big data analysis.

“This social protection method of targeting is the first strategy to be developed and tested in the Sub-Saharan Africa region and Nigeria will be the first country for its implementation.

“With the RRR, which uses a wholly technology-based approach, we are primed to achieve an end-to-end digital foot-print in cash transfers for the urban poor.

“Which also helps us achieve our financial inclusion policy under the Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access programme (EFInA).”

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the first set of 3,115 beneficiaries have already received N5,000 each cash transfer and the programme will continue until it reaches the one million target.

The cash transfers will be received by the beneficiaries for six months.

Also at the event, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, said that the RRR would provide the gateway to many social development initiatives.

“This is because it uses innovative advancements in technology, in combination with ground-truthing processes, to generate an early response system.

“By design, the register also links to other databases such as banking information of respondents and national identity numbers.

“It is a process that is advanced in unifying national databank towards the delivery of social development in Nigeria.

“There is no doubt that in future, as has been demonstrated in the previous presentation, we will be reverting to the process used here and the register itself, to aid emergency assistance and support social protection activities in Nigeria.”

According to her, with the inauguration of the project, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development now has the database that can provide evidence for impact tracing for most social development projects in Nigeria.

In his remarks, Mr Shubham Chaudhuri, the World Bank Country Director said the COVID crisis hit Nigeria very hard, especially on the socio economic front.

“Even in the absence of the crisis, we were projecting that perhaps another seven million Nigerians were at risk of falling into poverty over the next two years.

“With the COVID crisis and the economic pressures that have resulted, we are now projecting that that number could rise to close to 18 million.

“So, I think it should be pretty obvious that this kind of scale up effort is absolutely critical to the overall COVID response,” Chaudhuri said.

NAN reports that the target groups are small businesses, street vendors and petty traders as well as low-wage employed individuals and families.

It also covers daily labourers earning wages by engaging in construction and other forms of daily wage-based activities, employees of businesses involved in services and workers in different industries and manufacturing firms.

Others are taxi drivers, street dwellers, orphans and vulnerable children, people living with disabilities and vulnerable families living in slum areas.

The project provides a sustainable framework that supports humanitarian disaster risk response delivery system and shock response in future emergencies.

By Folasade Akpan

The average price per litre paid by consumers for National Household Kerosene decreased slightly to N352.79 in December 2020 from N353.38 in November, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The bureau said this in its “National Household Kerosene Price Watch (December 2020)’’ obtained from its website on Tuesday in Abuja.

According to the statement, the product decreased by -0.17 per cent month-on-month and increased by 10.05 per cent year-on-year.

The report said that states with the lowest average price per litre of kerosene were Bayelsa, N235.95; Rivers, N302.04; and Delta, N307.69.

It added that states with the highest average price per litre of kerosene were Benue, N436.81; Ebonyi, N425.83; and Taraba, N423.33.

“Similarly, average price per gallon paid by consumers for kerosene decreased by – 3.52 per cent month-on-month and by -3.06 per cent year-on-year to N1, 175.59 in December from N1, 218.50 in November.

“States with the highest average price per gallon of kerosene were Kebbi N1,534.21, Nasarawa N1,488 and Benue N1,450.

“States with the lowest average price per gallon of kerosene were Sokoto N733.33, Bayelsa N773.75 and Adamawa N822.”

The NBS said that in arriving at the statistics, field work was carried out by its staff in all states of the federation, supported by supervisors who were monitored by internal and external observers. (NAN)

By Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma

The Federal Government dominated capital raising at the fixed income segment of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in 2020, raising over N2.36 trillion.

The Chief Executive Officer of NSE, Mr Oscar Onyema, said this at the 2020 market recap/2021 outlook on Tuesday in Lagos.

Onyema said the Federal Government accounted for about 92 per cent of total bond issuances on the NSE in a bid to finance fiscal and infrastructure deficits.

He said corporate organisations also leveraged the low yield environment to fund their expansion programmes and to pursue debt refinancing, raising a total of N192 billion in 2020.

Onyema said capital raising activities in the fixed income market increased significantly in 2020.

According to him, NSE’s bond market capitalisation rose by 35.52 per cent to N17.5 trillion from N12.92 trillion in 2019.

He said 2020 was, indeed, a historic year for global capital markets with several headwinds, including an unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic.

Onyema said the outbreak of the novel coronavirus and its rapid spread across the globe in the first quarter of 2020 triggered panic selling in global investors.

He said global capital markets lost 18 trillion dollars due to the pandemic in February and March 2020 alone.

“Several equity market indices lost up to 20 per cent of their value in the second week of March when the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a pandemic,” Onyema said.

On investor protection, he said the NSE paid compensations totaling N17.02 million to 49 investors/claimants who suffered pecuniary losses in 2020 through its Investor Protection Fund.

Onyema also said the NSE facilitated recoveries of shares worth N305.11 million for investors in 2020.

On the demutualisation programme of NSE, he said the Exchange was awaiting the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission to finalise the exercise.

Onyema said when finalised, the demutualisation would make the exchange competitive in line with global standards.

He said the new entity would be listed by introduction to afford Nigerians the opportunity of being part owners.

Onyema explained that the NSE intended to use market norms and legal means to make the shares would be available for investors when listed. (NAN)

By Rukayat Adeyemi

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) on Monday disbursed an undisclosed amount to the College of Insurance and Financial Management (CIFM) to train 60 professionals as Actuaries in the industry.

Dr Yeside Oyetayo, Rector CIFM made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

Oyetayo explained that an actuary is a person who compiles and analyses statistics and uses them to calculate insurance risks and premiums.

She said that following the release of the fund, the college had conducted the first scholarship qualification assessment on Dec. 22, and some candidates had been notified of their success.

She noted that another qualification assessment had been scheduled to hold on Jan. 29.

“The fund disbursed covers registration of 60 candidates, their course materials, tutorials and mock examinations

“Due to the social distancing order induced by COVID-19, we are doing online tutorials in conjunction with Nigerian Society of Actuaries and the first set of scholarship awardees will write the Certified Actuarial Analysts (CAA) exams in May,” she said.

NAN reports that NAICOM had on Jan. 23, 2020 announced full sponsorship of 100 practitioners in the insurance industry to be certified as Actuarial Analysts, toward developing the market in the next five years.

Mr Sunday Thomas, Commissioner for Insurance, said that the initiative was in partnership with CIFM, Nigeria and was aimed at developing necessary professional skills and talents to drive the insurance sector.

Thomas said the move became necessary because only a few insurance companies had in-house actuaries, thus the intervention by the commission to stem the tide.

“Part of our plans is that within the next five years, we want to produce at least 100 CAA and we will take responsibility for the commitment.

“Part of the development is the human capital development, as the growing potential of the industry is built on the capacity to have the required capital that will drive it forward.

“The issue of measuring and taking necessary steps for effective pricing have made the Actuarial profession to be more pertinent than ever.

“There is need to develop young professionals and give them a future in the insurance industry, and we are determined to develop their potential and make them relevant to the sector,” Thomas said. (NAN)