FG's Revenue Drive Yielded N806 billion in April, Says CBN

Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Finance Minister

Latest data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has put the total federally-collected revenue for the month of April at N805.91billion.

The figure, which was contained in the bank’s Economic Review for the Month of April, however, fell below the provisional monthly budget estimate by 14.7 per cent but exceeded the receipt in the preceding month by 2.0 per cent.

 

At N620.97 billion, oil receipts (gross), which constituted 77.1 per cent of the total revenue was, below the provisional monthly budget estimate by 3.7 per cent but surpassed the level in the preceding month by 4.3 per cent.

 The decline relative to budget estimate was attributed largely to the fall in receipts from crude oil and gas exports in the review period.

10 Africans Who Founded Million Dollar Internet Companies

VENTURES AFRICA – The number of millionaires springing up from digital ventures has grown tremendously in the past two decades, as the world increasingly embrace the potential of knowledge technologies, information and social media to produce economic benefits , employment and enable globalisation. From Mark Zuckerberg to Sergey Brin, Lawrence E. Page and YouTube partners: Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim, the world has witnessed a new breed of entrepreneurs who have charted a new course in business and made a fortune at it. The good news – Africa is not lagging behind. Innovative minds in the motherland have cited and exploited opportunities in the knowledge economy, which has become more prominent as the internet usage and importance increased over the years. In this article, Ventures Africa shortlists, in no respective order, 10 Africans who have successfully amassed a fortune from founding million dollar internet companies.

Vinny Lingham
Founder Yola Inc, South Africa
South Africa’s Vinny Lingham is the founder of the popular free web building, publishing and hosting services site Yola Inc (previously named SynthaSite) based in San Francisco. Yola has attracted over $30 million in venture capital financing from investors such as Columbus Venture Capital and plays host to over 3 million active users across the globe.

Shaping Africa’s Future Leaders With Fred Swaniker

Through his African Leadership Academy, entrepreneur Fred Swaniker is determined to develop the next generation of leaders for the continent.

VENTURES AFRICA – Just like the great American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. dreamt of equal social existence, so did Ghanaian-born entrepreneur, Fred Swaniker dream of building a Pan-African school that would position the new generation of African youth for prosperity.
Swaniker’s dream in reality is today known as the African Leadership Academy (ALA), a prestigious school in Johannesburg, South Africa, that educates some of the most talented African youngsters from all African nations.

Nurturing relationships with over 2,500 educational institutions across the continent to identify the most suitable candidates to fulfil these roles, students of the ALA are hand selected for attendance at the school. This rigorous selection process is designed to single out not only the brightest students from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds but also those who have demonstrated entrepreneurial leadership and a strong passion and commitment for Africa.

Here’s How to Invest in Africa’s $300 Billion Electricity Boom

June 30, 2013: President Obama speaks at the University of Cape Town in Cape Town, South Africa. (AP)

President Obama is wrapping up a wide-ranging trip to Africa this week, one in which he talked about everything from human rights, the triumphs of Nelson Mandela, a return to growth in Zimbabwe and the prospects of an African renaissance.

But it was his comments about access to electricity that should have drawn the most attention. The President is setting the stage for a huge leap in Africa's standard of living - and most people probably didn't notice.
As we've reported before, there are plenty of reasons to be bullish here at the start of the African Century. It's true that, all across the continent:

• Poverty rates are falling
• Conflicts are winding down
• Incomes are rising
• Economic growth is accelerating
• The middle class is growing, and
• Investment is increasing

But there are some key infrastructure necessities that are still lacking. Chief among those is access to electricity.

The Need Is Painfully Clear

Obama celebrates Ghanaian entrepreneur, Fred Swaniker

Fred Swaniker

A Ghanaian entrepreneur based in South Africa has been commended by the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, for using his expertise to help young Africans to develop their leadership skills.

 Speaking at the Young African Leaders Initiative Town Hall at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa on June 29, 2013, President Obama sang the praise of the Ghanaian, who is in his mid thirties, for his enormous contributions to the continent.

The event was a question-and-answer session with a handpicked audience from across Africa. This is part of his three-nation Africa tour. He first visited Senegal with Tanzania being the last leg of his tour.

A release from the Office of the Press Secretary, White House acknowledged the need for entrepreneurs like Swaniker to be empowered to do more.

BlackStartup: The African American Solution To Crowdfunding

In the past five years, crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have revolutionized the way entrepreneurs go about raising capital for new business ventures. Although these sites have helped turn countless of startup pipe-dreams into a reality, a significant number of entrepreneurs, Blacks in particular, aren’t necessarily feeling the same love…until now.

BlackStartup recently made its debut with a crowdfunding platform that focuses on funding projects and ideas benefiting African Americans.

Founders Nathan Bennett-Fleming, Olugbolahan Adewumi, Aaron O. Brien, Kyle Yeldell, and Christopher Hollins are determined to close the “Black startup gap,” as they call it, by attempting to fix the root cause: lack of capital.

“I think it is important that we encourage non-profits and social enterprises to raise resources on our platform to address social problems facing the African-American community,” BlackStartup CEO Nathan Bennett-Fleming told NewsOne.

Nigeria Loses N159 Trillion As IOCs Divest

Is the spate of divestments in the oil and gas industry a healthy development for Nigerian economy? This has been the question on the lips of many Nigerians, as the country has suffered capital flight in excess of $10 billion or N159 trillion in the last four years as a result of divestments from the oil and gas industry by some international oil companies, IOCs.

While some argued that such divestments portend a bad omen for an industry undergoing reforms and in search of new investments, others maintained that it is in fact healthy for the economy as it would bring in new players and even more foreign investments.

Divestment is a normal business decision taken by companies to reduce some kind of assets for financial, ethical, or political objectives or sale of an existing business.

However, in the last few years, it has become a regular occurrence in Nigerian due to what stakeholders described as unfavourable operating environment.

It is believed that the divestments by some of the IOCs were linked to the uncertainties surrounding the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which has also made oil majors hold back on future investments.
For example, Shell, the leading oil producer in Nigeria last year said that it was holding back a planned investment of about $30 billion in two offshore deepwater projects.

Nigeria: Volume of Nigeria-UK Trade May Hit £8 Billion By 2014 - Official

Mr Chukwuemeka Awagu, a former President of the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce, on Tuesday said that the volume of trade between Nigeria and Britain could hit eight billion pounds by 2014.

"Available data indicate that the trade volume between the two countries stood at 6.4 billion pounds at the end of 2012," he told with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

According to Awagu, Nigeria and the U.K have been enjoying cordial business relations spanning several decades.

"In the annals of relationships among nations, Nigeria's relationship with Britain has been a very special one, spanning political, cultural, religious, educational, historical and economic, among others.

"Nigerian businesses have continued to look up to the UK markets for finished goods, technological know-how and financing.

"UK companies and investors also look up to Nigeria for viable platforms to deploy manufactured products across various sectors of the Nigerian economy," he said.

Awagu advised the two countries against using discriminatory policies to jeopardise their cordial trade relationship.

He also urged the two nations against violating the terms of trade and investment agreements they both acceded to in 2010.

NAN

Obama calls for sustainable investment in Africa

Barack Obama has called for a new model for African countries to improve their self-sufficiency in the energy and food production sectors, and for the continent to “unleash the next era of African growth”.

In a visit to Tanzania, the US president said he wanted to see Africa focus its investment not only on aid and help, but on trade and partnerships.

He launched a new $7 billion US project called Power Africa, which aims to double access to electricity in the sub-Saharan region, where only 9% of people currently have access.
Obama said, “We don’t want to just provide food, we want to increase food self-sufficiency. 
 
“When it comes to power, we’re not just building power plants ourselves – we’re working with the various governments that are involved to think about what are the laws and regulations that are required to sustain it, and how do we leverage the private sector to put more money in.

“So ultimately, the goal here is for Africa to build Africa for Africans. And our job is to be a partner in that process, and Tanzania has been one of our best partners.”

AFRICA INVESTMENT-Can Obama's Africa Power plan hold a candle to China?

* U.S. $7 billion initiative follows big Chinese projects
* Obama hints U.S. investment will create markets, jobs

JOHANNESBURG, July 2 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama's $7 billion plan to shine "light where currently there's darkness" in Africa by doubling access to power on the world's poorest continent was billed as a highlight of his African tour.

He announced the Power Africa initiative in Cape Town on Sunday in a speech which he also urged the fast-growing but still troubled region to follow the shining example of South Africa's anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela.

But Obama's proposal, which aims to partner U.S. government financing with private sector investment, may look low-wattage compared with China's already ongoing big electricity projects on the world's least-developed - and least lit - continent.

As Abuja, 5 Others Goes Cashless, Customers Ask For More Time

Banks operating in Abuja and the five states of Abia, Abuja, Kano, Ogun and Rivers yesterday commenced the implementation of the cashless policy of the Central Bank Nigerian (CBN) even as customers called for more enlightenment about the policy.

Many of the banks in these states and Abuja had messages boldly announcing the new policy in their premises in addition to earlier short messages and e-mails sent to their customers prior to commencement of the policy.

Though many of the customers who spoke to LEADERSHIP applauded the new policy, they were also sceptical that the policy might create avenues for fraudulent persons to issue dud cheques and in the process, defraud them. In Abia State, the policy took off with the majority of the banking public complaining that they have not been properly sensitised.

AfDB pledges Sh257b for Obama’s bid to light up Africa

The African Development Bank (AfDB) will expand its work in reforming the energy sector as part of its support for US President Barack Obama’s Power Africa initiative.

Already a major investor in the energy sector, the AfDB will scale up funding for energy production, transmission and distribution infrastructure, cross-border power pools, as well as government policy and regulatory reforms.

The bank will particularly emphasise reforms for national power utilities, many of which are in need of better business models and financial reinforcement.

“We expect to allocate as much as $3 billion (Sh257.3 billion) over the next five years. This will leverage at least four times more investments in the energy sector. Our interventions will include investment loans, reforms, advisory and guarantees,” AfDB President Donald Kaberuka said in Dar es Salaam, in reference to Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, and Nigeria — the Power Africa priority countries.

“Reforms are the key,” Kaberuka said. “The billions of dollars available for investment in the energy sector will translate into actual bulbs in people’s homes and electricity necessary to grow small businesses if state utilities run efficiently and effectively. The policy reforms will facilitate and enhance cross-border energy markets.”

The main financial source for the bank’s assistance to the energy sector in the Power Africa countries is the African Development Fund (ADF), which is its concessional window.

Addressing CEOs in Tanzania on Monday, Obama said that he saw Africa as the next major success story and he wanted the US to be part of that success through Power Africa.

“So that’s why, yesterday, I announced Power Africa — our initiative to double access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa. I want to thank the African Development Bank for its partnership, as well as many companies that have stepped up with commitments.”

Source: Standard Digital

Nigeria Has Real-Estate Potential—and Challenges

In some ways, Nigeria looks like a real-estate investor's dream. But there also are drawbacks to investing in Nigerian property.

In some ways, Nigeria looks like a real-estate investor's dream.

Africa's second-largest economy has an emerging middle class eager to shop in modern stores and is attracting many of the world's largest companies, which need offices. The country has a shortage of all types of modern space, raising the likelihood that the market will favor landlords for years to come.

But there also are drawbacks to investing in Nigerian property. For starters, the country ranked 96 out of 97 - one above Sudan - in the Jones Lang LaSalle 2012 global real-estate transparency index, which tracks the ease and confidence investors have in buying commercial real estate in a given country.

Heirs Holdings announces $2.5bn investment for Africa’s power sector

Heirs Holdings chairman Tony O Elumelu

Nigeria-based investment company Heirs Holdings has announced to support the Power Africa initiative with an investment of $2.5bn.

The Power Africa initiative is a multi-stakeholder partnership between US, the governments of Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Ethiopia, and the African private sector with a common goal to accelerate investment in the power sector of Africa over the next five years.

Heirs Holdings chairman Tony O Elumelu said the investment is part of the company's plans to become an important player in the power sector.

"Heirs Holdings' investment in Power Africa is not just about creating value for shareholders. We want to conduct business in this strategic sector for the long term, in a way that links economic return to social benefits -- a key component of what I call Africapitalism," Elumelu added.

"Access to affordable, uninterrupted power will have an immeasurable impact on the economic ecosystem. The cost of doing business will come down, entrepreneurs will expand and innovate, and jobs will be created as a result."

The initiative was launched in South Africa during US President Barack Obama's town hall at the University of Cape Town.
Source: EBR

Dangote Assures Nigerians On Economic Revival

Alhaji Aliko Dangote

Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote has called on indigenous and foreign investors to invest more in the economy of Nigeria, revealing that Nigeria is the best place to have good returns on investment.

Speaking recently when a group of entrepreneurs visited him in his office in Lagos, Dangote assured them and other Nigerians of economic revival, stating that the current challenges facing the country will soon be a thing of the past.

“We need not be discouraged by various challenges facing us as a nation, they are necessary steps needed for the nation to rank among the best industrially in years to come,” said Dangote.

He noted that the situation in Nigeria is such that all must ensure the dream of Nigeria’s economic turn-around becomes a reality.

Oil thefts threaten Nigeria's economy, environment

DIEBU, Nigeria — The first drops of crude float in the languid muddy currents of Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta, then slowly grow into the splatter of a massive crime scene.

Oil thefts, long a problem in the Niger Delta, are growing at an ever-faster rate despite government officials and international companies offering increasingly dire warnings about the effect on Nigeria's crude production. Some 200,000 barrels a day - representing about 10 percent of Nigeria's production - are siphoned off pipelines crisscrossing the region.

While drums end up leaking in villages and used to make crude kerosene and gasoline, the major thieves appear to belong to international criminal gangs that sell it into world markets, analysts and experts say. And the same Nigerian politicians and military leaders now targeting the small-scale local refineries that dot the delta likely are the ones benefiting from those massive thefts.

Nigeria: Failure to Declare Money Above U.S.$10,000 Punishable, Says CBN

Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, weekend, cleared the wrong notion that any person travelling outside or coming into the country cannot carry above $10,000, saying it was a misinterpretation and misapplication of the provision of the Money Laundering (Prohibition ) Act 2011.

CBN, in a statement to all banks and other financial institutions, said that any person travelling or coming into the country can carry above $US 10,000, provided such amount was declared.

He said that only those who made false declarations or fail to make such declarations are to be prosecuted.

In a statement dated June 26, 2013, Acting Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department of the CBN, Mr. Y. Duniya, said: "Section 2(3) of the MLPA, 2011 (as amended) provides that transportation of cash or negotiable instruments in excess of US$10,000 or its equivalent by individuals in or out of the country shall be declared to the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS.

Creeping Tiger: India’s Presence In Africa Grows, Even As China Steals The Spotlight

In its quest for new energy resources to meet growing demands at home, India is increasingly looking to Africa.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is welcomed by
South African President Jacob Zuma at a summit in Pretoria.                 
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko

This week, two state-backed corporations joined forces to sign a deal for the acquisition of a 10 percent stake in a gas field in Mozambique. The $2.5 billion transaction will involve the transfer of 10 percent participating interest in the Rovuma Area 1 Offshore Block in Mozambique, or Area 1, from Videocon Mauritius to a newly incorporated entity, of which India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, or ONCG, will have a 60 percent stake and Oil India Limited will have 40 percent.
“Area 1 covers approximately 2.6 million acres in the deep-water Rovuma Basin offshore Mozambique and represents the largest gas discovery in offshore East Africa with estimated recoverable reserves of 35 to 65 trillion cubic feet,” said the press release from ONCG. “Area 1 has the potential to become one of the world’s largest LNG producing hubs with first LNG expected by 2018.”

The news might be overlooked; this week, most of the international dialogue about Africa is centered on the competition between the United States and China. U.S. President Barack Obama has begun his weeklong tour of Tanzania, South Africa and Senegal, hoping to strengthen trade and investment ties -- something Beijing has been actively pursuing over the past decade.

As China Prepares To Ramp Up African Investment By $2.4B, Obama Shrugs Off Competition

Liberian children in Monrovia hold Chinese flags to welcome
President Hu Jintao on a visit to the country back in 2007.
Photo: Reuters       

An investment vehicle called the China-Africa Development Fund is cementing the partnership between a fast-developing continent and the world’s second-largest economy by infusing $2.4 billion into African projects, according to fund president Chi Jianxin.

The China-Africa Development Fund, or CAD Fund, “operates independently through market-based mechanisms and bears risks on its own,” Chi said to China Daily. “In comparison with funds managed by Western companies or governments in Africa, we are more inclined to pay attention to medium-term and long-term investment, because African countries are at a different stage of development, industrialization and urbanization.”

China became Africa’s largest bilateral trade partner in 2009; the total volume was valued at $198.5 billion in 2012 and is expected to surpass $380 billion by 2015. This strengthening relationship is principally fueled by China’s need for energy resources to fuel its own growth, but resource extraction is not Beijing’s only goal. Africa has great potential as a consumer market, something China could help to develop with smart investments across a range of sectors -- and that’s just what the CAD Fund is there for.

Nigeria: Foreign Investors Shun Diamond Bank's $550m Bonds

Diamond Bank's quest of raising fresh funds amounting to $550million from international market may have hit the rocks as foreign investors have shown no interest in buying into it.

The debt was part of $750 million needed for its operations, of which $200 million had already been raised last year
According to the bank, fresh fund would enable it to increase lending to the oil and gas, power and infrastructure sectors.

Already, France's BNP Paribas and Afrexim Bank have been contacted as lead managers to the bonds.

However, the bank's two-week investor road show to Britain, Switzerland and the United States last week, which was meant to update fund managers on the bank and gauge appetite for the issue ended in no deal, according to the Chief Finance Officer, Abdulrahman Yinusa.

He stated that due to the prevailing circumstance, the planned bonds issuance would take place in July, while pricing and tenor would be dependent on market conditions.