Again, Naira Makes Major Gain Against The Dollar

The Nation's currency, the naira recorded a major gain on Wednesday, closing at 390 per United States dollar at the parallel market, up from 405/dollar on Tuesday.

This came barely 24 hours after the Central Bank of Nigeria announced the injection of $280m into the various segments of the forex market and the commencement of its weekly $20,000 sale to licensed Bureau De Change operators.

War Of Words As Falana Again Blasts Soludo, Says He Won't Apologize

Falana and Soludo.

Renowned lawyer amd SAN, Femi Falana, has yesterday referred
to former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Charles Chukwuma Soludo's demand for an apology as a joke over his questioning of the management of the country’s foreign reserves during his tenure at the apex bank.

The legal luminary again  questioned the management of Nigeria’s foreign reserves by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, under the leadership of Soludo.

Mr. Falana had petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on allegations of diversion of public funds from the Federation Account and the nation’s Foreign Reserves.
He also accused the CBN under Mr. Soludo of illegally transferring $7 billion to 14 commercial banks in 2006, an allegation the former CBN chief denied and described as laughable.
But in a swift reaction,  Mr. Soludo said Mr. Falana’s outburst was based on ignorance of how the bank was run. The former CBN chief also demanded an apology.

But in another statement on Wednesday, Falana said the statement issued by the CBN management on the subject matter buttressed his point.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I wish to reiterate that it was the management of the CBN which claimed to have given out its own “share” of 7 billion dollars from the foreign reserves estimated at 38 billion dollars at the material time. “Is Professor Soludo insisting that CBN under his management was entitled to any ‘share’ of the nation’s foreign reserves?

“In any case, whether it was a deposit or its own share of the foreign reserves, did the CBN ever announce that the deposit had been paid back to the foreign reserves which belong to the three tiers of government?
“If there is nothing to hide, why did the CBN ignore the request of the Civil Society Network Against Corruption for information on the ‘deposit’ of 7 billion dollars?
“As far as Soludo is concerned, these allegations are laughable and betray a lack of knowledge of how a bank such as CBN works. “Has AMCON not been set up to recover those loans and deposits running to several trillions of Naira? For goodness sake, how does a CBN work outside the ambit of the Constitution and the Central Bank Act, 2007?,”Falana asked.
“Frankly speaking, I am of the view that Professor Soludo’s demand for an apology is a joke since it was the CBN management under him that claimed to have given its own ‘share’ of $7 billion to the 14 banks.”
Vanguard.

FINANCE MINISTER: I Can't Say When Recession Will End, But...

Mrs Kemi Adeosun 

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has said that she cannot predict exactly when the nation will get out of the current economic recession.
She went further saying that some of the efforts of the government to reflate the economy had started yielding results. The minister made views known in an interview in Abuja, stated, “I don’t want to predict when we will get out of recession. Let me tell you that we will get into growth and that’s how you get out of recession, because of the stimulus that we are providing.

“And it may take longer than we would like, but we will definitely get out of it. We are already seeing some positive signs in agriculture and solid minerals;and with what we are trying to do with other sectors, I am very sure we will get out of it soon.”

The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, had last week stated that the country would start getting out of recession by the fourth quarter of the year. He had said, “We are already in the valley, the only direction is to go up the hill and the government is doing everything possible to ensure that we move up the hill. I am optimistic that based on the actions being taken by the monetary and fiscal authorities, the fourth quarter results will show evidence that we have started to move out of recession.
“The worst is over. The Nigerian economy is on the path of recovery and growth. So, please if you are a bystander or sideliner, you are losing; join the train now before it
leaves the station.”

Why Houses In Lagos, Abuja Have No Tenants, See Shocking Revelations

Amid increasing glut in the Nigeria’s property market as a result of the economic recession currently facing the country, the Chief Executive Officer of Sujimoto Construction Limited, a Lagos-based real estate development company, Mr. Sijibomi Ogundele, has revealed that the surge in the number of empty apartments in Ikoyi, Lagos, is due to over pricing.

Ogundele added that this disturbing phenomenon must have prompted the well- informed and educative research publication of economy watch, Financial Derivatives Company Limited recently, which informed that “The number of vacant properties in the upper class real estate neighbourhoods of Lekki, Victoria Island and Ikoyi has risen by 72 percent over the last 18 months”. Ogundele who is fondly called Sujimoto, said the cost of construction is usually padded, warning prospective property investors to beware.

According to him, “This has become a motto on a whole new level for prospective investors, who seek the very much-deserved value for money. To avoid drawing hasty conclusions and to guide our investment choices, investors should only listen to industry experts and verifiable perspectives as seen in the FDC research, and avoid the bandwagon of those listening to jaundiced opinions, which are quite popular.

“For example, the fact that former UK Prime Minister David Cameron said Nigeria was fantastically corrupt, does not in fact mean each and every Nigerian is corrupt. Also, the fact that a few celebrities find themselves enmeshed in marital problems does not mean that the marital life of every Nigerian is in danger. “To put this more clearly, apartments that should not cost more than 100 million naira, are costing investors 400 million naira to construct. Therefore, owners have no other choice than to let out the apartment at 40 million naira, transferring the padded cost of construction to tenants. What is the difference between Ipekere locally fried plantain chips sold in remote areas and the same plantain chips sold in urban areas?

“Have you ever wondered why a good meal prepared in Ijebu Ode would cost lesser than one sold in Lagos? An estimated rental for an apartment in Ikoyi is about $80,000. The same
apartment in Lekki would cost $30,000. What do you think makes the difference? Value in terms of price, quality and location put together in the same place. If location is a fundamental principle in real estate, how much more luxury real estate?”, Ogundele stated. Describing the situation as a case of quality versus quantity, said “A developer who compromises on quality of materials, no matter how highbrow the property’s location, has no right to place an exorbitant price on it. Thus, the argument for demand exceeding supply, as far as empty apartments in Ikoyi go, is unfounded.

“Luxury apartments are in high demand. Poorly finished buildings with exorbitant prices constitute the pile of empty apartments constantly being alluded to. Consider this: Are developments such as Tango Towers and Ultimate Towers in Ikoyi, empty? If such developments are not empty, imagine what would happen when the LorenzoBySujimoto with its high-end features, state-of-the-art facilities, exceptional returns on investment and competitive pricing, is completed?

“I once pointed out that luxury is not expensive. It is the intention to deliver luxury that is expensive. While the cost of a nice three-bedroom apartment in Johannesburg would go for about $350,000, the same apartment in Ikoyi would want $1 million. If the cost of construction materials is the same all over the world, the price of marble, granite, cement, tiles, kitchen, doors, paints etc, why is cost in Nigeria about 300 per cent higher?
“You cannot offer a Toyota for the price of a Bentley. One might argue that both cars will eventually ply the same road but the efficiency and prestige of a Bentley speaks for itself. Luxury sells itself. For us at Sujimoto, our biggest marketers are our clients. Listen, I have sold crap before and I have sold luxury and I can tell you from experience that it is easier to sell luxury than crap.
“When you sell luxury, you sell peace of mind, you have not only sold something that would last for generations, but you win the heart of your client who now becomes your evangelist. With the oil price plummeting, and major economies across the world experiencing down turn, individuals and organizations no longer have loose money to throw around. And with the current downsizing by companies, prospective tenants demand full value for their hard-earned money.

“Nigerian developers must realise that times have changed. The quick fix, quick gain syndrome has ended. Real estate developers who fail to understand that the current investors and real estate enthusiasts are upbeat about quality and finishing having seen same from their travels around the world. “If we desire to be the best and want to compete with foreign developers such as the
Germans, Lebanese and Italians that have spent decades mastering their craft, we will need to raise our standards in the Nigerian construction market. Or else, one day we would
wake up to find all our apartments empty”, Ogundele warned.

Vanguard.

Why Nigeria Will Be In Total Darkness Soon -Egbin Power Plant CEO

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Egbin Power Plc, Mr. Dallas Peavey, Jr. in this interview with Punch , says the nation may be enveloped in darkness in the coming weeks due to a myriad of challenges in the power sector.

 What do you think about the Nigerian power sector almost three years after it was privatised?

I think at this point, we have gone through so many stages. I think the issue here is liquidity. So many of the owners came and they were thinking that they were going to be reaping some sort of returns after the first three years. In reality, nobody realised that they would go through three years and lose money. Our parent company owns Egbin as well as Ikeja Electric. Having said that, we cover a lot of the areas in Nigeria out of our own pocket. We, as a private company, don’t expect to do that.
I think the government is coming up with a plan and working with us to ensure that we get paid and continue to generate power, and go from the current generation of less than 4,000 megawatts to 10,000 MW in the next five years. At least, that is what we are hoping to achieve. We have got a long way to go, but I think we can get there.

Read more here

Dangote Is 51st On World's Richest Billionaires, See Full List

Forbes magazine has unveiled the list of the world's richest billionaires in 2016 and Bill Gate tops the list with Amancio Ortega, Warren Buffett coming second and third respectively.
Facebook founder and owner, Mark Zuckerberg came sixth this year.
The only representative in Africa, Aliko Dangote who is African's richest man and owner of Dangote Group came 51st in the world.
See full list http://www.forbes.com/sites/kerenblankfeld/2016/03/01/forbes-billionaires-full-list-of-the-500-richest-people-in-the-world-2016/#254aa4376c24