All Posts in "Day: October 5, 2021"

NGX lifts suspension of two insurance companies

By admin

 

The suspension placed on the trading in the shares of African Alliance Insurance Plc and Royal Exchange Plc by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited has been lifted.

The two organisations were prevented from trading their equities on the exchange over their failure to file their financial statements as they earlier agreed when they requested to trade their stocks publicly.NGX

However, when they reneged, the exchange took the decision to suspend them, forcing their boards to do the needful, which has subsequently led to the removal of the embargo.

African Alliance and Royal Exchange were among the four companies suspended by the NGX on Friday, July 2, 2021.
message to the investing public on Monday, October 4, 2021, from the stock exchange said the embargo was removed today.

“We refer to our Market Bulletin dated July 2, 2021, with reference number:

NGXREG/LRD/MB23/21/07/02, wherein we notified trading licence holders and the investing public of the suspension of four listed companies for non-compliance with the provisions of Rule 3.1: Rules for Filing of Accounts and Treatment of Default Filing, Rulebook of the exchange,” a part of the notice said.

African Alliance Insurance Plc and Royal Exchange Plc, two of the four listed companies that were suspended on July 2, 2021, have now filed their audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020, and unaudited financial statements for the quarter ended March 31, 2021.

“In view of the companies’ submission of these financial statements, and pursuant to Rule 3.3 of the default filing rules, trading licence holders and the investing public are hereby notified that the suspension placed on trading on the shares of African Alliance Insurance and Royal Exchange has been lifted.”

Patoma Admin by — October 5, 2021 in Insurance 0
Seven Years Of Operations: The Story Of Virgin Nigeria Airways

By Jake Hardiman

 

 

The Virgin Group is a far-reaching conglomerate with its fingers in many pies. Among these over the years have been several airlines. Some, like Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia, are active today, while others no longer grace the world’s skies. One such carrier was Virgin Nigeria Airways, which flew for seven years in the 2000s and 2010s. This is its story.

In the beginning

When Nigeria Airways ceased operations in 2003, the country needed a new national airline. This came to fruition a year later, in 2004, when a group of Nigerian investors collaborated with the Virgin Group to form Virgin Nigeria. Its base was Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS) in Lagos, and its frequent flyer program was known as Eagleflier.

The year after being founded, Virgin Nigeria commenced operations in June 2005. Its inaugural flight took passengers from its own hub in Lagos to a key Virgin Atlantic base, namely London Heathrow. The plane used was an Airbus A340-300 which the new carrier leased from Virgin Atlantic. In fact, it retained its G-VBUS registration while at Virgin Nigeria.

To begin with, Virgin Nigeria enjoyed periods of fast expansion. Indeed, it took just two years for the airline to carry its millionth passenger and 4,000th ton of cargo. As growth continued, it planned to open a second base elsewhere in Nigeria, specifically Abuja.

Virgin Nigeria’s fleet

Despite operating for a relatively short period of time, Virgin Nigeria flew an interesting and diverse range of aircraft. As we have established, the airline’s early years saw it lease two Virgin Atlantic A340s, which, according to data from ATDB.aero, it returned in 2007. Other widebodies at the carrier included two A330-200s and three Boeing 767-300.

In terms of single-aisle aircraft, Virgin Nigeria’s most common narrowbody was the 737 family, from which it operated 12 737-300s and a single -400. Less numerous were the A320-200 and 757-200, of which Virgin Nigeria flew two and one respectively.

Regional aircraft also had a role to play at Virgin Nigeria. As far as jet-powered aircraft were concerned, it flew two Embraer E190s, as well as canceling the acquisitions of two E170s. Turboprops were also present in the form of the ATR 42 and the Fokker F27.

The end of the line

After five years of operations, the Virgin Group withdrew its branding from the airline, which then became known as Nigerian Eagle Airlines. Despite the name change, Virgin retained its stake in the airline, although it had been looking to sell it since 2008. A year later, in June 2010, a change in the carrier’s ownership structure brought about another name change.

This saw it take on the rather simpler name of Air Nigeria. Two more years followed before safety checks in June 2012 grounded the airline. September 6th that year saw the firing of its management on the grounds of disloyalty, and operations ceased fully four days later. There were 13 aircraft in Air Nigeria’s fleet at the time of its collapse.

Patoma Admin by — October 5, 2021 in Aviation 0
Nigerian insurers, others in Africa align with AfCFTA

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

Nigerian insurers and underwiters in Africa have stated their willingness to participate more actively in the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

The President of the African Insurance Organisation (AIO) the Group Managing Director of NEM Insurance Plc, My r Tope Smart said there was need for AIO members to work hard to ensure the situation changed for the better.

Smart stated that he will spend his first year in office focusing on five primary goals aimed at repositioning the African insurance market.

Increased awareness, digitalise action adoption, collaboration with other markets, partnership with government and regulators, and establishing customer trust are among the issues he mentioned.

In comparison to other industries such as banking and telecommunications, the insurance industry in Africa has underperformed, according to Smart.

Bemoaning the low performance of the African insurance market, he said, “Aside South Africa, Morocco, Kenya, Egypt, Malawi, Zambia and Ghana, no other African country has been able to grow penetration to 1%.”

Patoma Admin by — October 5, 2021 in Insurance 0
PenCom, EFCC collaborate to end fraud, mismanagement of pension funds

CAPTION

5th from right: Mr. Boss Mustapha (Secretary to the Government of the Federation), 6th from right: Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa (Executive Chairman, Economic & Financial Crimes Commission), 2nd from right: Mr. Clement Oyedele Akintola (Commissioner Inspectorate, National Pension Commission Representing the DG, National Pension Commission), 4th from right: Senator Michael Ama Nnachi (Representing Chairman, Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption), 1st from left: Comrade Ayuba P. Wabba ( President, Nigeria Labour Congress), 2nd from left: IGP Sulaiman Abba Rtd (Chairman, Nigeria Police Force Pensions Limited), 3rd from left: Mrs. Nneka Obi-Amalu (Acting Executive Secretary, Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, PTAD), 4th from left: Prof. ACB Agbazuere (Representing Executive Governor of Abia State, 1st from right: Commodore Saburi Lawal (Chairman, Military Pensions Board).

 

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

National Pension Commission (PenCom) in collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)to put an end to fraud and mismanagement of pension funds in the country

The workshop which was held today at the NAF Conference Centre, Abuja, ,theme: ‘Eradication of Pension Fraud in Nigeria’,  served as a platform for sensitization and practical exchange of information on how best to eradicate Pension Fraud in Nigeria.

The Director General of the Commission, Aisha Dahir-Umar said that the workshop essentially seeks to examine the incidences of fraud in the pension sector in Nigeria and ways of eradicating the menace in a proactive manner.

She said the event will, no doubt, create the synergy needed to boost the efforts of the two organizations in the discharge of their respective statutory mandates relating to the theme of the workshop.

Represented by Mr. Clement Oyedele Akintola, Commissioner Inspectorate, she noted that the problems of fraud and mismanagement in the pension sector in Nigeria were amongst the reasons that necessitated the pension reform of 2004 by the Federal Government.

“The Pension Reform Act 2004, which was later reviewed and re-enacted in 2014, introduced legal and institutional frameworks aimed at addressing the rot that characterized the administration of pensions in the pre-reform era. The Act also established PenCom to regulate and supervise all pension matters in Nigeria, including the licensing of Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and Pension Fund Custodians (PFCs).

The Pension Transitional Arrangements Directorate (PTAD) was also established by the PRA 2014 to administer, in a transparent manner, the Defined Benefits Scheme (DBS) for pensioners exempted from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

These measures, according to her substantially restored credibility and confidence in Nigeria’s pension systems.

“Thus, we have, today, an industry that has accumulated pension assets in excess of N13 trillion, invested in various aspects of the economy and still growing.”

Pursuant to its statutory mandate under Section 23(f) of the PRA 2014, PenCom has consistently undertaken public education, enlightenment and awareness campaigns on the CPS and other pension matters. It has also developed and established structures, systems and procedures that ensure transparency, accountability and efficiency in the administration of pension in Nigeria.

These systems and procedures have become reference points for other African countries, many of whom have undertaken study visits to the Commission.

“However, as it is the case with every human endeavor, retrogressive elements continued to exploit procedural gaps in the operations of pension practitioners in both the CPS and DBS to the detriment of unsuspecting public.

” Thus, new issues and challenges continue to emerge, which place special responsibility on the regulators, the operators and other stakeholders to constantly review their operating environment with a view to finding solutions to address the problems.”

She further said that the PRA 2014 had strengthened Nigeria’s pension institutions in both the Contributory and Defined Benefits Schemes, and imbued them with the capacity to rise above emerging challenges. Thus, while these institutions explore their respective…, the continued collaboration with the EFCC would certainly serve as catalyst for reducing the menace of fraud in the pension industry to the barest minimum.

“We must recognize the uniqueness of today’s workshop, which has literally taken our collaboration to the next level. Stakeholders have all converge to discuss within the two days of this workshop, the entire ramifications of fraud in the pension administration space, understand the issues, share experiences and find proactive ways of preventing their occurrence. “

She also commended the foresight and dynamism of the leadership of the EFCC for accepting to collaborate with us for this workshop despite the preponderance of other daunting challenges being tackled by the EFCC in our country.

Also, Chairman of EFCC, Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, said the workshop would help highlight the areas of corrupt practices in Pension Administration and collectively develop strategies to curb the menace threatening the country’s pension schemes.

Patoma Admin by — October 5, 2021 in Pension 0
Nigeria serviced debt with N1.47tn in H1 2021 – DMO

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

Nigeria spent N1.47tn on debt servicing payments in the first half of 2021, data obtained from the Debt Management Office have shown.

In the first quarter of the year, the country spent N1.02tn on both domestic and external debt servicing, while a total of N445.45bn was spent in the second quarter of 2021.

From January to March 2021, Nigeria spent N612.71bn on domestic debt servicing, while it spent $1bn (N410.33bn) on external debt servicing.

From April to June 2021, Nigeria spent N322.7bn on domestic debt servicing and $299m (N122.7bn) on external debt servicing.

The official exchange rate of the Central Bank of Nigeria ($1 is N410.33) as of October 4 was used for the external debt servicing.

For domestic debt, Nigeria spent N219.29bn in January, N125.09bn in February, N270.33bn in March, N258bn in April, N42.4bn in May, and N22.3bn in June.

In Q1, the government focused on principal repayments, while in Q2, the government focused on interest payments.
A breakdown of the statistics in Q2 shows that the Federal Government spent a total of N322.7bn on the payment of interest, with N50.3bn expended on the redemption of matured Nigeria Treasury Bills.

For external debt servicing in Q1, commercial loans had 76 per cent with a cost of $763.04m (N313.10bn), multilateral had 13 per cent with a cost of $134.04m (N55bn), and bilateral had 11 per cent with a cost of $106.33m (N43.63bn).

For external debt servicing in Q2, commercial loans had 53 per cent with a cost of $157m (N64.4bn), multilateral had 35 per cent with a cost of $103.7m (N42.5bn), and bilateral had 13 per cent with a cost of $38.2m (N15.7bn).

Patoma Admin by — October 5, 2021 in Banking & Finance 0

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved over $110 billion in loans to 86 countries of the world, to enable them tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

In its 2021 Annual Report, released, yesterday, the global body described the pandemic as “a crisis like no other” but it equally, “responded like no other.”

“More than a year into a crisis like no other, the IMF has mobilized a response like no other. As of end-April 2021, loans have been approved to 86 countries of more than $110 billion—a record number. But even though the recovery is underway, the economic fallout from the pandemic will be with us for years to come,” the organization said.

The over $110 billion approved for loans was separate from the new allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) of $650 billion , approved for members of the IMF, in August.

According to the Fund, “At $650 billion, this is the largest allocation in the IMF’s history, and it will substantially boost the reserves and liquidity of the IMF’s member countries, without adding to their debt burdens.”

It added that it was also exploring options for those with strong financial positions to voluntarily channel SDRs to vulnerable countries.

The IMF noted that the COVID-19 crisis exacerbated existing, prepandemic vulnerabilities, and countries’ prospects were diverging.

It said, “Nearly half of emerging market and developing economies and some middle-income countries risk falling further behind, undoing much of the progress made toward achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

“Within countries, inequality is on the rise as well; workers with fewer skills, youth, women, and those informally employed are suffering disproportionate income losses.”

The Fund said that sustaining the recovery would require an ongoing policy push, “including to secure and expand access to vaccines and to maintain economic lifelines and targeted policy support, tailored to the stage of the pandemic, the strength of the economic recovery, and countries’ structural characteristics.”

It said that the most urgent task remained to get the world vaccinated as quickly as possible, adding, “In May, IMF staff put forward a $50 billion plan that targets vaccinating at least 40 percent of the population in all countries by the end of 2021, and 60 percent by the first half of 2022—an investment that would boost global economic activity by trillions of dollars over the next few years.

“Closing this gap is key to ending the pandemic and ensuring a sustainable long-term recovery everywhere.”

A second immediate priority, the IMF said was helping countries deal with growing public debt burdens, as high levels of debt heading into the crisis left many low-income countries more vulnerable and continues to limit their ability to provide much-needed policy support.

In her message, the Managing Director of the IMF, Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, said that a recovery was underway, but that the economic fallout from the global pandemic could be with world for years to come.

She pointed out that multilateral cooperation would be vital to ensure all countries have equitable access to vaccines and financially constrained economies have adequate access to international liquidity.

According to her, “As the recovery progresses, economic reforms and public investments in human capital and green and digital infrastructure should be scaled up to facilitate resource reallocation and limit long-term scarring.

“By building toward a more inclusive, digital, and green future, the world’s economies can achieve higher and more durable growth.”

E N D

Patoma Admin by — October 5, 2021 in Banking & Finance 0
Mark Zuckerberg lost $7bn networth over worldwide outages of Facebook, Instagram & WhatsApp.

facebook sharing button
By Favour Nnabugwu
whatsapp sharing button
linkedin sharing button

Mark Zuckerberg has lost $7bn networth following the worldwide outages of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

Patomabusinessonline reports that the Facebook CEO was downgraded to the fifth-richest person in the world on Monday evening after his company battled major technical issues.

The three social media platforms began to experience network troubles at around 4:25/pm.

The disconnection is said to have affected at least over three billion online users all over the world.

Chief Technology Officer at Facebook, Mike Schroepfe, tweeted, “Sincere apologies to everyone impacted by outages of Facebook powered services right now. We are experiencing networking issues and teams are working as fast as possible to debug and restore as fast as possible.”

According to Bloomberg, a selloff sent the social-media giant’s stock plummeting around 5% on Monday, adding to a drop of about 15 percent since mid-September.

The stock slide on Monday sent Zuckerberg’s worth down to $120.9 billion, dropping him below Bill Gates to No. 5 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He’s lost about $19 billion of wealth since September 13, when he was worth nearly $140 billion, according to the index.

On September 13, the Wall Street Journal began publishing a series of stories based on a cache of internal documents, revealing that Facebook knew about a wide range of problems with its products — such as Instagram’s harm to teenage girls’ mental health and misinformation about the Jan. 6 Capitol riots — while downplaying the issues in public.

The reports have drawn the attention of government officials, and on Monday, the whistleblower revealed herself for the first time and accused the social media giant of putting “profit over safety” of its users.

In response, Facebook has emphasised that the issues facing its products, including political polarisation, are complex and not caused by technology alone.

Patoma Admin by — October 5, 2021 in News 0