Crude oil production erratic since February – NNPC

Crude oil production in the country has been inconsistent since February this year, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has said.

According to the corporation, the country’s production has been fluctuating between 2.2 million barrels per day and 2.3mbpd.

The Group Managing Director, NNPC, Andrew Yakubu, said the development was largely caused by the persistent attacks on major pipeline arteries supplying crude oil to export terminals, stressing that the menace had impacted negatively on the nation’s economy.

The NNPC boss, in a statement from the corporation, said these in his submission to the Senate and House of Representatives Joint Committee on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework for the period of 2014 to 2016.

Yakubu explained that the continuous crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism and shut-in had constrained the sector from meeting its revenue projection.

MSMEs contribute 47% to Nigeria’s GDP – SMEDAN

Director General of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, SMEDAN, Bature Masari, says Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises MSMEs contributes 46.54 percent to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP.

Masari made this disclosure during the post-humuos award to Late Maria Sokenu, former Managing Director of defunct Peoples Bank, who died alongside 116 others on board ill-fated Bellview Airline that crashed in Lisa, Ifo, Ogun State in 2005, by the Association of Professional Women Bankers (APWB) for her contribution to the association and the economy.

Sokenu was special adviser to the Ogun State governor on employment generation and pioneer president of the APWB from 1983-1991.

The SMEDAN DG while delivering a lecture on the theme of the association’s 30th anniversary: Strategic Positioning of Entrepreneurs for Economic Development, said the importance of entrepreneurship across the world cannot be over emphasised as research has shown that MSMEs are critical to the growth and economic development of nations, contributing not less than 50 percent of GDP on the average, with the resultant effect of income generation, wealth creation and poverty alleviation.

He said in order to strategically position MSMEs for economic development in Nigeria, one of the strategies SMEDDAN has adopted that needs to be sustained is strengthening entrepreneurs along the value chain of the typical business cycle.

He said from start-ups, the body looks at the business conception/idea generation, project identification, feasibility study, business plan, sourcing for finance, programme execution and implementation, evaluation and control, sales/marketing.

World Bank ranks Nigeria 122nd best place to start business

World Bank has ranked Nigeria 147th among the best places for doing business. It also ranked the country as the 122nd for best countries to start a business.

in a report made available to e-biz247, said Nigeria’s low ranking is mainly caused by electricity problems, where the country is ranked 185th out of 189 countries evaluated. The first African country on the list is Rwanda, ranked 32nd.

The report said in Africa, 66 per cent of countries enacted at least one reform last year, against 33 per cent in 2005, adding that nine African countries make up the top 20 most improved in terms of business regulations since 2009: Benin, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Togo.

The report said economies are ranked on their ease of doing business, from 1 – 189. A high ranking on the ease of doing business index means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm.

This index averages the country’s percentile rankings on 10 topics, made up of a variety of indicators, giving equal weight to each topic. The rankings for all economies are bench-marked to June 2013.

UK GDP: fastest growth for three years

UK economic output rose by 0.8% between July and September, official GDP figures show.

The Office for National Statistics said there had been a "fairly strong" performance across all sectors.

The data builds on a 0.7% GDP rise in the April-June period and is the best quarterly performance since 2010.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne tweeted: "This shows that Britain's hard work is paying off & the country is on the path to prosperity."

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the figures "show that we are firmly on the road to economic recovery".

The ONS data for construction was up 2.5% over the quarter, the second successive quarter of growth after a volatile performance over the past year.

Twitter plans to raise up to $1.4bn via its share sale

TWITTER

Twitter has unveiled the price range for its shares when the company lists on the stock exchange.

In a filing on Thursday, Twitter said it planned to sell 70 million shares priced between $17 and $20 (£10 - £12) to raise up to $1.4bn (£865m).

The offering represents 13% of Twitter and values it at as much as $11bn.

Analysts said the valuation, which was less than forecast, indicated the firm wanted to avoid the dip in prices that followed Facebook's listing.

"They're trying to price this for a very strong IPO, ideally creating the conditions for a solid after-market," said Brian Wieser of the Pivotal Research Group.

Facebook's shares were priced initially at $38 per share. The stock soared within hours of its debut to a high of $45 but later slumped.

Some analysts had blamed over pricing of the shares as a reason behind the fall. However, Facebook shares have since recouped most of their losses and are now trading above the listing price.

JP Morgan settles for $5.1bn with US housing regulator

JP Morgan has reached a $5.1bn (£3.2bn) settlement with the US Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) over charges it misled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the housing boom.

A separate settlement with the US Justice Department is expected to be announced soon.

It is the biggest settlement ever by a US bank.

In a statement JP Morgan said the settlement resolves the biggest case against the firm relating to mortgage-backed securities.

JP Morgan purchased Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual at the height of the financial crisis of 2008-2009, and has tried to argue that it should not be punished for mistakes made before those deals.

As part of the agreement with the FHFA, the bank will pay $4bn to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to settle claims that it violated US securities law.

It will pay the agencies an additional $1.1bn for misrepresenting the quality of single-family mortgages.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the biggest mortgage lenders in the US. They received $187bn in US taxpayer aid to help them stay afloat during the financial collapse.

They have since repaid $146bn of the loan.

Oil theft: FG to use electronic pipeline surveillance

President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan is exploring the possibility of using an electronic pipeline surveillance to track oil theft in the country.

Jonathan gave this indication in his closing remarks at a two-day oil and gas investment forum in Onne, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Jonathan, who was represented by the Senate President, David Mark, described the menace of oil theft as worrisome, stressing, however, that government was ready to tackle it headlong.

While stressing that the government was putting in place mechanism to ensure that vandals found it extremely difficult to access petroleum pipelines, the president gave assurance of continuous support to an investment drive in the sector.

The President directed that the agencies concerned should also ensure strict enforcement on the ban on the illegal discharge of cargo and receiving of vessels at private jetties.

He said that steps should be taken to guard against the breach of national security and loss of revenue to the government.

Federal Government of Nigeria recovers N118.9bn from ghost workers

LABARAN MAKU

Minister of Information and Supervising Minister of Defence, Labaran Maku, has disclosed that the President Goodluck Jonathan led administration has recovered the sum of N118.9 billion from ghost workers since the beginning of the year.

The minister made the disclosure during a World Press conference held in Abuja, where he stated that about 46,821 ghost workers have so far been identified from 215 Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, with the application of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS.

Maku also disclosed that work is still on-going to bring in other 321 MDAs that are not yet on IPPIS.

According to him, purpose of this reform is to increase efficiency and public financing, personnel cost, planning and budgeting as personnel cost will be based on actual verified numbers and not estimates.

Also, government intends to eliminate ghost workers from its payroll and channel the money into capital projects.

He alleged that the issue of security is being politcised by politicians rather than supporting Federal Government in the on-going effort to combat insurgency in the north-east.