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Profit
taking activities by some investors have been attributed to the current
decline in market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

The
Exchange market capitalisation of the 201 First-Tier equities closed
lower on Thursday at N8.811 trillion after opening the day at N8.875
trillion, reflecting 0.72 per cent decline or N64 billion losses. The
market had lost N9 billion after Wednesday’s trading session.

Bola
Oke, a finance analyst at WealthZone Company, an investment management
firm, said profit taking was expected following the recent upturn
recorded in the market. “Investors will always take the little profits
on their investments once there is a bullish trend,” Mrs. Oke
said.Meanwhile, GTI Capital, a stockbroking firm, said, “The ongoing
profit taking activities is a good move as it is bound to create
several entry opportunities. Traders are expected to hold cash for
timely positioning at the end of the pull back.” In the mean time, the
management of Wema Bank, at the presentation of its facts behind
figures to market operators yesterday, said it is confident that the
bank’s general performance this year will improve better than last year.

Wema Bank forecast

The
bank presented earnings forecast of N4.881 billion in gross earnings
and N285.762 million profit after tax (PAT) for the first quarter of
the year. It also forecast, for the second quarter, gross earnings of
N5.346 billion and PAT of N312.977 million; for third quarter, gross
earnings of N6.044 billion and PAT of N353.801 million, while last
quarter gross earnings is N6.973 billion and PAT of N408.232 million.

Wema
bank had in its audited third quarter accounts for the period ended
September 30, 2010 recorded a 4.74 per cent decline in turnover, from
N25.286 billion to N24.085 billion. The PAT inched up by 105.50 per
cent from a loss of N29.727 billion to a gain of N1.635 billion.

With
“long term investors seizing the opportunities to position in Wema Bank
stock at the market price” on Thursday, according to GTI Capital, the
bank led as the most traded stock with 38.551 million shares
transacted. It was followed by First Bank, FinBank, Unity Bank and
BankPHB.

David
Adonri, chief executive officer of Lambert Trust and Securities Company
Limited, said other quoted companies should ensure they present their
facts behind figures to the Exchange to enable investors and analysts
take informed decision on investment.

However, at the close of Thursday’s trading, African Petroleum
gained 4.98 per cent to lead on the gainers’ chart while C&I
Leasing followed on the chart with 4.83 per cent; Champion Breweries
gained 4.70 per cent. On the losers’ side, market forces slashed 4.95
per cent off the opening price of Costain; Presco followed with 4.80
per cent while UBA shed 4.12 per cent.

The Federal
Government is working towards issuing a harmonised minerals and mining
regulations law for the country before the end of the year, the
minister of mines and steel development, Musa Sada, has said.

Mr. Sada said
yesterday at a forum on the draft Minerals and Mining Regulations in
Abuja that this is part of the ongoing reform initiative by the
government to create a conducive environment necessary for the
development of the nation’s solid mineral resources.

The forum was to
provide the opportunity to review the draft document and make inputs
that would assist the ministry produce a final draft to be submitted to
the Ministry of Justice for vetting and its production for the
country’s mining industry.

Mr. Sada identified
a strong, consistent, and investor-friendly legal regulatory framework
based on international best practices as the anchor of the sector
reform, pointing out that this provided the guide to the decision by
the National Assembly to enact the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act
2007, signed into law in March of the same year.

Noting that the
legal framework for the mining industry would be incomplete without the
Minerals and Mining Regulations to give full effect to the Act, the
minister said the regulations are required to spell out in precise
terms the modalities for its enforcement as well as the procedures
mining operators have to follow in procuring minerals titles, licences
and permits for mining purposes.

Past efforts to
regulate operations in the industry, the minister pointed out, led to
the production of several versions of the draft document, saying the
ministerial committee constituted by government last July to study and
harmonise the different versions was an attempt to ensure that they
conformed to the provisions of the Act.

The ministerial
committee last October submitted the draft copy of the regulations,
categorised in chapters based on the relevant official technical
departments, including general provisions, mining cadastre, mines
inspectorate, mines environment compliance as well as artisanal and
small scale mining.

The regulations,
which define the rules and processes for giving full effect to the
effective implementation of the Act, provide for the procedures and
processes for exploration and mining operations, including the
acquisition of titles as well measures to enhance the general
protection of the mining environment and safety of workers in mining
operations.

A fact finding team
of the Oslo, Norway-based Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
(EITI) is currently visiting Nigeria to find out how the country is
progressing in becoming compliant with goals and objectives of the
initiative.

Arne Disch, head of
the EITI team, said on Wednesday Nigeria was one of three countries
selected for the study, among the 33-member-countries in the EITI, to
show how the EITI transparency process can be made to function better.
It is also meant to enable government become more accountable in the
exploitation and management of the natural resources in their domains.

Gabon and Mongolia
were also selected for the study whose report would be presented and
discussed at EITI Conference in Paris between February 28 and March 4.

“Nigeria was
selected for the survey because of her diversity, complex nature of its
extractive sector, and Nigeria’s standing in the EITI global community.
The report will reflect how the EITI process has played itself out in
Nigeria, achievements, challenges, shortcomings, expectations,
disappointments, and hopes.

“It is important to
note that the more attention oil and gas industry operators pay to
issues of accountability and transparency, the more the citizens would
see the benefits of the exploitation of the natural resources in their
lives,” Mr. Disch said.

He visited the
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Yayale Ahmed;
group managing director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC), Austen Oniwon; and director, Federal Inland Revenue Service
(FIRS), Ifeko Omoigu-Okaru, to intimate them of his visit to Nigeria.

Mr. Ahmed
reaffirmed the commitment of the Federal Government to the continued
embrace of the EITI principles and objectives in the management of the
country’s extractive industries, saying that “the independence of NEITI
to enthrone transparency and accountability in the management of oil,
gas and solid minerals revenues cannot be compromised under any
circumstance.”

At the NNPC, Mr.
Oniwon said the corporation is ready to collaborate with NEITI on a new
study aimed at evaluating its performance across the globe, adding that
the NNPC has no alternative than to work with the transparency agency
since Nigeria voluntarily submitted itself to the principles espoused
by EITI.

Meanwhile, the
Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has
forwarded a request to EITI Board for review of Nigeria’s transparency
compliant status in the international group.

Zainab Ahmed, the
NEITI executive secretary, said in Abuja that the request is to
indicate that Nigeria is ready to subject its processes to the
assessment of the EITI validation tests ahead of the April deadline,
having fulfilled all the six remedial conditions set out last October
to enable the country attain full compliant status.

While
the Dutch parliament yesterday held a public hearing on Shell
activities in Nigeria, the company denied allegations by human rights
and environmental groups.

On
Tuesday, Amnesty International and Friends of the Earth International
said that it will file an official complaint against the company for
breaches of basic standards for responsible business set out by the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The
groups alleged that Shell’s use of discredited and misleading
information to blame the majority of oil pollution on saboteurs in its
Niger Delta operations has breached the OECD Guidelines for
Multinational Enterprises. The complaint was filed with UK and
Netherlands government contact points for the OECD.

However,
Shell, in a statement signed by Precious Okolobo, a spokesperson in
Lagos, denied the groups’ claims. It said it has reported oil spill
data since 1996, a move which it claims exhibits “a degree of
transparency unmatched by any other operator in Nigeria.”

“We
have stepped up the level of transparency this year with weekly updates
of oil spill status that includes publishing Joint Investigation Visit
reports and photographic evidence,” Mr. Okolobo said.

Shell
added that every oil spill is independently investigated by a joint
inspection team comprising SPDC, the Department of Petroleum Resources
(DPR), the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA),
and community members whose scope includes the cause and volume.

More explanation

“The
discrepancy between the originally reported figure for 2008 and the
updated one was explained at length in our reporting exercise in early
2009 involving publication of the facts in briefing notes and on the
web. We also deliberately drew attention to the change in face-to-face
meetings with a number of interested organisations including Amnesty
International and Friends of the Earth at the time to ensure
transparency,” he further said.

“The
spill in question was 44,000 barrels. It was not included originally
because it had not been certified in time by the independent joint
inspection team. This is normal practice and every year there are a
number of spills where the investigation process has not been completed
by the reporting deadline and adjustments have to be made later. Where
they are significant, we ensure that we draw attention to them as we
did in this case,” he added.

The
company further claimed that more than 70 per cent by volume and number
of incidents over the past five years is due to sabotage; including
militant action and oil theft.

“This
figure was 98 per cent for 2009. We stand by these figures and publish
them annually because we can back them up if necessary,” Mr. Okolobo
said.

But
Geert Ritsema, Milieudefensie/Friends of the Earth Netherlands
campaigner, and one of the speakers in Dutch parliament yesterday,
said, “It was clear that a lot of members of parliament were
unsatisfied by Shell’s answers.”

Mr. Ritsema added that “Shell would never act this way in Holland.
We hope this will mean the beginning of a political process to create a
frame of laws that will force Shell and other companies to act
responsibly in other countries as well.”

The decision to
focus more attention on domestic sources to raise funds for its
services, rather than relying on external sources is responsible for
Nigeria’s burgeoning debt profile, the Debt Management Office said.

Abraham Nwankwo, the director general, said in Abuja on Tuesday, in an interview with journalists.

“A strategic
decision was taken in the course of debt management situation, it was
better to use the opportunity of borrowing domestically to develop the
domestic debt markets, not just for government, but for the economy in
the immediate to long term,” Mr. Nwankwo said.

“It was deliberate
for government to depend more on domestic sources, rather than
external, so that we develop this other aspects of our economy,
including the bond market, the habit of long time savings and
investment, as well as developing the skills by our local
entrepreneurs. Nigeria now has the capability to manage various bond
markets,” he stated.

He added that as a
developing country, Nigeria cannot depend solely on what it earns,
pointing out that for her to be able to stimulate growth and
development, she has to depend on some external borrowing that would be
tied to specific projects that would improve the quality of life of the
people.

“Borrowing in
itself is not a bad thing, but the important thing is for one to
develop the capacity to effectively manage what one has borrowed, such
that one would be able to service the debt and have surplus value in
the end,” he explained.

Legacy projects

He justified
government’s recent decision to raise a $500 million Eurobond issue,
arguing that some of the projects that government is borrowing to
execute are legacy projects that will last between 50 and 100 years and
will not generate direct immediate commercial returns. He said what
should bother Nigerians should be whether government will utilise the
resources effectively.

“Government wanted
to raise money to cut the existing deficit. Beyond that, government
wanted to use that opportunity in a structured manner to develop the
markets, which is one of the strengths of this economy, which every
investor is looking forward to. The bond market is not fully matured
yet, but it is rapidly developing, which is a plus for the country.

“Everything
government is doing is guided by the principle that the country must
not relapse into debt unsustainability by producing guideline for the
Federal Government as well as helping states develop the debt
management capacity by facilitating the establishment of debt
management offices in their domains,” Mr. Nwankwo further said.

He said the DMO is
democratising the knowledge of public debt management to enable as many
Nigerians as possible to be aware of the issues involved so that they
can ask the right questions, do independent analysis on why the
government needs to go into certain debts, and establish the values and
worth of such debts, in order to hold governments accountable.

The Dutch
parliament yesterday placed the Royal Dutch Shell before the mirror in
a groundbreaking act of scrutiny over the severe environmental and
social footprint of the oil giant on the Niger Delta.

Shell may be the
only one being grilled but that does not by any means suggest that the
likes of Chevron, Exxon, ENI and Total are not mired in the serial
abuses in the region. The spotlight at The Hague needs to be replicated
in Washington, Rome, Paris, Oslo, and elsewhere.

The Dutch
parliament’s action is very significant and illustrates how lawmakers
should keep their ears open to the cries of the peoples they represent.
It should send a signal to their counterparts in Nigeria who prefer to
keep a blind eye to the destructive extractive practices going on in
the country.

It is widely
acknowledged that Shell’s operations in Nigeria fall far short of
international standards. They do not only spill huge volumes of crude
into the marshlands and creeks of the delta, they have also been
stoking the air with toxins and greenhouse gases for decades with no
sign that this will stop.

It should be noted
that the Dutch parliamentarians are not examining Shell’s actions based
on mere hearsay, some of them had to come to the Niger Delta to see
things for themselves. As has been said, the evidence of the eyes
speaks far more than what is merely told and heard. It is also
significant that these parliamentarians did not merely visit the area
but also spent time with the oil giant, hearing their stories and
probably having helicopter rides over the incredibly ravaged area.

That some of the
parliamentarians came to the Niger Delta must be seen as an indication
of their commitment to seek information that should guide their
decisions and positions in the face of warnings that the region is a
no-go area and should not be visited by foreigners.

Discovery mission

One of such
parliamentarians to come on a fact-finding visit is Ms. Sharon
Gesthuizen, of the Socialist Party. She is also the spokesperson of the
economic committee.

When she visited in
December, we went to Oben, Edo State, with her, community people, and
Sunny Ofehe of the Hope for Niger Delta Campaign (HNDC). Our mission
was to see a typical gas flare. And we did.

The facility was
set up by Shell over 30 years ago and has been noisily belching toxic
elements into the atmosphere all this time. But officers of the Joint
Military Task Force (JTF) would not allow us to leave the location.
They kept us there until almost midnight before letting us off.

The worst part of
this illegal restriction of Nigerians and a foreign parliamentarian was
that the soldiers refused to notify their superior officers of their
actions and instead resorted to a series of threats, literally at
gunpoint. Regrettable as that incident was, it helped to underscore the
insecurity in the region and the serious curtailment of the freedom of
movement of the people.

If there is one
thing that oil companies hate, it is being placed in a situation where
they have to respond to issues relating to their activities in the oil
fields they bestride as conquerors. This is understandable seeing that
the world is so dependent on crude oil and national energy security has
been equated to overall security of nations.

Indeed, the oil
companies hold the ace in international politics and have the ears of
players in state houses and can even chew those ears if and when they
wish. At their behest, wars are fought and at their behest policies are
shaped to ensure that their wishes come through.

The embedded nature
of the companies in the seats of power provides them the audacity to
ride roughshod over environments and local peoples in the most blatant
ways imaginable.

While the Dutch
parliament is examining the situation, Friends of the Earth
International, Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands) and
Amnesty International have filed a complaint against the oil company
before the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) over the company’s outrageous claims that oil spills in the
Niger Delta are almost entirely due to acts of the local communities.

The complaint was
filed with the Dutch National Contact Point to the OECD and brings up
questions on the non-transparent, inconsistent and misleading figures
that Shell has given with regard to the causes of oil leaks in Nigeria.
The complaint pushes the position that Shell’s claims are unjust and
that the figures are random and are not independently verified.

One must say that
this is not the first time that the company has been challenged over
serious statistics. They were challenged in the past over related
spills percentages used in advertisements in the United Kingdom. They
backed down after the challenge and stopped their advertisements that
sought to lay the bulk of the blame on third party actions.

United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) officials, with regard to their research
work in Ogoni, picked up current figures cooked by their propagandists.
Whereas UNEP thereafter sought to distance itself from the percentages
cooked by Shell, the oil company still insists on referring to UNEP as
having validated their position about the victims being the guilty
ones.

It is hoped that
Shell’s day in the dock of the Dutch parliament will help the world to
see the danger of having corporations continue with impunity on the
ground and then use random figures to attempt to hoodwink the world.

As we watch events
unfold, the question must be asked: when will our lawmakers wake up to
the environmental and human tragedies in our nation?

The Cement
Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (CMAN) says estimated supply of 17
million metric tonnes of local production of cement is achievable in
2011.

The executive
secretary of CMAN, James Salako, said in Lagos that this was part of
the manufacturers’ efforts to guarantee self sufficiency in the local
demand of cement.

He said that new
cement plants with combined capacity of 14 million metric tonnes were
currently under construction, adding that they were expected to come on
the stream at different periods of the year.

“This year, we expect all the new facilities presently under construction to come on stream,” he said.