Bt.1SINBS 115
Bllsiness Compulife P25
MoneyWatch P23
COMA operations raise 'dust' among regulators
Creating viable marketing chain for cash-less '-"--_0-
NigeIia seals first pact for power purchasing in June F, .. Elllb. An:*lru.Abji HE Nig!lia Bulk ;:Itmidty
1Fo-der.1I I (M!mlTlelll'S Pic (N JET} uU' agem . rradln~
In jhl...·:T purdla,e ilgr~ men! r Uilr.ml~. lOay soon coml !.lCt Initial Power Purd..se ~~ u (PPAs~ In lin! wid) the a.lminlstr.t-
tion's
POWr'l
secu r reform
agenda".
ChidExcculMOfI «rofttle company. Ru nundaka Wonodl. told 1 he Guardian ~lrrday !haulier rst po ....'!:'!r purcha~ agr~n em for 600MW 'M)l\Kl br .Igned by nrst quarter (illlM..nd lune) iloo another ror 5 >oM\\I by SKond quarter (.uouna September).
Others. he said. would follow subse<lumtJ)t The Tirst set of PPAs to Ix signed are ex~ to herald a orwefil In the (ountI}/. The Independent Power Producers (11'r!) Involved are expected to commence COilnructlon or their power planu Immediately and Start actUal gent:ralion txo:rort' or ",,'OIS. thr company was Set up In response to calls by investors for an entity that would mop up I'OW'" p"",uad by '''''. ~ides. Itlw the mandate [0 ex«\.!tr PPAs with t:hlr' 1'0v.uisftJ succ~r generauon companies ilnd also urume the J'Iowe.r Holding Company
This is the response to the ongoing refonns. We now have investors taking interest in the power sector and when they came, the very first thing that the minister tried to do was to assure them of the right environment. of Nigeria obligations In existIng ilIgrftments wllh 1PPs. Spealdng on this .....eek's visit o( a United States energy rude delegation, Wonodl dlr'scribed lhe deYelopme.nt as proof that Invrstors wrrr embr.King government's privatlsilltion agrnda. He told TheGu.u-di':In:~1s is the response to the- ongoing rdorms.. We now nillve
Investors uklng intert:St In the po'W'U sector olnd whfll theyGlme.1hevery nm thing that tile minister tried 1O do was to as5Urt' them of thr right envlmnmrnL Thry wanted to know the constraints that wr havt! .lind what counuy Is doing. "One of the thIngs thaI the minister communic.llted 10 them was thilt NI~ria has
w
embHshr<i tm bulk t:r.KIlng company that would be .lIble 10 enter into bankable PPAs wit h companies. To ~ large extent, this Is of gn~at slgnlfiCOince for lhe bulK' u-ader_ ~As you know,OUt or lhr right comp.llnla that c.llme wlth the US team. four of lhrm are inlO j>OW"r gmeriuion ilnd they w.JInted to know who thry would sign a~mrnl5 with and thr govcrnmem agency thtywould work with tOWilrdS being nominated for partial risk guarantre. Thr bulk t.rader is at the cenm or
,,"
On the PPAs to be sfgnrd this year, he saki: "\~ are looking at signing thf' fll'Sl PPA bY
mldye.u:. w~ have thlft front
burner proJects theu ~ arc exchanging commmts with on IhroirrPAs,. nlqrh~ber'n
nominated ror the World Bank partial rl5kguaranttt. -we haY(' schedultd m«CIngs and ntgotlalions on
thr-Ir PPAs. aepcndlng on their
own
programmro,
because thqr ~ to procure the EPC(tJlt'cngln«r1ng procurement ;:md construction) of Lhelr power plants. WIth
that. we can now haw a tlIDf'
thai is br~ by NERC. On lIlat programme, before the middle of weyt.ar. weshould be able losign the dotted.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
wall Street falls on disappointing retail data 'T'1-lESill!' sao index mreated .lyesterday from ne.llr a "",n-mo~lh hi h.lllin" weak-
erw
January u.s. retail sa f i data curbed Investors' .lIp~itr ror risky
""" lr.lldlnglhe rail was the finan-
cial SKtor, wtth two of the lOp thrt'e biggest decllnen on the
tlon volumr and iew!1 or partkipatlon In!"oregn tradr and to .. 1so m~ !.tir domrllitlc demand. He howoeYet decried the loss of tabs that accompanied the cofIapse of coaon and tenUe Industry. disclosing that the employmentgmu.ltlon from th~lndusuyrell from 700.000 In 1980s to 25,000 as at now; He submitted thai available records Indicate that thr turn<:JYerWilS then fn excess of S9 billion .lind contributed
Dow B.iI-nk of Americ.ll and JPMorpn ctwr &I Co. Otlgroup down~ B.ilnk of Ame:ria Corp 10 -neutr.l.r ITom -buy: saying e.amings he.adwinas v.QUld ronunural the company ~n as aplt.!l concerns subside. Bank of America shares ~ down 1I pem'lIt at S8J6 and Jl'MOfgiIIfl Sham fell L5 percmtlDSJ1.70. Thr 0.4 pncent list: in retail sales rell shon oflhe 0.7 percent Incre.llse by economists polled Re1Jters and reflected cutboK In car purch~es and online shopP'"g. -rh~ data shows that ronsumen art Stili unging In ~ Just QO( as strong as ....~ expect..ed.~ .wid ScOll Brown. chief economist oOIt R.lymooo lames at SL ~lrrsburg in tlorida. shows lhdl weolrt'stiJI b.nding 501T\r headwlOds here, but the economy Is definitely In.ll ~ mocJ,r.Thr dl.wppolnting dau added 1O roncerns strmmlng rrom Moody's InvestOB downgrade on Service Monday of cndlt fOItings on six ruro-zonr rountJies. The Dow lones Industrial .lIveragr W.llS down 4l..S4 polnrs, or 0.33 percen£, at 11,83150. The SloOIndard & Poor'~ 500 'nd9. fell 6.30 points, or 0 .47 percent, at 1,345.-47. Thr Nasdaq Composite Inda .....as down 1l..91 polnts,orO.4-4 peKmLat 1.918.-46. On Monday. the S&PSOO ~ near.ll ~n-month him up rTlIn than 2S pel'Cmt fiom a low In e.llrly October_ Thr benchmark iOdex Iw encoun-
CONllHUED ON PAGE 16
CONTINUED ON PAGE: 16
ex!il'"
-'t
~ trIpn....,....
01 a..bn 01 eo.-c..lnduIary, .... nt Ap1IdIn ~ ow- Grwup,1yaIodII AlIt. t - (WI): ~ NACCIMo\ JoIw! '-Ie; IIId Va..... ~ 81 ....... Iri!I'qOllm.lllrdqol Fmlnlian "a.-w- £/II~"""" heldkllAp.".....,. POOTO::Sl..NJAY AKH..OUJ
~ ~ w~~
Govt partners finn on cotton seed development project Ff1IIII Jub~ Ab.fl
IN
it ~
cOlhmlunent ho rrvtvt' tIM! cooon 5ulMector, thr Federal Go"'r'mmmt hu en~ Into a four-yur seed multJpllGition plan agrrement with tIM! WHl Arrican Cotton Company
(W.am
the agreement DbA, accordIng to Minister o r AgrIculture ilnd Rur.tl Dewlopmrnt. Or. AklnwumlAde:slfl.ll.lltodevdop I5,6l5 ~ol Qnnland In the current 5eiUOn and ~nd to 25,000 hemres by
2015. It Is exp«tfti that 105.l07 farmers In the targeted SCJteS will bmefit the growth enh.mcement support scheme COVt'ring sreds and
rrom
ferullsers.
Thr ptan would cover ~ sUtes. Thry are Kast:lna. 'lgawa, Kolno, Zamfara, Gombe, Adamawa. and Soma. The Minister, at the signing of thr Memofilndum of Undemanding with WNJJr, SCJted that lhr: mfnlsoy's CM:raD pWt for cotton, is to raise pn:Iductfvlry from ISOkglha In
2010 to 400kR/ha of lint by lOIS and dou6le prodUClkm from 120.000 tons .seed COlton In the CUl'Tl!nt season to 750.000 WIlli in 2015..
GoIng down memory &.line, the Minister mmt10ned INI the gJotw;l e:xport YOIume of cotton doubled from 1.755 mUllon tonnr:s In 1961 t06J)O m illion lon no: In lOOS. while the Nigerian share of thr growing g lobal marut shrunk from -49,000 tonnesln 19611O 1&.000 tonnes In t970, zero In 1980, 1000 tonnes in 1990. zero in 2000, wlth.ll
marginal Increasr to 19,000 to nne; In 2008. Lunemin8 thaI the n..uIons's
s~olwOrid'scoltonexport
has declined from l4 per ant In 1961 to zrro per cent toda~ hrsaJd thecouotryhaslostits prime position as a ma;ocCOlton eqxxter In 1961 to Clther West Atrian countrlrs 1Ikir> Niger. Mall and Burkina Faso. Aldnwuml mentlonrd that the agriqlltural tr.msfortn.lldon illgt'nda would not only rrs~ the gk>rious Jmt but aIsoe:u:ftdOthenln meWest African Sub-Rgion in produc-