Sabinews Daily Update on the Nigerian Economy for August 1, 2014
Regional Director Predicts Bumper Harvest in North Central Zone
Mr Sunday Edibor, the Regional Director of Agriculture, North Central Zone, has predicted bumper harvest for farmers in the area in view of easy access to farm inputs.
Edibor made the prediction in Minna on Wednesday while interacting with journalists.
“There will be a bumper harvest in the North Central Zone this 2014 farming season because the Federal Government has made it easy for farmers to redeem farm inputs such as fertiliser and improved seeds.’’ Read more
CBN Boss Vows to Enforce Competency Framework in Banking Industry
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has promised to continue to work with stakeholders in the banking industry to ensure the implementation of the competency framework for the industry is realistic.
A statement from the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) quoted the CBN governor to have said this during a meeting with the President/Chairman of Council of the Institute, Mrs. ’Debola Osibogun and other executives members of the CIBN in Abuja.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria will continue to partner with the CIBN and other stakeholders in ensuring that the Competency Framework is practical and realistic to the benefit of the banking industry,” he assured. Read more
Federal Government Launches 10,000 Mortgages For Affordable Housing Units – Okonjo-Iweala
The Federal Government on Thursday launched the first 10,000 mortgages for the commencement of the Presidential Initiative on the delivery of affordable housing units to Nigerians.
The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said in Abuja that the launch was part of the Federal Government’s efforts to fulfill its promise of providing affordable houses to Nigerians.
“During the launch of the Nigeria Mortgage Refinancing Company (NMRC) in January, Mr President made the pledge to provide affordable housing by the end of the second quarter of the year. Read more
FG gets N100bn from EU for development
The Federal Government said on Wednesday that it had secured a fresh funding of about N100bn for developmental projects over the next five years from the European Development Fund.
The immediate past Supervising Minister for National Planning, who is now the Minister of State for Finance, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, disclosed this in Abuja during his handing over to the newly appointed Minister of National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman. Read more
‘Nigeria Has Received N311.6 bn In Infrastructure Development’
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has invested 1.9 billion dollars (N311.6 billion) in infrastructure development in Nigeria in the last 42 years, according to the Country Director, Dr Ousmane Dore.
Speaking this week in Abuja, Dore disclosed that the bank had committed a cumulative of 6.4 billion dollars (about N1.05 trillion) to different sectors of the country’s economy as at December 2013. Read more
NESI: FG threatens to withdraw licences of participants who tamper with trading point meters
The Federal Government of Nigeria on Thursday threatened to withdraw the licence of any participant in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) who tamper with the integrity of the trading point meters.
Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo who spoke during the hand-over of trade-point meters at the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) switch yard, Apo in Abuja urged the participants to work in partnership with the Market Operator (MO) to ensure transparency in the sector, noting that if the participants in anyway comprise the integrity of the metering, it will affect the accuracy of market settlement. Read more
Banks Attribute Drop in 1/2 Year Profit to Tough Regulation
The regulatory headwinds from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) tightening policy combined with induced costs, such as the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) charges, are taking a toll on the bottomline performance of Nigerian banks.
Four of such banks that have released their half year results are First Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Diamond Bank and Skye Bank.
First Bank Holding Company said on Thursday its half year to June pre-tax profit fell 12 per cent to N48.25 billion ($298.21 million), compared with N54.81 billion recorded in the same period last year.
Gross earnings, however, climbed to N164.85 billion from N150.73 billion last year. Read more
Union Bank Recovers N3.5bn Loans in Six Months
Union Bank of Nigeria Plc has recovered N3.5 billion loans in the first half of 2014, showing a significant improvement compared to the N1.5 billion recovered in the corresponding period of 2013.
The Chief Financial Officer of Union Bank, Oyinkan Adewale said that the improvement resulted from bank’s aggressively focused on recoveries.
She disclosed that as a bank that is also focused on driving business in key sectors of the economy, Union Bank grew its loan book by 55 per cent in the first half of year, to N239 billion. Read more
