Daily Watch – FG spars with states over mining bans, Ghana sets stage for $2.5b Eurobond issue
21st March 2018
- The Mines and Steel Development ministry says any state that bans miners from operating in its jurisdiction could lose its share of the 13 percent mining derivation revenue. O’Seun Adewale, the technical adviser to the minister told the NAN that the ministry had written to states that stopped legal miners from operating in their jurisdictions, warning them that mining was on the exclusive list. The 13 percent derivation revenue is shared among states that are active in the mining of solid minerals, just like their counterparts in the oil and gas producing areas. Lagos and Ebonyi recently banned legal miners from operating in their jurisdictions due to environmental issues and the non-payment of mineral revenue.
- The Senate screened two nominees for the position of CBN deputy governor. The nominees — Edward Adamu and Aisha Ahmad — were screened on Monday by the committee on banking, insurance and other financial institutions. The committee also screened four other nominees as members of the MPC, including Asheikh Maidugu, Festus Adenikinju, Robert Asogwa and Aliyu Sanusi. This comes a week after the upper legislative chamber resolved to screen the CBN nominees to enable the MPC to hold its first meeting in 2018 which the regulator has fixed for April 3 and 4. Committee chairman, Rafiu Ibrahim said the lawmakers’ decision to screen the CBN and MPC nominees was because their appointments are “not ordinary and sensitive.”
- Following the recall of about 1.4 million vehicles by the Ford Motor Company, the Consumer Protection Council has asked Nigerians who own 2014-2018 models of Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ to contact it immediately. Babatunde Irukera, CPC director-general said the affected cars include the Fusion S, SE, Hybrid S, SE, Hybrid Titanium, Fusion Energi SE, Energi Titanium, Fusion Sport, Fusion Platinum, Fusion Hybrid Platinum and Fusion Energi Platinum. He said that “the purpose of the recall is that on some models, steering wheel bolts could become loose and cause the steering wheel to potentially detach. This could lead to a serious accident. In a separate note, Ford is also recalling a further 6,000 Fusion and Ford Focus models due to a risk of fire from a fracture in the clutch pressure plate, he said. The relevant model years are 2013-2016.
- Shareholders of Larfarge Africa have injected ₦132 billion through a rights issue, the biggest ever by a Nigerian company. The company last year announced its intentions to raise ₦131.65 billion through a rights issue of about 3.1 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at ₦42.50 per share. The new shares were pre-allotted to existing shareholders on the basis of five new ordinary shares for every nine ordinary shares held at the close of business on 1 November 2017. The acceptance list opened on Friday, 24 November and ran till the close of business on 15 December. In an NSE regulatory filing, Lafarge indicated that it recorded a 100 percent subscription to the rights issue. The company will use part of the proceeds to cut its debt by around $270 million, almost halving its foreign currency exposure. Lafarge inherited $507 million in shareholder loans and $88 million of third-party foreign currency debt when it acquired Nigeria’s third largest cement manufacturer, UNICEM in 2015.
- Ghana is set to name four banks as lead advisers for a planned sale of up to $2.5 billion of Eurobonds, expected by June, sources close to the transaction said on Tuesday. The exporter of cocoa, gold and oil is seeking to raise $2.5 billion to pay off debt and finance its 2018 budget. Standard Chartered Bank, JP Morgan, Bank of America and Citibank will advise on the bond sale, Reuters reports quoting unnamed sources said, with Fidelity Bank and IC Securities participating as local partners. The news agency says the lenders would be meeting Ministry of Finance officials this week to finalise details of the planned transaction. Ghana is in its final year of a $918 million IMF credit deal under which it is aiming to reduce the budget deficit, inflation and public debt, which hit 68 percent of GDP last year.