Nigeria Content Online

Shady operators
smuggled about 10,000 tonnes of cocoa out of Cameroun during the
2009/10 season, accounting for all of the No. 5 grower’s decline in
official exports, a top cocoa official said.

The Central African
state announced on Wednesday that output during the August-July season
dropped to 197,000 tonnes, below a target of exceeding last year’s
205,000 tonnes.

“Our rough estimate
is that these underground operators process about 10,000 tonnes of
cocoa beans and smuggle a similar amount to neighbouring countries,”
Apollinaire Ngwe, president of the Coffee and Cocoa Interprofessional
Board, said.

“For this reason,
the figures published today, we believe, do not reflect the real
situation of the cocoa sub-sector because of the growing number of
these unlicensed and illegal operators,” he said.

Uganda’s President
Yoweri Museveni wants the final say on all oil and gas deals as the
country prepares to launch oil production, a letter seen by Reuters
shows.

In the letter,
dated July 19, but given to Reuters on Thursday, Mr Museveni ordered
his energy minister, Hilary Onek, not to sign any oil or gas deals
without his prior written consent.

Mr Museveni said he
was changing the normal practice of a minister signing deals on behalf
of the government after advice from the attorney general, in order to
safeguard against mistakes.

He said the
discovery of oil in Uganda had created a lot of “excitement and
stampede” among some people who were scrambling for easy money from the
commodity.

Commercial
hydrocarbon deposits were discovered in Uganda’s Lake Albert Rift basin
along the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006 and
reserves are estimated at 2 billion barrels.

A Kaduna
Magistrate’s Court on Thursday remanded four Afribank employees in
prison for allegedly issuing a dud bank draft to Nasiru Umar Sadiq, the
chief registrar of the Kaduna High Court of Justice.

The accused are
Kalawa Sani and Folahan Remilekun, both 47 years old; Ibrahim Adamu,
44, and Fatima Yakubu, 30, all staff of Afribank of Nigeria Plc,
Mogadishu, Kaduna branch.

The police
prosecutor, David Agei, an inspector, told the court that the accused
persons had been ordered to issue a bank draft of N37,905,821 to their
bank’s leasor and complainant, Sunday Jemedate, through Mr Sadiq in his
capacity as chief registrar.

The value of
equities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) appreciated on Thursday
by 0.11 percent, after declining by 0.23 percent the previous day.

The NSE market
capitalisation of the 199 equities closed at N6.162 trillion after
opening the day at N6.155 trillion, reflecting 0.11 percent increase or
N7 billion gains. The market had lost over N14 billion on Wednesday
after recording gains on the first two trading days of the week.

The Exchange
All-Share Index, yesterday, also went up by 0.11 percent or a gain of
27.9 units from Wednesday’s figures of 25,170.02 basis points, to close
at 25,197.92.

Emmanuel Ikazoboh,
the newly appointed interim administrator of the NSE, said the current
trading performance shows that the market is on the recovery edge.

“It appears the
market has bottomed out. It has got to its lowest probably and it has
now started rising,” Mr. Ikazoboh said last Tuesday.

However, he said
the sustainability of the market “is dependent on the economy and the
purchasing power of the market operators.”

Assessing if the
current development in the market is attractive to foreign investors,
Tinu Badmus, a finance analyst at WealthZone Company, a portfolio
management firm, said, “I think it is too early to expect foreign
investors now with the situation of things; though some of them are
still in the market.”

She said what some
foreign investors are waiting for now before taking position in the
market “is the new management coming in to fully head the Stock
Exchange and the credibility of next year’s election.”

Gainers reduce

At the close of
trading session on Thursday, the number of gainers closed lower at 33
stocks, compared with the 34 gainers recorded the previous day; while
loser closed lower at 27 stocks, as against the 30 recorded on
Wednesday.

The banking
subsector led the market transaction volume yesterday with 146.660
million units valued at N1.331 million exchanged in 3,410 deals.
Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Access
Bank, and Fidelity Bank boosted the volume traded in the sector. The
total volume of 84.126 million units valued at N951.953 million traded
in the shares of the four banks accounted for 57.36 percent of the
entire sector volume.

Sectoral review

Analysts said sell
pressures still remain relatively in the banking sector as the number
of decliners stood at eight, at the close of Thursday’s trading,
compared with six recorded on Wednesday.

Transactions in the
Breweries sector ended with all the stocks’ closing at their previous
closed prices, a repeat of the Wednesday’s trend.

Some stocks that
made gainers’ chart in the building materials sector yesterday ended
with unchanged status at the close of trading session, as the sector
recorded one gainer to three unchanged, compared with three gainers to
one unchanged recorded yesterday.

Only PZ made the
gainers’ chart in the conglomerate sector, while other four stocks
traded ended at their previous closed prices compared with one gainer
to two losers recorded the previous day.

Check Point®
Software Technologies Ltd. the worldwide leader in securing the
Internet, today announced of partnership with five new reseller
partners in Nigeria – Computer Warehouse Group, Dimension Data , iTeco,
Jetlink and Resourcery.

“Our intention is
to bring the Nigerian IT security market to the next level and to
fulfill the increasing demand of sophisticated security solutions and
IT infrastructure. In order to accomplish these goals we’ve
collaborated with five new experienced partners to assist reinforcing
Check Point’s presence in Western Africa. Our new partners cover all
market’ sectors in Nigeria and have the ability to enhance local
support and to deliver optimum customer services” said Shmuel Agi,
Regional Director of the Middle East and Africa at Check Point Software
Technologies.

The five partners
have attained tremendous growth through strategic alliances and
partnerships with world-class organisations to ensure quality of
service that exceed their customer’s expectations.

“We see tremendous
business prospects in the Nigerian market, presenting a significant and
untapped development potential for Check Point across our product
lines. We look forward to further developing our customer base, mainly
across the finance, oil and gas, telco, information communications,
technology industry and governmental sectors” added Agi.

Nir Kunik, CEO, DataGroupIT, Check Point’s exclusive distributor in
Nigeria said the company’s mission “is to offer a total solution to the
Nigerian market, from SMB to enterprise solutions”.

Etisalat has
unveiled an experience centre at the E-Centre, Sabo, Yaba, on 28 July,
to further bring its unique products and services closer to new and
existing customers on the network. Customers who visited the centre
during the unveiling enjoyed the Etisalat experience.

The Lagos State
commissioner for physical planning and urban development, Francesco
Abosede, who was special guest and represented by the permanent
secretary, Yetunde Ajayi, commended Etisalat for bringing its services
to the neighbourhood.

“I’m pleased that
Etisalat has come to this community to open a store. It’s a chance for
more people to have access to different benefits available on the
network and not have to go far to take advantage of these benefits,”
Mrs. Ajayi said.

Etisalat acting
director, sales, Ken Ogujiofor, said that the new Etisalat Centre
offers the people of the area and its environs easy access to various
services offered by the brand.

“In fulfillment to
serve our customers ever better so they can enjoy the Etisalat
experience, this centre will provide easy access to the people in this
neighbourhood to a point of purchase for data devices, SIM packs, and
handsets.

“Our ever ready
sales specialists will also be available to help solve customer-related
issues and offer information to our subscribers on how best to enjoy
the unique benefits of our products”, Mr. Ogunjiofor noted.

The declining
external reserve portends significant risk to the value of the naira,
experts have said, as the country continues to be dependent on foreign
exchange from oil sales to lubricate the domestic financial market.

Nigeria’s external
reserves continued its downward trajectory during the second quarter,
with the country’s fallback declining further from $40 billion at end
of first quarter this year to $37billion at the end of second quarter
representing an 8.62 per cent fall.

The reserve stood
at $52 billion and was $42 billion as at end of 2008 and 2009 end,
after reaching $60 billion in July 2008 at the height of the oil price
boom of 2007/2008.

Experts said with
the ensuing challenges and expected increase in forex demand for
imports as year-end approaches, there may be some pressure on the value
of the naira in the near term.

“The striking
thought now borders on how long the external reserves could meet the
higher demand for the naira. The successful creation of a Sovereign
Wealth Fund (SWF) would in the long run provide future streams of
income to serve as alternative source of foreign exchange,” Access
Bank’s Economic Quarterly stated.

“In addition, the
return of low investors’ sentiment regarding the slow pace of recovery
of the global economy, due to the Greek-led sovereign credit default
risk, would likely provide significant risk to the country’s main
foreign exchange earner, as developed countries factors in the downturn
in productive activities. Oil price recently experienced marked
volatility at the international market, with implications for
government revenue.”

Changed foreign exchange outlook

Victor Ndukauba, a
research analyst at Afrinvest, a finance and investment banking firm
said “Apart from (forex) being stable, it even had the potential for
some kind of appreciation, but what has happened over the past two
months has totally changed the outlook of Forex.” He attributed this to
the depletion of the excess crude oil account and other reserves and
rising import demand.

Statistics from the
report by Access Bank states that at the official market, the value of
the naira depreciated against the US Dollar in second quarter when
compared with end of quarter one of 2010 figures, but appreciated at
the interbank market, while it remained stable at N152/$ in the Bureau
de change.

“Naira’s value
declined, albeit marginally, at the official and parallel markets by
0.14 per cent and 0.5 per cent to N148.50/$ and N153/$, respectively
from end of first quarter of the year and appreciated by 3.9 per cent
to N150.05/$ at the inter- bank. In the same period of 2009, the naira
appreciated across all segments of the market, except at the interbank
market where it depreciated by 1.5 per cent. Naira has remained
relatively stable around N150/$, following CBN’s commitment to defend
the currency against volatility,” the report stated.

But the Bureau de
change does not think the naira will suffer the free fall like it did
last year. Over the recent months, the value of the naira has shown
increased convergence across all segments of the market which can be
attributed to sustained high Forex supply and transparency of the
foreign exchange market, amid the Central Bank’s resolve to meet
legitimate Forex demand though its stability is constantly accentuated
by the nation’s dwindling external reserves.

“I do not think it would go up down like it did last year because of
the intervention of the Central Bank. The system of this CBN is very
good, so I don’t think they would allow the Naira to fall like that”
Gali Suleiman Kabiru, the spokesperson of a section of Hausa currency
changers in Marina, Lagos state said.

Japan’s
economic growth slowed to a crawl in the second quarter and analysts
see more weakness ahead, adding to policymakers’ headaches as they
grapple with deflation and a rise in the yen that threatens an
export-reliant recovery.

Slowing growth in
main export destinations such as the United States and China clouds the
outlook, while policymakers are trying hard to talk down the yen after
it surged to a 15-year high against the dollar last week.

Japan’s quarterly
gross domestic product growth of 0.1 percent translates to annualised
expansion of 0.4 percent, well below the median market forecast of 2.3
percent and the United States’ 2.4 percent annualised growth in the
same quarter.

That followed
revised 4.4 percent annualised growth in the first quarter, when both
exports and a stimulus-driven recovery in consumption contributed to
overall growth.

In the April-June
quarter, the stimulus effects have worn off, leaving exports as the
sole engine of growth and with its contribution to growth halved to 0.3
percent, the economy just eked out a third straight quarter of
expansion.

Prime Minister,
Naoto Kan, and Bank of Japan governor, Masaaki Shirakawa, are expected
to meet later this week to discuss the yen’s strength and possible
responses, although analysts said there is not much they can do.

“I think the Bank
of Japan and the government need to take decisive action against
currency moves. Solo currency intervention is possible if the yen
approaches 80 to the dollar. If that is accompanied by monetary easing
by the Bank of Japan, it may have a certain effect,” said Takeshi
Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute in Tokyo.

China leap-frogs ahead

The latest figures
put China ahead of Japan as the world’s second-largest economy for the
quarter on a nominal dollar basis, said Keisuke Tsumura, a
parliamentary secretary at the Cabinet Office. He added, however, that
one should wait for full-year figures before changing the rankings.

“Since we have
different calculations for seasonal adjustments, it would be correct
and fair to compare the figures for the whole year,” Tsumura said.

Japan’s
second-quarter GDP before seasonal adjustments totaled $1.2883 trillion
against China’s second-quarter unadjusted GDP of $1.3369 trillion, he
said.

China’s top currency regulator said last month that his country’s economy had already overtaken Japan’s.

Japanese government
bond futures jumped after the weak data, with September 10-year futures
rising 0.28 point to 142.67, their highest since June 2003, while
benchmark 10-year yields slipped to a seven-year low of 0.950 percent.
The Nikkei stock index .N225 fell nearly 1 percent.

“The economy may
enter a lull late this year or early next year, or even stagnate. Much
depends on the performance of overseas economies,” said Yoshiki Shinke,
senior economist, Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute.

Concerns of Rising Yen

Analysts added that
the rise in the yen, which climbed to 84.72 per dollar, may begin to
pinch export growth in the latter half of the fiscal year to next March.

Kan has expressed
concern about the yen’s strength and government sources said he may
meet the central bank governor as early as this week to discuss the
matter.

“We need to look at
this closely, and that includes the currency problem. I have asked
cabinet ministers involved to report to me about the economic
situation,” Kan told reporters when asked whether the GDP data showed
the economy needed new stimulus measures.

Late last year, the
last time the yen strengthened beyond the 85 yen mark, the BOJ called
an emergency meeting and announced a three-month funding scheme, a day
before Shirakawa met with the then-prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama.

The yen has risen
steadily against the dollar since early May, gaining more than 10
percent and closing in on its 1995 record high of 79.75 per dollar,
prompting markets to speculate that Tokyo might take action.

But currency market
intervention is seen as difficult, whether jointly or alone, although
market players said the risk of solo action increases the closer the
yen gets to 80 per dollar, and if its rise accelerates to a pace of 2
to 3 yen per day.

Investors see a monetary policy response from the BOJ as more likely than currency intervention.

Signs of a
faltering economy put more pressure on Kan, ahead of his party’s
leadership vote next month, in which he may face a challenge from
powerbroker, Ichiro Ozawa, or a proxy, either of whom would be less
keen to forge ahead with fiscal reform.

Japan’s recovery
has been spotty since emerging from its worst recession since World War
Two in mid-2009, relying heavily on exports, particularly to Asia, and
government stimulus for spending on energy-efficient cars and
electronics.

Just
before coming back to Nigeria, I shelled out £450 and bought Sony
Ericsson’s Xperia X10, and quote me, I think the iPhone has met its
match and Nokia has finally been booted out of the smart-phone market.

The Xperia X10i
from Sony Ericsson comes armed with a Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon 1 GHz
processor, a stunning 8.1MP camera with face detection, powered by the
impressive Google Android OS and all the other usual suspects a smart
phone should have. There is also the huge 4” TFT capacitive scratch
resistant touch screen with DVD wide screen resolution, giving a decent
movie viewing experience.

Being the first
Android powered phone from Sony Ericsson, the designers took extra
effort to offer the users the best user experience possible. The phone
has the unique UX(User Xperience) platform, which incorporates the
Timescape and Mediascape interfaces, giving it an extra edge in the
competitive smart-phone market.

A 4-inch display
brings good image quality and features. The phone has excellent
contrast and is adjustable according to surrounding light, which is
among the display’s best features. The image remains clear, even under
direct sunlight.

By default, it
comes with Android OS version 1.6, but you can upgrade to the latest
version of the operating system. The difference isn’t that noticeable,
so it doesn’t diminish the experience of the lavish screen, which is
far better than screens on any past Sony Ericsson handsets. I should
know, I’m an Ericsson man.

Sensitive screen

The screen is very
sensitive; the reaction to finger touches is fast, but more
importantly, precise, which facilitates the use of virtual keyboard in
both the horizontal and the vertical position (full QWERTY keyboard
appears on the screen in both cases).

Similarly, browsing
through photos and contacts, web page scrolling, and other actions that
include moving the finger across the screen can be performed quickly
and accurately. The 1 GHz Snapdragon processor definitely brings
something to the table.

There are three
buttons below the screen. Pressing the left button activates the
standard context menu that offers the same choices on every Android
handset. A touch on the middle button always brings you back to the
home screen, while the right one is a back button. The top of the
handset contains the power button, a micro-USB port covered with a flap
and a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack.

This smartphone’s
first strong point is the way the designers synchronised the functions
of the operating system and the TimeScape user interface, allowing the
user view all actions, be it an email, a friend’s Facebook status, or a
picture, to be in a sequential format. Sony Ericsson used the
adaptability of Android OS and created the Timescape/Mediascape user
interface. The UI focuses on Internet communication and multimedia
content stored in the phone. Timescape is an application that manages
many types of communication: calls, text messages, e-mails, and
Facebook and Twitter, among other social media outlets.

Complete communication history

All the messages
are lined up in reverse chronological order when Timescape is
activated, and shows a photo of the person who you communicated with.
They can be filtered according to the type of communication and every
one of them, along with the photo, has an icon with the infinity sign
that shows a complete communication history with that person.

Mediascape
functions similarly, but with photos, videos and MP3s organised in
reverse chronological order; files most recently used or added are
first on the list.

With the
introduction of more affordable Internet options in the Nigerian
market, I believe this smart-phone will be able to rival its high-end
Blackberry and Apple counterparts because of the rich content on offer
in the Android ‘apps’ market, which has over 100,000 apps, giving users
a wider variety than what currently exists.

The Xperia X10 has
a 1500 mAh Li-Poly battery, which gives about two days of normal use.
Heavy use of Wi-Fi, multimedia and GPS functionalities drastically
reduces the battery; the handset, under those conditions, will have to
be charged daily.

On the price side,
it comes a little cheaper than the iconic but pricey Apple iPhone, with
very similar functionality, giving users a good option.

Nigeria’s leading
telecommunications operator, MTN, has reiterated that the ongoing SIM
registration exercise is free to all categories of its customers. The
company, in a statement in Lagos, said it became necessary to restate
these following reports that some individuals parading themselves as
MTN staff or partners have demanded for money from some customers in
order to carry out the exercise.

MTN emphasised that it is fully bearing the cost of registering new
and existing SIMs on its network and will not under any circumstances
request any form of payment. “Reports of certain individuals requesting
for money from some customers in order to register them are very
disturbing to us,” said Wale Goodluck, Corporate Services Executive,
MTN. “Our customers should ensure that they are dealing with genuine
staff or a partner of MTN, who will at all times be ready to supply
proof of their identity. Anyone who asks you for money to register your
SIM is acting illegally and you should make a report immediately.” He
added that MTN had brought the unwholesome development to the attention
of the appropriate security officials, and that the company would
investigate reported cases with a view to preventing a re-occurrence.
“We thank all our esteemed customers for their cooperation so far in
the ongoing exercise,” he said. “We would ask that you continue to
cooperate with us as we seek to comply fully with this directive of the
Federal Government, whose objectives for SIM registration are
laudable.”