Dubai International Chamber recently opened its seventh office in Nigeria. The wider oil-rich Gulf region is seeking to leverage its unique geography with sound investment opportunities in the region.
Tuesday, January 9, 2024
Video - Dubai looking to boost trade with Nigeria
Video - Nigeria eyes restart of four oil refineries by end of 2024
The Nigerian government says it is determined to not only end petrol imports but to also make the country a net exporter of petroleum products by the end of this year. It says its two other refineries will come back on stream by the last quarter of the year.
Nigeria to sell power distribution firm over $130 million debt
Nigeria's electricity regulator has put up for sale the sixth largest power distribution utility over a $130 million debt, less than two years after the lenders who took over the company failed to turn it around and make it profitable.
Africa's biggest economy, Nigeria, has 11 power distribution companies but they are struggling to remain profitable because of lack of capital and sub-economic tariffs imposed by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
Kaduna Electricity Distribution Plc (Kaduna Electric) is one of 18 successor companies created following the privatisation of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria in 2013 and sells electricity in four northern states.
The utility owes 110 billion naira ($130 million), NERC said in a notice on Monday, to companies including the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trader and power generation firms. The regulator said it now considered the company a 'failing licensee', allowing NERC to dissolve its board using a law passed last year.
Kaduna Electric was taken over by African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and local lender Fidelity Bank in July 2022 but they have struggled to improve its financial performance. The Nigerian government through its Bureau of Public Enterprises also owns a 40% stake.
NERC said it had appointed an administrator and special directors to manage Kaduna Electric in the interim and sell its assets to the highest bidder.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation of more than 200 million people, produces a fraction of its installed power generation capacity of 12,500 megawatts, leaving millions of households and businesses reliant on private generators for electricity.
By Isaac Anyaogu, Reuters
President Tinubu suspends humanitarian minister in corruption scandal
Betta Edu was suspended with immediate effect while Nigeria’s anticorruption agency carries out a “thorough investigation” of all ministry financial transactions,” presidential spokesman Ajuri Ngelale said in a statement. It said the investigation would extend to the entire framework of Nigeria’s social investment programs.
President Bola Tinubu came to power last year promising to crack down on graft in Nigeria despite longstanding question marks around his source of wealth and educational records. Within a month of his inauguration, he suspended the head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) indefinitely for abuse of office.
His government said the suspension follows his commitment “to uphold the highest standards of integrity, transparency and accountability” in how Nigeria’s resources are managed.
Edu’s suspension comes days after local media cited an official memo in which she directed that 585 million naira ($663,000) worth of grants meant for vulnerable groups should be paid into a private account — a decision that the minister’s office said followed due process. The minister has denied any wrongdoing.
In a country where the government’s austerity measures have further squeezed millions of people facing extreme levels of poverty, many Nigerians criticised the use of a private bank account for the grants program and called for the minister to be fired.
The office of Nigeria’s Accountant General of the Federation said in a statement that such funds are meant to be sent directly from government accounts to the beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, Edu’s predecessor, Sadiya Umar Farouq, reported to the EFCC on Monday as it investigated alleged corruption in the disbursement of public funds during her time as minister. Farouq said on social media that she was at the commission’s office to “offer clarifications in respect of some issues that the commission is investigating”.
Related story: Court grants bail to central bank chief of Nigeria facing fraud charges
Monday, January 8, 2024
Video - Analysts in Nigeria call for increased new foreign investments
Nigeria faces forex shortage due to reduced capital investments, with capital importation dropping to 650 million U.S. dollars in the third quarter of 2023, prompting analysts to call for increased foreign investment efforts.
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