APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that the African Export-Import Bank and the United Bank for Africa have disbursed $2.25bn of the $3.3bn oil-for-cash loan facility arranged by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Monday.
The Punch reports that the African Export-Import Bank and the United Bank for Africa have disbursed $2.25bn of the $3.3bn oil-for-cash loan facility arranged by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
In a statement from UBA over the weekend, an initial disbursement of $2.25bn has been made and a second tranche of $1.05bn is expected to be disbursed subsequently.
UBA, which is the Local Arranger and Onshore Account Bank for the transaction said that the five-year facility carries a margin of 6.0 per cent per annum above the three-month secured overnight financing rate.
The transaction structure has an embedded price balance mechanism where 90 per cent of all excess cash from the sale of the committed barrels (after debt service) will be released to the borrower, while the balance of 10 per cent will be used to repay the facility, effectively shortening the final maturity of the facility and freeing cash flow from future pledged cargoes for use by Nigeria.
Commenting on the successful financial close, Afreximbank President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Professor Benedict Oramah, said, “This facility further demonstrates the Bank’s commitment to supporting African economies, when such assistance is most needed. Afreximbank stands by its member countries in good and difficult times. The disbursement of the initial $2.25bn under the facility will support Nigeria’s long-term economic stability, ease access to import financing for raw materials and essential goods, and support industrialisation and trade development efforts. We are pleased that despite the typical year-end pressures, our partners and investors committed the funds required in record time. We thank them for their support.”
The NNPCL Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kolo Kyari, said that the proceeds of the facility have been made available to the federal government as one of the strategies to improving macro-economic stability.
The newspaper says that the seven major oil marketers in Nigeria have registered with the Dangote Petroleum Refinery for the lifting and distribution of refined petroleum products produced by the $20bn plant.
Dealers under the aegis of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria confirmed on Sunday that with the registration, they would commence the distribution of fuel produced from the facility once the commercial terms are sorted.
This came as the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria also revealed that they would meet with the management of the Dangote refinery this week to discuss terms of product loading.
Similarly, the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria stated that PETROAN had been engaging the management of the multi-billion dollar refinery for the supply of products from the facility.
As IPMAN and PETROAN engage the refinery, major marketers who are members of MOMAN have already registered with the plant and are set to start buying products.
The seven major marketers include 11 Plc, Conoil Plc, Ardova Plc, MRS Oil Nigeria Plc, OVH Energy Marketing Limited, Total Nigeria Plc and NNPC Retail.
On Friday, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery announced the commencement of production of Automotive Gas Oil, also known as diesel, and JetA1 or aviation fuel.
The Guardian reports that the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari; Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; the Minister of Budget Planning, Atiku Bagudu, and other stakeholders in the agriculture sector have met to boost food production and reduce food inflation.
The meeting, held at the weekend in Abuja, was in line with the directive of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s declaration of food security emergency, under the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro Pocket (NAGS-AP) Programme.
Speaking after the meeting, Kyari stated that the objective of the forum was to also review the implementation of the 2023/2024 dry season wheat production implemented in 15 wheat-producing states of the Federation.
The Minister said there were observed lapses in the implementation process, hence the need for collective and comprehensive evaluation of efforts to be put in place and proffer remedial measures to forestall their reoccurrence.
To tackle some of the challenges recorded during the first phase of the programme, he said officers would be deployed to manage and coordinate the supply chain activities.
In his remarks, Edun said there were substantial intervention funds for the agric sector to produce more rice, maize, wheat, and cassava.
In his goodwill message, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, said: ‘’Nigerian agricultural space is one of the most elastic in the world. Every cropping season can produce a miracle if there is more investment in the sector.’’
Meanwhile, Kyari, has stressed the need for states to supply the Federal Government with data of credible farmers for effective distribution of inputs.
The call followed allegations of round-tripping by some farmers, who receive farm inputs from government and sell same to agro dealers at lower rate during the dry season farming in November 2023.
The minister, while receiving the Governor of Kebbi State in his office at the weekend, stressed that the success of the second phase of the dry season farming would depend on availability of credible farmers’ data and accurate geo-reference farmlands.
The newspaper says that some residents of Ibadan have decried the persistent cash scarcity, even as amidst banks and Point of Sales (PoS) operators are trading blames over the situation.
Describing their experiences in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Sunday, the residents said not so much had changed from what the situation was the last yuletide.
NAN reports that some banks in Ibadan still have their limits on the amount of cash customers can withdraw from Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), even long after the festive season.
Describing his experience, an entrepreneur, Mr John Alamu, said things were just a little bit better than they used to be during the Christmas period.
He noted that customers could only withdraw a maximum of N10,000 at some ATM points while many ATMs were empty.
“You will just see that you are moving from one point to another, looking for a working ATM to collect your money.
“The condition is still not pleasant, and this has forced many people to be patronising PoS operators,” Alamu said.
A food vendor, Mrs Taiye Adeolu, said she now kept her cash to herself and was no longer saving in the bank because getting cash to use for business had remained difficult.
“I go to the ATMs to get little amount of money, which is way below what I need to run my business.
GIK/APA
Nigeria: Press zooms in on disbursement of over 2bn by Afreximbank, UBA to NNPCL
Previous ArticleS/African minister confident of victory in Israel genocide case