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Dr. Otudeko Succeeds Mutallab as First Bank Chairman
Mutallab Retires With Much Achievements For First Bank
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Dr. Oba Otudeko, was elected on Tuesday by its board of directors to take over from Alhaji (Dr.) Umaru Mutallab as chairman. Otudeko’s appointment, came in the wake of Alhaji Mutallab’s retirement from the board after a 10years service as chairman. Alhaji Mutallab is retiring at the peak of an outstanding career, which witnessed a plethora of laudable achievements, including a successful hybrid offer, the growth of the FirstBank group to nine local subsidiaries, a full-fledged bank in the United Kingdom, a branch in Paris through FBN Bank (UK), as well as representative offices in South Africa and China.
Dr. Otudeko, was appointed to the board of the FirstBank in, 1997, where he served in various capacities. A foremost investor and major shareholder in many publicly-quoted companies, he was, until recently, the president of The Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE), elected the 16th president of the NSE in September 2006. Dr. Otudeko is chairman of the boards of Honeywell Group Limited, FBN Bank (UK) Limited, First Trustees Nigeria Limited, Fan Milk of Nigeria Plc and the Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce. He was the founding chairman of Econet Wireless Nigeria Limited and remains a director of Zain Nigeria Limited, the successor company.
More Nigerian Bank Executives in For Investigations on Bad Loans
EFCC Background Check For Bad Loans Applicants
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Any Director of the 24 banks who fails to redeem loans by November 30 will have his appointment terminated by the CBN, and may face arrest and prosecution. Background checks are to be carried out by the EFCC on bank loan seekers to weed out those looking for money for false projects. CBN now prohibits bank Directors from owing their banks or other financial institutions in the country, and a circular on this has been sent out to all banks.
The circular, dated October 26, was signed by CBN Director of Banking Supervision, Samuel Oni, who explained that the aim is to enhance corporate governance in line with global best practice. As a prelude, the CBN warned that all Directors (executive and non-executive) are not permitted to have non-performing loans either in their own banks or any other bank/financial institution. All executive and non-executive Directors with non-performing facilities, either in their own banks or other banks/financial institutions, are, in their own interest, advised to regularise such facilities on or before November 30, 2009, failing which their appointment will be determined by December 31, 2009.CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, stated over the weekend. The Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), of the EFCC, have debriefed all bank executives on the new guideline, and all have promised to co-operate.
Nigerian Government Bails Out 4 More Banks
As Nigerian Central Bank Takes A Tough Stance on Bank Equity
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Mr Sanusi, Nigeria's central bank chief, has taken a tough line with the banks and had to bail out four more banks as he sacked three of their chief executives. The rescued banks - Equitorial Trust, Bank PHB, Spring Bank and Wema Bank - have been given 200bn naira ($1.37bn; £861m) in loans and support.
The Nigerian Central Bank audited their books, and in the the central bank words, they were "adjudged to be in a grave situation". The Central bank governor Lamido Sanusi has been cracking down on the biggest banks as he seeks to clean up the system. The Central Bank governor Mr. Sanusi, said the audit is completed for now, we have only found problems with these nine banks, this should be a relief for us. We have done a complete job so far and this would put our monetary system in a good platform going forward. Mr. Sanusi who only took office in June, has now completed an examination of all of Nigeria's 24 banks.
The regulators removed the heads of Equitorial Trust, Bank PHB and Spring Bank and appointed new management to run them. It also said another bank, Unity, did not have sufficient capital but had enough to avoid being in a grave situation.
In August, Mr Sanusi injected a total of 400bn naira into five banks - Afribank, Intercontinental Bank, Finbank, Oceanic Bank and Union Bank - after they were found to have very low cash reserves and fired their senior management.
The Nigerian banks had packaged bad loans totalling a collective 1.14 trillion naira. Four of the banks chief executives are facing court charged with fraud.
Leaders Deal With Bars to Nigerian Business
Obstacles to Nigerians doing business in South Africa appear to have received as much attention in talks during President Umaru Yar'Adua's state visit to South Africa as recent attacks on Nigerian and other African migrants.A number of major South African companies operate in Nigeria, but relatively few Nigerian companies are able to do business in South Africa. This imbalance needed to be corrected, South African President Thabo Mbeki told a news conference after a meeting between the two leaders in Cape Town on Tuesday. "We are very interested indeed to see more Nigerian companies active in the South African economy."
He said the governments had agreed to set up a team of business people from both countries to identify issues, including South African regulations, which were blocking Nigerians from playing a bigger role, and to help in "opening the necessary space."
According to South African official statistics, Nigeria is South Africa's largest import trading partner in Africa. In turn, Nigeria is South Africa's largest export market in West Africa.Discussing the xenophobic attacks launched by South Africans against migrants in recent weeks, Mbeki said his government had apologized to Nigeria, while Yar'Adua praised Mbeki for setting an example to other nations in his handling of the violence."We are determined to protect the security of everybody," said Mbeki, "and we are very keen to see the reintegration of displaced people into communities as quickly as possible. We are against this notion of the segregation of foreign nationals... into exclusive camps."
"The government and the president have made a determined and committed effort to control and put a stop to the situation," responded Yar'Adua. "I was telling [Mbeki] that while in other African countries, official government action [involves] deporting other brother and sister Africans. Here the government called out troops to ensure that immigrants from Africa are protected from this kind of behaviour."
Yar'Adua arrived in South Africa on Monday for his first state visit to the country since his election in 2007. He was welcomed with a 21-gun salute in a military ceremony at South Africa's government complex in Cape Town on Tuesday, after which he held talks with Mbeki and addressed a joint sitting of both houses of the South African parliament.
On Wednesday he is scheduled to take part in a South Africa-Nigeria business forum and to visit the prison on Robben Island, off Cape Town, where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were jailed. He is then due to join the World Economic Forum for Africa, which begins in Cape Town on the same day.
S Africans march over food prices
Thousands of South African trade unionists have taken to the streets to protest against rising food prices.
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The march, organised by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), took place in Johannesburg.Cosatu's leader Sdumo Dlamini said the protest would send out a message that the cost of living was too high."An ordinary person can’t afford to survive anymore," he said. People were also demonstrating about the rising prices of electricity and fuel."Basic food has got to be affordable to anyone, in particular the poor and unemployed workers," Mr Dlamini said.About 5,000 people attended the march, which started in the city centre and continued to the offices of the energy company Eskom and one of the main supermarkets, Pick ’n Pay.
The demonstrators handed over petitions to both organisations asking them to stop increasing their prices.
A spokesman for Pick 'n Pay said they were taking the issue of rising costs very seriously and would consult their suppliers.
Cosatu accuses the major food retailers of profiting from the rising food prices.
Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said: "We want to put an end to price-fixing, particularly attempts to make extra profit under the cover of the global increase in prices."Eskom is already in talks to increase its prices by up to 53%, following a spate of severe power cuts.
Inflation
Food price inflation in South Africa is now at around 14%.The cost of basic foods has risen sharply around the world in recent months, sparking protests in countries from Haiti to Indonesia.Rice prices on world markets have climbed about 75% in just two months, and the cost of wheat has rocketed by 120% in the past year.The price of maize, an African staple, has more than doubled since the beginning of 2006.Reasons for the increase in food prices include a growth in the world's population, which is expected to top nine billion by the middle of the century, and the emerging economies such as China and India, whose middle classes are now consuming more.The president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, has called for immediate action.After a meeting with the International Monetary Fund at the weekend, Mr Zoellick called on governments to provide the United Nations World Food Programme with $500m in emergency aid by next month.
Botswana gems to sparkle at home
A new diamond-processing plant, The Diamond Trading Company, has opened in Botswana, creating about 3,000 jobs.
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Until now, diamonds from Botswana have been sent abroad to be polished, marketed and sold. The $83m plant, jointly owned by the government and diamond giant De Beers, will become a processing centre for diamonds from De Beers mines worldwide. Botswana is the world's largest producer of diamonds and one of Africa's most stable countries. The presence of the new advanced diamond sorting facility in the capital, Gaborone, is expected to create further jobs in the finance, security and telecommunications sectors.
Vast pit
Diamonds are a finite resource, but they still make up 80% of Botswana's foreign earnings. For quarter of a century, diamonds have been dug from Jwaneng Mine - the richest diamond mine in the world.
Jwaneng means "the place of small stones". Its vast open pit yields the bedrock of Botswana's economy, and looks to do so for decades to come, guaranteeing continued growth.The mine's general manager, Balisi Bonyongo, argues that development in Botswana "really took off" when Jwaneng Mine was discovered, and when it started operating in 1982. "We have seen wealth creation in this country," he said.
"We have seen a lot of opportunities being created, for employment, for infrastructure, hospitals, health services - on the back of the discovery of this great operation - Jwaneng Mine." Previously, mined diamonds were exported straight to London to be processed. But with the rough gems now being sorted at the Diamond Trading Company, the production process will be centred in Botswana. That will eventually benefit thousands of local workers.
Last Updated: Wednesday, 19 March 2008, 04:29 GMT
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Botswana gems to sparkle at home
Peter Biles
BBC News, Gaborone
Diamonds
Diamonds account for 80% of Botswana's foreign earnings
A new diamond-processing plant, The Diamond Trading Company, has opened in Botswana, creating about 3,000 jobs.
Until now, diamonds from Botswana have been sent abroad to be polished, marketed and sold.
The $83m plant, jointly owned by the government and diamond giant De Beers, will become a processing centre for diamonds from De Beers mines worldwide.
Botswana is the world's largest producer of diamonds and one of Africa's most stable countries.
The presence of the new advanced diamond sorting facility in the capital, Gaborone, is expected to create further jobs in the finance, security and telecommunications sectors.
Vast pit
Diamonds are a finite resource, but they still make up 80% of Botswana's foreign earnings.
Balisi Bonyongo, general manager of Jwaneng mine
We have seen a lot of opportunities being created... on the back of the discovery of this great operation
Balisi Bonyongo
General manager, Jwaneng mine
For quarter of a century, diamonds have been dug from Jwaneng Mine - the richest diamond mine in the world.
Jwaneng means "the place of small stones".
Its vast open pit yields the bedrock of Botswana's economy, and looks to do so for decades to come, guaranteeing continued growth.
The mine's general manager, Balisi Bonyongo, argues that development in Botswana "really took off" when Jwaneng Mine was discovered, and when it started operating in 1982.
"We have seen wealth creation in this country," he said.
"We have seen a lot of opportunities being created, for employment, for infrastructure, hospitals, health services - on the back of the discovery of this great operation - Jwaneng Mine." Previously, mined diamonds were exported straight to London to be processed.But with the rough gems now being sorted at the Diamond Trading Company, the production process will be centred in Botswana.That will eventually benefit thousands of local workers.
Long-term investment
De Beers, which has been operating in Botswana for more half a century, says it makes economic sense to move the technology and skills to the country. Botswana's reputation as a stable country is attractive to investors, argue the firm's management.
"Mining is a long term investment," said Sheila Khama, Chief Executive Officer of De Beers Botswana."And one of the pre-requisites to investing in mining, is political and economic stability... of the country in which the investor puts their money."Botswana's successful beneficiation ensures Botswana's economic stability."Ms Khama accepts that concerns remain about the finite nature of the diamond industry."We know diamonds are a finite resource and over 50 years, we spent $93m in Botswana searching for diamonds," she said.
"We need to find other deposits."
Stiff competition
Delphinah Kehathilwe, a local diamond sorter, knew nothing about diamonds before she underwent six months of training. "They say diamonds are a lady's friend, but before I didn't see much in a diamond. But touching them on a daily basis, I began to like them," she said. Cutting and polishing facilities are also being moved to Africa, with 16 different manufacturers agreeing to start operations in the country. While this diversification will face stiff competition from the traditional centres in China and India, the developments are important ones for Botswana.The transfer of skills from abroad should put the country on the map as never before, and change the face of its diamond industry.
Reps Trace U.S $12 Billion, Summon World Bank Head
The House of Representatives said at the weekend that it has traced $12.93bn of the $16bn allegedly spent by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to revive the comatose power sector which yielded no desired results.
Mr Godwin Ndudi Elumelu told newsmen that preliminary investigations by the House of Representatives Committee on Power and Steel has revealed that the former administration also took $460m loan from the World Bank and vowed to unveil how the money was expended and also recover the balance of $3.07billion.
President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua had alleged that the former administration spent $10bn to revive the comatose energy sector with no desired results.
"While we are targeting 6000MW by 2009, the $10bn invested in the sector between 2000 and 2007 has not translated into power generation, transmission and distribution. So we are exercising caution to ensure that any further funds to the sector would translate into production and delivery of energy to the ordinary Nigerian".
But Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, countered him, alleging that $16bn was actually spent on the sector. "Only if we plan like this and monitor output periodically would we be able to prevent a situation where $16bn was spent on the Power Reform with negative results".
However, Elumelu said the discovery of $12.93bn expenditure has made the committee to believe that $16bn was spent and not $10bn. "We have gone beyond $10bn, we're no longer talking of $10bn, and we've gotten up to $12.93bn. But we're convinced that actually, $16bn was expended. But the explanations given, which in the cause of our public hearing, we would ask more questions, the difference between $12.93 now and the $16bn is what they're claiming was actually budgeted in 2007 but not released. But we'll find out where is that funds," he stated.
The Committee has summoned the World Bank Managing Director, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to explain details of the loans obtained by Nigeria from the World Bank and who applied for the money, for what purpose and how it was expended. Okonjo-Iweala was former Minister of Finance in the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Chairperson Economic Reform Team of the then administration.
Elumelu said, "We have written to the World Bank asking the Managing Director to appear before us to, one, who applied for the loan, okay. For what purpose, we need to see the offer letter of the loan and also the money disbursed, which account did they use to receive the $460m, and how did they manage the money in the account. We need to see the statement of account to track down and see how the money was expended".
Elumelu who gave a breakdown of channels of the funds said while $10 million was traceable to the Ministry of Energy, $500 million to the Rural Electrification Agency, $1.62 billion from the NNPC joint venture as well as $3.07 billion to NIPP. Energy Commission of Nigeria, (ECN) $10m, loans from World Bank and other Agencies, $460m, PHCN internally generated Revenue, (IGL) $4.06bn, NNPC contributory funds and as well as joint venture for new power plants $1.62bn. Now, that joint venture included Shell, Elf, Chevron, Agip and Mobil. These were the people that formed part of the $1.62bn.
He said $4.06 billion came from internally generated revenue of the PHCN. The committee, he said, will be interested in how the contracts were executed as well as the yield.
"We want to look at the contracts. Who did the jobs? Did they actually do what they were supposed to do? For the NNPC joint venture we want to know how it was also spent. Did they build power plants and forward the cost to the federal government. Or did they just make the money available for the contracts to be executed." The member representing Aniocha North/South/Oshimili North/South Federal Constituency of Delta State, however cast doubts about the $4.06m internally generated revenue by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) Plc from 1999 to 2007.
"We are also not too convinced that only $4.06bn was actually generated from PHCN; internally generated revenue. We have the feeling that they generated more than that and we intend to check their total expenditure and the revenue profile from 1999 to 2007 to actually ascertain our preliminary findings that had expended the receipt. So, that is the position we're now", he added.
The Committee has released time table for appearance before it the persons invited, with the President, Umaru Musa Yar'adua and Speaker of the House Demeji Bankole will give their testimonies tomorrow.
New African billionaires arrive
Africa has two new billionaires on the block, both of whom are black.
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But Africa's richest men, according to the Forbes rich list, remain two white South Africans who inherited their wealth.
They have now been joined by a Nigerian industrialist who seems to be in every industry going and a black South African mine magnate.But with only four entries on the list Africa remains the continent with the fewest mega-rich citizens.New entrant Aliko Dangote is Nigerian and has built a $3.3bn fortune from a loan from his uncle.In a little over 25 years, Mr Dangote has built an empire that includes the number one sugar production company in the country, a cement factory and a virtual monopoly on the production of pasta in Nigeria.His company bought two refineries in the last days of the regime of Olusegun Obasanjo, but the sale was cancelled by the new president Umaru Yar'Adua, after allegations that due process was not followed
The second newcomer is South African Patrice Motsepe.The lawyer who bought several unprofitable gold mines and turned them round, now has a fortune of $2.4bn.Born in the township of Soweto, he moved from being the first black partner at Bowman Gilfillan law firm in Johannesburg to running a mining contract firm after Apartheid collapsed.His African Rainbow Minerals now has annual sales of $875 million.Forbes says Mr Motsepe took full advantage of the Black Economic Empowerment laws that require mining firms to be over a quarter black-owned.Two white South Africans remain on the list:Nicky Oppenheimer and family own De Beers and are worth $5.7bn. Johann Rupert and his family head Swiss luxury goods group Richemont. This includes the Cartier label and their fortune has dipped to $3.8bn.
Access Bank Returns N100bn to Investors
Access Bank has returned well over N100 billion to investors whose subscription in the bank's last public offer was not successful.
The bank's public offer of 9.2 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N14.90 per share floated last year, in its quest to raise N75 billion was oversubscribed by 350 per cent.Disclosing this yesterday at the bank's facts behind figure on the floors of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the managing director, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imokhuede, said the bank is pursuing a five-year strategic objectives, which aim at putting it among the top three banks in 2012.
He said the bank which would surpass its 9-month projections in its next financial year presently has a balance sheet base of N750 billion and would continue to maintain its triple digit growth rate in the financial industry.Meanwhile, transactions on the exchange ended on the upswing as the cumulative investors' average net worth soared by N31 billion to close at N12.155 trillion, from N12.084 billion.In the same vein, the all-share index went up by 169.2 points basis to close at 63,753.66 points from 63,584.46 points.
Four petroleum (marketing) stocks led on the gainers chart with Chevron leading them with N14.00 to close at N304.44. African Petroleum (AP), Mobil, Conoil and CAP followed with appreciation of N14.33, N10.00, N5.25 and N3.19 to close at N300.98, N210.00, N110.25 and N67.20 respectively.The insurance sub-sector retained its position on the sectoral chart, recording a total of 498.1 million shares valued at N3.1 billion exchanged in 6,615 deals. International Energy Insurance and NEM insurance were the investors' most traded in the sub-sector.
While International Energy posted 76million shares worth N593.12 million in 324 deals, NEM insurance recorded a turnover of 59 million shares valued at N332.6 million in 1,333 deals.The banking sub-sector driven by shares traded in Diamond Bank, PlatinumHabib Bank and Oceanic Bank followed on the day's activity with traded volume of 244 million shares worth N6.5 billion done in 7,338 deals.
Robbers Snatch N22 Million
Five armed robbers yesterday stormed the secretariat of Jada Local Government Area in Adamawa State and snatched N22 million being the January salaries of the council's workers.
The state police spokeswoman, Altine Daniel, confirmed to journalists in Yola that the armed robbers struck after the treasurer of the council had collected the money from a bank and taken it to the council's secretariat and put it in a safe.She said the treasurer and other officials of the council were holding a meeting before paying the workers' salary when the armed robbers stormed the secretariat and took away the money.
According to her, the robbers drove to the secretariat in a green Peugeot 504 station wagon, shooting into the air to scare away people, before they grabbed the money.The spokeswoman further said the matter was reported to the police who gave the robbers a "hot chase", but have so far been unable to arrest any of them.She however said that the police had discovered that the robbers later burnt their get-away vehicle and abandoned it along with empty magazines and unused ammunition at Mayo Inne in Yadim Development Area of the state.In a separate issue, the police have arrested a chieftain of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the state on suspicion of buying stolen goods.Altine said the chieftain had bought a stolen split Air Conditioner (AC) at the cost of about N38,000 belonging to a deputy controller of customs.
The air conditioner was among several other items, including two refrigerators, five Asia carpets, five bundles of long span roofing sheets and curtains, stolen from the customs officer who had purchased them for his new house in the state capital.They were allegedly stolen by the son and brother of his long standing security guard who were also arrested by the police over the alleged theft, she said.
The PDP chieftain bought one of the three stolen air conditioners from a third party last October at a second-hand market in Yola. He told the police that he did not know that it was a stolen item. He has since been released on bail, she said. All the suspects, she added, would be charged to court when police complete their investigations.
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