February 9, 2019 - Newsfield GLOBAL

E-payment: Cheque transactions plunge to N5trn

February 9, 2019February 9, 2019 admin

From an all-time high of N17.8 trillion recorded in 2009, value of cheque transactions has been on steady yearly decline to hit an all-time low of N5 trillion in 2018, New Telegraph has learnt. The volume of transactions also dropped to nine million from 10.8 million in 2017, according to statistics released by the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS). The decline is attributed to the growing preference for electronic payment channels, which are considered faster than cheque. For instance, in 2018, transactions over Point of Sales terminals, which is one…

Oil, gas investors, others rally to end funding fuss

February 9, 2019February 9, 2019 admin

Organiser of the annual sub-Saharan Africa Upstream Oil and Gas Summit, ZPT, declared at the weekend that it was providing opportunities for an exchange of ideas on best practices between investors and regulators across the East Africa region to solve the funding fuss rocking the sector. Known as Zenith Professional Training, ZPT maintained in a statement that its forthcoming conference would seek to exploit the opportunities in the East African oil and gas industry with a special focus on Tanzania. Chief Executive Officer of the company, Oladapo Ayoola, who said…

Climate change: Insurance, vital for farmers

February 9, 2019February 9, 2019 admin

Recent changes and development in weather have made it vital for cash crop farmers and other investors in agriculture to take insurance more seriously. Sunday Ojeme reports For sometime now, the effect of widespread global warming is having its toll on every sphere of human endearvour. In the developed world where experts easily predict the weather with precision, the change in the ozone layer, according to experts, has continued to impute some level of doubts into their precision. In the last one week or so, the level of snowfall in…

Checking congestion with new satellite cities

February 9, 2019February 9, 2019 admin

Efforts to reorder escalating population and continuous pressure on Lagos are in top gear as developers explore more fringe communities. Dayo Ayeyemi reports. The United Nations projects that Nigeria’s population will exceed 250 million mark by 2030. About 10th of this figure will live and work in Lagos in an estimated area of 356,861 hectares of which 75,755 are wetlands. Lagos is, by most estimates, one of the fastest-growing cities in the world as about 6,000 people enter the city on daily basis. Influx of people to the metropolis has…

‘Banks’ addiction to mobile apps heightening fraud’

February 9, 2019February 9, 2019 admin

Incidences of mobile-related financial frauds may be on the increase in the country as banks roll out more mobile applications and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) services, New Telegraph has learnt. This also comes with the disclosure that the banks in rolling out the services, most times sacrifice security for ‘ease-of-use’. Industry statistics shows that mobile payment fraud in the country rose from N248.14 million in 2015 to N347.645 million in 2017 and still growing. According to the Managing Director, Digital Knowledge Associates, Mr Benedict Anyalenkeya, this is happening because…

Premium on workmen compensation drops to N196.19m

February 9, 2019February 9, 2019 admin

Following regulatory directives, which transferred the management of Workmen Compensation and Employers Liability Insurance to the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) under the Employers Compensation Act 2010, premium accruable to insurers has gradually declined by 88.5 per cent from N1.70 billion to N196 million in the last nine years. According to details in the current edition of Nigeria Insurance Digest, a Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) compendium of insurance business transaction in 2017, the industry recorded N1.70 billion in 2009 and followed with N903.24 million in 2010. The gradual decline…

FDI: Stakeholders bemoan investor apathy to real estate

February 9, 2019February 9, 2019 Dayo Ayeyemi

Nigeria’s fragmented real estate industry, difficulties in obtaining construction permits and other factors have discouraged foreign investors from large-scale investments in the sector, New Telegraph has learnt. According to experts and major players in the sector, despite improvement of Nigeria on the Global’s Ease of Doing Business global ranking 2018, private developers have continued to encounter difficulties in obtaining construction permits and property titles due to lack of transparency by officials of government. They agreed at a Business Forum organised by the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI) Nigeria in Lagos that the World Bank’s…

OML: Drilling on two slots hits 203 in 14 years

February 9, 2019February 9, 2019 admin

Shell said that it had, through Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and other PSCs partners, drilled 203 oil wells offshore Nigeria in the last 14 years. The company, which said this in a document obtained by New Telegraph at the weekend, noted that these wells were drilled on Bonga and Erha oil fields between 2002 and 2016. “Twelve years after first oil, Bonga is still operating at “nameplate capacity” – its capacity when it first came into production in 2005. The company had drilled 203 oil…

Forbes’ billionaires: Dangote retains spot as Africa wealthiest

February 9, 2019 admin

*BUA boss, Rabiu, re-emerges with $1.6bn Four Nigerians including Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Folunsho Alakija and Abdulsamad Rabiu have been listed among top billionaire in Africa with a combined net worth of $22.2 billion. In the latest ranking by Forbes, Dangote, Africa’s prolific investor, retained his position as the wealthiest man in the continent. His estimated $10.3 billion net worth, however, is nearly $2 billion less than a year ago, primarily due to a roughly 20 per cent drop in the stock price of Dangote Cement, his most valuable…

Minimum wage: Governor seeks sympathy for colleagues

February 9, 2019February 9, 2019 admin

Following the unending battle between labour and the Federal Government over new minimum wage, the Governor of Kebbi State, Alhaji Atiku Bagudu, has called on Nigerians to sympathise with some state governors over their inability to pay the proposed N30,000. Bagudu, who was part of the Tripartite Committee on New Minimum Wage that recommended N30, 000 new minimum wage, said that in spite of the Committee’s commitment and recommendation, it was also important for stakeholders to sympathise with governors in that category. He gave the advice in Abuja at the…