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Former FIFA president Sepp
Blatter will learn Monday whether his appeal against a six-year ban from
football has been successful, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said
on Friday. Once the most powerful man in football, Blatter is serving a ban
over ethics violations relating to a suspect $2 million payment he authorised
in 2011 to former UEFA boss Michel Platini.The 80-year-old Swiss served as
FIFA chief from 1998 to 2015. Both Blatter and Platini were originally banned
for eight years by the sport’s world governing body, but that was reduced to
six years by a FIFA appeals panel in February. Platini had his ban cut by a
further two years by CAS in May.The result of Blatter’s appeal will be made
public at 1400 GMT (1500 local time) on Monday.A CAS statement confirmed:
“The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will issue its decision in the
arbitration procedure between Joseph S Blatter and the Federation
Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) at 3.00pm (Swiss time) on
Monday, December 5 2016.” Source:
Guardian
Wilfred Ndidi completes move to
Leicester from Genk
Super Eagles’ defender, Wilfred
Ndidi’s move to English Premier League side Leicester City from Genk of
Belgium is done and dusted, reports owngoalnigeria.com. A fee of £15m payable
in two different installment was agreed Wednesday night between Genk and
Leicester City, before the Cup game against Waasland-Beveren,. Source:
Guardian
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The Nigerian
equities market closed on a positive note for the second day yesterday as the
Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index (NSE ASI) rose 0.09 per cent to close
at 25,265.08. The market had rebounded the previous day to halt five days
losing streak following the activities of bargain hunters. The positive run
was sustained yesterday with the NSE ASI rising by 0.09 per cent to be at 25,265.08,
while market capitalisation added N2.2 billion to close at N8.7 trillion.
However, analysts at Cordros Capital Limited said the marginal gains of the
past two days , despite the huge sell-off experienced last month, do not
point to sustainable recovery. According to analysts at Meristem Securities
Limited, performance of the market was driven mostly by bargain hunting on
selected stocks and buy sentiments towards the oil and gas stocks, following
OPEC’s decision to cut crude oil output by 1.2mbpd on Monday. “We expect this
trend to persist for the rest of the week,” they said.In line with the
renewed interest in oil and gas stocks, Mobil Oil led the price gainers for
the fourth consecutive day, rising by 10.2 per cent. Similarly, Forte Oil Plc
added 10.2 per cent, just as Oando Plc garnered 4.8 per cent. Outside the oil
and gas sector, Portland Paints chalked up 9.2 per cent, while Okomu Oil Palm
added 5.0 per cent. In terms of performance across the sectors, two sectors
appreciated, while three declined. Obviously, the NSE Oil & Gas Index led
with 3.0 per cent driven by sustained rally in Mobil Oil Nigeria, Oando Plc
as well as bargain hunting in Forte Oil Plc. The NSE Banking Index followed,
advancing 0.3 per cent on account of renewed buying interest in Guaranty
Trust Bank Plc (+0.7 per cent), Wema Bank Plc(+1.9 per cent) and United Bank
for Africa Plc(+0.2 per cent). Analysts at FSDH Research recently said many
banking stocks are trading at huge discounts compared to their peers in other
jurisdictions. Conversely, the NSE Consumer Goods Index fell 0.5 per cent on
the back of decline in Nigerian Breweries Plc (-1.4 per cent) while the NSE
Insurance Index slid 0.1 per cent as a result of profit-taking in WAPIC
Insurance Plc (-2.8 per cent). Similarly, the NSE Industrial Goods Index shed
0.04 per cent. Source:
Thisday
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Senate
House Committee on Privatisation has disclosed that the aviation sector will
get zero allocation in the 2017 budget proposal that the president will
present soon. The committee, led by its chairman, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce,
said that the plan to concession the airports and readiness of private
investors to assume responsibility means that the Federal Government would no
longer need to commit revenue to run the facilities.Meanwhile, the committee
has also said it would summon the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi
Sirika, to explain why the Murtala Muhammed Airport II (MMA2) terminal
concession agreement failed and still not resolved till date.The botched
agreement, according to them, remains a bad reference point for future
dealings with the Federal Government and would make no sense continuing with
privatisation of other airports without first resolving the MMA2
impasse.Murray-Bruce explained that from his understanding of happenings in
the aviation sector, the private sector is able and willing to fix problems
in the industry.He, therefore, said: “I will lobby my colleagues to give
aviation zero allocation henceforth. There is no point giving them money
where private investors can do better. When you don’t give them money, then
you’ll solve a lot of problem.“The advantage is that the billions we could
have spent in aviation can now be spent in education, healthcare and in the
north east where children are hungry due to the catastrophe of the Boko
Haram. So, we’ll give up this economy completely to the private sector as it
is done in other parts of the world,” he said.Murray-Bruce, shortly after the
tour of the MMA2 terminal in Lagos recently, said underlining such project,
and others like it, were legally binding agreements reached by the Federal
Government and private investors.He said Nigerians need to know why agencies
of the government would not honour agreements they freely entered and onus is
on the minister to explain.Recall that the Federal Airports Authority of
Nigeria (FAAN) and Bi-Courtney Limited in 2003 reached a Build-Operate-Transfer
concession agreement on MMA2 terminal that was burnt in 2000. Shortly after
the terminal was rebuilt, years of operations (15 or 35years), before it is
transferred to FAAN, became a subject of protracted legal battle between FAAN
and Bi-Courtney. While Bi-Courtney insisted on 35, FAAN in disagreement began
to violate the agreement with the construction of the General Aviation
Terminal (GAT) to rival the MMA2, prevention of the Regional Operations to
take off at MMA2, among others that led to loss of revenue to the
oncessionaire.Murray-Bruce said: “We have listened to Bi-Courtney’s side of
the argument and we will summon the Minister of Aviation to the Assembly to
present his side of the argument. It is not enough to tell me what FAAN is
doing or not doing. FAAN is a parastatal of the ministry of aviation and
there is no point talking to FAAN on this,” he said.The chairman said that
the invitation was ultimately to broker a solution to the problem, which past
committees had not been able to address. Source:
Guardian |
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The
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele has said that if
well tackled, Nigeria’s current economic challenges can pave the way to
future prosperity for the country. This, he said was the reason why the
federal government and the central bank are constantly formulating and
re-evaluating policies they believe would set the country on the path of
greater economic prosperity.This is as he disclosed that losses due to
cybercrimes across all sectors were estimated globally to hover between $400
– $550 billion in 2015. The figure, he said could rise to $2 trillion by the
end of 2019. “This amount is more than the annual GDP of most individual
nations, including Nigeria. Here at home, we are not spared of losses due to
cybercrimes and the global trend ought to alarm us about the gravity of this
problem,” he added.Emefiele said this in a keynote address delivered at the
35th Quarterly General Meeting of the Association of Chief Audit Executives
of Banks in Nigeria, in Lagos yesterday.“Where and when necessary, we must
remain bold and persistent, and never afraid to try new ideas, as these are major
requirements in a time of change. That is why I am confident that Nigeria
will overcome our current challenges. But, I suspect that we can only
overcome these challenges if we are ready to make fundamental change in many
of our attitudes, orientations and practices,” said Emefiele whose speech was
read by his Special Adviser on Financial Markets, Emmanuel Ukeje. He added:
“Nigeria is at a crucial point in its financial history. The economy is in
recession. The price of oil, which is our main source of foreign exchange
earnings and government revenue, has significantly reduced, and may remain so
for a long time.“Money is scare for most citizens. Regrettably, Source:
Thisday
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Electronic
commerce, commonly called e-commerce, is the trading or facilitation of
trading in products or services using computer networks, such as the Internet
or online social networks.It has been a strong catalyst for economic
development in Nigeria- led to the creation of jobs; boosted productivity;
hugely reduced the cost of doing business; and provided access to new
markets.For consumers, it has made more goods available at competitive
prices, leading to significant gains in the general standard of living. It
has also added convenience, because a click of the button in the comfort of
the bedroom will cause a delivery at the doorstep. Yet, many others have
benefitted from the initiative.Of course, the Deposit Money Banks have played
an essential supporting role in the country’s burgeoning e-commerce industry,
which has indeed been the toast of both local and foreign investment.It has
helped local technology companies thrive, as well as enabled global
technology players from Silicon Valley to Europe looking to capitalise on
Nigeria’s large population and its potential as a hub on the African
continent, to successfully operate.The contribution of the banking sector to
e-commerce has taken several forms. Firstly, as financial institutions, they
have provided the technology infrastructure critical to the flow of payments
to and from the agents participating in e-commerce.The backbone of e-commerce
is payments, and as e-commerce continues to grow, and online transactions
soar, users should rely more on the robustness, security and convenience that
this financial infrastructure provides. E-commerce is only able to grow when
ease, convenience, and security is ensured.Due to the efforts of deposit
money banks in ensuring safety and trust, the inhibitive fear customers have
in conducting online transactions has been significantly allayed, leading to
the inclusion of more users and the expansion of the e-commerce
ecosystem.Additionally, deposit money banks have supported organisations in
leveraging e-commerce technology to engage with their customers. Stemming from
their industry experience, banks have assisted businesses in adopting
e-commerce in their delivery of goods and services, especially in setting up
the infrastructure and payment capabilities for them to successfully engage
in e-commerce, thereby enabling such clients receive payments efficiently for
the goods and services they offer.Due to this vital support, customers are
conveniently able to pay for services such as electricity and water bills,
Internet and cable subscriptions; airline and cinema tickets; even financial
services like insurance and payment of taxes from the comfort of their homes.
Source:
Guardian |
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The
naira is seen weakening further against the United States dollar next week
amid a crackdown in the parallel market currency traders and the persistent
scarcity of the greenback. Reuters reported that foreign exchange
demand by small businesses was set to surge ahead of holiday season sales.
The local currency fell 2.08 per cent week-on-week on Thursday to 480 to the
dollar on the parallel market against 470 a dollar last week, while it was
quoted by commercial lenders at 314.80 a dollar on the interbank market. The
naira has, however, consistently closed around 305.5 a dollar level since
August via the official window. “The consistent clampdown on black market
operators by security agents has driven some currency retailers underground,
putting more pressure on available hard currency,” one dealer said. But the
Kenyan shilling could strengthen against the dollar in the coming week due to
subdued importer demand and increased inflows from overseas remittances,
traders said. At 0742 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at
101.80/102.00 to the dollar, the same as last Thursday’s close. “From the
data we’ve seen in the past, we normally tend to see an uptick in the
Diaspora inflows during this month of December,” said a trader at a
commercial bank. Ghana’s cedi is expected to regroup in coming weeks on
improved forex inflows as the central bank launches a $40m fortnightly
interbank auction, traders say. The cedi has been fairly stable this year but
began sliding last month on a seasonal surge in end-of-year import demand and
election-year shocks. It was trading at 4.3000 to the dollar at 1020 GMT on
Thursday, compared with 4.1000 a week ago. “We see the local unit potentially
taking back some gains should the regulator keep the amount offered at $40m
in the upcoming fortnightly auctions,” a Barclays Bank Ghana analyst, Andrews
Akoto, said. Source:
Punch |
