Niger offers life assurance for Muslims
Dangote to build biggest fertilizer plant in Africa Brhfris.llhmed DANGOTE Group of compan ies has concluded plans to build till' biggesl ferti1i7.l'r I,bnl in Africa, the company said.
President of Dangote Gro up. AliJm Dangole and the Country M an -
ager (Nigeria). Saipem Group. Mr. Giuseppe Su !OIce, have signed an agree"lent relating to engineering wo rks for infrastructure that will launch the
construction of the biggest fertililer project in the conl lnenL lbe plant. located in Ella Sta le, will ~ an excellent example o f how to utilizi" a substantial amount of th e coun try's ~ignificant gas resources, as raw material in the Ammonia-Urea
fertilizeor procc$S, a statement from Dangole said. When co mpl eted, thc company will make' Nigeria self-sumol'n! in rerlili7.t~r production, thereby savi ng it Ihe huge foreign [esC'n'CS pusently spe nt on importation of f~rtilizer. Saipem is 10 build for the Dangote
Grou p a fe rtili ze r plall t for the producti on of7.700 MTPD of granulatw U re;! , (two trains with a production capacity of 3,850 metric Ions each per day),and it is expected lostart produc. lion in 2014. TIle planl will be the largest in A frica as its closest co mpetiior has installed capacily of only 1,000 metric Ions pe r day of Ammonia and ].500 metric to ns per day ofUma compared with the Dangote plants or2,200 me: tric tons per da y for Ammonia and 3,850 metric tons per train per day of Urea. TIll! project, which will create thousands of direct and indirect jobs in construction and related fields. will proVide a majo r boost to the agri cul . tural sector by Significantl y rroucing the im po rtation ofrertilittr in Nigeria a nd ultimately removing the need fo r imports when pla.nt is in full production. Aftertlleoffidal signingcercmuny, Dangole said he strongly s hared tlle view of Prtsidenl Goodluck JOll3than that the country should not be impo rt -
in g thosc things we have the ra w mate:· rials and natural advantage for produc· in g locall y, and fertilizer is one of such products. He said; -nlere is no reason why Nigeria should be Importing fertilizer, I am happy that with this agrct'ment, by the time o ur plant is comple:ted and commissioned, the country will become self sufficient in fertilittr production and el'en have the capacity to aport tlle products to other African cOUIltri c:s. - Right now, farme:rs arc forced to utilize whatevu fertilizer that Is available as they have no choice, but we need to know tllat the fertilize r tl13t wi ll wo rk in Jigawa State may not be suitable in Adamawa State, as th ey rna}' not have the same soil type and composition. The same fertilize r )"ou usc fo r so rghum may not be the fe rtilizer )"ou will usc: for sugar cane:.'" Mr. Surace of SAJPEM said fer· tili zer will ~ a thing o f the past in Nigeria after the commissioning of the plant.
N IGER Insuran ce pic has Introuced Mutual H alal Plan, a life insuran ce schem e with saving and in\'tstmenl plan based o n Islamic profi t shar ing and recip rocal guarantee princi ple o f al -takaful to caler fo r Muslim insurers. lbr Man3ging Direclorofthe company. "h. C linton Uranta, to ld journa lists in Lagos that N iger deSigned the produ c t specificall y for Muslims, si nce the cOlwentional insu ran ce practi ce is cons id ered to be against the princip les ofhl3111, but that non Muslims can also benefit from it. H e said; -The Mutual Halal Plan is a life insurance schrme with saving and im'ts tm ent plan based o n Islamic profit s haring and reciprocal guaran te e principle of 011takafu1. W Mutual Hal al Plan aimsa te:n couragingl\[uslirn broth· ers and sisters to save and m obilise fund to mut the fin a ncial obliga tions in volved in performing certain religiOUS ri leS withuutsubje<ling th e mselves to llnancial hardships.'" Under th e plan, policy ho lde rs ca n save regularly for a period tha t is convenie nt for them a nd th e accumulated ta rget amount can ~ used to fin3 nce th eir obligations such as going to pe rfo rm Hajj. to bu y ram for Sallah , to a rran ge fo r wedding. and to secu re o ne's children's ed ucati on. To make it easier for th e people, he said the compa n y has si m plified the plan so that th e policyholders a rc fTU 10 choose th e kind of plan th ey want. De it Pilgrimage Plan to Mecca without stress; Marriage Plan (AI Nikah), Sallah Plan; Mortgage Plan (A1-Binau); Educational Plan (AlTadris);and Retirement Plan (Waqm'amal}. The Niger Insurance boss also shed light on how the plan WOTU, saying thl! ins tall m ent paid by the participants an': credited to a special fund which is scgmentl!d intI) \1"'0 accounts, na m ely; thl! Participants Account and the Partici pants Special Account. Once thl! participant has contributed into the plan for OIl leasl one yeu. he said the person is fr~ to withdraw part o r all of th e net cash va lue ofhisilccount before m aturi ty date. Besides, in the event th at the participant docs not s ur· vive to the targe t date, the nomi nated rcprl!scntati ve or heirs will receh'e th e balance of the participant's account in addi ti on 10 th e benefit from participants account, bilSed on Isla mic principle of Hi bah, he assured.
Tn W:' INDEX )n~tionary Ratf>
11H%
(jDP(Ptrh~ad)
$1,224
i,udoO! ~
I
u.JG:-4.6-~-.- -
Foreign Reserves Accl
$32.Sbn
Power Supply
1,800MW
•
-'t--'"1"'-"~' -- ----'---------'--
Oiloutput,per.day Broad Mon~ Supply
LCm:iiflll ~rivat~ Inltr-8ank Ratt
S«tot
" 2.Smbd
Nll.986,214.9m N9,849,24BJm
9.6'16
l'r:,.asury Bi~ .
l.7Cf11,
IlfplYlRm
S.41'16
-
-
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