R-L: Senior Vice President, Creative Associates International USA, Mr. Earl Gast; Head, Corporate Communications, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Mr. Jude Nwauzor; Senior Associate, Creative Associates International USA, Mrs. Susan Ayari; Technical Manager, Creative Associates International USA, Mr. Jake Thomsen; Head, General Support Services, AMCON, Mr. Usman Abubakar and Project Director, USAID-Nigeria Education Crisis Response Project, Mr. Ayo Oladini at the Close-out-Ceremony of the programme in Maiduguri, Borno State…recently. AMCON earlier donated relief materials to IDPs in some affected northeastern states in the course of the programme.

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) during the week received yet another award in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital from USAID-Nigeria Education Crisis Response Project. The event was the Close-Out-Ceremony of the programme jointly organized by the ministries of Education in Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe and Yobe States in collaboration with USAID- Nigeria Education Crisis Response Project at the government house, Maiduguri.

A citation read on behalf of the organisers at the event, which was chaired by the Deputy Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Usman Mamman Durkwa stated that AMCON was selected for the award in recognition of its contribution to the educational development and wellbeing of out-of-school internally displaced and host community children in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States under the auspices of the USAID-funded Nigeria Education Crisis Response project 2014 – 2018.

The Deputy Governor, who stood in for the Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima at the event thanked AMCON and other individuals and organisations that received awards at the close-out-ceremony for coming to the aid of the governments and people in the affected states in the northeast, especially Borno State, where he disclosed that he incidentally flagged-off the programme when the American agency kick- started the project.

Recall that AMCON last year showed heavy support to some affected children and families that were traumatized and distabilised by the mindless insurgence in the northeast, where violent attacks by extremists forced more than 2.2 million people to flee their homes including over one million children who are presently out of school.

AMCON donated scholastic materials to mainstreamed learners and parents caregivers; starter packs for small scale businesses as well as food items such as rice, beans, semovita, groundnut oil, cooking utensils and salt, among others to the families of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the northeast.

Between the months of November and December, the donated items were duly distributed to the beneficiaries by a team from USAID-Nigeria Education Crisis Response (USAID-ECR) led by its Project Director, Mr. Ayo Oladini.

The distribution activities was closely supervised by officials of AMCON who irrespective of the dangers in the affected states traversed the length and breadth of the affected states to ensure that the items got to all the beneficiaries.

The organisers stated that such rare commitment AMCON showed to the whole project as well as the human and material resources they committed to the distribution exercise against all odds prompted the organisers to recognize AMCON as a dependable partners and supporter at the close-out-ceremony that was attended by the Education Commissioners from the affected states as well as the top echelon of Creative Associates International USA including Mr. Earl Gast, the Senior Vice President; Mr. Semere Solomon, Senior Director; Mrs. Susan Ayari, Senior Associate; Mr. Jake Thomsen, Technical Manager, and Mrs. Nafisa Ado, the Regional Coordinator, Department of International Development, UKAID and a host of others.

The planned restructuring and modernisation of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) will lead to its unbundling to have stand-alone business components that will project the NIPOST brand, provide efficient service and be put on a profitable path.

This was disclosed by the Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Alex A. Okoh on Tuesday, January 16, 2018 when the Postmaster General of the Nigerian Postal Service (NPS), Mr. Bisi Adegbuyi led the management team of the Postal Service on a courtesy visit to the BPE.

He noted that NIPOST has great potentials and that given the right incentives and business strategy, it would become efficient, profitable and provide value for money.

Okoh said that the final decision on the restructuring would be dependent on the outcome of the work of the Advisers engaged for the transaction. He further stressed that although the Bureau has the mandate for such reform, “we are collaborating with all the critical stakeholders to ensure that the reform in NIPOST is carried out without hitches”.

The DG allayed fears of job cuts and pledged to work with the management of NIPOST to accommodate their views to transform “NIPOST into a viable entity.”
He maintained that the Bureau is always conscious of the macroeconomic impact in carrying out its mandate of reform and privatisation, stressing that “the thinking in the Bureau is that we reform responsibly with the overall value delivered for the economy”.

In his response, the Postmaster General of NIPOST, Mr. Bisi Adegbuyi said that the organisation has braced up for the reform and had begun restructuring in readiness for it.

He said NIPOST has been re-engineered to carry out certain services, among them E-commerce, E-insurance, rural banking and a Post Youth Engagement Strategy, aimed at engaging the youth who form the vast population of Nigeria.
Adegbuyi announced that in line with the new services it plans to offer to the Nigerian public, NIPOST’s Electronic Money Order will debut in Nigeria in February this year.

The Powering Africa: Summit will return for a fourth year to the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Washington D.C. from 28 February to 2nd March 2018 to discuss opportunities to develop and invest in power projects on the African continent.
US inter-governmental agencies confirmed for the summit including OPIC, Power Africa and USAID are increasing their objectives for the African continent as well as their involvement in the development of projects from a more varied mix of technologies.
In numerous conversations with EnergyNet, Department of State and Department of Energy communicated a clear determination to play a greater role in Africa, promoting commercial partnerships and progressing deals at an increased pace which will be measured to help navigate bottlenecks more effectively.
Whilst the market has hesitated in some key economies, the likes of Uganda, Cote D’Ivoire, Senegal, Zambia and Ghana are booming with projects including the multibillion dollar Uganda-Tanzania Oil Pipeline, which has investors buzzing.
Simon Gosling, Managing Director of EnergyNet comments:
“South Africa has struggled over the last 24 months to finalise the renewable IPPs, these projects are now progressing because of increased localisation and BPE engagement which will allow these PPAs to finally be signed in the coming weeks. This will trigger the Gas IPP Programme which will be a huge opportunity for foreign investors and gas providers as well as being transformative for the development of the country.”
“On a recent trip to South Africa, U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry noted how energy increases security for the young. An obvious corollary is how increased security increases confidence which enables better learning, stronger ideas and employment, and in the end a more ready and able consumer – which will really turn the lights on across the continent.”
From these perspectives, Africa should be emboldened to negotiate a greater volume of deals and at the 4th Powering Africa Summit a significant number of these conversations will commence.

The globally recognised real estate-focused West African Property Investment (WAPI) Summit which recently took place between the 28^th and 29^th of November 2017 provided delegates with insight into a real estate sector that is set to rebound strongly in 2018.
During the summit, two of the continent’s foremost real estate analysts presented a collaborative white paper: Nigeria’s Real Estate Investment Trust (REITs) market, which provides cause of optimism in one of the most underinvested and marginalised markets of the Nigerian stock market.
The white paper is authored by Stanbic’s head of real estate finance for West Africa, Adeniyi Adeleye, and global commercial real estate provider JLL’s advisory head for Sub-Saharan Africa, Thomas Mundy. It provides an analysis of underlying structural weaknesses that have contributed to the historical negative performance of this market.
Despite its existence for more than ten years, the Nigerian REITs market is underdeveloped with only three established and with a combined market capitalisation of $151 million, or 0.36% of the local stock market.
This low investment is a result of Nigeria’s deficit of A-grade real estate compared to similar urbanising environments combined with an inherently volatile and non-diversified economy overly reliant on crude oil. These factors have created cycles of boom and bust which have negatively impacted the real estate sector and crucially investor confidence. An additional factor cited was a lack of assurance on ambiguous ‘tax pass through’ laws, that have not provided comfort to institutional investors, both local and foreign, resulting in a REITs market that has failed to develop to its potential, which new reforms hope to address.
Mundy and Adeleye predict that an evolving and reformed REITs market will strengthen and deepen capital markets. It will also assist in providing greater transparency and data to a traditionally opaque market, which has resulted in mispricing and undermining confidence in real estate assets. Additional benefits stated include greater diversification of portfolios to help break concentration risk and result in increased exposure for Nigeria’s pension funds to the property market. Currently, the pension fund exposure is 0,36% compared to South Africa’s pension fund exposure to REITs which stands at 2.6%.
Provided that regulatory improvements take place coupled with the sustainable creation of assets to reduce the supply gap in Nigeria, Adeleye and Mundy are optimistic that these changes will lead to a vibrant REITs market, which will transform the real estate sector and the larger economy.

(L-R): Kola Oyekunle, Director of Corporate Governance, Nigerdock; Adewale Dosunmu, Head of Legal Affairs, Nigerdock; Rita Aniche, Head of Northern Zone, Nigerdock; Gen. I.B.M Haruna (Rtd.), Director, Nigerdock; Alex A. Okoh, Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE); Yusuf Abdullahi, Chairman of Nigerdock Free Zone and Baba Mohammed, Head of Capital Markets, BPE, at the presentation of  the BPE/Nigerdock Joint Committee Report on the Resolution of Outstanding Issues in Nigerdock Nigeria Plc in Abuja.

Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Alex A. Okoh has assured the Board and management of the Nigerdock Nigeria Plc that the Bureau is committed to the full realisation of the potentials of the integrated engineering and Fabrication Company.

Receiving a report of the BPE/Nigerdock Joint Committee on the resolution of outstanding issues in the company in Abuja, the Director General said that the present comatose state of the company was worrisome to the Bureau hence the decision to set up the joint committee to look into the issues militating against its operations.

He regretted that the company which was capable of employing about 6,000 Nigerians off the labour market and boosting the Nigerian local content policy, had only about 500 employees thus; negating the core essence of privatization.

Okoh said that the necessary frame work would be put in place to ensure that the company is patronized locally since it has the capability to deliver on its mandate.

“We shall look closely at all the issues militating against the smooth operation of Nigerdock. Patronage should not be denied the company because it has the capability to deliver. We should do everything possible to ensure that the company assumes its pride of place”, he stressed.

The Director-General stated that the report would be carefully studied and its recommendations escalated to the appropriate authorities for action.

Earlier, a director of the company, General IBM Haruna (rtd) had pledged the commitment of the Board to collaborate with the Bureau to ensure that the company survives and realises its potential.

He said the company apart from its core functions, was capable of conducting research for the Navy and Army if fully supported by the government. The director expressed the hope that with the synergy with the BPE, that was achievable and called for openness, integrity and transparency.

Presenting the report, the General Counsel of Nigerdock, Mr. Adewale Dosunmu said it was in two parts. He said it proffered short-term and long term solutions to move the company forward.

The equities market opened the week positive, extending gains from the previous week into the third consecutive trading session as the All Share Index rose 2.4% to settle at 38,849.65 points while YTD return expanded to 4.2%. Consequently, market capitalization rose by N329.7bn to settle at N14.2tn. Today’s performance was buoyed by price appreciation in DANGCEM (+5.0%), GUARANTY (+2.3%) and ZENITH (+2.5%). However, activity level was mixed as volume traded declined 19.7% to 604.5m units while value traded inched 46.7% higher to N16.1bn.

Industrial Goods lead Positive Sector Performance
Sector performance was largely positive as all indices closed in the green. The Industrial Goods index led the gainers chart, up 2.3% primarily due to price appreciation in DANGCEM (+5.0%).

The Banking index trailed, rising 2.0% on the back of gains in GUARANTY (+2.3%) and ZENITH (+2.5%) while uptick in MOBIL (+5.0%) and CONOIL (+10.2%) pushed the Oil & Gas index 1.7% higher.

Also, the Consumer Goods and Insurance indices rose 1.1% apiece consequent on investors taking position in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+1.4%), GUINNESS (+4.6%) and MANSARD (+4.4%).

Investor Sentiment Weakens
Investor sentiment – measured by market breadth (advance/ decline ratio) – weakened to 4.1x from 4.4x recorded the previous Friday as 37 stocks advanced against 9 decliners.

Today’s best performers were CONOIL (+10.2%), UNITY (+9.7%) and CADBURY (+8.6%) while the worst performing stocks were VITAFOAM (-4.9%), CILEASING (-4.9%) and MEYER (-4.3%). In line with expectation, market performance was positive today as investor sentiment remained strong.

Hence, we expect the trend to be sustained in subsequent trading sessions against the backdrop of a broad based rally across sectors.

Market Statistics: Monday, 8th January 2018