The global total industry passenger revenues fell by 69 per cent to $189bn in 2020, with accumulated net losses of $126.4bn, according to the latest data from the International Air Transport Association. The industry statistics show that the number of passengers carried on schedule services plunged by 65.7 per cent, with Africa as the largest loser of passenger traffic after Europe. The decline in air passengers transported in 2020 was the largest recorded since global revenue passenger-kilometers started being tracked around 1950. The statistics also confirmed that domestic air passenger demand dropped by 48.8 per cent, compared to 2019, while…
Author: Temitope N.
The Nigeria Labour Congress has said the Federal Government must implement by December the agreement to reduce electricity tariffs by N15 per kilowatt-hour. The congress cautioned that it would not accept the serial violations of agreements, noting that it was serving the government a notice. The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday titled ‘Gas sale to Gencos should be below $1.50/scf’. He said, “It is significant that the incessant increase of electricity tariff was one of the several issues discussed between the representatives of the Federal Government of Nigeria and organised labour, hereinafter…
The Transmission Company of Nigeria has suspended the evacuation of electricity to eligible customers, it was learnt on Thursday. In July 2018, the immediate past Minister of Power, Babatunde Fashola, announced the introduction of the Eligible Customer policy, explaining that it would accelerate power supply to industries and heavy consumers. Fashola, who is the current Minister of Works and Housing, had stated that the policy was introduced in pursuant to powers conferred by Section 27 of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act. The policy allows power generation companies to sell electricity directly to consumers without passing through the distribution companies,…
The Financial Derivatives Company Limited has described the documentation process required by banks for the sale of foreign exchange as cumbersome, saying this will pose a challenge to the public. The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, had last week, at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting, announced the stoppage of forex sale to the Bureaux De Change, saying they had turned themselves into “agents that facilitate graft and corrupt activities of people who seek illicit fund flow and money laundering in Nigeria”. He said the CBN would channel a significant portion of its weekly allocation currently meant for…
Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc has announced that it plans to spend $1bn on expansion after the Central Bank of Nigeria made the firm one of the three sole importers of the sweetener into the country. Bloomberg reported that the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Ravindra Singhvi, said during an investor conference call on Thursday that Dangote Sugar had put more than a hundred thousand hectares of land under cultivation to grow sugarcane for local sourcing of inputs. Singhvi was quoted as saying, “The plantations in Adamawa and Nasarawa will be ready by 2023 while work to almost double the capacity of…
The Lagos State Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has said it will hold a power sector stakeholders session on the proposed Lagos State Electricity Policy. The Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr Olalere Odusote, was quoted in a statement as saying the session slated for next week was aimed at proffering sustainable solutions to power-related issues in Lagos. He said the policy would serve as a blueprint for the vision to achieve sufficient access to electricity in the state and would also accelerate the ‘Light-up Lagos’ initiative when it becomes operational. He advised concerned stakeholders to register ahead…
The total claims paid by sixteen insurance companies in the country rose by 36.48 per cent in the first half of this year from N49.18bn in the same period of 2020. An analysis of data collated by our correspondent from the companies’ unaudited financial statements showed that they paid policyholders N67.12bn in claims in H1 2021. It was reported in July that the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Sunday Thomas, said the National Insurance Commission was ensuring that defaulting insurance companies paid all their outstanding claims. He added that NAICOM was putting measures in place to boost insurance penetration and prepare…
The Minister for Industry, Trade, and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, has unveiled the 2020 Corporate Sustainable Investor Report (CSIR), a landmark research document that analyses the sustainability progress of companies operating in Nigeria. Developed by CSR-in-Action, a sustainability consulting and advocacy outfit in Africa, the independent scorecard provides critical insights into the sustainability approach of Nigerian companies in line with Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors. The Minister for Industry, Trade, and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, has unveiled the 2020 Corporate Sustainable Investor Report (CSIR), a landmark research document that analyses the sustainability progress of companies operating in Nigeria. Developed by CSR-in-Action,…
The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) has said that with the current state of the Nigerian economy, the country needed to adopt a different approach with a profound sense of urgency to find workable measures towards achieving growth and national security. Chairman of the NESG, Asue Ighodalo, said governments at all levels must intensify efforts to address the challenges of kidnapping, theft and other social vices, to pave way for economic growth, job creation and poverty reduction.Ighodalo said this during the inauguration of the joint planning committee for the 27th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES) with the theme ‘Securing our future:…
Amid growing concerns of low revenue generated from the lottery and gaming industry, the Federal Government has projected to rake in over N100 billion from the sector yearly. Executive Secretary of National Lottery Trust Fund (NLTF), Bello Maigari, disclosed this yesterday, during the presentation of sporting kits to the agency’s staff in Abuja. According to the research firm, Research, and Markets, there are roughly 60 million Nigerians aged between 18 and 40, involved in active betting. Despite a huge number of people engaged in betting, the Nigerian government-generated less than N1 billion from the gaming industry in 2019. Bello, however,…
The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) halted four consecutive trading sessions of an uptrend, as profit-taking by investors on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) dragged the All-Share Index (ASI) by 0.3 per cent. Specifically, the ASI dipped by 126.32 points, representing a decline of 0.32 per cent to close at 38,801.51. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation of listed equities depreciated by N66 billion to close at N20.216 trillion. The market negative performance was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are, MTN Nigeria Communications, Ardova, Guaranty Trust Bank Holding Company, United Capital, and Access Bank. Analysts…
As the country prepares for the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has stated that it successfully obtained over 150 orders for the destruction of fake and substandard products from courts across the country in the last four years. The Director-General of SON, Farouk Salim, during the organisation’s capacity building workshop for journalists in Abuja, yesterday, noted that the Federal Government and private sector are well prepared to take advantage of the trade deal. Salim said the Nigerian government signed the trade agreement early this year based on its overall preparedness.…
Erudite Economist and professor emeritus, Olu Ajakaiye has expressed shock and disbelief that the Debt Management Office (DMO) has resorted to borrowing $6.2 billion fresh capital from the international capital markets which have been described as very expensive and against the Agency’s plan to opt for concessionary loans. Ajakaiye, who is the Ibadan-based African Centre for Shared Development and Capacity Building while reacting yesterday, to the announcement by the DMO that it had picked some advisers to assist it to raise the $6.2 billion (N2.43 trillion) from the international markets through Eurobond, said it was more expensive raising funds through…
…sets December deadline for fuel stations’ DRMS registration As subsidy costs weigh down government interventions due to rising consumption of premium motor spirit (PMS) occasioned by smuggling and sharp practices in the downstream sector, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has set a December deadline for filling stations to register on its Downstream Remote Monitoring Systems (DRMS), as a requirement for licence renewal. DRMS, also known as e-Station, is an inventory and regulatory tool that tracks product levels across retail outlets and depots. The system also tracks the movement of products from depots to retail outlets using a USSD code…
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has warned steel manufacturers to calibrate their equipment used for the production of steel rods and reinforcement bars or be forced out of business. The Director General, SON, Mallam Farouk Salim, said it is not business as usual, as the agency will ensure that all equipment used in measuring various parameters are calibrated in the country. The SON boss stated this at a stakeholders’ forum with Steel Manufacturers Association of Nigeria recently. He stated that SON has acquired the latest measuring instruments to ensure compliance with standards, pointing out that the standards body is…
Uber on Wednesday reported a profit in the second quarter on one-time gains and said its pandemic-stalled ride-hailing business was showing signs of recovering. The San Francisco-based company reported a profit of $1.1 billion. Revenue rose to $3.9 billion in the recently ended quarter, more than double what it took in during the same period last year. The net income for the quarter included gains of $1.4 billion from the revaluation of its investment in Chinese ride-share firm Didi and another $272 million from its stake in the autonomous technology firm Aurora, according to Uber. Uber made strong progress in…
The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has tasked freight forwarders on the need for a genuine declaration of goods imported. Coordinator, NAGAFF, 100 per cent compliance team, Ibrahim Tanko, who appealed in a statement, said freight forwarders making genuine declarations would help government to realise its revenue target. The NAGAFF 100 per cent compliance team was established to ensure compliance with government regulations in the port. Tanko said it would not be business as usual for terminal operators, shipping companies and freight forwarders who fail to abide by government directives on ease of doing business policy. “We…
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has promised to enthrone international standards and best practice in the handling of ships and cargo in all seaports in the country. The acting Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Mohammed Bello Koko made the remark while addressing members of the Senate Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation led by Senator Theodore Orji, during an oversight visit to NPA. According to him, the authority has created the enabling environment for a well-structured inter-modal system for seamless connectivity of the water ways, rail and road transportation, to foster improved service delivery as well as increase…
The Port General Manager of Kaduna Inland Dry Port (KIDP), Rotimi Raimi-Hassan, has disclosed that rail access to the port, which has stopped working for some time, has increased the cost of doing business in the state. He said it was not only affecting the dry port, but also a huge cost to importers and exporters as they spent more on cargo haulage. Raimi-Hassan said the cost of moving cargo from Lagos to Kaduna was about N1 million or more, depending on market demand. He stressed that rail would reduce the cost by half. “You can now imagine less than…
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is marking a decade of action on cutting greenhouse gas emissions from shipping. The first set of international mandatory measures to improve ships’ energy efficiency was adopted on 15 July 2011 as part of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). To support the implementation of the measures and encourage innovation, IMO has been implementing a comprehensive capacity building and technical assistance programme, including a range of global projects. These include the GEF-UNP-IMO GloMEEP Project (now concluded), the European Union-funded global network of maritime technology cooperation centres (GMN project), the IMO-Norway…