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Kwara tribunal orders forensic examination of election materials

Kwara tribunal orders forensic examination of election materials

The Kwara State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal
yesterday granted an order that all election materials used during the April 26
elections be made available for inspection. The order followed an ex-parte
application by Osaro Eghobamien, the counsel to the Action Congress of Nigeria
(ACN) governorship candidate, Dele Belgore.

Mr Eghobemien, on behalf of his client, had ahead of yesterday’s
inaugural sitting of the tribunal filed an application before the tribunal on
May 7, to challenge the election victory of the Peoples Democratic Party’s
(PDP) candidate, Abdulaziz Ahmed.

The three-man panel, headed by Ngozi Priscilla Emehelu, while
granting the prayers sought by the applicant, ruled among others,

that there should be an inspection of polling booths and
election materials used and unused for the April 26 governorship elections in
about 200 wards in the state.

The tribunal also granted permission for the forensic
examination, as well as the electronic scanning of the election materials.

Relying on section 151(1) of the Electoral Act (amended 2010),
and the case of Rauf Aregbesola V. Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the tribunal directed
compliance with the consequential orders.

However, the tribunal did not honour the prayer of the applicant
that the documents and materials be kept in the court custody, and this was
because of the provision of section 72 of the Electoral Act which is to the
effect that only the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), that is, the Resident
Electoral Commission (REC) shall have the custody of election documents.

The tribunal ordered the respondents to the petition to comply
with the orders made by the tribunal.

Ms Emehelu said the establishment of the panel was pursuant to
section 285 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as
amended by section 9 of the Second Alteration Act 2010, paragraph 1 and 2 of
the sixth schedule of the constitution, 2010.

She said the secretary of the tribunal, Fransisca Mesiobi Emeto
had earlier reported in Ilorin to set up the registry of the tribunal with
supporting staff. She, however added that as at the time of its sitting on
Wednesday, no single petition had been received.

“As I speak to you, no petition has been filed before this
tribunal, save for an application, EPT/KWA/GOV/1M/2011: Mohammed Dele Belgore
of the Action Congress of Nigeria and two others V. Fatahi Ahmed of the Peoples
Democratic Party and 4 others, which was filed on the 7th May 2011 seeking
inter-alia, for the leave of the court to inspect and make copies of certain
documents used in the conduct of the governorship election of Kwara State for
the purpose of instituting and, or maintaining the applicants election
petition,” she said.

Ms Emehelu, who promised that the tribunal would give petitions
before it “expeditious adjudication”, pleaded that people should know that
election tribunals “are sui generis”, that is, belonging to a class of their
own, and give it maximum cooperation to enable the accelerated hearing of the petitions.

Other justices sitting as part of the tribunal are Kadi Dahiru Abubakar and
Saidu Sifawa.

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Senate approves $1b for sovereign wealth fund

Senate approves $1b for sovereign wealth fund

The senate on Wednesday, passed the Nigeria Sovereign Investment
Authority bill, with an approval that it be jump started with the Naira
equivalence of $1 billion.

The start-up capital is to be contributed by the three tiers of
government including the federal capital territory, each contributing a
percentage of the initial fund equal to such government’s share of the
federation revenue in accordance with the subsisting formula.

Subsequent funding for the fund will be derived from residual
funds from the federation account which shall be transferred to the authority.
The derivation portion of the revenue allocation formula is excluded from the
subsequent funding source.

60 percent of both the start-up capital and subsequent funds
will be allocated equally to the authorities’ three main investment options:
The Future Generation Funds, the Infrastructure fund and the Stabilization
Fund.

The fund, when established, would replace the country’s excess
crude account (ECA) that banks Nigeria oil revenue above a benchmark oil price.

Critics of the excess crude account, created by the
administration of Olusegun Obasanjo, says it lacks a legal framework. The
account was set-up in 2004 following a fiscal policy decision to check the
negative impact of the swings in crude oil prices at the international oil
market on government expenditure, and to help create savings from excess crude
earnings for the country.

The incumbent administration in March 2011, revealed plans to
abolish the excess crude account as the minister of finance Olusegun Aganga,
told NEXT in an interview that the government resolved to abolish the account
not only because its existence was illegal and unconstitutional, but also that
management of the ECA has in recent times been subjected to abuses that tend to
defeat the objective for which it was established.

He noted that the process for accessing the ECA is not
transparent and clear to the Nigerians, therefore there is a general perception
that there is some level of mismanagement.

“The intention is that the (sovereign wealth) fund will be
funded by what we have in the excess crude oil account,” Olusegun Aganga told
reporters after the economic council meeting last month.

“The present arrangement is just an administrative arrangement,
it has no legal basis”, he said. “What we have to begin now is to give it a
legal basis so the excess crude account will be replaced by a legal
arrangement.”

The authority is expected to invest the funds in a diversified
portfolio of medium and long term investments for the benefit of future
generation of Nigerian citizens.

Mr Aganga said the fund adds to fiscal discipline of government
and is capable of attracting investment in infrastructure development from
sovereign wealth funds of other countries. According to him, accruals to the
fund would be put to work to intervene in critical sectors of the economy.

“The fund will have the ability to attract both local and
international investors. So even if they have $1 billion, it will be capable of
attracting more than $5 or $6 billion from other funds. Already we have had
interest from other sovereign wealth funds. It will be managed in a very
transparent way because we will have better control.”

The finance minister said the setting up of the sovereign wealth
fund will improve Nigeria’s rating in the international financial market. The estimated
value of global sovereign wealth funds is currently put at $2.5 trillion.

“Creation of the fund will ensure that the present and future
generations of Nigeria will still have a country to call their own,” Teslim
Folarin, leader of the senate said in his lead debate.

In exceptional circumstances set out in the act, the authority
will utilize certain liquid assets in the stabilization fund to supplement
other available fiscal stabilization funds to temporarily sustain duly budgeted
public expenditure in the interest of macroeconomic stability in Nigeria.

Bribery allegation denied

The Senate also denied media allegations that its members
demanded N25 million in bribes to hasten the passage of the Sovereign Wealth
Fund and Petroleum Industry bills.

The Senate President, David Mark, described the allegations as
“sheer blackmail.” The denial followed complaints by Dahiru Kuta, a member of
the committee that reviewed the bills, about a Monday publication in Punch
Newspaper claiming the senators demanded bribes to pass the bills.

“This blackmail is totally unnecessary and uncalled for. It is
not a very good thing by Punch Newspapers. I think they owe this hallowed
chamber an apology,” the senate president said.

“We will investigate this and the ethics committee should take it up live on
TV. No senator has demanded for anything. It is totally uncalled.”

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Nigerian banks sitting on excess cash

Nigerian banks sitting on excess cash

Nigerian
banks are currently sitting on excess level of liquidity as financial
institutions are cautious to do real banking business post crisis
period. A recent report by Renaissance Capital (RenCap) stated that
with the relatively robust returns from government instruments, the
banks have virtually abandoned their intermediation role and are
playing safe.

“Traditionally
low-risk government T-bills, and recently government guaranteed
interbank assets, offer high-single digit to low-double-digit returns,
which encourages banks to run their balance sheets like hedge funds, as
opposed to proper economic intermediators of funds, as the additional
return (if any) on lending for the increased risk involved is, at
times, simply not worth the risk,” the report stated.

Deputy
governor, economic policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sarah
Alade said recently that banks now prefer lending to government instead
of the real sector. “In terms of interest rate being high, when
government borrows money, offering banks higher rates than the private
sector can offer, banks naturally lend to government,” she said last
week at a forum in Lagos.

Efficient intervention needed

The
RenCap report therefore advised banks to grow their loan books. “For
us, the bottom line here is that the structure of Nigerian banks’
balance sheets, on average, highlights a very cautious, underleveraged
banking system that could comfortably squeeze-out more leverage, and
therefore bigger profits, without dramatically shifting out of their
low-risk comfort zones.” The report mentioned UBA and Zenith Bank as
institutions with the largest pool of cheap funds.

Recent positive trends

The
report incorporates coverage on Zenith Bank, First Bank, Access Bank,
Diamond Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), United Bank for Africa (UBA),
Skye Bank, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) and Fidelity Bank. It
incorporates strong buy recommendation for Zenith Bank, First Bank,
UBA, FCMB, Skye Bank and Fidelity Bank as the sector looks forward to a
new growth spurt following the clean-up process undertaken by AMCON
(ASSET Management Corporation of Nigeria).

Renaissance Capital also anticipates strong credit growth in 2011
following recent positive trends. Speaking about the report, lead
author David Nangle said, “Taking into account AMCON’s success at
restoring confidence in the Nigerian Banking sector, we believe it is
poised for a new era of growth. This is based on Nigeria’s strong
macro-economic outlook, with growth projected to be between 7-8 per
cent in 2011 and the strong capitalisation in the banking sector.” The
report added that the moves by foreign banks to buy into the sector may
represent a medium-term threat to the current local private
bank-dominated playing field.

The
report stated that though the Nigerian banking space offers an
appealing investment base, there was still the risk associated with
frontier-markets investment. These include the legal system, with
regards to the length of time required to resolve financial court
cases, corruption, weak corporate governance, and the need to diversify
the economy.

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Capital market working towards global integration

Capital market working towards global integration

The Nigerian Stock
Exchange (NSE) says it is on track towards its integration into global
capital market operations and standards.

The chairman of the
Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) board of directors, Udoma
Udoma, told participants in the ongoing Thomson Reuters Foundation
journalism training course on financial and economic reporting in
Lagos, that apart from the reforms to restore confidence in the wake of
the 2008 market crash, steps have been taken to upgrade the operational
process to bring them to global standards.

He noted
unprecedented growth by all market indicators, saying capitalisation
rose fromN2.5 trillion in 2005 to N12.1 trillion by March 2008, while
trading value increased with a daily average of N1.06 billion from
N254.7 billion in 2005 to N2.086 trillion in 2007, with a daily average
of N8.62 billion.

Though he said
market capitalisation as of December 31, 2010, was at about N10.33
trillion, with about 264 listed securities comprised of 217 equities
and 47 debts, Mr Udoma, however, traced the collapse of the capital
market to insider dealings as well as abuses of margin lending by
banks, which gave loans to many investors to buy shares without
collateral.

He said the
reactivation of FGN bond resulted in the issuance of over N3.5 trillion
bonds between 2003 and 2010, while secondary transactions of the bonds
on OTC market was over N48 trillion between 2006 and 2010, with about
11 state governments going to the market to raise funds for their
programmes.

Market challenges

He listed the
challenges the market is currently facing to include low investor
confidence; poor market depth, in terms of limited securities and
products on offer; poor savings and investment culture as a result of
the country’s low per capita income; low market liquidity; excessive
market concentration, with over 60 percent of trading activities on
bank stocks as well as legal constraints.

As part of the
reforms, he said 52 new rules and amendments have been introduced since
2008, including new margin trading guide lines by the Central Bank of
Nigeria and the Anti-Money Laundering/Combating Financing of Terrorism
manual to help banks and stockbrokers check incidences of money
laundering.

Besides, he said a
new code of corporate governance, which became effective last month,
requires auditors to report on the adequacy and effective of internal
regulatory systems as well as change the company’s audit and partners
every year, while upgrades have been carried out on the NSE platform to
meet international standards.

“We are on track
towards reforming the Nigerian Stock Exchange into a world class
capital market. The country’s capital market is not in isolation from
the international community. The Nigerian economy is poised to take off
with the stability being provided better elections,” he said.

Other actions taken
to reform the system include development of a model for risk-based
supervision, particularly for regulated entities; rationalization of
the market’s intermediary structure through stratification of the
broker-community; overhauling of complaints management framework to
ensure improved efficiency and alignment of the market with
international best practices in complaint management as well as
encouragement of functional market makers to facilitate securities
lending and borrowing.

International regulatory standards

Apart from
migration to International Financial Reporting Standard before 2012,
the SEC board chairman said the commission is considering the
self-assessment exercise of the implementation of the 38 International
Organisation of Securities Commission objectives as well as the
principles of securities regulations to conform to international
regulatory standards.

“Capital market
offers enterprises and governments wider opportunities to secure funds
for development. Where there is no developed capital market, short-term
funds from commercial banks are not the best sources of funding for
business enterprises and long term investments.

“In Nigeria, where industrial production is as low as 4 percent of
gross domestic product (GDP), as against an average of 8.5 percent
about 15 years, it is the country’s low industrial capacity that is
partly responsible for the current high unemployment in the country.
Therefore, if Nigeria must realize its aspiration to be among the
world’s top 20 economies by 2020, industry share of the GDP has to
increase to about 20-25 percent. That is why the integration of the
capital market is crucial,’ he said.

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Nigerian naira eases after Central Bank forex auction

Nigerian
naira eases after Central Bank forex
auction

The Nigerian naira
eased against the U.S dollar on the interbank market on Monday after
the Central Bank sold dollars at a higher rate than last week at its
foreign exchange auction.

The naira closed at
155.85 to the dollar on the interbank market compared to 155.15 at
Friday’s close, although the sale of $400 million by state-owned energy
company NNPC helped prevent it from slipping further.

“We have NNPC funds
in the market, about $400 million, but those who received the dollars
are not selling, possibly covering their short positions with the
funds,” one dealer said.

Traders said some
of the banks were holding onto the funds in view of the closing gap
between the central bank’s official rate and the interbank rate.

The central bank
sold $300 million at 153.18 to the dollar at its latest bi-weekly forex
auction on Monday, short of the $352.54 million demanded and compared
to $350 million sold at 153.02 a dollar at the previous auction last
Wednesday.

A one percent
commission charged at the forex auction meant dollars effectively cost
154.71, narrowing the gap with the interbank rate.

NNPC is the largest
supplier of foreign exchange to the interbank market with its large
monthly dollar sales usually providing support for the local currency.

Some analysts said
continued weakness in foreign reserves compared to year-ago levels were
continuing to put pressure on the naira.

Nigeria’s foreign
exchange reserves fell to $32.66 billion by May 5 from $34.55 billion a
month earlier and remain significantly lower than a year ago. They
stood at $40.12 billion by May 5, 2010.

Dealers said the
naira could weaken further in the coming days unless the central bank
moves to reassure the market that it will continue to support the naira
at current levels.

REUTERS

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Jonathan flags off national sports festival

Jonathan flags off national sports festival

President Goodluck
Jonathan yesterday, stressed the need for the country to promote
efforts that forge unity of the country, such as sports, without which
the country would find it difficult to develop.

He made the call
during the lighting of the torch for the national sports festival at
the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The festival will hold in Port Harcourt,
Rivers State in July this year.

During the
ceremony, the torch of unity was handed over to officials of the
Federal Capital Territory for the start of its tour round the 36 states
of the federation, with Rivers State as the final destination on the
day the festival begins.

The Kaduna State
governor, Patrick Yakowa whose state hosted the last national sports
festival, handed over the torch to the minister of sports, Taoheed
Adedoja who in turn handed it over to Mr Jonathan.

He then passed it
over to the Rivers State governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi who then
handed it over to the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Bala
Muhammed.

Mr Jonathan noted
that sporting events bind youth together, irrespective of differences
in ethnic affiliation, religion or other persuasions and stressed the
need for it to be strengthened.

“Sports brings
unity to both young and old. To camp our young ones together will bring
that spirit of unity, especially after the election,” he said. “It is
like the unity schools that united Nigerians together because each
person bonded with the classmates and by the time they leave school,
they have friends across the states and sections of the country.

“The country
belongs to us and unless we are together as one, the nation cannot go
far and that is what sports does, it unifies us. This flag of unity
must continue to fly and the unity torch must continue to burn.”

Nigeria’s sports image

The President
pointed out that Nigeria was noted for sports and can easily be
remembered by all countries around the world, especially for football
and asked that all be put in place to sustain the reputation of the
country.

Mr Adedoja
commended the government of Kaduna State for the quality of the
organisation put into the last national sports festival. He said he was
sure nothing more would be expected from Rivers State, whom he said had
shown commitment to hosting it.

Mr Amaechi promised that the state is ready to host the games and
have committed everything to ensure that the best comes out of the
festival.

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Federer says he can still return to world number one

Federer says he can still return to world number one

Roger Federer
rejects the idea that the balance of power in men’s tennis has tipped
towards Novak Djokovic after a 32-match winning run and believes he can
still beat Pete Sampras’s record for time spent as world number one.

The Swiss world
number three, who has a record 16 grand slam titles to his name, has
been left in the shade by Rafa Nadal for much of the past 12 months and
has now seen Djokovic supplant him as the Spaniard’s main rival.

However, Federer
feels he can reclaim his throne and move ahead of American great Sampras
who spent a total of 286 weeks as world number one to Federer’s current
285.

“It’s still
important for me to get back to being world number one,” Federer told
reporters in Italy ahead of his second round match against France’s
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Rome Masters. “I mentioned after Wimbledon it
was a goal of mine.

“It’s still very real and possible. I think I can do it if I win one of those grand slams.”

First in seven years

Serbia’s Djokovic
could become the first player other than Federer or Nadal to hold the
top ranking since 2004 if he wins the Rome Masters this week, but
Federer remains confident he can still challenge the top two.

“They (Djokovic and
Nadal) are playing better than me but I’m close to winning those
tournaments,” said Federer, who lost to Nadal in the semi-finals of the
Madrid Masters last week.

“It’s not as if I’m losing in the first or second rounds.

“I feel I’m playing
well myself. Apart from Novak not losing all year not much has changed
in the game. Everybody can play well on all surfaces these days.

“It doesn’t feel
more different apart from having three more questions to answer at a
press conference, but they deserve their press and it’s all good
stories.” While the 29-year-old did not watch Djokovic’s straight sets
defeat of Nadal in the Madrid final Sunday, he felt the Serb would have
it tougher in Rome and Paris.

“It was surprising
to see Rafa lose on clay but it was just one tournament,” he said. “It
was a quick clay court so he (Djokovic) had a better chance of beating
Rafa.” This year the Rome Masters, which for the first time in decades
features men and women in one tournament, takes place after the Madrid
Open.

“I think that’s a better schedule,” said Federer. “You don’t have to
go (to the French Open) from altitude. Rome is more similar to Paris
than Madrid so it’s easier to get off to a good start there.”

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Barcelona are favourites to win final, says Vidic

Barcelona are favourites to win final, says Vidic

Manchester
United captain Nemanja Vidic reckons Barcelona will start as favourites
to win the Champions League final at Wembley on May 28.

United lost to Barca in the 2009 final and are out for revenge on English turf.

“There will be no
surprises because they haven’t changed their style in years but they
will be a tough prospect and definitely the favourites in the final,”
the Serbia centre back told Belgarde’s B92 television website
(www.b92.net).

“Maybe we have a
little bit of an advantage in logistics because we are closer to the
venue, but we know that their fans will turn up in numbers just like
our own.”

Vidic, who scored
in Sunday’s 2-1 win over Chelsea which all but secured United the
Premier League title, said his side were still completely focused on a
record 19th domestic crown.

Blackburn before Barcelona

“We haven’t had
time to think about Barcelona yet because we have to concentrate on our
next game away to Blackburn and make mathematically sure that we’ve won
it,” he said.

“Only when we have
done that can we turn our attention to Barcelona, I’ve seen them
several times this season including their semi-final tie against Real
Madrid.”

United, who are six
points ahead of Chelsea with two matches left in the Premier League,
need only one point from their last two games against Blackburn and at
home to Blackpool to secure their 12th league title under manager Alex
Ferguson.

Vidic, who was
named captain this season, revealed anxiety had crept into United’s
dressing room after Chelsea were able to cut a 15-point deficit with
nine wins in 10 games prior to their visit to Old Trafford.

“The pressure was
immense after they whittled down our big advantage to just three points
before the showdown, but it makes the victory that much sweeter because
we are on the verge of winning the title after beating our closest
rivals,” he said.

“It means a lot to
me that I scored but the team comes first and the most important thing
is that we are now in a commanding position to cross the finish line
first.

“As the team’s captain I just try to do the same things I’ve always
done and be at my best all the time, because being the United captain
is a great honour and I know I have to repay the faith vested in me by
the club.”

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Liberia turns to God for semi-final ticket

Liberia turns to God for semi-final ticket

The
national team of Liberia in the on-going West Africa Football Union
(WAFU) yesterday embarked on intensive prayers as they managed to roam
into the semi-finals of the championship taking place in Abeokuta, Ogun
State Capital.

The players had
played two matches in the competition losing the opening encounter to
Super Eagles by 1 goal, while they (Liberia) in their second match at
the Moshood Abiola Stadium defeated their Togo counterpart by 2 goals
to one.

However, at their
training session yesterday the team on arriving the pitch embarked on
what could be described as firebrand prayers which lasted for about 30
minutes with passionate appeal to God, to see them through to finals of
the match scheduled for Saturday.

At the stadium,
players in company of their coaching crew converged on the half side of
the pitch, which was allocated to them for training, while the host
Super Eagles was training on the other half side.

Before embarking on
their training, they commenced intensive praise worship given thanks to
God for their victory over Togo, and further call on God to be with
them in their next encounter which is expected to take place between
them and winner from Group A match which is between Ghana and Togo.

Not stopping there, the Liberia Team in their prayer session also
passionately appealed to God, to take them to finals, and subsequent
winning of the trophy. However, their next match scheduled for Thursday
will determine their better chances in getting to the finals .

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New Zealand ends Flying Eagles’ Suwon Cup dreams

New Zealand ends Flying Eagles’ Suwon Cup dreams

Nigeria’s
Under-20 team, the Flying Eagles, on Tuesday suffered a shock 4-3
defeat at the hands of the Junior All Whites of New Zealand at the
Suwon U-20 Cup.

It was the first
loss at the four-nation tournament for the Flying Eagles and ended
their hopes of claiming top prize at the tourney which came to a close
yesterday in South Korea.

John Obuh’s side
had earlier beaten hosts South Korea 1-0 in their opening match of the
tourney before pulling off a 2-2 draw with Uruguay over the weekend.

For their part, the
Junior All Whites began their quest at the Suwon Cup with a 1-0 loss to
Uruguay before succumbing by the same score line to South Korea, and
were expected to follow a similar path against the Flying Eagles in the
encounter played in the early hours of Tuesday, Nigerian time.

And the Junior All
Whites appeared to play along with the laid down script when Uche
Nwofor struck from 25 meters out to put the Flying Eagles ahead after
just 18 minutes on the clock.

But New Zealand
clawed their way back to level terms when Cameron Lindsay curled an
equaliser in from the edge of the box, just minutes after Dakota Lucas
failed to convert from close range.

The Flying Eagles
then had two opportunities to restore their lead before the end of the
first half but were denied, first by New Zealand goalkeeper Stefan
Marinovic and then by the offside flag.

But 15 minutes into
the second half, the Junior All Whites struck through captain Nick
Branch who volleyed a Marco Rojas free kick past the helpless Danjuma
Paul.

The lead was short lived as quick fire goals to Nigeria earned the Flying Eagles a 3-2 lead with 25 minutes left.

Delightful

But two goals
within the space of seven minutes, the second as a result of a poor
clearance by the Nigerian goalkeeper, saw the Junior All Whites
claiming their first win of the tournament which delighted their coach,
Chris Milicich.

“Today was very
pleasing for no other reason than we’re learning how to win,” said
Milicich. “We’ve had two really close results and in this one we’ve
come back twice to get the result.

He added: “This is
a team that beat Korea, drew with Uruguay and were trying to win the
tournament. They tried to beat us with everything they had. They are
African champions and we stood toe to toe with them and came out on the
right side of the ledger.”

The Suwon Cup
served as a preparatory tournament for all four teams who will later in
the year take part at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia.

The Nigerian team is expected back in the country on Thursday and
will thereafter observe a two-week break before commencing preparations
for the World Cup where they will come up against Guatemala, Croatia
and Saudi Arabia in Group D.

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