Hello, and welcome to Business Roundup this week. Here, we bring you highlights of events that happened during the week —from the capital market to the mainstream business activities, while not forgetting the tech/economy build up.
Here are the Headlines:
- Lawmakers summon CBN, DISCOs, over alleged misappropriation of $321m, N18bn electricity projects loans
- NAFDAC warns against consumption of G Fuel energy drink with high level of caffeine
- Reps to probe BPE over Geregu, Afam Plants, others from 2019-2023
- FG to introduce new FX rules, clamp down illegal trading
Summary:
The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee has summoned the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and 11 Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) to provide clarification over alleged mismanagement of loans amounting to US$321 million and N18.2 billion allocated for projects aimed at expediting the development of transmission and distribution interfaces, lines, and substations.
The summon was issued by Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Bamidele Salam while Engr. Sule Abdulaziz, Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), appeared before the committee in Abuja on Thursday.
They were asked to appear before the committee on Wednesday, November 8, 2023.
The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has warned the Nigerian public against the consumption of a recalled energy drink known as ‘G Fuel’ due to the high level of caffeine it contains.
The warning which came from a public alert with No. 034/2023, issued in Abuja on Thursday by NAFDAC Director General, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, noted that the brand of energy drinks manufactured by T&E Imports and GPAE Trading Corp, was not registered by NAFDAC and has the potential of causing headaches, insomnia, irritability, and nervousness.
Adeyeye also said the energy drink had been recalled by the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).
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The House of Representatives on Tuesday, unanimously adopted a motion moved by Hon. Hassan Shehu Hussain of the NNPP, Kano, mandating its Committee on Privatization and Commercialization to investigate the activities of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) from 2019–2023, during the second tenure of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The House also mandated the Committee to probe the BPE’s privatisation of 29 percent of residues of the federal government’s shares in the Geregu Power Plant to the core investors to upgrade it to a combined cycle for a total sum of N13,134,375,000 in 2019 and during the period under review,
While presenting the motion, Hussain noted that during the period under review, about 80 public enterprises were privatised through various modes of privatisation including core investors, concessions, assets sales, and initial public offers (IPO), among others.
The Federal Government is set to introduce new rules for the foreign exchange market and also crackdown of illegal trading of currency by the end of 2023.
The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele disclosed this in an interview with Bloomberg, adding that it is hoped that the move would result in the naira closing its more-than-45% gap with the unofficial rate and reaching a “fair price” by year-end.
According to Oyedele, the government also plans to clear a backlog of dollar demand estimated at about $6.7 billion, bolster the naira forward market, and set transparent rules for the operations of the official market.
On NSE ROUNDUP: Nigeria’s capital market ends week on positive note, ASI records 0.22% increase
Trading activities in the Nigerian Capital Market closed positive, Friday (03/11/2023) as the All-Share-Index of the Equities Market increased to 70,196.77 from 70,042.28 recorded at the close of trading on Thursday.
Similarly, the market capitalization increased by N75.4 billion to N38.55 trillion from N38.48 trillion recorded at the close of the previous trading day, while the market turnover increased to N9.16 billion from N6.09 billion in 6,436 deals.
26 stocks gained; 25 stocks recorded losses while 67 stocks position remained unchanged.
ON TECH SCENE, Injaro, Afex, WhereIsMyTransport, Maisha Meds, BluePeak Private Capital, Almouneer, Yobante Express, StarNekwork, Syndicate Bio, Tizeti, were some of the names that made the headlines this week.
A Nigeria-based commodities platform, AFEX, has announced raising a $26.5 million in funding from British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance institution (DFI) and impact investor.
Also, Nigerian biotech startup, Syndicate Bio, has Wednesday announced launching its Cancer Genome Nigeria project in partnership with the National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT).
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