Nigeria Content Online

Some finance
institutions have raised about 16 million Euros to invest in
high-potential emerging and early-stage microfinance institutions that
need financial and professional support to grow in Nigeria and Ghana.

The firms, Goodwell
West Africa, managed by Alitheia Capital (Nigeria), Goodwell
Investments (Netherlands), and JCS Investments (Ghana), announced on
Friday that it has received commitments from the German Bank for
Reconstruction and the Norwegian Microfinance Initiative Frontier Fund.

This brings the
total commitments so far to Euro 16 million, which the private equity
company will invest in high-potential microfinance institutions in
Ghana and Nigeria.

In December 2009,
the firms announced the first close of a $60 million equity fund,
focused on microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Nigeria and Ghana.

Investment in a variety of institutions

Goodwell
Investments provides investment advisory services towards the
development and management of investment vehicles and products that
generate both social and financial returns. Alitheia Capital (Nigeria)
and JCS Investments, investment advisors specialising in venture
capital management and advisory services for Foreign Direct
Investments, say the investment is for emerging and early stage
microfinance institutions.

A large share of
the population in the region is financially excluded or not served by
formal or high-quality financial service providers. The financial
infrastructure to reach these groups is lacking or inadequate in both
countries. The objective of Alitheia Goodwell is to build this
financial infrastructure by investing in a variety of microfinance
institutions (MFIs).

Through its local
manager, Alitheia Capital, the company will invest primarily in
established microfinance institutions with potential for high growth
and transformation. In later stages, it will also identify and invest
in high-potential emerging and early-stage institutions that need
financial and professional support to develop and grow rapidly.

Alitheia Goodwell’s
strategy is to provide a combination of growth capital, on the ground
support to local microfinance institutions management teams, and access
to the expertise and a global network of experienced microfinance
practitioners.

Karl-Heinz
Fleishhacker, head, Financial and Private Sector Sub-Saharan Africa of
KfW Development Bank, in a statement said the firm(Goodwell West
Africa) is “happy to conclude our first investment under the
Microfinance Initiative for Sub-Saharan Africa II, an initiative which
aims at strengthening Sub-Saharan microfinance networks.”

Richard Weingarten, managing director of NMI, also said he believes
both markets have significant potential. “We are also particularly
pleased to be able to support the local management teams in Ghana and
Nigeria and to thus help build local capacity for making microfinance
investments.”

Nigeria’s foreign
reserves have been fluctuating in the last one week, as the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN) battles to sustain the value of the naira.

The reserves peaked
at $40.887 billion on 12 May, its highest level in the last one month.
Since then, the figure has recorded a steady decline, dropping to
$37.540 billion on 8 June, about a month later. The figure rose by 2.21
percent the following day, to close last week at $38.373 billion.

The marginal rise
in the reserves is attributable to the improvement in Nigeria’s crude
oil output, which also took a dip in June. According to data released
by Reuters, preliminary loading programmes showed Nigerian crude oil
exports would average 2.18 million bpd in July, rising from 1.95
million bpd in June and 2.13 million bpd in May.

Forex demand

The Nigerian
currency, which sold at N148.88 at the end of the Wholesale Dutch
Auction System (WDAS) bidding session yesterday, has been under a lot
of pressure lately following increased foreign exchange demand, which
has left the CBN at a dilemma over whether to devalue the currency or
dip into the foreign reserves to meet demand.

The naira has been
relatively stable in the last few months, fluctuating between N148.35
and N148.93, a marginal band of 0.39 percent, while the foreign
reserves have caved in to high foreign exchange demands. For instance,
a total of $1.71 billion was sold by the CBN at the last five auctions
of the WDAS, with $350 million sold in the final auction last week. The
CBN has always maintained that it will meet legitimate demands for
foreign exchange, warning speculators to desist from unnecessary demand
for foreign exchange.

The CBN has thus
stepped up effort to ensure genuine foreign exchange demand in order to
check speculation and capital flight. It last week informed all
authorised dealer banks and other reporting institutions about a review
of the deadline for the submission of monthly returns on foreign
exchange transactions to its Trade and Exchange Department.

A circular signed
by Batari Musa, director, stated that all monthly returns via the
electronic Financial Analysis and Surveillance System (eFASS), shall be
submitted not later than the fifth day of the following month.

“However, where the
fifth day falls on a weekend or public holiday, the returns shall be
forwarded the next working day.” According to the circular, this is in
a bid to ensure timely collation and analysis of returns for policy
initiation and /or review.

The CBN is under obligation to sustain the naira at a maximum N150
to the dollar, which is the benchmark value captured in the 2010 budget.

The
price movement at the international crude oil market in recent times
appears to have given the federal government some respite on its
proposal to re-jig the fundamentals of the 2010 budget appropriation.

A
few weeks ago, the performance of the commodity triggered anxious
moments in government circles, as the scale went below the $67 per
barrel benchmark contained in the budget by about $0.16. The
Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) basket of 12
crudes price for the week ended 25 May was as low as $66.84 per barrel,
sending jitters down the spines of government officials, most of who
fretted on how the three tiers of government would fund their
allocations from the Federation Account, which is dependent almost
entirely on revenue earnings from oil exports.

Remi
Babalola, the minister of state for finance, told journalists at the
end of the last the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC)
that it resorted to the ‘Doctrine of Economic Pragmatism’ to handle the
stalemate that resulted in last month’s revenue allocation meeting by
proposing a re-jig of the budget fundamentals.

Scaling down benchmark

The
proposal to the National Assembly is for the crude oil benchmark to be
scaled down to an average of $59 and $55 barrels per barrel, while the
country’s daily oil production capacity would be lowered to an average
of two million barrels. The re-jig process would, however, have to wait
for members of the National Assembly to return from their recess next
week to deliberate on the proposal.

Crude
oil market fundamentals as at yesterday showed the price of OPEC basket
of 12 crudes for the week ended 11 June registering a marginal climb to
$72.29 per barrel, from $72.21 the previous day.

Brent
crude price recorded a $1.71, or 2.32 percent climb from $73.78 at the
weekend to $75.49 per barrel, to give government some breathing space
to await the intervention of the National Assembly in the budget
provision from next week. Mr. Babalola also noted that the federal
government was commitment to the improvement of available data on
Federation Account allocation to all tiers of government in the country
to inspire confidence of all.

Declining earnings

The
declining earnings from oil exports in recent times as a result of
sliding prices at the international market had heightened the call for
all tiers of government to step up efforts to explore alternative
sources of revenue, particularly their internally generated revenue
(IGR) sources, rather than wait for allocations from the Federation
Account every month. Reliance on Federation Account allocation by the
three tiers of government has exerted enormous pressure on the saving
in the Excess Crude Account (ECA), resulting in the depletion of their
balances.

Ibrahim Dankwambo, the accountant general of the federation, said
recently that about $4.6billion is left as balance in the foreign
excess crude account, prior to the disbursement of about N339.627
billion to augment the arrears of allocation to the three tiers of
government for January to April stood at about $5.193billion, while
only N89billion is in the domestic excess crude account.

The Nigeria Labour
Congress, on Monday, urged the federal government to disregard any
advice seeking the withdrawal of fuel subsidy and deregulation of the
downstream sector of the petroleum industry.

In a statement,
signed by its acting head of information, Onah Iduh, the congress said
that the introduction of any anti-people policy would increase the
masses’ burden. The congress reiterated its stand that the government
should not increase the prices of petroleum products.

“There is no doubt
that a reform is pertinent in the oil and gas sector but the government
must ensure that the socioeconomic problems of the people are solved,”
it said.

The World Bank on Monday in Lagos commended Nigeria for measures taken to improve safety and security at its airports.

Noro Rabefaniraka,
leader of the bank’s monitoring team to Nigeria, said that the
commitment showed the readiness of the nation’s aviation industry to
develop in line with current global best practices.

At a meeting with
the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Mrs Rabefaniraka said that
Nigeria was given 50 million dollars under the World Bank Assisted
Project.

The fund, according to her, is for the procurement of equipment and upgrading of infrastructure in the nation’s aviation sector.

The Fadama III
Project in Plateau has disbursed more than N81 million to 319 Fadama
user groups, the coordinator of the project, Gideon Dandam, has said.

Mr. Dandam told the
News Agency of Nigeria in Jos on Monday that the project was a “huge
success” given the involvement of genuine farmers in the scheme. He
said that the World Bank-assisted scheme had recorded “some large
patronage” as it was demand-driven, intervening in input support and
assets acquisition. The coordinator said that the state project office
also delivered 4,800 bags of NPK and Urea variants of fertilisers to
the farmers, adding that herbicides were also given to them.

Confidence among
South Africa’s consumers slipped in the second quarter as households
took a dim view of their finances, partly owing to worries about their
jobs, a survey showed on Monday.

The survey,
sponsored by First National Bank (FNB) and the Bureau for Economic
Research (BER), showed the consumer confidence index declined to 14 in
the second quarter from 15 in the first quarter when it jumped from 9
in the final three months of 2009 — its biggest rise in five years.

“Slightly fewer
consumers expect an improvement in their own finances over the next 12
months compared to Q1 2010,” the FNB/BER statement said.

BHP Billiton has
signed a $3 billion deal with Liberia to develop a large-scale iron ore
project, an official in the West African country said on Monday. “We
are delighted to have reached this agreement with BHP Billiton
following 18 months of discussions,” National Investment Commission
chairman, Richard Tolbert, said. He added that the MDA was subject to
approval by parliament.

BHP Billiton said the agreement sets out the legal and fiscal
framework to develop the leases, including stabilisation of taxes,
duties, and other trade terms.The company is the latest in a string of
mining firms that have signed deals for iron ore projects in West
Africa.

Mauritius Telecom’s
2009 post-tax profit fell 23.8 per cent to 1.4 billion rupees,
following the introduction of special taxes and a drop in tourism.

Mauritius Telecom,
which dominates the fixed-line and mobile markets and is a leading
Internet service provider on the Indian Ocean island, is due to list on
the nation’s stock exchange.

“The fall in
profits is due to the introduction of a solidarity levy of 1.5 per cent
on turnover and 5 per cent on profits of telecom operators,” Chief
Executive Sarat Lallah told reporters on Monday, adding that Mauritius
Telecom said profits have also been hit by the impact of the global
crisis on the tourism sector.

For seven years
running, the Honda Element Sports Utility Vehicle has always been a
wonder and amazement among its other peers. So is its latest, the 2010
Honda Element, with a boxy design.

The 2010 Honda
Element stands as a good alternative for people in need of good
interior space and design with ultimate comfort. The car offers an easy
to handle driving, but still has an unchanged design with earlier
versions.

Design

The 2010 Honda
Element showcases a boxy outlook, which makes it unique. It is
available in three trim levels which are the LX, EX and SC models. The
LX and EX models have both front-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive
configurations, while the sport-tuned SC is only with front-wheel drive
only. The SC trim model has a lowered sport suspension and has a custom
grille. It has a piano-black interior with unique and luxurious
fabrics. It’s built with body-colour bumpers and comes with a
monochromatic paint scheme. The Honda Element LX and EX models have 16
inch steel and alloy wheels, while the SC model has 18 inch alloys.

Interior

Interior of the
2010 Honda Element is blessed with a spacious cabin and has easy cargo
loading. With the cargo-van-style doors, loading of bulky cargo comes
simplified and easy. The rear seats of the vehicle can either be
flipped up to the sides or removed completely.

The vehicle
conveniently seats four passengers only. The rear has a theatre seating
style arrangement, which gives passengers at the rear lots of space to
relax. Other interior details which appear with the car are: a urethane
utility floor, height adjustable driver seat, air conditioning, keyless
entry, tilt steering wheel, and a four-speaker CD audio system. The
audio system is also integrated with a seven-speaker audio system with
MP3 capability, an auxiliary input jack and satellite radio. A
three-compartment overhead console and a centre console with removable
storage cooler can be found inside.

Under the hood

The 2010 Honda
Element is powered by a 2.4-litre four-cylinder engine rated at 166
horsepower and 161 pound-feet of torque. It is integrated with a
standard five-speed manual transmission and an optional five-speed
automatic transmission.

Safety

The Element comes
standard with front-seat side impact air bags and full-length side
curtain air bags, stability control, antilock disc brakes with brake
assist and active front head restraints.

Price

The 2010 Honda Element is priced from $20,525 to $23,885, about N3.1 million to N3.5 million, depending on models.