Archives July 2016

The Central Bank of Nigeria said it has set aside N2.5bn for members of the National Youth Service Corps with good business ideas to actualise their dreams.

The N2.5bn, which was set from the N220bn Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund, the bank said, would be disbursed to the corps members under the Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme.

The CBN is targeting to create one million jobs through the YEDP, which is an initiative of the apex bank launched on March 15 this year by the governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele.

The purpose of the programme is to address the challenges of youth unemployment in the country.

Under the YEDP, the apex bank, in collaboration with Heritage Bank Plc, will develop the entrepreneurial capacity of the youth as well as provide each of them with a maximum of N3m to operate a business.

The activities to be covered under the programme are start-ups and expansion projects in the agricultural value chain (fish farming, poultry and snail farming), cottage industry, mining and solid minerals.

Others are tourism, arts and crafts, Information and Communications Technology and any other activity that may be determined by the CBN.

Speaking during the event at the NYSC camp in Abuja on Thursday, Emefiele said the initiative would enable the CBN to conserve the huge foreign exchange, which was currently being spent to import food items.

He said each corps member was entitled to N3m, adding that their discharge certificates as well their degree certificates would be used as collateral to secure the loan.

The governor stated, “It is not a grant and it is a loan that must be repaid. We are determined to give support to the youth and I truly must thank the National Youth Service Corps, which has helped us to put together the first set of NYSC beneficiaries so that we can nurture them as young entrepreneurs, not as people who go into the world looking for jobs.

“We want to nurture them as people who are developing the entrepreneurial spirit and entrepreneurial skills; not only for their good, but also for the good of the country.

Emefiele expressed optimism that the corps members would not default in repaying the loan owing to the fact that they would not want to lose their certificates for N3m.

He added, “We do not anticipate that any of them fails. However, we have as collateral their NYSC certificates as well as their degree certificates. We know that our youths know the importance of their degree certificates as well as their NYSC certificates as collateral for this loan.

“I don’t think that somebody who has a degree certificate or HND certificate to get gainful employment or a gainful life will abandon his certificate or his NYSC discharge certificate just because he wants to take a loan and not pay back.”

The Director-General, NYSC, Brig.-Gen. Sule Kazaure, commended the CBN for initiating the programme for the corps members.

Source:© Copyright Punch Online

The Nigerian stock market closed the first half of the year with a growth of 3.3 per cent compared with a decline of 3.2 per cent in the corresponding period of 2015. Although the market ended on a bearish noted yesterday, in all, it recorded a growth at the end of first six months of the year. The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) closed at 29,597.79 on the last day of June, up from 28,642.25 at which it opened 2016.

Market capitalisation added N314 billion, rising from N9.851 billion to close at N10.165 trillion yesterday. Analysts said but for the rebound the market recorded recently following positive reactions to the new flexible foreign exchange policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the market would have ended the first half on negative note just last like last year.

After a bearish trend caused by policy flip flops, exchange rate uncertainty and budget delay, the market rebounded two weeks back following the new forex, policy bringing the year-to-date(YTD) growth to the positive territory.

Reacting to the development then, analysts at InvestmentOne Limited had said: “In the immediate, while we expect the ongoing optimism regarding a possible shift to a market-determined exchange rate regime to support market performance. We see the impacts of these events on market performance. However, in the medium to longer term, we see improved performance on the back of efficiency gains from an expansionary fiscal policy leading to improvement in aggregate demand.”
However, profit taking set in reducing the YTD growth to 3.3 per cent yesterday.

The market closed with a decline of 0.7 per cent yesterday depressed mostly by Ecobank Transnational Incorpodated (-3.09 per cent), Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc( (-2.94 per cent), FBN Holdings Plc (-2.51 per cent), United Bank for Africa Plc(-2.08 per cent); Forte Oil (-1.90 per cent); Zenith Bank (-1.44 per cent); Nigerian Breweries (-1.44 per cent), Dangote Cement (-1.03 per cent)c among others.

According to analyst at Dunn Loren Merrifield, “the current market trend suggests that, optimism that the new CBN FX policy would bring relief to the market particularly on banking stocks is beginning to fade as investor remains sceptical about the policy sustainability and transparency.”

Source:© Copyright Thisday Online