page 22 news

page 22 news

Page 22 News

Unemployment rate rises to 9.9% in Q3- NBS

By Francis Arinze Iloani

Nigeria’s unemployment rate has risen to 9.9 percent in the third quarter of this year from the 8.2 percent recorded in the second quarter of 2015.

A report released recently in Abuja by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the number of unemployed in the labour force, increased by 1,454,620 in the third quarter, up from 529,923 recorded in the second quarter of the year.

Before the latest rise in the nation’s unemployment rate, the figure had climbed to 8.2 percent in the second quarter of this year from the 7.5 percent recorded at the first quarter of the year, and this represents a fourth consecutive rise in the unemployment rate since the third quarter of last year.

The NBS also reported that the number of underemployed in the labour force, being those working but doing largely menial work or jobs not commensurate with their qualifications or not fully engaged and merely working for few hours, during the review quarter dropped by 365,593.

The drop resulted in a decrease in the underemployment rate to 17.4 percent in the period from 18.3 percent recorded in the last quarter.

The report also revealed that the total number in full time employment, being the people who did any form of work for at least 40hours, increased by 840,773 or 1.52% from the record of the second quarter of this year.

The nation’s economically active population or working age population, being persons within ages 15-64, also increased from 102.8 million in first quarter to 103.5 million in second quarter and then 104.3milion in third quarter of 2015.

Meanwhile, a separate report also released by the NBS revealed that Nigeria added a total 475,180 jobs to the economy in the third quarter of 2015.

Judging from the rise in the nation’s working age population, unemployment rate increased despite the number of jobs created in the period.

The report indicated that the jobs created in the third quarter of the year were an increase of 333,812 jobs when compared with the previous quarter and 36 percent, being 125,837 jobs, when compared to the third quarter of 2014.

Udoma harps on policy evaluation

By Victoria Onehi

Budget and National Planning Minister, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, has said the inauguration of the independent association for professional monitoring experts is another milestone in strengthening the credibility of the Nigeria’s monitoring and evaluation system.

The Minister stated this at the first national conference of the National Association of Evaluators as well as the commemoration of the 2015 International year of Evaluation, held in Abuja recently.

The minister who was represented by the Director Infrastructure, Mr C.E Ezeilo, said “another building block has been added to strengthening the culture of evidence based policy making process which is critical for development.”

The Director, Monitoring and Evaluation of the ministry Dr Zakari Lawal said the objective of the meeting was to bring on board important actors to the National Monitoring and Evaluation framework which is designed to support the government.

Speaking on the 2015 International Year of Evaluation, Zakari said in 2013, the United Nations declared that countries should celebrate 2015 as evaluation year to project the relevance of Monitoring and Evaluation as a key tool in governance and service delivery.

Chief Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation officer, UNICEF, Mr Denis Jobin said the international year of evaluation was to give a platform to strengthen the use of evidence in policy making.

SEC to launch investor protection fund, corporate governance rules

By Chris Agabi

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said the launch of the Capital Market Master Plan Implementation Council (CAMMIC), the National Investor Protection Fund (NIPF) as well as the unveiling of the SEC Corporate Governance Scorecard for public companies this week will broaden reforms initially started by the new Director General in the sectors.

Director General, Mounir Gwarzo, said in a statement that the new reforms being championed by the SEC should enable Nigeria’s capital markets move to the next growth phase, by engendering investor confidence as well as attracting new listings, analysts say.

Nigeria’s first Corporate Governance Scorecard for public companies (set to be launched by the SEC) is a tool for the assessment of corporate governance practices, and was developed with support from the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The setting up of a National Investor Protection Fund (NIPF) and inauguration of the NIPF Board will usher Nigeria among the only a few countries with a national investor protection fund to compensate investors for pecuniary losses arising from bankruptcy, negligence or malfeasance by a non-broker/dealer capital market operator.

The NIPF will be overseen by a Board composed of seven members to be chaired by the SEC Director General.

Sources at the Commission revealed that the programmes set to be unveiled on Thursday 26th November, are all directly linked to the 10-year capital market master plan which the SEC began implementing this year.

The SEC Director General, Gwarzo, who heads the leading market regulator in Africa’s biggest economy, has consistently made it clear that his main agenda for the capital market is implementing the master plan.

The SEC under Gwarzo has been proactive in engendering confidence in capital markets since he resumed office this year.

In May the SEC suspended three subsidiary companies of the BGL Group: BGL Asset Management Limited, BGL Capital Limited and BGL Securities Limited from all Capital Market activities.

Excess fuel cargoes litter ports as marketers shun imports

By Daniel Adugbo

As fuel queues rip through states and the federal capital territory, there are indications that a substantial backlog of refined petrol cargoes are waiting to be cleared offshore Togo and Nigeria.

Only the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is said to be importing petrol as the delay in the payment of petroleum subsidy to marketers, who account for more than 40 percent petrol imports, have forced them to stop importing refined fuel.

“Our members can’t import now because of the failure of the government to release the Naira 413 billion outstanding subsidy claims on previous (petrol) imports,” spokesman for the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Femi Lawore, told Platts recently.

In recent weeks, a large loading program of petrol in Northwest Europe has resulted in large amounts of gasoline available in the offshore Lome market, as West African importers were keen to buy on the back of the import allocations issued by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) for the fourth quarter of 2015.

Dangote commended for sponsoring Kano Fair

The Dangote Group has been commended for sponsoring the 36th Kano International Trade Fair which opened at the weekend, even as the company offered attractive prices for its commodities.

Director General of the Kano State Chambers of Commerce Industry Mines and Agriculture (KACCIMA) Alhaji Aliyu Muhammad Mustafa commended the Dangote Group for the sponsorship and for supporting the growth of businesses in Kano State.

“Dangote Group is our major sponsor. We want to commend Alhaji Aliko Dangote for helping businesses to grow in Kano State and by extension the whole of Africa,” he said.

A statement from Corporate Communications Unit of the Dangote Group said, Alhaji Mustafa expressed optimism that this year’s trade fair, with the Theme: Improving Products Quality and Packaging to Competitiveness for the Attainment of Sustainable Economic Growth, will witness a higher patronage.

He said as usual the West African countries are participating.

Other countries that are participating, according to him, include: India, Poland, Pakistan, Turkey and Argentina among others.

Companies from the Dangote Group that are on ground at the fair include Dangote Sugar Refinery, NASCON Allied Industries Plc (Dangote Salt), Dangote Cement Plc, and Dansa Foods Limited among others.

Some of the products to be displayed at the fair include Dangote sugar, Dangote salt, DanQ seasoning, tomato paste, various ranges of fruit juice products and bottled water from Dansa Foods.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje who was represented by the Commissioner for Commerce Rabiu Bako said the state government and KACCIMA are working together to encourage private sector participation to ensure the planned economic development of the state.