NEWS REVIEW

Jonathan to meet IBB, Gowon, others over security – Nation



The President has summoned a meeting of the Council of State for today, The Nation learnt yesterday. Top on the agenda is the spate of bombings that has worsened the security situation in the land. The meeting is to suggest how to end the state of insecurity. Confidential briefings by top security chiefs are likely to feature at the talks. A Presidency source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The only matter being placed before the Council by the President is the security issue, in the light of recent developments in the country. “Council members will be briefed on recent bombings in the country, the security reports available to the President and Jonathan’s Action Plan.

“One of the steps being proposed by the President is to put an end to the stick-and-carrot approach. He wants to be decisive before Nigeria is under siege of hoodlums and terrorists. “The President also wants to seek the permission of the Council to deal decisively with the sponsors of these bombings, who are gradually being uncovered by security agencies. “Of course, he will seek the input of the Council members, especially those with intelligence and military background on how to address security threats in the country.”



PIB: Russian Firm May Suspend $2.5bn Gas Project – Thisday



It emerged at the weekend that the Russian gas giant, Gazprom may suspend the proposed $2.5 billion investment in the Nigeria’s oil and gas industry due to the continued delay in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). The Russian gas export monopoly in 2008 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on joint venture projects, covering petroleum, gas exploration and power. Oil industry sources familiar with the deal hinted that the parties were yet to reach final agreement on the actual take-off date of the proposed multi dollar business, originally scheduled to come on stream in 2015, fuelling suspicion that the Russian company may have put the project on hold due to what sources described as “absence of clear rules”. Last year, the world’s largest gas producer, said it would delay plans to invest billions of dollars in Nigeria until after the PIB was passed and general elections held. Chief Executive Officer of Gazprom’s Nigerian unit, Mr. Vladimir Ilyanin stated last year that any investment decision had to be after the general elections. He had assured that the company would roll out its plans on the massive Nigerian project once the polls were over and the PIB signed into law. Oil industry sources said the continued delay in passing the bill was a major impediment as the company had insisted that the law must be in place before it could make any meaning commitment on the project. It had been planned that 90 per cent of the project would be for developing the Nigerian domestic gas production, processing and transportation. Gazprom had stated that investing in Nigeria 's liquefied natural gas (LNG) made strategic sense as it was much closer to its main North American market than Russia .



Jonathan Fires Adviser on Counterterrorism – Thisday



President Goodluck Jonathan has quietly fired his Coordinator on Counterterrorism, Ambassador Zakari Ibrahim, following the spate of bombings in the country. In what an insider called “one of the first steps in a major overhaul of the security architecture”, the president has appointed the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division of Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen. Sarkin Yakin Bello, as his new adviser to counter the rising wave of bombings in the country. Maj. Gen. Bello was the Commander of the Joint Task Force (Operation Restore Hope) in the Niger Delta in the heyday of militancy. Before then, Bello, who was promoted to the two-star rank in December 2008 by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, was the Commander of Operation Flush Out III in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.



NERC to Remove Service Charge in New Electricity Tariff – Thisday



The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) yesterday disclosed that some of the service delivery components which had contributed to the recurrent hike in electricity tariff in the country would not be included in the scheduled tariff review. Chairman of NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, said in Abuja at a symposium for estate developers and residents on metering, that service charges and meter maintenance fees which were embedded within electricity tariffs would be completely eliminated in the next review. NERC had on July 1, reviewed the existing tariff regime in the Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) from N8.50 to N10 as part of MYTO that came into effect in 2008.

Amadi noted that meter service charges and maintenance fees were backed by the Electric Power Sector Reforms (EPSR 2005) Act, but explained that the commission would in the next electricity tariff schedule remove the delivery charges from the metering system. He said the goal was to maintain transparency in electricity tariff in the country.



Power: CBN Explains N300bn Intervention Fund – Thisday



The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said the objectives of the N300billion Power and Airline Intervention Fund (PAIF) were to fast-track the development of electric power projects, especially in the identified industrial clusters in the country. The apex bank’s Director in charge of Development Finance, who was represented by an Assistant Director, Mr. Isaac Okoroafor, said at a recent conference in Lagos that the fund was also aimed at supporting the development of the aviation sector, by improving the terms of credit to the airlines. According to him, the Bank of Industry (BOI) is the managing agent of the fund, while Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) is the Technical Adviser. “Any corporate entity, duly registered in Nigeria, involved in electricity power supply value chain that includes power generation, transmission, distribution, fuel supply and associated services, is eligible. The project could be already existing and in operation, in design or development, under construction, or existing but operationally inactive,” he said. Okoroafor further stated that the facility should not be more than 70 per cent of the total cost of the project.



Santam to invest $28m on Africa’s growth this year – Businessday



A South African insurance company whose parent company Sanlam has strong ties with FBN Life Assurance, Santam ltd is planning to invest 200 million rand ($28.2 million) on three acquisition deals in Malawi, Ghana and Nigeria before the end of the year, its chief executive said on Wednesday. Speaking on the planned investment, the ceo of the company, Ian Kirk said the short-term insurer that is majority held by Santam said it hopes to increase its shareholding in Malawi's Nico, acquire a stake in Ghana's Enterprise Insurance Company and was working in partnership with Nigeria's First Bank for a deal in Africa's most populous nation. "We are still busy trying to conclude the transactions and I would expect to be done by the end of the year," Sanlam's CEO Ian Kirk told Reuters. According to him, "The total amount is in order of 150 to 200 million rand in all territories. It would be recalled that, early 2010, FBN Life Assurance consummated a successful partnership deal, with Sanlam Insurance, the parent company to Santam, the deal entailed funding and technical partnership, intended to change the insurance landscape in Nigeria. First Bank of Nigeria has 65 percent equity stake in the life firm while Sanlam Group has 35 percent equity and has in the management the Chief Operating Officer. Sanlam as at the end of the last financial year controls an asset base of over $45 billion and operates in five continents of the World. Val Ojumah, managing director of the firm said FBN Life is on a revolution to tackle serious challenges facing the insurance industry, and more critical amongst them he said include market penetration, claims settlement and consumer confidence.



Governors’ stance against $2.62trn global SWF practice – Businessday



Oil producing nations currently have $2.62 trillion held in Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs), BusinessDay investigations have shown. This revelation comes on the heels of moves by state governors to ensure that the SWF is not established in Nigeria, despite an existing law to that effect. The governors, under the auspices of the Nigeria Governors Forum, are challenging the establishment of the SWF, a special statutory account into which the three tiers of government are required to save excess accruals from oil sales above the budget benchmark, for future spending. Currently, the excess earnings are shared and spent by the three tiers of government, with nothing saved for the future. A ranking of SWFs assets, under management by the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, which tracks SWF activities around the world, shows that the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, a SWF set up in 1976 to save part of the nation’s wealth, currently has $627 billion in assets under management, the highest by any SWF, according to Businessday investigation. The Government pension fund set up by Norway in 1990 to save and invest part of the nation’s oil earnings, ranks second with $572 billion in current assets. SAMA foreign holdings, a SWF set up by Saudi Arabia, currently has $472 billion in assets in its SWF.



Acquired banks begin tactical retrenchment exercise – Guardian



SOME of the newly acquired banks may have started a tactical shedding of workers to key into the shape of their new owners. According to investigations by The Guardian recently, they seek to achieve this by moving most of their workers from key positions to marketing. When that is done, the banks will now go ahead to slam the affected employees with unassailable targets, which if they fail to meet, they would be shown the way out. Curiously, the performance target letters to the affected staff were anonymous in nature, as the bank’s logo was deliberately omitted, and no name or signature appended in the space meant for human resources.