Business News In Nigeria Today 24th January 2019
iDONSABI presents the trending business news and business deals in Nigeria, today 24th January 2019.
NPA To Increase The Depth Of Onne Port
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Usman, has recently said that the Authority is engaged in intense efforts to increase the depth of the draught of Onne port to 11 meters as a way of massively encouraging bigger vessels.
She added that the NPA was deeply committed to the development of deep seaports across parts of Nigeria, in line with the development of a global economy which was going to be about maritime.
Usman made this statement this while receiving the Danish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Jesper Kamp, who had paid her a courtesy visit at the corporate headquarters of the NPA.
Operators Express Hope For Local Shipping In 2019
Operators in the local shipping industry are very optimistic that this year 2019 will signal a positive turnaround in the growth and development of the industry.
The President of the Nigerian Shipowners Association, Alhaji Aminu Umar, had expressed this optimism to iDONSABI.
He said that the recent rising freight rates in the upstream petroleum sector were already having serious positive impacts on the Nigerian industry.
Although Nigeria is said to be one of the biggest oil producers in the world, sadly, Nigerian vessels are not involved in the lifting of the country’s crude.
Intel Empowers 92 women
An oil and gas logistics company, Intels Nigeria Limited, has successfully completed the training of 92 women under its fresh batch of Women Empowerment Programme Scheme Synergy.
A Corporate Social Responsibility programme of Intels, called WEPSS was established in year 2013, with the mission and vision of empowering 5,000 community women in the Niger Delta region, over a prolonged 20-year period, through intense training in fashion design and tailoring.
The successful trainees of the programme, are the second batch of 110 intakes in 2018. Seventy-seven women had earlier participated in the year, and had graduated in the first batch of intakes.
Stakeholders Have Backed Buhari’s Rejection Of The Maritime Security Bill
Stakeholders in the Nigerian maritime sector have recently backed the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to withhold his assent of the Maritime Security Operations Coordinating Board (Amendment) Bill 2018.
The bill, is an Act to establish the Maritime Operations Coordinating Board with the intention of formulating policies for the effective control of all the maritime operations in Nigeria’s territorial waters and also the Exclusive Economic Zone, also aims to create a fresh maritime security fund and to establish anti-piracy offences.
A member representing the All Progressives Congress, Sokoto State, Abdussamad Dasuki, had led the debate on the bill in the House, and had noted that the complete absence of an anti-piracy law had made the enforcement of the Cabotage Act (2003) and the effort of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency Act (2007) to be incredibly ineffective.
Benchmark Interest Rate Retention Is Reasonable — Utomi
A professor of Political Economy and also a management expert, Professor Pat Utomi, has disclosed that the retention of the Monetary Policy Rate (the benchmark interest rate) done by the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria is highly reasonable.
Prof. Utomi disclosed that “At this particular point in time, I think the Monetary Policy Rate is quite muted. In a situation like this, if there is any action to take, it is either you stay where you are or the CBN tries to incentivise people to do things.”
“We’ve got into a terrible mood in Nigeria where nine months into the election, people stopped investing and for 14 months after to assess how things are settled.”
“So, in that period, unfortunately, incentives are what the monetary policy guideline is supposed to do. This is either to stimulate or bring about contraction in money supply to manage inflation not very critical.”
