Business
ADF To Finance Nigeria’s Power Sector With $157m
Nigeria and two other African countries Botswana and Cape Verde are to receive about $441 million to finance strategic energy and poverty reduction projects in their countries. Of this amount, Nigeria will get $157 million from the Africa Development Fund (ADF) to finance its Economic and Power Sector Reform Programme (EPSERP) which seeks to provide access to affordable and reliable electricity in order to encourage economic diversification, sustain growth, create jobs and alleviate poverty.
The fund will also support the implementation of the government’s development agenda which aims at improving the electricity system and the business environment for active private sector government in the power sector in the medium term.
In addition, the project provides the bank with a donor-cordinated platform to engage in dialogue with the Nigeria government on on-going public finance management and fiduciary reforms as macroeconomics stability is necessary condition for addressing the critical challenges in the power sector and protecting strategic budget priorities in the context of the global financial crisis.
The EPSERP is the bank’s first budget support operation in Nigeria and will be implemented over two fiscal years – 2009 to 2010. It is aligned with the Nigerian government’s 2008 – 2011 seven point Agenda which stresses critical infrastructure, particularly in power, as a key element in building a robust, resilient and competitive economy for sustainable growth.
Botswana will receive $225 million to finance the moruplle B power project, which involves the construction of a 600mw (4x150mw) coal-fired power plant and associated transmission infrastructure. The project, to be co-financed by the World Bank, the Industrial and commercial Bank of China and Standard Bank Consortium (ICBC-SB), is designed to achieve energy generation self-sufficiency in the wake of rapidly declining electricity imports to support economic growth and reduce poverty.
Botswana relies on imported electricity to meet the bank of its needs. In 2008, 80 per cent of the electricity supplied in the country was imported from South Africa’s Eskom and other neighbouring countries, while 20 per cent was generated by the morupule “A” plant, a 25 year-old facility that has become increasingly undependable. Eskom is suspending energy exports to cope with local demand.
The morupule B project is situated adjacent to the existing morupule power station which lies approximately 280km north of Gaborone. The project is of strategic importance to Botswana as it will contribute to national energy security and improve the competitiveness of the national economy. It will also benefit the entire population, estimated at 1.8 million in 2008.
The board also approved a $59 million ADF loan to cape Verde to finance its poverty reduction programme. This additional budget support loan is the AFDB’s response to the economic impact of the financial crisis on cape Verde. The loan will strengthen public finance management, as well as improve the business climate-the two components of its poverty Reduction Strategy Support Programme (PRSSP-II).
The impact of the economic and financial crisis has seriously affected the tourism sector, the engine of the country’s economic growth. According to fore- casts, the economic will persist in the second half of 2009 and in 2010. The budget support is designed to stimulate growth while enabling the government to continue implementing its economic and institutional reform programme.
The Nigerian stock market began the week on a negative note as banking and consumer goods stocks, among others, triggered a N19.49bn loss.
At the end of trading on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited , the NGX All-Share Index dropped by 0.09 per cent to end at 43,270.94 basis points, while the market capitalisation declined to N22.58tn.
Market activities were mixed as the total volume of shares traded decreased by 30.19 per cent while the value traded rose by 34.05 per cent.
A total of 213.13 million shares valued at N2.36bn were exchanged in 4,105 deals, compared to 305.32 million shares worth N3.58bn in 4,450 deals last Friday.
FCMB Group Plc topped the traded stocks in terms of volume, accounting for 27.43 per cent of the total volume of trades while Airtel Africa Plc emerged as the most traded stock by value, representing 28.81 per cent of the total value of trades on the exchange.
14 firms gained compared to 21 losers.
AIICO Insurance Plc was the biggest gainer for the day, topping the gainers’ chart with a price appreciation of 8.57 per cent to N0.76 per share.
It was followed by LivingTrust Mortgage Bank Plc with a rise of 7.95 per cent, ending the day at N0.95 per share.
Analysing by sectors, three of the five major indices closed lower, led by NGX Oil & Gas (-0.56 per cent), NGX Consumer Goods (-0.23 per cent) and NGX Banking (0.18 per cent).
But the insurance (0.82 per cent) and industrial goods (0.002 per cent) indices gained at the end of trading.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has introduced the Tertiary Institutions Entrepreneurship Scheme (TIES), which provides undergraduates and graduates with a platform to access loans.
The TIES’ underlying aim is to provide access to capital for Nigerian undergraduates and graduates with innovative entrepreneurial and technological ideas from polytechnics and universities.
TIES intends to shift undergraduates and graduates away from white-collar job pursuits and towards a culture of entrepreneurship development for economic development and job creation.
In a national biennial entrepreneurship competition, the Developmental Component would be distributed in the form of awards to Nigerian polytechnics and universities.
The competition aims to increase undergraduates’ awareness and visibility of high-impact entrepreneurial/technological concepts, foster entrepreneurial talent hunts in Nigerian polytechnics and universities, and encourage commercially viable and transformative technologies.
Interested Nigerian polytechnics and universities shall apply to participate in the national biennial entrepreneurship competition on a dedicated online portal.
Outlining brief details of the project, potential impact and evidence of originality of project, CBN said it is an innovation for students entrepreneurs.
The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) has lauded the Federal Government and tax authorities on the giant strides made on fiscal policy decisions and tax administration measures initiated this year in the area of Finance Act 2021 and the introduction of TaxPromax solution.
President of the institute, Adesina Adedayo, who gave the commendation at the institute’s yearly award ceremony at the weekend in Lagos, assured the government and tax authorities of aligning with the measures and promised to provide professional thoughts and insights on ways through which they could achieve an efficient and effective Nigerian tax system.
Adedayo emphasised the need to address the database, adding that without knowing who the tax-payers are, there is no way they can take money from unknown tax-payers.
Database is the aspect we have been emphasising on as an institute and in doing this, there are so many of pockets of data we have. All the data must be harmonised to have a simple unique tax-payers identification number,” he said.
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