THE NATI O N 1UESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012
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11 ,o'nm,u~i'"'' here is Ihil t we ue going to ri gorously pursue ilny hindr.m ce to power supply, And th ill we d eiln up the syl tem, we have to ma ke sure that we deliver more reli ab le power to th e country, • Prof Bill1.h Nnaji, MinJs ter of Power
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N aira gains on Shell, Exxon dollar sales
States get checklist on power proj eels
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From J ohn Oflkhenua, Ab ula
HE naira strengthened agains t the United States dollar on the interbank mark'!t yesterday, supported by dollar ~ales by energy companie~ - Royal Dutch Shell and mont.'1 obil - to some lenders. The local CUrTem:y closed at N161.70 to the dC llar on the interbank m iUk~t finnu than the N16 1.90 to the dollar it closed at last Friday, Traders said Shell sold abou t 5100 mill ion and ExxonMobil sold about 545 million to some le n ders, boosting greenback liquidity in the ffiillkct. '"'Theft' was stTonf: cemand for the rlollill, but b r the inflows from the OL ,·omparues, the naira wou ld have weakened toda ~'," one dealer said . 1heCentral Bank t ....,) weeks ago rnised the cash les~r,"e requirement fIX lende~ in Africa'ssemnd-biggESt en:lIV.xJlY to 12 per cent from eigl ll per cmt and reduced net oprn foreign exchange positions t·, line percent fronl three pero:n ;tosup-port the naira. Traders say its iDlpct has been Limited becall!e of high dollar demimd. "Weexped tha t tIv nlil"3 will depnriate again In till" corning days because of the pj~a1ent slTOng dollar deman(1 in the market. unless there a.'I" more inflows from oil companies, ~an o th' :r dealer slid.
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AMCON picks Citibank, RenCap as advisers for,bridged banks' sale • Continued from page 1 ANAGlNG Direclor /Chief Executive Officer , A"'ICON, Mr />.·Iuslapha Chike-Obi, c::onfirmed the appoin tment of the advisers to the paper yesterday. He said the advisers have a tillle frame of between three and six months tocomplett' thei r aSSignments. (A er 20 differen t bodies t>anks and other investors had expressed interest in the bridged banks, while II financial ad\' isers were selected by the corporation to ensure that only credible and professional ins titutions were appointed. The AMCON boss had earlier disc losed that, among the l)plion.~ open to the COTporation , was to list the shares of the bridge banks
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By Ayodele Amlnu, GtC UP BUIIn"s EdUct
on the Nigerian Siock Exchange (NSE).
a:l~~ ~~hCONti~s":oa~:~I; these institutions public, so tha t the Nigerian public:: can have a chance to invest in them. So, we want 10 look at all the options before we start thin~ng of who the ultimate investors would be, II is only on the basis of that advice and examination tha t we come to the best way of selling these banks. "In the expression of interest on these banks, I think over 20 diffe rent bodies banks and other in vestors have expressed inlerest. We have nol gotten to the stage when we can consider those expressions of interest yet. The process to get there requires; AMCON appointing
an adviser that will evaluate and d etermine the value of the banks, eva lua te all th e options a vajlable to AMCON," he said few months ago. H e, noweve r , said AMCON was not in a rush to sell the b r idged banks because certain proced ures among, w h ich indude the valua ti on of the banks, are ye t to be executed. The AMCQN boss, nonetheless, had assured thai the process for sale of the b r idged ba n ks would be
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sure that there is a transparen t process that every Nigerian will look at and say we have done fa irly. We don't want anybody to th ink tha t t.hese banks were laken over and han ded over to special interests. It mus t be a very trans-
parent process. "Second ly, AMCON mus t t;e t the best returns on its Investments. We ·a re not a chari ty o rganisation ; we wan t the bes t re turns on investment. Thirdly, il must be done in the interest o f the financial system. And that is where the Centra l Bank of Nige ria (CBN) comes in. We mus t make sure that whoever t akes over Ihese b a nks ulti-
~~I~lb~~:~\~~c:n~~~'k~ro~ whe re their mo ney is coming from, and we m u s t know t hat Ihe ma n agemen t is goi n g to be sound . So, Ihose a r e t he three things that we wan t to conSIder. So unt il we get the r e, we a re no t in the position to seriously look a l any investor interest,~ he said.
N300b external funds to Nigeria stolen, says ICPC THE Independent and He said: "World &1nk estitulion as the Bible commands. From Augus tine EhlkloYII, than N300 bilWeaccept it, pray and life goes T CorruptrelatedPracticesoffencesand He said the".,"rising ra te o f lionmateshasth.ltbeenmorediverted since on." noted. oth~r
Commission (ICPC) has d~ dared tha t the value of stolen funds from ex ternal institutions to Nigeria is over N300 billion since independence in 1960. ICPC cruef Legal Officer Mr Ebenezer Sogunle disdosed this yesterday at a workshof organised by the Nallona Pnmary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) in Abuja.
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corruption would con tinue to cause underdevelopmen t and crea te wider gaps between rich and poor in Ihe country. Acror:ding to him, the problem for wnich Ni~eria was ranked number one In 2IXXl by Transparency Interna tional has ~I'en it a bad name, and that It is still continuing even though Nigeria ranked 40th most-a>rrupt COWltry last year.
1960 till date. Bul thai is from monel' expected to come from
.,outside.~
He pointed Ollt that COITUplion is also bein~ condoned In places of worsrup when religious lead er.; P"'}' over "uncommon blessIng and " testimonies of miraCulous finandOli gain. without proven legal """'" "Our religious leaders don't tell them to go and seek resti-
He called for the establishment of desks to name and shame "gilt givelS~ in public instit u tions as a means of damping down on bu reau cratic corruption. The H ead of the Anti<OITUption Uni t, NPHCDA, l ydIa Okoronkwo, said a review of the s)'stems in the agency was to identify those aspects that could likely be compromised by corruptIOn.
'TITA's cassava flour bread will save $252m'
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SOR RIYAL
H E Federal Government yes terday d irected state governments wi th the capacity to complement the nat ional power sector to exhibit reasonable d iligence before committing their fu nds. Primary In the checklist is the certainty of gas supply to such power plant as well as asc::ertain ing the primary point o f evaluation o f elecmdly when operational. The Minis ter o f Power , Pro f Barth Nnaji, dropped th is hin t when the EDonyi State Governor, Chief Mar· lin Elechi, visi ted him with some Ame r ica n inves tors and partners. In a statement, the Head of Media, Grenye Anosike, stated that Nnaji adv ised that the p roposed. I,{JOOMW Power Plant by the Ebonyi State govemment should be located at the nearest point of~assupply, as well as the
HE Oyo Slate Govern-
lauded the insti tu te for the gian t stride. "We wou ld like to c::ommend lITA for the indusion of high quali ty cassava flour in b read. This is a great breakt h ro u gh," he said, adding that the innovation would have a p'0silive imon the livelihoods of re-
men t yesterday said the count'! would sa,' e about 525 million yearl}' if it adopts the new InnOVi'ltion by the resea rchers at the international Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). The institute has produred
:~:dfl~v~~hw~~che~~e~~~~; q ua lities -as· 100 per ,<ent .. wheat flour · bread.
IITA's puty ~rPCtor-Gen eral. Dr. Kenton Dashiell ,
Beyond the use of composite rrour in baking, the cour-
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and the Oyo State Government. The Commission er fo r Agriculture, Mr Bimbo Kolade, had sought IITA's help in promoting cassava, mruze and yam, as the state embarks on a transfo rmation
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ge rian Eledrici ty Reguld Commission (NERC) an the gas "wegator obtained as specrfied by law. He assured E1echi that the Federal Government would lend its support, ''because the expected 1,000 megawatt would help boost national supply," adding tha t the Min ist ry of Power would allow experts to collaborate with the state and vet the
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tea~! Mrnf;t!~~~ted that I ,OOOMW o f power p lant will need 300 million standard cubic feel (scuf) o f gas yearly and tha t the su pply of thIS quantity wou ld requir e meticulous p roactive plan and sustainability. Why Aviati on Minister is on road show, by aide By Kel vi n Oslt-Okunbor MID cri ticism tha t has greeted her road show to China, Ihe United Sll!.tesand Canada, the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, said the trip is not frivolous, but part of the transfonnation agenda to turnaround the ailing aviation sector. Oduah, who spoke th rou&ll her Special Ass15tant. MedIa, Joe Obi, said: "The investment road show is a key el~ ment of the Ministry's Roadmap for the transfonnation of the country's Air Tra nspo rt Indust ry , The
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~ddr;:!n~:J l'o~t Olin ~:~ by ~ President in ffovem-
ber2011, toseta clear agenda and offer s tra tegic markers and guidelines for the sleps to be taken. " As Nigerians are aware, the first phase of the transformation