Economy
N5B Mining Intervention Loan: No Female Miner has Accessed Facility
Hon. Janet Adeyemi, the President, Women in Mining Nigeria (WIMIN), an NGO, said no female Artisanal, Small Scale Miners had benefited from the N5 billion mining intervention loan.
Adeyemi made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja.
She said that the conditionality attached to the loan by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development and the Bank of Industry (BoI) were too stringent for female miners to access.
NAN recalls that in 2017, both the ministry and BoI had signed an agreement to contribute N2.
5 billion each, totaling five billion naira as intervention fund for artisanal miners.The agreement was signed by Gov.
Kayode Fayemi, who was the then minister with officials of BoI.Adeyemi said that the conditions should be made flexible, if the fund was actually meant for artisanal miners.
“We have tried several times to access the loan but to no avail, we have members who are sufficiently qualified but they were not given because their collateral (houses) were not in the cities.
“One of our members who have her collateral in Benin City, Edo was denied the loan.
“They look for different excuses to prevent our members from accessing the fund, even our male counterparts also complained of the same problem.
“Bureaucracy in Nigeria is too much. I understand the risk associated with the mining sector but there are things that should be worked out,’’ she said.
She said that the American government provided some grants to business owners to help their businesses.
“The Federal Government can do same and monitor the fund.
“If we continue this way, small scale miners that dominate the sector will continue to remain on the same spot without making headway,” she said.
She said that without financial inclusion, women in mining will continue to lag behind in accessing the funds due to the stringent conditions and collateral problems.
NAN also recalls that the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr Olamilekan Adegbite, said that the five billion naira was in the custody of BoI to be disbursed to miners that meet the criteria.
Adegbite said from 2017 till date, the ministry’s N2.5 billion contribution with BoI had generated N1 billion interests, making it N3.5 billion.
“But more than N300 million had been disbursed from the fund to some miners,” he said.
According to him, the purpose of the fund is not to generate interest for the government but to develop the sector.
He said that the loan criteria had been relaxed, adding that artisanal miners only needed a surety, who should be an officer from grade level 14 and above.
NAN also reports that The loan is to be made available at a single-digit interest rate of five per cent. (NAN)
To end the week, the stock market rebounded from previous losses, gaining N74 billion.
Investor interest in MTN Nigeria, FBN Holdings, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) and other equities lifted the market.
Notably, the market capitalisation opened at N56.014 trillion, adding N74 billion or 0.
13 per cent to close at N56.088 trillion.The All-Share Index also advanced by 0.
13 per cent, or 129.44 points, closing at 97,606.63, compared to 97,477.19 recorded on Thursday.As a result, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return increased by 30.54 per cent.
The market breadth closed positive, with 31 gainers and 19 losers on the floor of the Exchange.
On the gainers’ chart, Consolidated Hallmark Plc and Sterling Nigeria led by 9.
45 per cent each to close at N1.39 and N4.98 per share respectively.Mecure followed by 9.19 per cent to close at N10.10, Regency Alliance Insurance gained 9.09 per cent to close at 72k, while Fidson Healthcare Plc increased by 8.24 per cent to close at N15.10 per share.
Conversely, Deap Capital Management and Trust led the losers’ chart by 9.93 per cent to close at N1.36, NEM Insurance trailed by 9.71 per cent to close at N7.90 per share.
Daar Communications also lost 9.52 per cent to close at 57k, Tantalizers shed 9.09 per cent to close at 60k, while Dangote Sugar declined by 3.31 per cent to close at N31 per share.
Analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 20.33 per cent.
A total of 304.43 million shares valued at N5.60 billion were exchanged in 6,950 deals, compared with 277.75 million shares valued at N4.65 billon in 7,091 deals traded in the previous session.
Meanwhile, Access Corporation led the activity chart in volume and value with 68.26 million shares valued at N1.34 billon.(NAN)
By David Torough, Abuja
The Nigerian Economic Society (NES) has decried Nigeria’s socioeconomic dilemmas, including; low personal incomes, dysfunctional education, healthcare systems, unemployment, rising inflation, poverty, amidst other critical issues.
This was part of the communique at the end of the association’s 65th annual conference held recently in Abuja with the theme: Socioeconomic Development in Nigeria: Imperatives, Implications, and Impacts.
It emphasised that the factors greatly contribute to insecurity, food scarcity, energy poverty, widening social inequality as macroeconomic instability and called on relevant stakeholders to urgently address the challenges.
President Bola Tinubu who was represented by the Vice President, Kashim Shettima through
Dr. Tope Fasua, underscored the
pivotal role of economists in shaping national development.
Tinubu reiterated the importance of their role to make the citizens feel integral and empowered, knowing that their contributions were crucial to the country’s development.
He urged them to approach the economy optimistically, stressing that their work was crucial, and that improvement was
always possible.
In his remarks, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu underscored the importance of socioeconomic resilience amidst global economic challenges.
He acknowledged the relevance of the conference theme, stating its timeliness in addressing Nigeria’s development needs.
On his part, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Olawale Edun who delivered the keynote address on “Leveraging Economic Reforms to Leapfrog Nigeria’s Socioeconomic Development,” underscored the potential benefits of these reforms and stressed the need to better utilise Nigeria’s human and natural resources to spur socio-economic development.
He predicted that while structural reforms might cause short-term economic shocks, they would stabilise the economy in the long run, bringing hope for a brighter future.
In his presentation, the NES President, Professor Adeola Adenikinju who presented “Nigeria’s Socioeconomic Challenges: Lessons from the Structural Adjustment Programmes,” recommended:
Instituting an economic governance structure for the country, designating
some Ministries as economic ministries that qualified economists and allied professionals
must staff, adopting macroeconomic models to analyse the impacts of policies and assess
alternative scenarios.
Adenikinju also recommended; implementing export-led growth strategies by promoting value-
added exports and incentives for export-oriented industries and infrastructure, prioritising agro-allied industries to boost socioeconomic outcomes, implementing targeted subsidies or social safety nets to cushion vulnerable populations against the immediate impacts of reforms, amongst others.
The 65th NES Conference provided significant insights into Nigeria’s socioeconomic
development challenges and proposed actionable recommendations.
Participants emphasised the need for visionary leadership, policy synergy, and a commitment to long-term economic transformation to ensure sustainable development for Nigeria.
By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) says it will henceforth issue Outline Business Case (OBC) Certificate of Compliance and the Full Business Case (FBC) Certificate of Compliance within seven days.This follows the charge by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the Director General of the Commission, Dr Jobson Oseodion Ewalefoh “to accelerate investment in National Infrastructure through innovative mobilization of private-sector funding”.
President Tinubu also charged him to work assiduously to boost infrastructure development in Nigeria as part of the renewed hope agenda of the current administration.In view of the above, Dr Ewalefoh-led management team of the ICRC has streamlined the approval processes of the commission to issue its certificates of compliance within seven days. This will accelerate the turnaround time for approvals by the Commission.“In line with the charge of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, and following his Renewed Hope Agenda, we have streamlined and updated our approval processes to issue either of the Outline Business Case Certificate of Compliance (OBC) and the Full Business Case Certificate of Compliance (FBC) to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that meet the requirements within seven days.“This is part of efforts by the current administration to accelerate infrastructure development, bridge the infrastructure gaps and stimulate the economy through investment of private sector funds in Public Private Partnership endeavours.“By streamlining our processes, the Commission is in no way foregoing any of its stringent approval steps or key requirements, therefore, only business cases that are viable, bankable, offer value for money and meet all other requirements will be approved.“The ICRC cannot do it alone, therefore I implore all chief executives of MDAs to match our momentum and align with this charge of Mr. President to accelerate Infrastructure development and ensure that PPP projects are not stalled at any point but delivered within record time.“The Commission is ready to partner and collaborate with all MDAs to actualize this,” he said.In a statement by Ifeanyi NwokoActing Head, Media and Publicity on Monday the ICRC DG in August rolled out a six-point policy direction which among others, focused on accelerating PPP processes, boosting inter-agency collaboration and ensuring innovative financing.The ICRC was established to regulate Public Private Partnership (PPP) endeavours of the Federal government aimed at addressing Nigeria’s physical infrastructure deficit which hampers economic development.
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