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Still smarting from their losses in the wake of the stock market
crash in 2008, many local investors are yet to regain confidence in the
Nigerian capital market. As a result, foreign investors now account for a
larger share of transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Interim administrator of the NSE, Emmanuel Ikhazobor, who
confirmed this, said the major challenge facing the Nigerian capital market
regulators was to build confidence and put in place systems that would enhance
efficiency and transparency.

He was speaking yesterday at the annual capital market
conference organised by Business Day Newspaper with the theme, ‘Can Nigeria
Lead Again?’

“It is true. As at yesterday (Wednesday), foreign investors
accounted for 68 per cent of the volume and value of market transactions.
Confidence has not grown among local investors, who are interested in taking
profit; while the foreign investors are taking longer position in the market,”
Mr. Ikhazobor said.

Total market capitalisation, which peaked at about N12.6
trillion in March 2008, shed about 70 per cent in value as investors moved to
alternative windows. The market has, however, been on the recovery, rising by
about 18 per cent in January from the previous month’s figures.

Increase trading hours

Mr. Ikhazobor said as part of efforts to improve liquidity, the
NSE extended the trading period by two hours from 9.30am to 2.30pm in order to
attract more foreign participation. He said the extension resulted in the
increase in volume, value, and the number of deals in the market.

He further disclosed that the extension, which became effective
December 6 last year, was to be reviewed in less than six months.

“From the result we have achieved, we may not wait for six
months. We may need to increase the trading hours again in order to increase
trade on our market,” he said.

Mr. Ikhazobor also said the regulators were looking at removing
the five per cent cap on share price: “We are looking at scenarios. If we
discover that it will increase liquidity, we will tamper with that also.”

Director general of the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC), Arunma Oteh, said there was need for more institutional investors to
play in the market: “Traditionally, our market has been retail driven. What
will enhance liquidity in the market is if there are more institutional
investors.”

She said rather than investing directly, retail investors should
be encouraged to pool their funds together under registered investment scheme
for fund managers to invest on their behalf.

Increase investor
confidence

Ms. Oteh said as part of plans to increase investor confidence
in the market, it was putting in place effective regulation and good corporate
governance code.

“A world class market is one that engenders investor confidence,
has breadth and depth in terms of product offering, is characterised by market
integrity, a strong and transparent disclosure and accountability regime,
fosters good corporate governance, and is fair and robust, and efficient market
place,” Ms. Oteh said.

On his part, managing director of the Asset Management
Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Mr. Mustapha Chike-Obi, said the challenge was
to get investors back to the market and create more products to deepen the
market.

“I think we must have securities lending to encourage investors
to express themselves. Luckily, AMCON is going to end up with a large portfolio
of securities which we pledge to hold for two years at the minimum. I want to
tell you, if you want to borrow AMCON’s portfolio of shares, you have those
already. That will be a start,” Mr. Chike-Obi said.

He said operators need to rise up to the challenge of creating products that
would suit the investment needs of Nigerians.

Women in Nigeria
need to take their place in the political affairs of the nation, and
not focus mainly on the managerial and economic issues of the economy.

Career women who
have delved into politics gave the charge at the annual lecture of
Women in Management and Business (WIMBIZ), which was held in Lagos
yesterday, saying that decisions of the policy makers always affect
business.

Sarah Jubril,
former presidential candidate, who was guest speaker at the event, said
the world is presently in need of women who are not ashamed or afraid
to stand for the truth, even when it is unpopular.

“The world needs
women who cannot be bought, whose word is in their bond. Nigeria needs
women who put character above wealth, who possess opinions and a will,
who are larger than their vocations, who do not hesitate to take
chances, who will not lose their individuality in a crowd,” she said.

According to her,
the best women are yet to enter into politics. “We cannot sit down and
watch some men pollute and destroy what we have all struggled to build
up. The best women are yet to be involved in politics. We are part of
the development of political ethics and we should be on a mission to
reunite Nigeria and Africa back to normalcy.”

Olufunmilayo Adunni
Olayinka, the deputy governor of Ekiti State, who also spoke, said
women are constitutionally equipped to be politically active.

“The world is
changing fast and we too should be doing so,” said Mrs. Olayinka, who,
until recently, was a major player in the banking industry.

She, however, said Nigerian women are not maximally exploiting these breakouts.

“It is time to
awake from our slumber. This is a wakeup call. There is an appalling
representative of women in politics today. There are only 8 women in
the Senate and 36 women at the Federal House of Representatives. In
Ekiti, all the 26 members of the state assembly are men. All the 13
local government chairmen in the state are also men.

“This is really
awful. We should rise up to the challenge. Let us say ‘No’ to these men
that see these positions as their birthrights,” Mrs. Olayinka said.

She urged women to
increase their share of the voices crying and advocating for gender
equality. “We must pay more than lip service to women empowerment. The
burden is on us now. Let us stop to agonise and begin to organise,” she
said.

“We tend to push
politics to the background. Getting involved does not mean we would see
an instant result. Getting involved does not mean we should all fight
for political positions,” she added.

She, however, said
women should, in the pursuit of political relevance, not abandon their
primary roles in their home and in the nation at large.

Challenges abound

Mrs. Jibril also
advised women to be ready to face the challenges that would be
encountered in their desire to make things right.

According to her,
some major challenges of politics in Nigeria include indiscipline,
vandalising, hypocrisy, murder, lawlessness, illegalities, rigging,
oppression, envy, assassinations, manipulations, marginalisation,
violence against women, greed, and many more vices which women will
encounter while they struggle to reach their goals.

She said despite these, women would achieve success when they come together and unite towards a common goal.

The Adamawa State
government has engaged an Indian company, MARITECH, to carry out
feasibility study on the aquaculture situation in the state. Trevor
Bullen, the managing director of Adamawa Agricultural Development and
Investment Limited, made this known in Yola on Tuesday. Mr. Bullen said
that the study was to develop a vision document for the growth of fish
farming.

According to him, the programme also includes the development
of feed mill for the production of low cost fish feed for farmers. “The
production of low cost fish feed will increase the profit margins for
fish farmers,” he added. Mr. Bullen explained that about 19,000 farmers
would be impacted by the programme, which would also encourage the
production of various species of fish.

Anti-corruption
agency on Wednesday charged six former Diamond Bank staff and a
customer with conspiring to defraud the bank by granting N7.8 billion
($50 million) in unsecured loans. The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission said in a statement all of the accused pleaded guilty to the
five-count charges, which relate to offences committed in 2008, at a
court in the southwestern city of Ibadan.

Reckless lending, including
the granting of unsecured loans, led to the near-collapse of several
Nigerian lenders in 2009. The Central Bank was forced to bail out nine
of them, excluding Diamond Bank, with a $4 billion capital injection.
Nigeria is ranked by anti-corruption agencies as one of the most
corrupt countries in the world. But regulators have taken a tougher
line on monitoring the banking system and capital markets in the wake
of the bailout.

The Kaduna State House of Assembly on Wednesday passed the state’s 2011
Appropriation Bill of N136.5 billion. The News Agency of Nigeria
reports that the approved figure showed an increase of N10 billion over
the figure presented by the executive to the legislature for approval.
Governor Patrick Yakowa had presented budget proposals of N126.5
billion to the House of Assembly for its approval on December 31, 2010.

As much as a
quarter of Libyan oil output has been shut down, Reuters calculations
showed on Wednesday, as unrest prompted oil companies to warn of
production cuts in Africa’s third-largest producer. Austria’s OMV said
on Wednesday it might be heading for a full production shutdown in
Libya. Total, Repsol, Eni, and BASF have also said they are either
slowing or stopping output. The latest comments point to a growing
impact on oil output from Libya, which produces 1.6 million barrels per
day(bpd) of high-quality oil, or almost 2 per cent of world output.
About 1.3 million bpd is exported, mainly to Europe.

“We are evaluating
the situation. We cannot say at the moment how production is developing
exactly,” OMV chief executive, Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer, told a news
conference.

Junior oil and gas
explorer, Exile Resources Inc., said it received a formal exploration
licence for its project in northeastern Zambia. Exile Resources, which
has an investment licence for Block 26, is currently reviewing data and
undertaking geochemical surveys to study the potential for oil and gas
in Zambia.

The Toronto-based company, which is focused on the
acquisition and development of oil and gas properties in sub-Saharan
Africa, also said first production at its Akepo field project in
Nigeria is targeted for May 2011. Nigerian oil company, Sogenal Ltd.,
has a 60 per cent stake in the property, while Exile owns the rest.

Kenyan agricultural
producer, Sasini, faces an uncertain future because of drought and
rising oil prices, but plans to diversify its revenue streams to buffer
its main business, its head said on Wednesday. Meteorologists have
warned the East African nation is likely to have a drought, causing
jitters in the agricultural sector.

“We have a drought, we do not know
how long it will last. We are using diesel generators to irrigate,
which is shooting up our costs,” Caesar Mwangi, managing director at
Sasini, told Reuters in an interview. Sasini’s pretax profit for the
year ending September 2010 jumped 82 per cent to 1.4 billion shillings
buoyed by favourable international commodity prices and a weak Kenyan
shilling.

The people of the
Amazonian region of Ecuador could not have wished for a better
Valentine Day’s gift as a court there slammed an $8 billion fine on
Chevron for heavily polluting the area through serial oil spills.

Texaco spewed the
spills into the fragile ecosystem between 1964 and 1990. You may be
wondering why Chevron should be caught in the mess left behind by
Texaco. Chevron bought over Texaco in 2001, although if you should
trace their pedigree, you would find that they were close relatives.

The case against
Chevron was first fought in a New York court, but they succeeded in
getting the court to agree that the legitimate place to try the case
was Ecuador. And so to Ecuador the case went. Perhaps, the oil mogul
banked on wearing the plaintiffs out or it may have considered that
they could run over the Ecuadorian legal system and come out unscathed,
with clean oily hands.

Well, the
plaintiffs were tenacious and the lawyers pressed on with the case. In
a statement issued soon after the judgement was delivered, Chevron
declared that, “The Ecuadorian court’s judgment is illegitimate and
unenforceable,” and that it was “the product of fraud and is contrary
to the legitimate scientific evidence.” And, of course, Chevron plans
to appeal.

Interesting.
Corporations such as Chevron are always keen to avoid liability even
when caught in the act with a smoking gun still in its hands. The oil
spills they left behind in Ecuador are as evident today as they were
decades ago.

Indeed, anyone who
makes a pollution tour of the Sucumbios, the region where these
environmental disasters are easily visible, will not have to search
before seeing the pools of crude Chevron left behind. There are cases
of polluted streams, forests, and farmlands. It is like another Niger
Delta across the ocean.

The people of the
region suffer the impacts of the pollution on their health through
diverse cancers, blood disorders, and other such diseases. The
corporation also left behind pipelines that often run above the ground
and at places people have to stoop beneath them to get into their
homes.

One of the more
atrocious acts of corporate “responsibility” was the alleged practice
of using toxic drilling muds to make building blocks for schools in the
area. Reports also abound of toxic wastes from oil activities being
spread on community roads as a social service. Sad thing is that after
the operations were taken over by the national oil company, Petro
Ecuador, there does not appear to be significant respect for the
environment or the people in the region.

Meanwhile, Chevron
is kicking and screaming against the judgment. It argues that they have
earlier rulings by US and international courts that they can depend on
to make the enforcement of Monday’s ruling impossible. Their statement
is laced with open threats: “Chevron does not believe that today’s
judgment is enforceable in any court that observes the rule of
law…Chevron intends to see that the perpetrators of this fraud are
held accountable for their misconduct.”

The company has
loads of money and plenty of time. The poor indigenous people and the
campesinos in the Amazon forest have neither of those. To the poor
people, it is a fight for survival. For the oil mogul, it is a struggle
to avoid responsibility.

When they bought
over Texaco, it should have been obvious that they purchased both the
assets and the liabilities. And when a case is about environmental
pollution, pray how do you hide the evidence of several barrels of
crude oil in the open environment? It would take particular credulous
judges to avoid the physical evidence that cry for justice even before
the peoples speak.

The Ecuadoran
Amazon communities initially filed a suit in New York City against
Chevron in 1993 for polluting their water and soil and sought a
settlement in the sum of 27 billion US dollars. After years of struggle
and prevarications, the gavel has come down on the table, and Chevron
is screaming blue murder.

The company was
even reported to have filed complaints against the plaintiffs’ lawyers
in the USA before the judgment was delivered. Why are these powerful
transnational corporations unable to accept guilt and show some respect
for local peoples who suffer the impacts of their massive footprints?

The Ecuadorian
situation should be a lesson to those who are plucking up Shell’s oil
fields in the Niger Delta. Someone will pay, one day, somehow.

Shell Petroleum
Development Company (SPDC) has declined to speak on the progress of the
bidding process of its oil blocks that have been offered for sale.

Although names of
interested companies have already been mentioned in newspapers, local
and foreign, the bidding process for the sale of its oil blocks have
started, and the planned sale of some oil blocks belonging to the
company got underway in its London office last week with the opening of
negotiations with some of the companies that bid for the oil blocks.

However, Precious
Okolobo, one of the spokespersons of the company, said a statement
would be issued at the right time. “At the right time, the company
would let the public know exactly what is happening,” adding that most
of what have been reported so far is based on speculations.

Shell has been embarking on some divestures since last year with some oil experts saying several reasons may have led to this.

Dragan Trajkov, an
analyst at Renaissance Capital, an investment bank, says there are
several reasons why Shell might have decided to shift its operations
towards deep offshore and divest some of the onshore assets.

He added that it is
no secret that Shell has had a very difficult time to establish a
healthy working relationship with the local population. For instance,
its stations in Ogoni in the Niger Delta are still shut.

Experts believe
that the potential Petroleum Industry Bill and the already passed Local
Content Bill might have had some impact on their decision, especially
the fact that the early version of the PIB proposed that the majors may
be required to relinquish some of the undeveloped fields.

Last January, Shell
sold some of its Nigeria assets to a consortium led by local companies.
The company then stated that it agreed to transfer its interest in
three production licences and related equipment in the Niger Delta to a
consortium led by two Nigerian companies.

“This sale of
assets supports the Nigerian government’s goal of expanding
opportunities for local energy companies,” Mutiu Sunmonu, managing
director, SPDC, said.

In October last
year, Afren announced the acquisition of the OML26 block in Nigeria,
from Shell, with its shares gaining about 14 per cent the same day.

What’s up for sale?

Although not
publicly announced, a Renaissance capital report states that in this
round, Shell is looking to divest its 30 per cent interest in the
following Nigerian blocks: OML30, OML34, OML40 and OML42.

“We estimate that
on a gross basis these blocks combined may contain approximately 2.5mn
barrels of remaining oil resources (750mn barrels net to Shell) aside
from gas,” Mr. Sunmonu said.

According to him,
some of the discoveries on these blocks started production in the
1960s. However, at present, the majority of production appears to be
shut-in.

“In line with the
current production/reserve ratio of the five oil majors in Nigeria, we
estimate that the remaining oil resources in these blocks have the
potential to ramp up to approximately 300kbblpd of gross production,”
he said.

Industry watchers
say although many consortia have been formed and that as many as 18
have been mentioned, most appear to include an indigenous company and
one or more international partners with good financial backing. The
winners are to be announced in March.

Some of the
companies that are reported to have indicated their interest in the bid
include Conoil, African Petroleum (now Forte Oil), Afren, Neconde
Energy, Essar Oil, Seven energy, Oando, and Niger Delta Petroleum.

It is believed that
the actual potential will be a lot clearer once the winners are
announced and more detailed technical data are made publicly available.