Thread by @ugodre

Hello everyone, welcome to @Nairametrics Corporate News Roundup for the week ended June 10th 2018, This thread is made possible by @BluechipTechNG

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1. Three years ago, some farmers in Oyo State came together to form the Joint Farmers Microfinance Bank. Their plan was to help farmers access loans and avoid unscrupulous lenders from taking advantage of farmers.

They tasked themselves for a N100 million capital and also tapped farmers from Lagos, Osun, Ogun, Delta, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi and Abuja, urging them “to buy shares of the new bank, saying it would serve their interest.”

It appears that the CBN has eventually approved their license to operate as an MFB in the country. Reports suggest that this is “Africa’s first farmers microfinance bank.”

Whilst this is good news, it might perhaps pave the way for more cabals to form their own MFBs for the same reasons given by the JFMB.

2. WorldRemit announced a partnership with First Bank that will enable its customers, in more than 50 countries, to send instant money transfers directly to all 14 million First Bank accounts.

This was billed as the latest partnership deal signed by the company. The new strategic partnership considerably expands WorldRemit’s footprint in the country and allows its customers in over 50 countries to send money to First Bank accounts directly from their phones.

The deal supports WorldRemit’s plan to serve 10 million customers connected to emerging markets by 2020.

3. The House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), during the week, requested for the full recovery of N9 billion into the treasury of the Federal Government from Capital Oil and Gas Limited.

Recall that Capital Oil was accused of diverting products kept in its tank farm by the NNPC. Capital Oil fired back, claiming that the NNPC in turn owed it N16 billion.

The committee requested that the EFCC investigate this claim but in the meantime, requested that Capital Oil be made to pay the N9 billion or set it off against the N16 billion.

4. NLNG has said that it needs about $10 billion to boost capacity by 40 percent. According to a Bloomberg report, that amount would allow the company to export as much as 66 million cubic meters (30 million tons) a year to markets in Europe and Asia.

Last year, Nigeria shipped about 46 million cubic meters of LNG, making it the world’s fourth-biggest exporter behind Qatar, Australia and Malaysia, according to Bloomberg. Nigeria is also said to be facing stiff competition

from U.S., Russia and Mozambique “in an LNG market, where demand is set to double to about 1.28 billion cubic meters by 2030.” Last Sept, Russian gas coy Gazprom, announced that it had signed a 12year deal to supply Ghana National Petroleum Corporation with liquefied natural gas.

Under the terms of the deal, Gazprom will provide 250 Mmcm/d of gas to Ghana at a competitive price starting in 2019. Nigeria, said to have about 5.7 trillion cubic meters of proven reserves, is the biggest in Africa, but has faced “erratic” supplies from NLNG.

5. Nigeria’s Electricity Regulator, NERC, has appointed additional 8 firms to participate in the distribution and installation of prepaid meters under the Meter Asset Provider Programme.

The 8 newly appointed are Carlin Concept International Nigeria Limited, Onenation Energy Platform Nigeria Limited, Armese Consulting Limited and CWG Plc, Damtaq Limited, Powerup Projects International Limited, Esinos Resources International Limited and Techadvance Limited.

These guys are expected to finance Nigeria’s metering gap, estimated at about 4 million. At an average cost of N90k for a good smart prepaid meter, that’s a whopping $1 billion. Lord knows where they will get the money from.

A Canadian Company, StarCore Nuclear Inc., last week, proposed a rollout of 23 small modular reactors (SMRs) nuclear power stations, which it believes will help provide electricity supply in remote regions of the country.

According to the report, the company claims that, ‘’The proposal comprises the erection of 23 micro grids across the more remote regions of the country, thus minimising, or even eliminating, the expenditure that

the government will need to make on electricity infrastructure in those target areas.” The company claims StarCore is a full life cycle manager “and does not sell the plants of technology”.

Thus, the Government will not need to expend any capital outlay as the “company will negotiate a long term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for electricity off take.”

This is @Nairametrics Thread BTU by @BluechipTechNG

7. The Nigerian Army, during the week, picked Julius Berger and Van Oord to help in the development of its Apple Island project located in Banana Island, Lagos. The project is a Mixed-Use Development promoted by the Nigerian Army Properties Limited.

It is expected to be comprise about 100 housing units for top military officers, “who currently are suffering acute accommodation shortage.” The expected project will be located on a reclaimed parcel of land from the Lagoon, though sand filling of the scheme is yet to commence.

According to a Newspaper report, “the proposed island is to be located 400 meters off the shoreline of the upscale Banana Island in Ikoyi. It would sit on 45 hectares, with a total of 131 plots.

It consists of a shopping mall, Guest House, Police station a mosque and a clubhouse.” The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai was at the ground breaking ceremony.

8. Unpertubed by criticisms of its treatment to businesses, the Lagos State Government reportedly shut down about 80 buildings in Allen Avenue, Ikeja area over alleged illegal conversions.

Those shutdown include banks, electronics shops and some fast food restaurants like Zenith, Access, Sterling, Unity and UBA, Tantalizer, Adebowale Electronics, and Panasonic.

Lagos State Government claims they decided to shut down the buildings because the permits they were issued were residential permits and that the buildings have since been converted into commercial usages.

They said that they had asked owners of the buildings to come and “regularize” the status of the buildings but they “ignored the call.”

9. Not to be outdone, the FIRS last Monday also sealed the premises of 2 companies for failure to pay taxes.

The companies include Giandan Nigeria Limited, situated at 21 Ladoke Akintola Street, Ikeja, over tax debts totalling N47.779 million and Justeen International Limited over N24.779 million tax debt.

The FIRS enforcement team was this time led by the Assistant Manager (Legal) FIRS, Ruth Mandeun. Mandeun was so “pained”, she remarked, “It is quite upsetting for us to close down companies, but we just have to perform our lawful mandate.

The two companies that were sealed today (last Monday) clearly defaulted in paying their taxes and they are fully aware of the repercussions. They will get to be reopened, but that is after they have cleared their debts.” FIRS is not smiling.

10. Remember Leventis Stores? The moribund company announced during the week that it was going to return to Nigeria before the end of the year.

The chairman of Leventis Foundation Nigeria, Ahmed Mantey, announced this last Tuesday in Abuja and revealed that the first two new stores would be opened in Lagos.

The company also said that unlike the “Shoprite Model” it was going to operate a “ neighbourhood store model” when it eventually commenced operations.

11. Procter and Gamble has ramped up the Sanitary Towel wars by commissioning a state of the art production line for its Always brand at the P&G manufacturing site in Agbara, Ogun State.

The manufacturing line was formally declared open by Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, during a site visit to the manufacturing plant on the 2nd of June, 2017.

P&G believes that this will make Nigeria a key export Hub for Africa and will further lead to creation of jobs, SMEs and development of human capital in the country. P&G started operations in Nigeria in 1992 with the acquisition of the Richardson Vicks mfg plant in Ibadan.

Local production of Vicks and Always began in 1993 and Pampers in 1994. The company commissioned a $300 million state of the art manufacturing plant located in Agbara Ogun State in 2014.

I still don’t get how Ogun State isn’t yet the Nation's number one manufacturing hub...maybe just a matter of time.

12. Well, it looks like the country’s elevator market is about to get a new competition, this time from the formidable Chinese. Nigeria’s Eliel Jerahmeal Limited, has announced a partnership with China’s leading elevator company, Xizi Elevator Co. Limited.

The partnership ushers in Xizi brand of elevators and escalators into the country’s elevator market. Elief Jerameal Nigeria Chairman, Mr. Ayo Adefemi, said that with the obtained exclusive rights from Xizi Elevator Co, based on the partnership,

they are authorised to bring the equipment into the Nigerian market for distribution, sales installation and services at affordable rates, compared to the ones already on ground. The elevator company will have to compete with the likes of Otis and Schindler.

I am guessing this also qualifies for the China Swap deal? 🙃

13. 66 yrs ago, the grandfather of the current governor of Edo State Godwin Obaseki, moved a motion to establish a rubber plantation in the state. His Grandson appears to be on the path to making this dream come through, following the “revival” of the Urhonigbe Rubber Plantation.

The governor last week planted a fresh rubber tree, symbolising the take-off of the N5.1 billion rubber estate. The plantation will be managed by Rubber Estates Nigeria Limited. According to the Managing Director of Rubber Estates Nigeria Limited, Mr. Philippe Carty,

the planting operation will be in two phases as the first will cover 1,300 hectares while the second will cover 1,000 hectares. They also plan to employ about 350 workers.

Meanwhile, Rubber Estate is currently in a legal battle with host communities in Edo and Delta states concerning a claim to the ownership of over 1,000 hectares of land turning the plantation into a high-risk area which challenged its operations.

14. In an interesting development, Ecobank announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Kwara State government and South Gate Technologies on land administration.

According to the deal, Ecobank and South Gate Technologies, will develop and deploy e-governance solutions for better revenue efficiency.

The partnership involves “the computerisation of the end to end processes of all land related matters in the state as opposed to the manually driven mechanism, which allows for revenue leakages.”

The project is to be executed “under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model of Design-Finance-Deploy- Train and Manage (DFD-TM) with a tenor of five years.” Ecobank also worked with South Gate Technologies on the Kwara Payroll project.

This is @Nairametrics Thread BTU by @BluechipTechNG

15. Total Infotech and Telecoms Limited, a Lagos-based firm, said that it is introducing a new electronic payment solution which will allow cash to be exchanged between users and merchants in their neighbourhoods.

From what I understand, the platform allows merchants registered on the platform to act as local ATMs, giving cash to users who need it instead of using ATMs.

The chief executive officer, Total Infotech & Telecoms Limited, Mr. Olaniyi Adeosun, said that it is for any business that handles petty cash such as shops, supermarkets, petrol stations, lotto shops, sports betting companies, electricity token vending companies, etc.

StarTimes PRO, Mr William last week disclosed that about three million Nigerians subscribe to the organisation’s products and services across the country’s six geo-political zones.

“StarTimes, is also located in more than 30 countries, including Rwanda, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique, Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Africa and others. Nigeria is currently the largest market for their products and services.

While StartTimes has 3 million subscribers across Nigeria it has 10 million across these countries.

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