Economy
Delta Denies Alleged Borrowing Claims
Delta Government yesterday, reiterated that the N100 billion it sought approval from the State House of Assembly was not a loan but a discounting facility from a commercial bank.
The State Commissioner for Finance, Chief Fidelis Tilije, stated this at a news conference in Asaba, while reacting to claims that the Gov.
Ifeanyi Okowa’s led administration had taken a fresh N120 billion loan to heighten the debt profile of the state.Tilije said that the state government, few days ago sought the approval of the House of Assembly to make the needed amendment which had to do with the change of the lead bank (agent) handling the bridging finance (discounting facility) of N100 billion it earlier sought for.
He also explained that the recently approved N20 billion loan was the state investment in a floating gas project to be sited in Warri, which would be paid from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) deduction before the exit of this administration.
Tilije said that the state was solvent, adding that the Okowa administration was putting modalities in place to ensure that all got completed and most ongoing projects were paid for to ensure that the next administration have enough funds to run.
He recalled that the state government had N240 billion refunds from the federating account out of which it had initially proposed to discount N150 billion as bridging finance.
According to him, the state has so far received a total of N19.6 billion of the N240 billion refunds from FAAC.
“You will recall that we had earlier told you that the state government has decided to discount N100 billion instead of the initial N150 billion and we had outlined the number of projects to be finance with the funds.
“So far, we have accessed a total of N80 billion as bridging finance, and with that, lots of payments have been made to contractors and fully paid for those projects listed to be financed with the funds.
“We said that we are going to pay N10 billion to defray pension arrears in the state and this we have done by given N5 billion to Local Governments and N5 billion to address state pension arrears,” he said.
According to him, so, on the recent N100 billion bridging facility only the terms and condition of the facility changed and we have accessed a total of N80 billion because we changed the lead agent.
“We are still trying to access the additional N20 billion but we are already prosecuting the projects that we have itemised when we approached the House of Assembly for the funds.
“We are doing everything humanly possible to make funds available for the next government and that is why we have decided to discount only N100 billion out of the N240 billion expected from FAAC,” Tilije said.
On state investment in the gas project, Tilije said that there was no doubt that the project would bring back the past activities in Warri as a commercial hub and improve the state internally generated revenue and boost jobs creation.
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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