Finance
Kogi Assembly passes 2021 budget estimate of N130.54 billion into law
The Kogi House of Assembly on Tuesday passed the N130.54 billion Appropriation Bill tagged “Budget of Accelerated Recovery” into law. Newsmen report that the House considered the bill Clause-by-Clause at the “Committee of the Whole” of the House at plenary in Lokoja. Aderonke Aro (APC-Yagba West) and Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Budget Monitoring and Economic Planning, presented the committee’s report for consideration. Aro declared that Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) with genuine reasons for adjustments in their allocations were taken care of during the defence of their respective budgets. In the budget presented to the House on Dec. 1, Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi had said that the budget was indicative of the assessment of the amount the state could generate on its ow...
Nigerian government borrows over N2 trillion from bond investors in 2020
Leveraging on excess liquidity that persisted in the banking system and the near zero yields on treasury bills (TBs), the Federal Government, through the Debt Management Office (DMO), raised N2.1 trillion from investors in its monthly bond issuance programme in 2020. This represents 33 percent, year-on-year, (y/y) increase when compared with the N1.58 trillion raised by the DMO in 2019. The N2.1 trillion raised in 2020 also represents 31 percent more than the N1.6 trillion funding target for the DMO under the Revised 2020 Budget. Meanwhile, the monthly bond auctions conducted by the DMO in 2020 recorded 275 percent oversubscription, reflecting scramble for the high yielding FGN bonds by investors. Newsmen report on monthly bond auction results show that the DMO offered N1.825 trillion wort...
Nigerian government posts 35 firefighters to man new Treasury House substation
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, on Wednesday commissioned a fire substation built for the Treasury House which houses the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. Speaking at the event, the Minister extolled the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr Idris Ahmed, for building the facility which will help battle fire incidents in the building and its environs. She was also pleased that 35 firemen have been posted to man the facility by the Comptroller-General of the Fire Service. According to her, “the Treasury House is the key driver of the ongoing Public Financial Management Reforms in line with the desire of the Federal Government to bring the nation up to speed with other leading world economies. “In carrying out this enormous task, ...
5 Reasons Why AI could be the Future of Finance
The role of the chief financial officer (CFO) has expanded beyond the traditional gatekeeper to financial resources, chief accounting officer and head recordkeeper. Today, CFOs in the digital enterprise are enablers of growth and strategic advisors to the CEO. Accenture research shows that 80% of CFOs see identifying and targeting areas of new value as one of their main responsibilities. With the CFO’s job description of operational duties and strategic roles changing constantly, financial leaders are looking towards technology to share some of their burden. Where possible, they are eager to automate and digitise accounting processes to save time and gain better visibility into business performance. Those that are further down this road via the implementation of cloud-based business soluti...
Nigerian government says 300,000 mass housing scheme strictly for low income earners
The Federal Government says its Social Housing Programme, one of the components of the National Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP), is targeted at low income earners. Imeh Okon, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Infrastructure, who made this clarification on Tuesday in Abuja, said the scheme was not meant for politicians or highly placed persons. The 300,000 social housing programme is a component of the NESP designed by the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo-led committee constituted by President Muhammadu Buhari to cushion the effects of COVID-19 on Nigerians. She explained that one of the objectives of the administration was to provide houses for citizens across the country. Okon said that the houses would be durable and of high quality not minding the low prices. “It is a social ...
AKK gas pipeline at 15 percent completion – NNPC chief
The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Malam Mele Kyari, says the construction of Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline project is currently at 15 per cent completion. Kyari disclosed this at the inspection of the second leg of the project at Karogo community in Igabi Local Government Area, Kaduna State, on Tuesday. “The project is currently at about 15 per cent completion but what is important for us to know is that we are crossing the river Niger, what we call the Ndoni-Aboh river crossing in Rivers and Delta states that will deliver gas from the eastern part to the country into the western corridor. “That means expanding gas supply into the help line and also making gas ready. We are happy that this project is going on and we will deliver it...
Air passengers decry upsurge in fares, seek urgent attention to roads, railway
Nigerians, who travel by air, have decried the “sudden” upsurge in air fares and urged the Federal Government to intervene to avoid poor patronage that could dwindle the fortunes of the aviation industry. Newsmen report that the air fares shot up by about 100 per cent in the last one week, with some airline operators even raising their fares by as much as 120 per cent or more. At Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, the fare from Abuja to Lagos, which was N35,300 (Economy Class), rose to between N70,000 and N75,000. Newsmen found that Business Class travellers were charged between N100,000 and N120,000, depending on the airline. Our correspondents, who visited other airports across the country, found that the rise in airfares was the same, a situation that forced some passengers to...
NBS: N319.99 trillion e-payments recorded in Q3 2020
A total volume of 2,781,526,188 transactions valued at N319.99trn was recorded in the third quarter of this year based on data on electronic payment channels in the Nigeria banking sector, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics has said. It disclosed this in its latest Selected Banking Sector Data which focused on sectorial breakdown of credit, e-payment channels and staff strength of Deposit Money Banks. The bureau said Real Time Gross Settlement transfers dominated the volume of transactions recorded. RTGS systems are specialist funds transfer systems where the transfer of money or securities takes place from one bank to any other bank on a real-time and on a gross basis. The NBS said 1,799,199 volume of online transfer transactions valued at N116.06trn were recorded in Q3 2020. In terms of c...
PayCentral and Mastercard Partner to Launch DigiCentral
PayCentral has partnered with Mastercard to launch DigiCentral, a secure online platform that provides small business owners with a simple way of paying out incentives, rewards, gifting, corporate expenses and even salaries to their employees through a prepaid virtual card. The virtual card replaces a physical plastic card and can be used for eCommerce and in-store purchases. To complete a purchase online, DigiCentral virtual cardholders receive a 16-digit card number, security code and expiry date, which they would use much like a physical card. It can be linked to online retail apps like Uber, Uber Eats, Checkers 60 Sixty and others. For in-store purchases, the virtual card can be loaded to any Masterpass-enabled digital wallet. Once loaded, the cardholder can use their mobile phone to s...
How COVID-19 is Shaping Financial Inclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic had forced companies and individuals to rapidly adapt to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) to remedy the unprecedented socioeconomic challenges faced by consumers. A key facet of 4IR is a shift towards digitisation, and the vulnerable communities across the globe find themselves trailing even further behind in their endeavour for financial equity as a result. Migrants and foreign nationals trapped in the cash economy, who utilise analog means of transacting funds, are the hardest hit as lack of access to cash means that they are rendered unable to support their families both locally and abroad to make ends meet. The festive season in particular is a capital intensive time for consumers. To provide for their families, many find themselves using informal meth...
Akwa Ibom Assembly passes N456.25 billion Appropriation Bill
The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly Tuesday passed into Law the state appropriation bill of N456.25billion for the 2021 fiscal year. The 2021 appropriation bill is broken down to of N164.52billion Recurrent expenditure, N241.45billion Capital Expenditure and N50.3billion for Consolidated Revenue Fund Charges. This is against the N435.65billion proposed by the governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel to the House of Assembly in the month of October. The bill was passed after the adoption of the report of the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation Committee, presented by the Chairman, Mr Uduak Odudoh, during Tuesday plenary. Odudoh explained that Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Non-Governmental Organisations and other relevant publics participated in the budget process before its passa...
Lagos assembly tasks governor on second wave of coronavirus
Following the ravaging effect of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, the Lagos State House of Assembly, yesterday, called on the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to direct the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, to intensify public enlightenment campaigns to curtail its spread among Lagosians. Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, who presented the matter during plenary on Tuesday, also said it was important for the House to invite the Commissioner for Health, Professor Tunji Abayomi, to brief the House on the state government’s efforts to prevent the spread of the disease in the state. He stressed that there was an urgent need to ensure that all the COVID-19 protocols were strictly observed, even as he the government to ensure that enforcement was total as the most rel...