Economy
Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri Rail Convey 1m Passengers, 3.5m Tonnes Yearly
The Federal Government says close to one million passengers and 3.5 million tonnes of freight will be conveyed on the Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri rail line annually.
The 326-kilometre rail line, which had suffered setbacks in the last 30 years, was virtually inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari in September 2020.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who disclosed this on Monday in Lagos said the Buhari administration is reviving and modernising the country’s rail.
Mohammed said passenger service had also commenced on the Lagos-Ibadan railway, ahead of the project’s inauguration.
Lagos-Ibadan rail line is a double-track standard gauge rail, the first of its kind in West Africa and the first leg of the Lagos- Kano rail line.
The minister also said the Loko-Oweto Bridge over River Benue is now 97 per cent completed.
1.8-kilometre bridge linking the northern and southern part of the country across the River Benue will achieve a drastic cut in travel time.
Mohammed further said the Federal Government is constructing or renovating 37 bridges across the country, including the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos, the Second Niger Bridge and the Ikom Bridge in Cross River.
Others, he said, are the Murtala Mohammed Bridge in Koton Karfe, Kogi, the Tatabu Bridge linking Niger and Kwara, Isaac Boro Bridge in Port Harcourt and the Tamburawa Bridge in Kano State.
The minister said the Federal Government also completed and inaugurated the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu for scheduled flights.
He said the rehabilitation of the runway and other associated works were executed in line with ICAO standard.
Mohammed said the administration had also continued to make steady progress in the areas of agriculture and power.
In agriculture, he said the Federal Government inaugurated “The Green Imperative,’’ a 10-year programme targeting the creation of five million jobs and injection of 10 billion dollars into the economy.
He said the Nigeria-Brazil agricultural bilateral initiative would lead to the reactivation of six motor assembly plants in the six geopolitical zones of the country for assembling tractors and other implements.
Mohammed said with the Anchor Borrowers programme introduced in 2015, more than N200 billion had been made available to support over 1.5 million farmers in the production of rice, wheat, cassava, poultry, soya beans, groundnut, maize, cotton and fish.
The minister said following an agreement with the German company, Siemens, in July 2019 to boost electricity supply, the stage was now set for ending the perennial power problem in the country.
Under the three-phase agreement, he said Nigerians will enjoy 7,000 megawatts of reliable power supply by the end of 2021 (Phase 1), 11,000 megawatts by the end of 2023 (Phase 2) and 25,000 megawatts in the third phase. (NAN)
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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