Daily Watch – Samsung develops Nigerian allergies, Appropriation Bill to be ready in October

19th September 2017

  • The 2018 Appropriation Bill will be submitted to the National Assembly in October, the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang said at a News Agency of Nigeria forum in Abuja. Federal lawmakers have fixed October as the deadline for the submission of the bill. Enang said the Federal Government was committed to meeting the deadline so as to take the country back to the annual budget cycle of January to December, adding that different MDAs had already made their budget input and submissions to the Ministry of Budget and National Planning. Enang added that “the current budget will end in 12 months and having been signed on June 12, 2017, the budget is legally expected to run between June 12, 2017, and June 11, 2018.
  • The Transmission Company of Nigeria has recorded 15 system collapses in 2017, indicating strong evidence of the weakness of the transmission infrastructure to wheel power from the generation companies to the distribution companies, Thisday reports. According to the Q2 2017 performance scorecard by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission obtained by the paper, TCN recorded five system collapses in Q1 2017 and 10 system collapses in Q2. The scorecard showed that the five system collapses recorded in the first quarter were a total collapse of the transmission grid while eight out of the 10 system collapses in the second quarter were total collapses while two were a partial collapse of the system, according to NERC. Despite a claim by the Power, Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola that the TCN has a capacity to wheel over 6,500 megawatts, statistics showed that the system goes down once generation exceeds 4,500MW.
  • The CBN has given a four-week ultimatum to deposit money banks which have not complied with its directive to open teller points for retail forex transactions. In a statement on Monday, the apex bank said banks that fail to comply within four weeks would be sanctioned. According to the statement which was signed by Ahmad Abdullahi, director, banking supervision, erring banks would be barred from all future CBN foreign exchange interventions. “In March 2017, the CBN directed banks and authorised dealers to open a teller point for retail FX transactions (PTA/BTA and SME) including buying and selling, in all locations in order to ensure access to foreign exchange by their customers and other users, without any hindrance,” the statement read. “Accordingly, the CBN has given the erring banks a four-week period, expiring on October 13, 2017, to fully comply with its directives or face regulatory sanctions, which it noted include but not limited to being barred from all future CBN foreign exchange interventions.”
  • Samsung, the South Korean multinational is scaling down its operations in Nigeria, citing the country’s dwindling economic fortunes, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek reports. The tech website says the company has walked back on an aggressive Nigerian expansion plan that included the building of a manufacturing plant and the shutting down of its Business to Business (B2B) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) units, cutting almost 100 Nigerian jobs. Olusola Teniola, President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) says Nigeria’s poor economic situation has had a negative impact on Foreign Direct Investment in ICT, a sector which comprised almost 9.9 percent of GDP in 2016.
  • Union Bank says the subscription for its ₦50 billion rights issue will commence on 20 September and close on 30 October 2017. The lender plans to offer 12.1 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each, which will be available at ₦4.10 per share, on the basis of five new shares for every seven shares held as at August 21, 2017, a statement indicated. It has already commenced a roadshow to sensitise shareholders and at the first event held in Enugu last week, CEO Emeka Emuwa said. “With the commencement of the Rights Issue subscription, we have now officially entered a new phase of our transformation where we will be focused on accelerating business growth to deliver on our objective of becoming one of Nigeria’s leading financial institutions,” he added. Shareholder forums are to be held in Lagos, Port-Harcourt and Abuja this month, according to the bank. The issuing houses involved in the transaction are Chapel Hill Advisory Partners Limited, which is serving as the lead issuing house to the bank; and FSDH Merchant Bank Limited and Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited as joint Issuing houses.