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Ghana’s cedi
continued to weaken against the greenback after weeks of sustained
demand for imports in the run up to Christmas, traders said on Monday.

“It (the dollar)
started at 1.4765 but it has gone up to 1.4790 this morning. There’s
not much money on the market and the demand has just overwhelmed the
supply,” said Access Bank’s Kwabenah Yeboah.

One trader said he
expected dollar-cedi to stay shy of 1.48 for the rest of the day. “It’s
a trend we have on our markets where you see a lot of pressure on our
currency in December. Nothing is being seen on the supply side this
morning,” he said.

Dollar supply remains weak as mining companies and NGOs closed their books to balance accounts for the coming year.

The
Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC)
yesterday said it will review the revenue sharing formula indices.

At
the first formal meeting in Abuja following its recent reconstitution,
the Commission said the review will be one of the major assignments it
will carry out in the near future as it settles down to business.

“A
standing Committee is to be established immediately on new revenue
sharing formula to come up with a recommendation to the President that
would be transmitted to the National Assembly for consideration,” said
Elias Mbam, the Commission’s chairman.

“The
one currently in use has been in place since the military regime. So,
it is time the revenue sharing formula is reviewed, because the basis
for it has already been overtaken by reality. We will ensure that we
bring in place a new formula that would be fair and equitable to all
Nigerians,” Mr Mbam.

Concerns over accruals

Similarly,
he expressed concern over the revenue accruals in the federation
account, announcing that a standing committee on diversification of
revenue sources to the federal government is to be created immediately
to help mobilise other sources of revenue.

“The
revenue into the federation account comes basically from oil, gas,
Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS)
and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). We are going to expand the
sources of revenue and look at other sources. We will be concerned with
diversification of the sources of revenue,” he said.

Though
the chairman denied that the issues of jumbo pay to lawmakers was
discussed during the meeting, he however, indicated that the Commission
has already directed that a full brief on it be made available to
enable the Commission take necessary actions that would ensure that it
is resolved holistically.

The
first attempt at reviewing the country’s revenue sharing formula was
initiated by the Commission in August 2001 in line with its mandate in
the third schedule of the 1999 Constitution empowering it to review,
from time to time, the revenue allocation formula and principles in
operation to ensure conformity with changing realities; provided that
any revenue formula accepted by the Act of the National Assembly shall
remain in force for a period of not less than five years from the date
of the commencement of the Act.” The Commission, in its first revenue
allocation proposal to the National Assembly, gave the federal
government 41.3 per cent, states (31 per cent), local governments (16
per cent) and a total of 11.7 per cent for special funds, consisting
1.2 per cent allocation to the FCT; one per cent each to ecology and
national reserve fund, agriculture/solid mineral fund, and 1.5 per cent
and Basic Education and Skill Acquisition (BESA), 7 per cent.

In
January 2003, the Commission, apparently in compliance with the ruling
of the Supreme Court, drafted and submitted to the National Assembly a
new formula for ratification, which gave the Federal Government 46.63
per cent share; states, 33 per cent, and local governments, 20.37 per
cent.

But, again, Olusegun Obasanjo, in November 2003, unilaterally asked
the National Assembly to withdraw the proposed formula by the
Commission, necessitating reliance on the old formula till the end of
his administration.

The council of the
Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) through its Quotation Committee on Monday
approved the listing of two new issues worth N50.5 billion. The NSE, in
a statement signed by Wole Tokede, its spokesperson, said the council
approved the Benue State Government’s application for approval and
listing of N13 billion Fixed Rate Development Bond 2015 of N1, 000 each
(for a unit) at 14 percent.

“Specifically, the
bond is for funding of some projects embarked upon by the state as well
as refinancing existing debt obligations used in funding the projects,”
the statement said. First Bank of Nigeria Securities Limited and United
Bank for Africa (UBA) Stockbrokers Limited are the joint stockbrokers
to the issue.

The council also
endorsed Flour Mills of Nigeria’s application for approval and listing
of an Offer for Subscription of N37.50 billion at 12 per cent Fixed
Rate Bond 2015 (Series 1) under a N70billion debt issuance. The bond
was jointly introduced by IBTC Stockbrokers and Guarantee Trust Bank
Securities Limited.

The Exchange noted
that “The on-going request for capital raising is an attestation to the
fact that companies would continue to take advantage of opportunities
in the Nigerian capital market to expand their operations.”

Market declines

Meanwhile, the
Exchange market capitalisation of the 201 First-Tier equities closed on
Monday at N7.801 trillion after opening the day at N7.809 trillion,
reflecting 0.10 per cent decline or N8 billion losses. The market had
gained N2 billion last Friday after losing about N23 billion the
previous trading session. The NSE All-Share Index also lost 0.10 per
cent or 24.03 units on last Friday’s figures of 24,444.28 basis points,
to close yesterday at 24,420.25. Wema Bank, Fidson Healthcare, MTI,
Zenith Bank, and Ecobank Transnational Incorporation were the most
traded stocks on Monday.

Gainers increase

A total of 38
stocks appreciated in price on Monday, higher than the 37 gainers
recorded previous day; while 25 stocks depreciated in value, lower than
the 27 recorded last Friday. Julius Berger and Nigerian Bottling
Company topped the price gainers’ table with an increase of N1.90 and
N1.82 on their opening prices of N48.10 and N36.48 per share
respectively.

Ashaka Cement and Zenith Bank followed in the chart with
an increase of N1.35 and 49 kobo, to close at N28.35 and N15.00 per
share. On the losers’ side, Dangote Cement and Cadbury Nigeria led the
price losers’ chart with a loss of N2.50 and 50 kobo, to close at
N120.00 and N26.50 per share respectively. Ecobank Transnational
Incorporation and Dangote Flour Mill followed with a decrease of 29
kobo and 26 kobo on their initial prices of N15.41 and N15.75 per share
respectively.

Active subsector

Trading activities
in the Banking subsector maintained lead as the most active subsectors
with 220.21 million units valued at N1.31billion exchanged in 2,900
deals as against the 188.10 million units valued at N1.36billion
exchanged in 2,868 deals recorded on Friday.

The volume recorded in the
sector was driven by transaction in the shares of Wema Bank, Zenith
Bank, Union Bank, UBA, Access Bank and First Bank. The total volume of
158.84 million units valued at N962.94 million traded in the shares of
the five stocks accounted for 32.42 per cent of the entire market
volume.

A report by
Research and Marketing Services (RMS) has revealed that the key
expectations of the electorate in next year’s election are employment
creation, stable electricity, and poverty eradication.

The RMS in the
report, titled, “Pulse of the Nation,” said free qualitative education,
economic development, infrastructural development, free healthcare for
elderly and young children, building industries and empowerment of
citizens are also what electorate expected. The “Pulse of the Nation,”
a quarterly Pan Nigeria opinion poll survey, also showed that
corruption (65 per cent) remains the biggest problem facing the
country, followed by crime (47 per cent) and breakdown of the rule of
law (44 per cent).

The survey revealed
improvement in the performance of the government as it was rated 33 per
cent by respondents. This recorded an increase as against 15 per cent
in the June survey.

Rule of law also improved from 30 per cent as being expected as against 4 per cent in June.

According to the
report, more people plan to participate in the forthcoming voter’s
registration in the country and it is put up to (81 to 89 per cent).

Adeola Tejumola,
Chief Executive Officer of RMS, said the survey is a corporate social
responsibility initiative of the organisation, adding that the essence
of the survey is to gauge the opinion of Nigerians on issues of
national prominence.

Mr Tejumola said
the survey revealed a growing awareness amongst the people that their
votes count. The survey also stated that there was an increase of 14
per cent in respondents who expressed determination to vote in 2011.
According to Mr Tejumola, the survey showed that the overall
performance rating of President Goodluck Jonathan stood at 77 per cent.
“This was the same result obtained during the last survey in June. A
total of 92 per cent of the populace representing an increase of 11 per
cent also gave approval to his desire to contest next year.

Nigerians want the
President to focus on developing amenities such as electricity and
water. These are followed by corruption and education.” Other aspirants
were rated on key attributes: Pat Utomi scored highest on integrity (39
per cent); Abubakar Atiku on Leadership quality (20 per cent); Mohammed
Buhari on accountability (16 per cent).

The RMS in the last
10 months has carried out a survey on issues surrounding the
forthcoming elections and the state of the nation. The survey was
conducted amongst 5,000 adults aged between 18 years and above eligible
Nigerians living in all states of the federation and the Federal
Capital City.

It was a qualitative research technique through face to face personal interview using a fully structured questionnaire.

By picking a
respected company insider as its next chief executive, MTN Group is
betting on the steady pair of hands that helped steer the mobile
operator’s rapid growth across Africa. Africa’s largest mobile phone
company on Monday named 53-year-old Chief Operating Officer Sifiso
Dabengwa to replace veteran leader Phuthuma Nhleko as CEO when he steps
down in March. The appointment of the quiet, media-shy electrical
engineer is unlikely to mark a major change of strategy at MTN,
business associates and industry analysts said.

Dabengwa is expected to focus on retaining market share and bolstering operations after years of strong growth.

“This guy is an
insider. He is even more of an insider than Nhleko — remember Nhleko
came from outside. It’s a safe pair of hands,” said Strive Masiyiwa,
the founder of rival mobile phone operator Econet Wireless, who knows
him professionally.

Dabengwa, who has
run MTN’s operations in Nigeria and South Africa, is likely to focus on
consolidating the business and improving efficiency said Masiyiwa.

“He is not going to
be expansionist. Those days are done.” Dabengwa, who holds an MBA,
joined MTN in 1999 from state power firm Eskom . That was two years
before Nhleko, a former banker,

joined the
business. wHe will need to fend off competition from Bharti Airtel,
which is waging a price war in sub-Saharan Africa and plans to spend at
least $1.1 billion on network upgrades in the next three years.
Dabengwa also takes over just as the company faces fewer opportunities
for large-scale expansion.

Broken deals

MTN, which has
failed to complete four major deals since 2008, has said it is
concentrating on paying more to shareholders, in line with a strategy
that no longer emphasises growth by acquisition.

Its latest
acquisition attempt, a bid to buy assets from Egypt’s Orascom Telecom,
fell through in June, when Algeria’s government blocked the sale of
Orascom’s unit there.

“He is quite a firm leader and is a good choice for this job,” said an MTN executive who did not want to be named.

The executive added Dabengwa is steeped in MTN culture and should be able to navigate the challenges facing it.

He will need to
seek new revenue streams, such as mobile data — as further growth
opportunities in voice services are limited, analysts said — and focus
on cost cutting.

“He’s got a very
strong operational background, which is very important as it is
becoming very competitive,” said Frost & Sullivan analyst Spiwe
Chireka.

She said MTN must
step up expansion into the enterprise business focusing on corporate
customers. This could result in a lucrative revenue stream and a tie-up
with a global carrier.

The $35 billion
company, which operates networks across Africa and the Middle East, had
134.4 million users at the end of September. However, much of its
business is concentrated in a few markets, such as Nigeria, South
Africa and Iran.

Respect

Although well known
for years as MTN’s second-in-command, Dabengwa has tried to avoid media
publicity. He generally does not grant one-on-one interviews, limiting
public comments to annual general meetings or earnings announcements.

“I have a huge
respect for him. Very efficient, very focused and totally committed to
the company,” said Nozipho January-Bardill, MTN’s former spokeswoman.

MTN, the country’s
only mobile operator majority owned by South Africans, was set up with
government help in 1994 as the first black-owned group after the end of
apartheid.

“He is not just an
experienced senior black executive. He is a world-class executive. He
now carries the legacy of ensuring the world knows we can build
world-class organisations as black people,” said Econet’s Masiyiwa.

“I know there are people who wanted an outsider and there is no need for that. Success is built on success.”

The federal government is worried that most of the products generated from research activities in Nigeria are lying on the shelf and have not translated to goods and services that will impact the lives of Nigerians.

Mohammed Abubakar, the minister of science and technology expressed this worry at the opening of 2010 National Science and Technology Week on Monday in Abuja. Mr Abubakar said that these products would transform Nigeria and enable her secure a prominent position as one of the industrialized nations but the investors seem uninterested in utilizing them.

“Today, there is a long inventory of research findings which have remained on the shelves awaiting the patronage of investors,” he said. “It is, however, sad to note that most of the research outcomes which otherwise would have catapulted Nigeria to the club of technologically developed nations are, unfortunately, not being translated into essential goods and services.”

Nigerians prefer importation

He further added that a lot has been done but most Nigerians are not interested in what we are doing because they prefer importation but that technological investment has its gestation period.”Entrepreneurs are not patient enough to wait for that period. They want turnover in 48 hours that is why we hold this NASTECH week to provide the avenue for them to come and look at what we have done and partner with research institutes to upscale it and produce goods and services required.

Represented by Femi Olayisade, permanent secretary of the ministry of science and technology, the minister further stated that the lack of interest in taking up research and development is a challenge that requires urgent attention.”The ministry is pursuing various strategies that would facilitate the adoptions and development of research outcomes,” he said.

“Already, the government has established the National Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI) to assist entrepreneurs through the establishment of technology incubations in all the states of the federation.Also, through the Presidential Committee on Inventions and Innovations, government gives grants to worthy investors and innovators to upscale their inventions or innovations.”

The minister also hinted that the theme of this year’s technology week tagged “Science and Technology: Key to achieving 7-Point Agenda,” was quite apt in view of the immense contributions science could make to the attainment of the 7-Point Agenda.

He stressed that NASTECH 2010 would provide another window for interaction between researchers, investors, innovations and investors as well as stimulate research and development/industry linkages towards ensuring that science and technology contributes to national development and the attainment of Vision 20:2020.

He added that the ultimate objective was to acquaint investors with the stride made in the nation’s scientific and technological development and to encourage interested entrepreneurs to commercialize the outcomes of research and development.

NASTECH 2010 is expected to feature exhibition, research and investors’ forum and technical sessions. Participants at the event included junior engineers, technicians and scientists from all zones of the federation.

This, he said gives credence to the fact that Nigeria is on right track and programmes like NASTECH are indeed preparing future scientists and engineers that will lead our beloved Nigeria to greater heights.

The details are yet
to be filled in, but Presidency documents on the outlines of the
federal government’s budget for next year suggest that the output
growth number is the most realistic of the estimates on which the
budget is based. At 7%, the assumption for GDP growth is
uncontroversial. The economy has grown at this pace for like three
years now, it’s almost become the trend growth rate. Moreover, against
the general performance of most other economies, it is an impressive
rate. The only problem is that output growth in the country no longer
has a relationship with any other sector of the economy. Imagine that
only six years has passed since the government designed its flagship
poverty reduction strategy – the National Economic Empowerment and
Development Strategy (NEEDS) – where it described an annual growth rate
of 7% – 8% as a “poverty reducing growth rate”.

Anecdotal evidence
suggests that in the last four years, the incidence of poverty has
worsened, despite our having held growth at close to the NEEDS target
for like three years. Why is this so? Because the annual investment
rate in the country (a little over 16%) is still way below the minimum
“of about 30 percent of GDP”, required to bring about the needed
change? Or because of the continued absence of linkages between GDP
growth and fiscal revenues? Whatever the answer to this question, the
latter possibility in particular forces us to confront existing worries
about what exactly official bean counters count when they do their
output numbers.

Unfortunately, the
lack of faith over domestic official statistics does not end there. The
fundamentals of the proposed appropriations for 2011 repeat a number of
them. Take the main source of official revenue for instance. The new
appropriations assume an oil output target of 2.3mbd, and an oil price
benchmark of US$65 per barrel. Within the current dynamics of the oil
industry, this is understandable: oil prices on the international
markets are pushing hard against the US$100 per barrel mark; and
domestic oil production (excluding condensates) is currently above the
2.2mbd mark. However, if we have learnt anything at all from our almost
forty years of dependence on oil sales as the major component of the
revenue side of our fiscal operations, it is that the market is too
volatile to usefully anchor anything but near-term projections on.

Until recently for
instance, a supply shock was the most likely explanation for movements
in international oil prices. And because OPEC controlled a major part
of global reserves and production capacity, the cartel’s price fixing
did matter. All that has changed however. Suddenly, there’s China.
Today, oil prices are driven more by demand from emerging economies
than by the old supply considerations. Increased demand has meant
higher prices, the new price levels have attracted marginal oil fields;
and OPEC’s ability to affect prices by tinkering with production has
diminished considerably. Then there is the weather. How much of changed
weather conditions is the result of global warming? What are the
implications of a warmer climate on the demand for heating, and hence
for oil? All told, the oil price model has too many exogenous variables
to be useful for serious planning.

Responding to this
reality, in 2004, the Obasanjo administration set about trying to
constrain spending by moving revenue from crude oil sales onto the
budget in accordance with a reference price. Tied to a cap on the
non-oil deficit, that administration’s fiscal policy was able to rack
up savings in what was christened the excess crude account. When three
years later, the Umaru Yar’Adua administration enshrined the oil
price-based fiscal rule into the Fiscal Responsibility Act, there was a
sense of government trying to immure itself against the volatility of
oil prices.

So much has changed
since then, though. Government has cleaned out the excess crude
account. The budget deficit as a share of domestic output is running
riot. The rise in domestic spending that has fuelled the deficit is not
creating a sustainable basis for public expenditure (too much of the
spending is on salaries and overheads).

Add in possible adverse shocks to the economy’s outlook from the
general elections scheduled for next year, and it made sense to have
wished for a budget based on more conservative assumptions, especially
one that sought to consolidate government’s fiscal position.

To
ensure effective delivery internet services, management of congestion
on its network and exploit the potentials of ‘connected government’,
the federal government has entered into a broadband access partnership
with the first submarine cable company in West Africa, Main One Cable
Limited. Oladapo Afolabi, head of the Civil Service of the federation
at the launch of the partnership last week in Abuja said the civil
service would utilize the opportunity in addressing the myriad of
challenges, which he said had continued to plague and hamper its
abilities to deliver on government programmes. He noted that an
evolutionary aspect of e-government is the concept of the ‘connected
government which he said “ is driven by the realization that the
increased connecting power of ICT had enabled a shift in orientation
from the vertical to the horizontal, from predominantly intra-agency
interactions to increasingly inter-agency, cross-government
interactions.”

Connecting power

The
head of service stressed that the horizontal connecting power of ICT is
emerging as a driver of fundamental changes in the way the business of
government operates and the way governments provide services to and
interact with their citizens.

“Connected
government is now the dominant theme in e-government, according to a
recent United Nations e-government survey. Connected government
emphasizes the benefits of seeking to make the whole more than the sum
of the parts by creating connected governance mechanisms aimed at
orchestrated otherwise disjointed e-government themes.”

Mr.
Afolabi explained that “Galaxy Backbone was established in 2006 as a
government owned company and charged to deliver connectivity and other
information and communications technology infrastructure to ministries,
departments and agencies (MDAs) of government and currently has up to
300 MDAs connected to its ONEGOV.net network in over 3000 office
locations in the public service.”

Main
One Optic Fibre cable system is capable of transmitting and enabling
access to broadband internet at a speed of almost 5 terabytes per
second-which is much faster than what is currently available in Europe
and will deliver up to 10 times more capacity than what is currently
available here in Nigeria. The partnership would save over 65 per cent
of previous charges spent by government to expand its networks in over
3,000 offices located in the public service.

Broadband internet

“On
the other hand, Main One Optic Fibre cable system is capable of
transmitting and enabling access to broadband internet at a speed of
almost 5 terabytes per second-which is much faster than what is
currently available in Europe and will deliver up to 10 times more
capacity than what is currently available here in Nigeria.”

Mahmud Yayale Ahmed, Secretary to the Government of the Federation
who spoke at the occasion said the partnership would have positive
economic impact on the economy. While commending Galaxy for achieving
cost reduction in the execution of the exercise, Mr. Ahmed said the
agency has been diligent in utilizing cost saving mechanisms inherent
in the procurement processes. He expressed hope that the significant
price reduction will contribute to bringing the digital divide to the
benefit of dwellers in the rural areas and improve access in the
educational sector.

The Federal
Government has released N1 billion as arrears for the implementation of
the National Programme for Food Security (NPFS), an official of the
Ministry has said.

Bukar Tijani, the
NPFS National Coordinator, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on
Monday in Lagos, that the 2007/2008 NPFS arrears were appropriated in
the 2010 budget of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Tijani said that
the money had been transferred to all the states that had complied with
the directive to open domiciliary accounts for the programme.

He said that more
than 70,000 beneficiaries were being targeted directly and 765,000
beneficiaries through the outreach programme. He further said that the
programme was being implemented in 327 local governments in the country.

According to the
coordinator, the programme has recorded success in production
enhancement and diversification as well as encouraging emphasis towards
supporting small producers.