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PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2023 PAGE 19 BU$IN€SS
Amidst scarcity Nigerian govt denies increasing petroleum pump price
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By Abubakar Yunus Abuja
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, disclosed this in a statement issued by his senior adviser on media and communication, Horatius Egua.
Mr Sylva spoke as Nigeria continue to queue for fuel in filling stations amidst reports of increase in the pump price of petroleum products.
“There is no reason for President Muhammadu Buhari to renege on his earlier promise not to approve any increase in the price of petroleum motor spirit (PMS) at this time,” the minister was quoted as saying.
According to him, the president is sensitive to the plight of the Nigerians, and has said repeatedly that he understands their challenges, and would not want to cause untold hardship for the people.
A Guardian report said Thursday that the Nigerian government quietly approved ₦185 as the new petrol pump price per litre. The newspaper reported that the approved pump price was communicated to major marketers in a memo early Thursday.
But Mr Sylva on Friday claimed that the government will not approve any increase of PMS secretly without due consultations with the relevant stakeholders.
“The President has not directed the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority or any agency for that matter to increase the price of fuel.
“This is not the time for any increase in the pump price of PMS,” he said.
He noted that what was playing out was the handiwork of “mischief makers and those planning to discredit the achievements of the president in the oil and gas sector of the economy.”
Banks to pay N1m fine daily over failure to collect redesigned Naira notes, says CBN
By Abubakar Yunus Abuja
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said any commercial bank that fails to pick up the new naira notes for distribution will be fined N1 million daily.
Adeleke Adelokun, a deputy director at CBN, made this known while sensitising traders on the need to embrace the new currency and return old ones to banks, at Ayegbaju International Market in Osogbo, the Osun state capital, on Friday.
Two weeks ago, the CBN ordered banks to halt dispensing the new currency notes over the counter, and only make them available via automated teller machines (ATMs).
It further threatened to penalise commercial banks who fail to comply with the directive of loading the redesigned naira notes in their ATMs.
Speaking with the traders, Adelokun said the apex bank had printed enough naira notes but observed that commercial banks were not collecting them.
“As at today, CBN has printed enough new naira notes of N200, N500 and N1,000,” NAN quoted the CBN official as saying.
“But, what we discovered was that most of the banks that are supposed to collect the new notes have not collected them. So, we have put a sanction on the banks.
“Any bank that fails to collect the new notes from CBN will pay N1 million as sanction per box, per day and the amount they are to pay now will depend on the number of days they have not collected the notes.
Adelokun said the CBN team from Abuja, which had been in Osun since Wednesday, had been going round commercial banks in the state, meeting with their officials to ensure that they were paying out the new naira notes to customers.
He said the team was at Ayegbaju market to sensitise traders on the newly-redesigned naira notes, the eNaira app, as well as how they can subscribe to it for their business transactions.
In her remarks, Daphne Madojemu, CBN branch controller in Osun, said currency management had faced several challenges, hence the need for the redesign of the naira notes.
Madojemu explained that the exercise would bring the hoarded currency into the banking system, thereby making monetary policy more effective.
“The currency redesign would assist in the fight against corruption as the exercise would rein in the higher denomination used for corruption, and the movement of such funds from the banking system could be tracked easily,” she added.
Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo and the Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority, (NPA) Mohammed Bello-Koko during the signing of MoU between the Nigerian Navy and the NPA at the Naval Headquarters in Abuja at the weekend.. Photo: DINFO
MTN set to allot incentive shares to eligible shareholders
By Abubakar Yunusa,Abuja
MTN Nigeria Communications Plc is on track to allot incentive shares to investors who partook in its initial public offering completed last January and met the conditions entitling them to additional shares, the telecom company said in a statement Saturday.
The local unit of Johannesburg-based MTN Group Limited concluded its first public shares sale a year ago, an offer 139.5 per cent oversubscribed necessitating allocation of extra 86.3 million shares.
It had set out to sell 575 million ordinary shares then held by MTN International (Mauritius) Limited but ended up allotting 661.3 million to retail and institutional investors, the latter category of investors comprising pension funds, asset managers, insurance firms, corporates and foreign portfolio investors who participated in the bookbuild.
As it promised investors at the point of the public offer launch, MTN said it will allot the shareholders one additional share for every 20 purchased and allotted up to a maximum of 250 shares.
Meanwhile, eligible shareholders must have bought and were allotted at least 20 ordinary shares in the offer, the statement said.
Additionally, they must hold a portion or all of the shares allotted to them from the offer as of 31 January, 2023 (the qualification date) subject to holding a minimum of 20 ordinary shares.
The telecom company added that the shareholders must have their names appear in the company’s register of members on the qualification date.
“Qualified shareholders will have their incentive shares credited to their CSCS accounts after the qualification date and obtaining the requisite regulatory approvals,” the document said.
The offer saw 114,938 new CSCS accounts opened for representing new market participants, with roughly 76 per cent of successful applicants via digital platforms being women and 85 per cent below the age of 40.
MTN is currently Nigeria’s second biggest company by market value with a market capitalisation of N4.7 trillion.
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Nigeria governors forum denies opposing naira redesign
By Abubakar Yunusa, Abuja
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), says it is not opposed to the Naira redesign policy currently being implemented by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The body of the country's 36 State Governors made this known in a communique issued by its interim Chairman, Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State. The NGF said the forum received a briefing from CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele on the Naira redesign policy, its economic and security implications.
It will be recalled that on October 26, 2022 Emefiele, announced the CBN's plan to redesign the Naira in order to control the money supply and aid security agencies in tackling illicit financial flows.
The CBN governor had explained that the introduction of new notes was a deliberate step by the government to check corruption and counterfeiting of the notes. The NGF has however clarified its position on the policy it was not opposed to the objectives of the Naira redesign policy.
The NGF said: “However, we observe that there are huge challenges that remain problematic to the Nigerian populace. In the circumstances, governors expressed the need for the CBN to consider the peculiarities of states especially as they pertain to financial inclusion and under-served locations and resolved to:
“NGF will work closely with the CBN leadership to ameliorate areas that require policy variation particularly the poorest households, the vulnerable in society, and several other citizens of our country that are excluded.
“NGF will collaborate with the CBN and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) in advancing genuine objectives within the confines of our laws, noting that the recent NFIU Advisory and Guidelines on cash transactions were simply outside the NFIU’s legal remit and mandate.
“Finally NGF has set up a sixmember Committee to be chaired by the governor of Anambra state, Charles Soludo, and the governors of the following states: Akwa Ibom, Ogun, Borno,
CBN launches cash swap programme in all LGAs
By Abubakar Yunus Abuja
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in partnership with super agents and deposit money banks (DMBs) have launched a cash swap Programme all 774 local government area in Nigeria
The apex bank said this in a circular , jointly signed by Haruna Mustafa, director, banking supervision department; and Musa Jimoh, director, payments system department.
The circular was addressed to all DMBs, mobile money operators (MMOs), super agents and agents.
Super agents are companies licensed by the CBN to recruit agents for the purpose of agency banking.
The CBN said the cash swap programme will be effective from Monday, January 23, 2022.
It said the initiative is aimed at enabling citizens in rural areas or those with limited access to formal financial services to exchange old naira notes for redesigned notes.
The old notes are expected to be out of circulation by January 31.
“The old N1000, N500, N200 notes can be exchanged for the newly redesigned notes and/or the existing lower denominations (N100, N50 and N20, etc) which remain legal tender,” the circular reads.
To promote financial inclusion, the CBN said the service is also available to anybody without a bank account.
It said agents may, on request, instantly open a wallet or account, leveraging the CBN tiered know your customer (KYC) framework.
This, according to bank, will ensure that this category of the populace (unbanked citizens) are able to exchange or deposit their cash seamlessly without taking unnecessary risk or incurring undue cost.
CBN also directed agents to sensitise customers on opening wallets/bank accounts and the various channels for conducting electronic transactions.
“Designated agents are eligible to collect the redesigned notes from DMBs in line with the revised cash withdrawal limit policy,” the circular adds.
“Agents are also permitted to charge cash-out fees for the cash swap transactions but prohibited from charging any further commissions to customers for this service.
“Agents shall render weekly returns to their designated banks regarding the cash swap transactions. DMBs shall in turn render same to the CBN on a weekly basis.
CBN said cash swap agents would be readily identifiable in all local governments, particularly those in the rural areas.
Average retail price of petrol up 24.38% in December – NBS
By Abubakar Yunusa,Abuja
The average retail price paid by consumers for petrol rose by 24.38 per cent in December, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.
The bureau said this in its “Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) Price Watch” for December 2022 released on Saturday.
The NBS said the average retail price paid by consumers for petrol for December 2022 was N206.19 per litre, indicating a 24.38 per cent increase when compared to the value recorded in December 2021 (N165.77).
The bureau also said that comparing the average price value with the previous month (.i.e. November 2022), the average retail price increased by 1.83 per cent from N202.48.
Meanwhile, the report said the highest average retail price for petrol was recorded in Gombe State at N218.89, followed by Kwara with N216.36 and Kogi at N216.00.
On the other hand, it said the lowest average retail price for petrol was recorded in Ebonyi with N195.83, followed by Abuja with N196.00 and Bayelsa with N196.14.
The NBS said that the highest average retail price was recorded in the North-east at N209.64, while the South-South had the lowest at N200.02.
In its Automotive Gas Oil (diesel) Price Watch report for December 2022, the NBS said the average retail price of diesel paid by consumers was N817.86 per litre, an increase of 182.64 per cent from N289.37 per litre recorded in the corresponding month of the previous year.
On a month-on-month basis, the NBS said this increased by 1.11 per cent from N808.87 per litre reported in November 2022.
The report noted that the highest average price for diesel in December 2022 was recorded in Ebonyi at N869.25, followed by Bauchi at N860.00, and Ondo at N856.36.
It said the lowest price was recorded in Akwa Ibom with N773.75, followed by Benue with N777.50 and Borno with N785.00.
“Furthermore, analysis by zone showed that the SouthWest had the highest price at N841.35, while the South-South recorded the lowest price at N798.54,” it said.
Why fuel scarcity persists across Nigeria — Marketers
Abubakar Yunus Abuja
The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, (MOMAN), has attributed the lingering fuel scarcity in the country to high costs of vessels and inadequate trucks to deliver petroleum products from depots to filling stations across Nigeria.
The marketers explained that these high logistics and exchange rate costs continue to put pressure on their operations with ripple effects on the pump price.
In a statement , the marketers said the fuel queues are caused by exceptionally high demand and bottlenecks in the fuel distribution chain.
“The major cause is the shortage and high (US Dollar) costs of daughter’s vessels for ferrying product from mother vessels to depots along the coast,” it said.
MOMAN said it sympathises with Nigerians over the challenges they are facing in the purchase of petrol at filling stations across the country.
Over the past three months, it said its staff members have worked diligently at depots and filling stations to relieve the stress faced by Nigerians through the Christmas and New year periods.
“Our members have again agreed to extend depot loading hours as well as keep strategically situated service stations open for longer hours to ease access to fuels for our customers,” the association said.
It noted that it shall continue to use its best endeavours to ensure that product is sold at the pump at prices currently approved by the regulatory authorities, despite pressure on price by demand and costs in immediate operating environment.
“A final resolution to these challenges will be the full deregulation of the petroleum downstream sector to encourage liberalisation of supply and longterm investments in distribution assets. We urge the government to work towards this end goal,” it said.
In recent months, especially since the government announced plans to remove fuel subsidies, Nigerians have had a hard time getting petroleum products at filling stations.
The scarcity has persisted despite the government’s repeated claims it had enough petroleum products in stock. In many parts of the country, operators of filling stations sold at prices higher than the government’s pump price.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, made this disclosure even as Nigerians continue to queue for fuel in filling stations amidst reports of increase in the pump price of petroleum products.
Earlier on Thursday, reports claimed that the government quietly approved ₦185 as the new petrol pump price per litre.
