BUSINESS
FG to Distributes 10m Gas Cylinders in 12 States
By Joseph Amah, Abuja
The Federal Government has announced plans to distribute 10 million gas cylinders in 12 states, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), in order to tackle deforestation and climate change in the country. The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Domestic Gas, Dayo Adeshina, disclosed this at a one-day subnational LPG sensitisation and awareness campaign in Katsina.
He explained that marketers whose facilities meet the required standards would be responsible for the distribution of the cylinders across the 12 pilot states of Katsina, Lagos, Ogun, Bauchi, Gombe, Sokoto, FCT, Niger, Ebonyi, Enugu, Delta and Bayelsa in the next one year.According to him, “In these 12 states, we are going to inject 10 million gas cylinders in the next one year. This is very important because today, everybody owns a gas cylinder, and that is a big safety hazard for everybody. “The standard for cylinders states that five years after manufacture, you are supposed to recertify a cylinder, 10 years after, you are supposed to requalify that same cylinder and 15 years after, you are supposed to scrap it completely.” “We know that in our homes today, there are cylinders that are up to 20, 30 and 40 years and they have never been requalified. Therefore, the federal government has decided to inject the cylinders so as to take away these dangerous cylinders that are in the people’s homes.”
In his remarks, Katsina State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, said the fluctuation of oil prices in the global market and the problem of deforestation and desertification had brought serious economic challenges to Nigeria. Masari, represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr. Mustapha Inuwa, said Katsina State, which is partly located on the fringes of the Sahel region, suffers increasing effects of desert intrusion that affects vegetation and supply of firewood. He, however, described LPG as a credible alternative to firewood, as “it is full of socio-economic advantages in terms of employment creation and revenue generation,” and urged Nigerians to key into the programme as a reliable source of energy.
The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) continued its bullish trend on Wednesday, gaining N183 billion.
Accordingly, the market capitalisation, which opened at N59.532 trillion, gained N184 billion or 0.31 per cent to close at N59.715 trillion.
The All-Share Index also added 0.31 per cent or 303 points, to settle at 98,509.
68, against 98,206. 97 recorded on Tuesday.Consequently, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return increased to 31.
74 per cent.Gains in Aradel Holdings, Zenith Bank, United Bank For Africa(UBA), Oando Plc, Nigerian Breweries among other advanced equities drove the market performance up.
Market breadth closed positive with 34 gainers and 17 losers.
On the gainers’ chart, Africa Prudential, Conoil and RT Briscoe led by 10 per cent each to close at N14.30, N352 and N2.42 per share, respectively.
Golden Guinea Breweries followed by 9.95 per cent to close at N7.18, while NEM Insurance rose by 9.74 per cent to close at N10.70 per share.
On the other hand, Julius Berger led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N155.25, Secure Electronic Technology Plc trailed by 9.52 per cent to close at 57k per share.
Multiverse lost 7.63 per cent to close at N5.45, Haldane McCall dropped 6.07 per cent to close at N4.95 and Honeywell Flour shed 5.62 per cent to close at N4.70 per share.
Analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 49.44 per cent.
A total of 320.10 million shares valued at N6.48 billion were exchanged in 7,943 deals, compared with 939.41 million shares valued at N12.81billion traded in 9,098 deals posted in the previous session.
Meanwhile, ETranzact led the activity chart in volume with 70.27 million shares, while Aradel led in value of deals worth N1.22 billion.(NAN)
The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the Yuan, weakened 22 pips to 7.1870 against the dollar on Monday.This is according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.In China’s spot foreign exchange market, the Yuan is allowed to rise or fall by two per cent from the central parity rate each trading day.
The central parity rate of the Yuan against the dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day. (Xinhua/NAN)
Arewa Youths Initiative for Energy Reforms (AYIFER), has urged Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) to do everything possible to bring Kaduna Refinery back into operation.
National Coordinator of the group, Mr Bashir Al’Amin, stated this in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja.
Al’Amin specifically called on the Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mallam Mele Kyari, to do all within his powers to rejuvenate the refinery and bring it up to global standard.
He said that having delivered the Port Harcourt refinery, coupled with the establishment of Dangote Refinery in Lagos, attention should be shifted to Kaduna refinery for easy spread of petroleum products.
“We are calling on Malam Mele Kyari to expedite action on Kaduna refinery so we can be at par with other regions in the country.
“We equally beg the NNPCL to do professional work in rehabilitating the old refinery and deliver a standard and functional petrochemical refinery and not a blending plant.
“Kyari should resist any temptation that could make him do something that can jeopardise his good image,” he said.
Al’Amin said that since the extinction of groundnut pyramid and textiles in Kano State as well as PAN in Kaduna State and with the Kaduna refinery getting moribund, a lot of youths had lost their jobs.
According to him, all their hopes in the north are tied to the legacy refinery, expressing the hope that God would use Kyari to deliver it well and on time.
He said that the group was solidly behind NNPCL in prayer and would be ready to celebrate the company if its expectations were met. (NAN)
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