48 BUSINESS DAY
g www. g @ g Monday 04 February 2019Monday 04 February 2019
BUSINESS DAY 49
Monday 04 February 2019
NEWS 50 BUSINESS DAY
www.businessday.ng www.facebook.com/businessdayng @businessDayNG @BusinessdayngBoko-Haram-ISWAP takes over West Africa’s biggest fish market
supply from the Lake Chad of Nigeria, established new markets in Chad and Niger republic, and using revenue flow from the business to fund it operations.
“ISWAP have effectively neutralised the biggest fish market in West Africa, the Baga Fish Market situated in Maiduguri, Borno State. In-stead, they have created two major fish markets outside Nigeria, one is in Kusiri in Chad, while Nigerian traders mostly from South Eastern Nigeria now access through Mubi in Adamawa State.
“The second fish market created by the group is situ-ated in Kinchhandi in Niger Republic where traders from Hadeija in Jigawa and Kano states access for their market stocks,” Ya`u said.
Between 2013 to 2015 about 90% of the territories that constitute Northern Borno in addition to signifi-cant entities in Central and Southern Borno were totally in the hands of the Boko-Haram.
These Local Government Areas bear natural land bor-ders with three countries namely: Niger Republic, Chad and Cameroon. But, few months to the 2015 gen-eral elections things began to change dramatically. The insurgents began to lose territories steadily. This up-surge in momentum contin-ued into the change of gov-ernment in May 2015.
“With the new regime, and the appointment of a new military service chiefs, the military was able to change the fortune of the war, and built bases in 22 ar-eas captured by them. With these network of bases cou-pled with several satellites of bases, the military effective-ly choked and smoked out the insurgents” he said.
He noted that with the backing of ISWAP at the mo-ment turned the war to it advantage, as the group had been able to take over 15 out of the 22 military bases pre-viously liberated from them.
“These losses have come
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he el-Barnawi fac-tion of the Boko-Haram insurgent group, and its foreign affiliate the Islamic State West Africa Provision (ISWAP), is now in full control of some strategic fishing communities in the Lake Chad of Nigeria.The group has also tak-en over tax administration in the area, through which it is building up its revenue base, which is being used to finance the scale of in-surgence activities in the country.
Yunusa Ya`u, executive director, Centre for Infor-mation Technology and Development (CITAD), one of the not-for-profit organi-sations working in states in the Northeaster Nigeria where the insurgent group is active, confirmed this devel-opment.
Ya`u disclosed that the group had been able to ef-fectively neutralised the fish
with weightier implications.
For instance, with ISWAP in control of all the fertile agrarian and aqua resources of the Lake Chad communi-ties, they have introduced a new tax regime and services to the local people.
“It seems the military in the height of the control over these territories did not present themselves as a valued option to the villag-es, unlike, the ISWAP which now control some of these villages, is now providing basic amenities to the peo-ple of the area.
“The group is now pro-viding security in the ar-eas they are now controlling and working with fish trad-ers in the communities, and have effectively neutralised the biggest fish market in West Africa.
In view of the ongoing development, the CITAD’s ED is calling on the Federal Government to institute a full probe of the ongoing military campaign against the insurgence group.
L-R: Uwa Agbonile, MD, Infoware Limited; Adedeji Rabiu, financial control, Nigerian Stockbrokers Limited (NSL); Olukemi Osinaike, MD, Crossworld Securities Limited, and Olatunde Amolegbe, 1st vice president, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, at the CEO
meets by Infoware cocktail event in Lagos. Pic by Olawale Amoo
NAMA acquires new spare parts to boost TRACON operation
Speaking on the develop-ment, Fola Akinkuotu, man-aging director of NAMA, said, “The relationship be-tween NAMA and the equip-ment manufacturer, Thales, has never been a frosty one as some media reports would have it. In fact, it has been very cordial and we are poised to continue to keep it that way. You will recall that we cleared some con-signments of spare parts for TRACON last year from the same Thales.”
Akinkuotu said apart from the spares already re-ceived, another consign-ment of spares had landed Apapa Port and was being presently cleared while oth-er consignments woth-ere al-ready being shipped to
Ni-N
igerian AirspaceM a n a g e m e n t Agency (NAMA) has taken de-livery of another consign-ment of critical spare parts required for the continuous service and operation of the Total Radar Coverage of Ni-geria (TRACON).
The consignment, which was cleared at the Apapa Port in Lagos from Thales Group, in France, include MES1 1400A power supply modules, control units and other critical units that will be used by NAMA engineers to effect repairs on any of the nine TRACON installations across Nigeria as may be required to ensure optimal functioning of the system.
BDCs to integrate operations with CBN, NIBSS, NFIU in live run portal
B
ureaux De Change (BDC) operators are making plans to automate all opera-tions with those of Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Sys-tem (NIBSS), Nigeria Finan-cial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to improve the level of compliance with set regu-lations.Consequently, the As-sociation of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) will on Tuesday, launch its Live Run Automa-tion Portal in Lagos.
Speaking with financial journalists ahead of the por-tal launch in Lagos, Aminu Gwadabe, ABCON presi-dent, said the group had secured the CBN’s no-objec-tion approval to launch the Live Run portal.
The approval, Gwadabe said, reaffirms the regu-lator’s commitment to a transparent and viable forex market where stakeholders’
interest is protected.
According to Gwadabe, the world is going digital, and BDC operators under his leadership are commit-ted to staying ahead of the competition by deploying time-tested technology to deliver effective services to customers.
The objective is to make Live Run portal enhance BDCs compliance with set regulations and promote market integrity, he said, as the portal will sustain transparent transactions in the BDC corridor, boost the morale of its members and ensure their continuous op-erations.
The ABCON chief said the group had fully upgrad-ed its Information Commu-nication and Technology (ICT) platforms to achieve full digitisation of BDCs op-erations in line with its goal of sustaining transparent HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE
ADEOLA AJAKAIYE, Kano
Atiku pledges to end ASUU strike if elected president
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residential candi-date of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, has pledged to end the lingering strike by university lecturers in the country, from his first day at work, if elected the next pres-ident of Nigeria.The presidential candi-date made this disclosure in Lagos, Sunday evening, at the Silverbird Man of the Year event.
According to Atiku, the industrial action, which has denied university students in Nigeria access to education for a period running into four months, is disgraceful and thus will receive his first at-tention as president if voted
IFEOMA OKEKE into office in the February 16
presidential election.
“I am aghast that as I speak, our students across the nation are not being edu-cated due to the ASUU strike caused by an unresolved de-bate of about N60 billion.
“If I get the job I am seek-ing, my first task on day one – along with naming my cabi-net – will be to end this dis-graceful strike and get our stu-dents back to their studies.”
In his remarks, the presi-dential candidate observed that education plays a pivotal role in the rise to success of any individual or nation and hints further that if he becomes the next president of Nigeria, his administration will increase the budgetary allocation to education in triple fold from
the current 7 percent to not less than 20 percent.
According to Atiku, “I will also triple the amount the Ni-gerian Government spends on education from 7 per cent of its budget today, not just to the 15 percent recom-mended by UNESCO, but to 20 percent.
“I recognise the value ed-ucation can bring to the in-dividual and the nation. But even more than that, I want every child in Nigeria to have the opportunities I had.”
Atiku further noted that the 2019 presidential election presents an opportunity for a turning point in the develop-ment of the country, adding that he has the requisite ex-perience to drive Nigeria to prosperity.
geria from France according to the shipping schedule sent to the agency by Thales, adding that payment had al-ready been made for all con-signments ordered for.
The NAMA boss also re-vealed that as part of efforts to keep pace with global best practices, TRACON would in a few months’ time undergo a total recondi-tioning process that would ensure that the entire sys-tem attained the acceptable reliability level specified by the International Civil Avia-tion OrganisaAvia-tion (ICAO).
He described this pro-cess as “a sort of turn-around-maintenance,” to be carried out by the equip-ment manufacturer, Thales Group.
operation and prompt ren-dition of weekly returns to operators.
He said the group also recently launched the www.
naijabdcs.com to serve as a reliable platform for local and international investors, who will rely on it to access uniform forex rate across states, regions and markets nationally.
According to Gwad-abe, ABCON coordination journey of automation and digitalisation of BDC’s pro-cesses started in 2016 with the launch of our automa-tion platform named www.
abconng.org.ng.
The project came with three layers and stages. First layer is online real time reg-istration of our members with a success rate of over 4,100 BDCs registered na-tionwide. This layer is to en-able our members conduct their membership registra-tion from any of their loca-tion without coming physi-cally to ABCON Secretariat.
The second layer bothers on automation of ABCON’s operational process, book-keeping, issuance of receipt, preparation of accounts, balance sheets, ledgers and sales/purchase registers.
The most important of this layer is the online real time rendition of returns to regu-latory agencies.
Another important feature of this layer is the BDCs on boarding and in-tegration of the Bank Veri-fication Number (BVN) platform on the NIBSS portal for verifications and validation of clients’ BVNs, which is a most vital re-quirement forex sale.
“Of special note is also the integration of our form to immigration plat-form for the verifications of international passport.
Already, we are in advance engagement with the Irish technology experts for the achievement of this idea.
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Monday 04 February 2019
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GAC resolves rift between Ambode, Lagos lawmakers
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he crisis between Governor Akin-wunmi Ambode of Lagos State and the legislative arm of the state government is be-lieved to have been resolved.The power brokers in Lagos operating under the aegis of Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC), who are be-lieved to have stirred the lawmakers against Ambode in the first place, were said to have convened a meeting on Sunday to resolve the rift.
Present at the meeting were Bola Tinubu, former governor of Lagos State, who is the chairman of the GAC, Governor Ambode and his deputy, Idiat Adebule; Mu-dashiru Obasa, speaker of the Lagos State House of As-sembly, his deputy, Wasiu Esinlokun, among others.
Tinubu after the meet-ing was said to assured that Ambode would not be im-peached.
The House had last week threatened to impeach Am-bode after accusing him of
‘gross misconducts’ includ-ing spendinclud-ing funds not
ap-propriated for as well as not presenting the 2019 budget to the House.
There were allegations in some quarters that the impeachment threat was meant to arms twist Ambode to release funds to the tune of N100 billion to the power brokers in the state to pros-ecute the 2019 general elec-tions. Ambode is not a can-didate in the elections having been denied a second term ticket by his party - APC.
Tinubu, who is also a national leader of the APC and godfather of Lagos poli-tics, was said to assured that Ambode would not be im-peached. Speaking after the meeting, Tinubu said: “We held a meeting on behalf of entire Lagosians.
“In the last one week or so, there has been some talk about a conflict between the Executive and the Legislature in Lagos. This is of great con-cern to us.
“We looked at the source of the conflict, which is nor-mal in a democracy, and that is why there are also conflict-resolution mechanisms. We examined the grievances on both sides.
Angola, Mozambique point way to Nigeria in oil investments
D
espite Nigeria’s oil and gas sec-tor’s huge poten-tial, Angola and Mozambique are currently a test case on how needed oil investments can be at-tracted into the country, especially as uncertainties still cloud Nigeria’s invest-ment climate with delays in the passage of the Petro-leum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB).Ladi Bada, managing director, Shoreline Natural Resources, is concerned that key oil companies in Nigeria are not getting ad-equate funding from the global oil majors because fiscal governance structure is not backed by law yet.
“There is limited funding in the world, and there is limited funding for Africa, and if Exxon Mobil, Shell want to do an investment, countries with better fis-cal framework are better off and automatically their investment destination,”
Bada told BusinessDay on the sidelines of the just-concluded Nigeria Interna-tional Petroleum Summit in Abuja.
“Mozambique with just 100mn TCF of gas and no oil has commanded sig-nificant investment of late JOSHUA BASSEY
because of better fiscal framework to operate on.
We have seen countries like Angola with lesser oil barrels than Nigeria also keying in more than ever in attracting huge investment sums because of better fis-cal framework,” Bada said.
Expressing further con-cern over the uncertainties that characterise the petro-leum sector, he argued that the worry of the industry is that the more uncertainties there are, the more shaky people are in pulling in their investments.
Industry watchers are further worried that with majority of other African countries discovering oil and getting better fiscal gov-ernance structure to drive investments, Nigeria is no longer dominating the Af-rican petroleum markets as investors look out for coun-tries with better governance structure for investments.
“The minister had made some efforts with the policy documents as outlined in the ‘Seven Big Wins’, but a better fiscal governance structure in the form of a bill for an act is what the policies would ride on to deliver a long-lasting legacy in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector,” Bada said.
“As leaders, we also looked into areas where there has to be compromise. In order to build institutions and encour-age consensus building, we have to do what is right.
“There is no impeach-ment. Let there be more communication and con-sensus building and under-standing. All these are inbuilt in the democratic system.
“We thank the speaker and the leadership of the House. We thank the gover-nor and the deputy govergover-nor.
They have all demonstrated respect for the party leader-ship in Lagos.
“You know when Lagos sneezes, other areas catch cold. We are happy that we are able to resolve the con-flict and things will start moving well going forward.”
The rift between the execu-tive and legislaexecu-tive arms of the state government as well as the non presentation and passage of the 2019 budget is already telling effect on good govern-ance in Nigeria’s economic capital, as most infrastructure projects meant to add value to the state economy and its esti-mated 21 million population have a been stalled.
Emmanuel Ibeh Kachik-wu, Nigeria’s minister of state for petroleum resourc-es, at the just-concluded summit expressed hope on the speedy passage of the bill, noting that President Muhammadu Buhari raised some issues with the bill as passed by the National As-sembly. He confirmed the National Assembly is ad-dressing those issues point-ed out by the president.
“The current Assembly has done some measure of work on the PIGB. The only reason we have not had the kind of push that we would have loved is that the president raised some concerns on the bill, which he had sent back to them, and they are working on it,”
Kachikwu said.
It would be noted that the overriding purpose of pursuing the Petroleum Industry Bill in the last 17 years is to create the gov-erning institutions with clear, understandable and separate roles and foster business environment conducive for petroleum industry operations. It is also aimed at promoting accountability and estab-lishing framework for the creation of commercially viable petroleum entities.
HARRISON EDEH, Abuja
... as PIB passage drags
Monday 04 February 2019
BUSINESS DAY
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NEWS 53
Monday 04 February 2019
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Why manufacturing PMI slumped in January
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he Manufacturing Purchasing Man-ager Index (PMI), an indicator of economic health for the manufacturing sector, slumped by 2.6 points to 58.5 index points in the first month of 2019, compared with 61.1 index points in December 2018.The decline is attributable to the slower rate of expan-sion due to lower production level and new orders as well as destocking of inventories, according to analysts at CSL Stockbrokers.
They positioned that the slow down in production level was driven by weaker demand on the back of high rate of unemployment and inflationary pressures.
The PMI report showed that all 14 sub-sectors record-ed growth in the period under
review.
According to them, the slump in manufacturing PMI signals a waning momentum that characterises business activities at the beginning of a new year. All the sub-indices of the overall manufacturing PMI contracted when com-pared with December figures.
Production level PMI sank by 4.3 points to 59.3 index points. New orders PMI de-preciated by 3.4 points to 63.6 points. Suppliers’ delivery time PMI fell by 3.4 points.
Employment level and Raw materials/Work-in-Pro-gress PMIs depreciated by 0.6 and 3.3 points to 56.4 and 59.9 index points, respectively.
On year-on-year basis, manufacturing PMI inched higher by 1.2 points com-pared with 57.3 index points in the corresponding month of 2018.
Giving reasons for the decline in manufacturing
PMI, Olayinka Olohunlana, a Lagos-based economic and financial analyst, attributed the decline to infrastructural deficiency in the sector, which had marred them from pro-ducing at full capacity.
“It would be a daunting task for any manufacturing firm to produce at optimal level without having adequate infrastructural facilities in place,” she said on phone.
According to Olohunlana, infrastructural deficiency heightens production cost and hampers business profit-ability, which is exactly what Nigerian manufacturers are currently facing.
This upheld the claim of the Manufacturing As-sociation of Nigeria (MAN) that Nigerian manufacturers expended N246.38 billion on private power generation in two years owing to the poor state of public power supply in the country.
Nigerian Army redeploys 15 senior officers
and appointed Corps Com-mander, while Major General CT Olukoju, the erstwhile Sig-nal Corps Commander, has been appointed Director Gen-eral of the newly created Nige-rian Army Simulation Centre (NASIMC) with Headquarters in Abuja.
“Major General US Yakubu has been posted to Headquar-ters of Nigerian Army Corps of Artillery and appointed Corps Commander, Major General CU Agulanna, has been post-ed to Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC), as Senior Re-search Fellow, while Major General F Yahaya, the Military Secretary (Army), has been posted to 1 Division Nigerian Army and appointed General Officer Commanding, Major General AR Bakare has been posted to Headquarters, Ni-gerian Army Finance Corps (NAFC) and appointed Chief of Army Accounts and Budget.
“Similarly, Brigadier Gen-eral DO Donibo has been
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he Nigerian Army has announced the rede-ployment of 15 senior officers consisting seven major generals, seven brigadier generals and a colo-nel. According to the director Army Public Relations, Sani Usman, a brigadier general, the posting was released Feb-ruary 2.In a statement, “The Ni-gerian Army has yesterday Saturday 2nd February 2019, released the postings and ap-pointments of some of its sen-ior officers. Those affected by this include, Major General AA Tarfa, who has been posted from Headquarters of Nige-rian Army Corps of Artillery, to Martin Luther Agwai Interna-tional Leadership Peacekeep-ing Centre, as Commandant, Major General M Moham-med, from 1 Division Nige-rian Army, to Headquarters, Nigerian Army Signals Corps
posted to Nigerian Army School of Infantry and ap-pointed Director Army Train-ing Support Centre (ATSC), Brigadier General GAT Ochig-bano has been appointed Act-ing Military Secretary (Army), Brigadier General OC Ajunwa has been posted to Nigerian High Commission Brasilia and appointed Defence Adviser, Brigadier General ST Shafaru is the new Commander En-gineers, at the Headquarters Nigerian Army Special Forces Command.
“Brigadier General BY Baffa has been posted from National Defence College to the Office of the Chief of Army Staff and appointed Chief of Staff, while Brigadier General UB Abubakar has been ap-pointed as Deputy Military Secretary I, Brigadier General EE Emekah has been posted from Army War College Nige-ria, to 707 Special Forces Bri-gade and appointed as Com-mander.
the Local Content Act to drive their activities in the oil and gas sector, while also pledging Federal Government’s techni-cal assistance in driving their business.
“The initiative is an initia-tive of the Minister who chal-lenged us after the technology conference in Houston, Texas in the United States of Ameri-ca, want us to replicate some of the learning for our indig-enous oil producers. We have targeted first 100 companies and we are taking off with 60 companies for now.
”We would evolve a finan-cial model that would sort out the bottlenecks often encoun-tered by these companies to enable them also access the funds earmarked by the Bank of Industry to drive local con-tent,” he said.
Bello Rabiu, chief operat-ing officer, Upstream, who represented the group man-aging director of the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corpora-tion (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, stated that opportunities abound in the petroleum upstream and downstream sectors, as he urged the in-digenous local firms to take advantage of the opportuni-ties as provided by the Local Content Law.
“There is a demand of 150 million metric tons of steel which has now surged up to 450 million metric tons of steel, and industry demands are rising as more countries are discovering oil across the Afri-can continent. There is a huge market, and we must take ad-vantage of that,” he said.
Earlier in her remarks, Yemi Esan, permanent secre-tary in the Ministry, said the idea of lending institutional support to indigenous oil firms was to ensure more lo-cal players along the oil and gas value chain, which would ensure more local players participate and grow the oil and gas sector.
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he Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has con-firmed 60 indigenous oil firms that have benefited from its‘Project 100’ that seeks to pro-vide institutional support to 100 indigenous oil and Gas Service Providers in the country.
The support, Simbi Wabo-te, executive secretary of the NCDMB, says it is geared towards improving their technical and business man-agement capacity, access to market, healthier business environment, access to fi-nance, business process and technology as well as better procurement process in their business dealings.
Wabote, who spoke at the presentation of the 60 select-ed indigenous firms in Abuja on Thursday, urged benefit-ting companies to ride on the opportunities presented by
HARRISON EDEH, Abuja
NCDMB confirms 60 beneficiaries of its support for indigenous oil firms
Rivers N150bn monorail project tears candidates apart
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he controversialN150 billion mono-rail project in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for which N30 billion may have been spent, is tearing apart those who jos-tle to govern the state come May 2019.
Whereas, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) leads in the quest to re-vive the project because it is peoples’ money that is involved, the Labour Party (LP) is vehemently op-posed to such ideas.
Those in between, such as the Action Democratic Party (ADP) and Action Democratic Congress (ADC) said they would study it first to know its viability.
Details of their posi-tions emerged at the BBC Governorship Debate se-ries that came to Port Har-court on January 31, 2019, at the Hub on Peter Odili Road at Trans-Amadi sec-tion of the state capital.
When the issue was thrown up by the modera-tor, Nduka Orinmuo, the SDP candidate, Precious Elekima, said he would carry on with the project because huge sums had been sunk into it, but said he would divert the route to Isaka in Okrika as part of a plan to push Port Har-court southwards.
The extreme case against the monorail was taken by Ikwerre-born LP candidate, Isaac Wonwu, vehemently rejected the reviving the pro-ject. He said he had better ideas with money to invest.
Another candidate who derided the project as ‘cho-pisnon’ meaning fraudulent ISRAEL ODUBOLA
IGNATIUS CHUKWU & GLADYS NWEKE project, is the candidate of the ADC, Eniye Braide, but he at least he would look into it.
Close to the position of the SDP is the candidate of the ADP, Victor Fingesi, who said he would want to com-plete it but cautiously said he would first commission a study into it. He however admitted that Port Harcourt needed an efficient trans-port system.
The project was aban-doned by the Wike admin-istration who said it was fraught with financial mis-application. Instead, a panel was set up to probe it. Wike had once said it was only if the people demanded for its re-instatement that he could return to it. Thus, the Wike-led administration has not breathed any words about the project since coming into office in 2015.
However, while answer-ing questions duranswer-ing the 2019 gubernatorial debate organized by the BBC Pidg-in Service, Elekima vowed to continue the Monorail project, but with a diver-sion to Isaka community in Okrika Local Government Area of the state.
The fate of the monorail project was nailed in March 2016 by Gov Wike after a quick probe action on the project started by Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in 2008.
The former administration to which Wike was a princi-pal officer (chief of staff) had initiated the project follow-ing a recommendation of a public forum on transporta-tion where a onetime mili-tary governor, Tony Ukpo, had suggested the monorail system as best for an emerg-ing mega-city.
According to MAN, Nige-rian manufacturers incurred N129 billion in 2016, N117.38 billion in 2017 and N43 billion in the first six months of 2018.
Non-manufacturing PMI stood at 60.1 points in the reviewed period, indicating 2.2 points decline compared with 62.3 points in December 2018.
On year-on-year basis, Fig-ure for Non-manufacturing PMI for January 2019 inched higher by 1.6 points as against 58.5 points a year earlier.
Out of the 17 non-man-ufacturing sectors captured in the survey, 16 recorded growth except management of company subsector that remained unchanged during the review period.
The four non-PMI sub-indices weakened when com-pared with December figures.
Business activity PMI sank by 3.5 points; Level of new order PMI dip by 2.9 points.
… as SDP leads in quest to restart it
STELLA ENENCHE, Abuja
L-R: Chukwukadibia Okoye, chief financial officer, Coronation Merchant Bank; Aderonke Adebule, business development manager, Lagos and West, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA); Abubakar Jimoh, GMD/CEO, Coronation Merchant Bank, and Tom Isibor, head, ACCA Nigeria, at the presentation of ACCA approved employer award to Coronation
Merchant Bank in Lagos. Pic by Olawale Amoo