thisday0520

THISDAY • WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2015
23
BUSINESSWORLD
R A T E S A S A T M A Y 1 5 , 2 0 1 5
NIBOR NITTY EXCHANGE RATE
OVERNIGHT 9.2917 3-MONTH 14.4157 1-MONTH 10.5889 6-MONTH 12.5641 N197.00 US DOLLAR*
1-MONTH 13.1585 6-MONTH 15.7848 2-MONTH 10.8806 9-MONTH 14. 7648 *AS AT LAST FRIDAY
3-MONTH 10.9226 12-MONTH 14.9792
Quick Takes
FOR ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION
L-R: Executive Secretary, National Sugar Development Council, Dr. Abdul-Latif Busari; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment,
Mr. Olusegun Aganga; and Vice-Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof. Ibrahim Garba, during the inauguration of Nigeria’s
first Sugarcane Bio-factory in Zaria, Kaduna State ...recently
New Task for SEC as Unclaimed
Dividends Rise to N55 Billion
Goddy Egene
The Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) needs to
move faster in the implementation
of strategies to reduce
unclaimed dividends in the
nation’s capital market, as the
amount of unclaimed dividends
rose by 8.5 per cent in 2014.
THISDAY checks revealed that
unclaimed dividends returns
filed by 112 companies as at
December 2014 showed a figure
of N55.22 billion, up from the
N50.9 billion in 2014.
This was contrary to a reduction
witnessed in 2013.
The issue of unclaimed
dividends has been a thorny
one in the market over the
years with stakeholders
Federal Government’s Domestic Debt
Rises by N610bn
Eromosele Abiodun
The quarterly data released by
the Debt Management Office
(DMO) has revealed that the
Federal Government of Nigeria’s
(FGN’s) domestic debt as at
ending of March 2015 stood
at N8.51trillion ($42.8 billion),
an equivalent of 9.4 per cent
2014 gross domestic products
(GDP).
The increase in naira terms
in the first quarter was N610
billion, of which FGN bonds
accounted for N580 billion.
The DMO data also showed
CAPITAL MARKET
trading blames. SEC had to
introduce electronic-dividend
that facilitates direct payment
of dividends into shareholders’
bank accounts instead through
dividend warrants. However,
many shareholders are yet to
embrace e-dividends, a development
that has made unclaimed
dividends to remain high.
The Director General of
SEC, Mr. Mounir Gwarzo, last
February called on Registrars to
ensure 100 per cent compliance
on e-dividend as one of the
ways of reducing unclaimed
dividends. He also charged
them to ensure efficient service
delivery, and total support for
ECONOMY
that Nigeria’s total debt stock
(addition of external and
domestic debt) as at March
2015 stood at N12.06 trillion,
representing an increase of 11.95
per cent from the December 31,
2014 figure of N11.24 trillion.
A breakdown of the debt
stock showed that external
debt accounted for 15.46 per
cent of the total debt stock at
N1.86 trillion ($9.46 billion at
an average exchange rate of
$1/N197), while domestic debt
stock accounted for 84.54 per
dematerialisation.
Besides the call, SEC had
given a directive that unclaimed
dividends be returned to
companies after 15 months
of declaration.
Gwarzo said the directive
was in compliance with the
existing law on dividend
declaration, had also urged
Company Secretaries and Legal
Advisers of Manufacturing Companies,
to be in the vanguard
of supporting the directive to
Registrars to return unclaimed
dividends to the companies after
the stipulated period, insisting
that there is no reason why
Registrars should keep the
unclaimed dividends beyond
the period stipulated by law.
He said the companies should
cent of the total debt stock at
N10.20 trillion ($1/N188.70
billion). The debt-to-GDP for
2014 stood at 12.47 per cent.
Analysts at FSDH Research
estimate a debt-to-GDP ratio
of 12.89 per cent to end year
2015.
This, they stated, means that
Nigeria’s debt portfolio still
has wide fiscal sustainability
space; “as the debt-to-GDP ratio
is below the applicable critical
limit of 40 per cent set for the
economy by the government.”
On their part, analysts at FBN
Capital posited that the ratio
be in the vanguard of supporting
the position of the law
on dividend return, insisting
that SEC is interested in the
movement of the funds from
the Registrars to the companies
According to him, the Commission
would soon embark on
massive a public enlightenment
programme to educate the
public at the grass root so as
to ensure that they get the full
benefits of their investment.
He said the public enlightenment
will not be limited to
dividend payment alone, but
will include other recent issues
in the market, like dematerialisation,
straight through processing
and Complaints Management
Continued on page 24
for federal domestic debt was
transformed by the rebasing of
the national accounts published
by the National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS) in April 2014.
The analysts however stressed
that FGN’s domestic debt stock
is still manageable.
According to them, “These
are the sovereign obligations
of the FGN, and therefore
exclude the obligations of
AMCON (now solely held
by the CBN), the NNPC and
other public agencies, and the
Continued on page 24
Elumelu Speaks on Power, Africapitalism
Following his advocacy for entrepreneur led development for
Africa at the White House and Georgetown University, African
business leader and philanthropist, Tony Elumelu spoke on African
energy issues at the Sustainable Energy For All (SE4ALL) Global
Advisory board meeting in New York, yesterday. The event was
co-chaired by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the
World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim.
Elumelu, the Chairman of the United Bank for Africa and the
Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, is on the Advisory Board
of SE4ALL along with global leaders such as US Secretary of
State John Kerry, and the Directors General of the UNDP and
UNIDO. The initiative brings together leaders from all sectors
of society to collaborate to help increase energy access and
build a more prosperous and safer world.
Following the energy meetings, Elumelu is in Paris, France at
the invitation of French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius today
take part in a global business dialogue focused on influencing
the agenda for the 2015 Conference of the Parties (COP 21), the
leading annual negotiating summit on climate issues.
Elumelu, the only business leader invited from West Africa, has
been invited along with an exclusive group of 40 Global Business
leaders, including: the Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group, Jack
Ma, CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, and the CEO of Tesla,Elon Musk.
Also, Elumelu will on Friday deliver the closing keynote address
on the topic “Africapitaliam as a Catalyst for the Development of
Africa” at Oxford University courtesy of the Oxford Africa Society.
Goldman Sees Oil at $50
As oil prices fell from more than $100 a barrel to a low of $43.46
over the past year, analysts and economists constantly tried
to pick a bottom and had little success. Now, they are trying to
forecast a recovery, but Goldman Sachs has predicted oil will
stay at lower levels for the rest of the decade.
“We see potential for OPEC/the US to gain share longer term,
even as WTI falls from $60 to $50 by the end of the decade,”
Bloomberg reported.
They forecast that companies are poised to do well in an environment
with lower oil prices. Other market analysts have made
predictions for oil to move at least slightly higher over the longer
term, as they forecast that non-OPEC related supply will start to
shrink. Goldman, on the other hand, reckons that the shale boom
will continue even as OPEC refuses to cut back on production.
Goldman analysts led by Brian Singer stated: “While the sharp
reduction in US drilling activity is likely unsustainable, greater
productivity in shale, start-ups of already sanctioned other
non-OPEC projects and a greater willingness of OPEC to keep
production levels elevated create a confluence of deflationary
pressures for both oil and North American natural gas prices.”
IITA, AfDB Target Rice Cultivation in Nigeria
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the
Africa Development Bank (AfDB) are on the verge of increasing
rice production in Nigeria and striking its name away from the
list of countries that import huge amount of rice.
Both organisations are aiming to achieve their goal through a
project, Support to Agricultural Research for Development of
Strategic Crops in Africa, instituted to help boost production
of cassava, maize, rice and wheat in African countries.
After a stakeholder consultation workshop hosted by the institute
in Ibadan, the Coordinator of the project, Dr. Chrys Akem, said
Nigeria would benefit hugely from the programme in the area
of massive rice cultivation and exportation, owing to the vast
agricultural potential it possessed and the Federal Government’s
willingness to develop its agriculture base.
According to him, “The major objective is to ensure food and
nutritional security. Another aim is to raise the income level of
the farmers so as to better their livelihood. At inception in 2013,
our modest goal was to attain 20 per cent yield increase in each
of the communities we are working.”
The decision to amend
our national definition
of unemployment is
not something we take
lightly at the NBS
DG, National Bureau of
Statistics,
Yemi Kale