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Afrexim Signs $1.1bn Loans with Dangote, Elumelu’s Heirs Holdings

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Afreximbank - Investors King
  • Afrexim Signs $1.1bn Loans with Dangote, Elumelu’s Heirs Holdings

The African Export Import (AFREXIM) Bank, has signed a memorandum ( MOU)of understanding with both the Dangote Group of Companies and Tony Elumelu’s Heirs Holdings Foundation for a loan of 1$billion and $.1billion respectively.

The two deals, were signed at one of the sessions at the 24th Annual General Meeting of the bank holding in Kigali, Rwanda.

At the signing ceremony, AFREXIM Bank’s president, Dr. Paul Oramah, said the deal was part of the bank’s bid to expand businesses in Africa through disbursement of N9 trillion ( $25 ) billion in the next five years.

He said the bank, had set for itself target of strengthening businesses in various sectors of the economy within the region to bring a major change in the prevailing situation whereby once there was crash in commodity prices, it would send economies of most countries into recession.

He said the regional bank, which was currently focusing its core strategy on promoting intra-African trade, promoting industrialisation and export of manufactured goods as well as maintaining trade financing leadership in Africa, was already making its business supportive and promotion impact in many countries within the continent.

The AFREXIM Bank boss, commended the president of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote for his business efforts describing him as pride of Africa.

Listing Dangote group among the African business Champions, the continent could boast of Oromah, stated, “A number of African champions have emerged creating manufacturing capacities and fostering the emergence of regional and continental supply chains. For instance:

“The Dangote Group has cement plants in about 14 African countries and is now the largest supplier of cement in Africa. The Group will by 2018 open one of the largest refineries in the world. The refinery, with capacity of about 650,000 bpd, can supply the total refining requirements of West Africa.”

Speaking, Dangote thanked the bank for the loan saying it would be judiciously utilised in expansion of the group’s investment. He said the group had investments in 14 African countries adding that its main business in those countries was cement.

He said in its effort to expand its business frontiers, the group had to contend with competition, some of which comes from top government officials of the host countries.

He said the group, had relied on legal appeals to surmount such problem.

The group, according to him, surmounts problem of high production cost in most of the African countries by generating its own power directly from the national grid.

He said even in the midst of the resistance, the group, paid its taxes to these countries and creates employment for their citizens.

He regretted the existing border challenges in the region adding that 30 per cent of business cost was from border challenges.

He called for ease in intra-Afrcan businesses as was the case in Asia and Europe.

He encouraged young investors in the country to believe in their abilities, adding that this was the beginning of their success.

Speaking, founder of Heirs Holding Foundation, Tony Elumelu, expressed delight in the bank’s effort to strengthen businesses in the region.

He said the foundation would utilise the Loan to advance its vision of growing and empowering young entrepreneurs.

He advised political and economy leaders in the region to make their economic environment more predictable.

Elumelu, who gave the advice while sharing his business experience at one of the sessions at the meeting also challenged private sector business operators to transform African countries into investment destination by encouraging young school leavers who had penchant for entrepreneurship to set up their own businesses.

He observed that 99 per cent of young Africans who had flair for entrepreneurship were out of job due to lack of support.

He said his business experiences, point to the fact that Africans could expand on their existing level of investment by creating right environment, learning to save and invest in the continent, save and allow their money work in the continent instead of taking them abroad, invest for immediate profit and save for the future as well as invest in the youths who were the future leaders by empowering them financially and otherwise.

He cited example with his experience in the Heirs Holding Foundation saying just last year about 90,000-would-be young entrepreneurs, submitted applications for aid from the foundation but only 1000 were taken while the rest were thrown out.

He challenged private sector investors to pick some out of these and empower and develop them for establishment.

Is the CEO and Founder of Investors King Limited. He is a seasoned foreign exchange research analyst and a published author on Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, Nasdaq, Entrepreneur.com, Investorplace, and other prominent platforms. With over two decades of experience in global financial markets, Olukoya is well-recognized in the industry.

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N1.3bn Fraud Allegation: Court Orders Arrest of Dana Air MD For Not Showing Up For Arraignment

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Mr. Hathiramani Ranesh

A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the arrest of the Managing Director of Dana Air, Mr. Hathiramani Ranesh for failing to appear in court for his arraignment in the alleged N1.3 billion fraud preferred against him by the Office of the Attorney-General of Federation (AGF).

The Federal Government had on October 10, 2024, asked the court to issue a bench warrant for the arrest of Dana Air after failing to honour invitation for his arraignment.

The AGF had filed a six-count charge against Ranesh and two others and marked Dana Group PLC and Dana Steel Ltd as the 2nd and 3rd defendants, respectively.

The prosecution argued that Ranesh and the two companies, along with others still at large, committed a felony between September and December 2018 at the DANA Steel Rolling Factory in Katsina.

They were accused of conspiring to remove, convert, and sell four units of industrial generators—three units Ht of 9,000 KVA and one unit of 1,000 KVA—valued at over N450 million. These assets were reportedly part of the Deed of Asset Debenture used as collateral for a bond, which remains valid.

The defendants and others at large were said to have conspired to fraudulently divert N864 million between April 7th and 8th, 2014, at House No. 116, Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Isolo-Lagos.

This sum, reportedly part of the bond proceeds from Ecobank intended for revitalizing production at Dana Steel Rolling Factory in Katsina, was allegedly diverted for unauthorized purposes.

They were also accused of conspiring to transfer N60,300,000 to an Atlantic Shrimpers account (No: 0001633175) at Access Bank, fraudulently diverting funds earmarked as part of the Ecobank bond proceeds for resuming production at the Katsina factory.

The cumulative amount involved in the charge totals N1,374,300,000. Each offense is said to be contrary to and punishable under Section 516 of the Criminal Code Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

After Mojisola-Okeya Esho, counsel to the Federal Government, had requested for bench warrant to be issued against Ranesh, the defence lawyer, B. Ademola-Bello, disagreed with Esho, saying that they had filed a preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear the matter and that the prosecution had already been served.

Delivering ruling on the application, Justice Obiora Egwuatu, agreed with Esho that Ranesh’s arrest was necessary due to his failure to appear in court despite being served with the charge and several proceedings having taken place.

Justice Egwuatu held that, according to Section 184 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, the court has the authority to issue an arrest warrant against any defendant who fails to attend court sessions.

Egwuatu ordered that Ranesh must appear before the court on January 13, 2025, before any objections can be raised.

Consequently, he adjourned the matter till January 13, 2025, for hearing.

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Persistent Service Disruptions In Banks Paralyze Activities At Ports, Many Cargoes Trapped 

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Lekki Deep Seaport

Activities at the Apapa and Tin-Can Ports in Lagos State have been paralyzed as cargoes have remained uncleared following persistent disruption to some online services of some commercial banks in Nigeria.

It was gathered that the banks suffer network problems due to the upgrade of their electronic banking portals.

To this end, business moguls have been unable to pay the Customs duty necessary for the clearance of their cargoes at the ports.

A visit to the ports showed that many import units of containers have not been cleared because their clearance documents are still trapped in some banks due to ongoing network migration issues.

If the banking disruptions persist and cargoes continue to lie fallow at the ports, experts have said that prices of goods at Nigerian markets may soar.

Many persons who have been working at the ports have also been rendered jobless as activities at the ports remain in limbo.

Confirming the situation at the ports, the National President of the Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria (APFFLON), Mr. Frank Ogunojemite said many jobs are stuck because agents have been battling to settle payment part of their clearance schedules.

Ogunojemite revealed that the clearance of cargoes at the ports usually goes through Form M and the Pre Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR), said agents have to go through a commercial bank to pay their Customs duty before any clearance process can be done.

He said if the banking system or network is down, it will be impossible for Customs duty to be paid and that container will remain in the port accumulating rent which comes with storage and demurrage payments.

According to him, prices of goods may soar if the situation persists as cargo owners spend more for clearance if their containers spend longer time in the ports.

Preferring solutions, he called on government to introduce ‘compensatory law’ where importers are given waivers when delays to their cargoes inside the ports is not from them.

Also, haulage operators bemoaned the effect of the various banking migrations on picking of containers inside the ports.Persistent Service Disruptions In Banks Paralyze Activities At Ports, Many Cargoes Trapped

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Nigerian Businesses Face Tougher Times as PMI Drops to 19 Months Low of 46.9

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Nigerian businesses continued to face headwinds as the Purchasing Managers Index published by Stanbic IBTC shows a 19-month low. 

According to the report released on Friday, business conditions took a hit and PMI dipped from 49.8 points in September to 46.9 points, the steepest decline since March 2023.

For context, a PMI reading above 50 points indicates growth in business activity. Conversely, a reading below 50 points indicates contraction, suggesting deterioration consequent to an economic downturn.

According to the report, businesses faced pressures from the local currency weakening, higher fuel prices and increasing cost of transportation.

This has also forced the hands of businesses to increase prices to sustain operations, which the report stated has led to a reduction in new orders and business activity.

Most importantly, confidence in the business sector plummeted to the worst ever since the organisation started documenting PMI in 2014.

“Overall input costs rose at one of the sharpest rates on record, with selling prices increased accordingly. This resulted in marked reductions in new orders and business activity, while business sentiment was the lowest in the survey’s history,” the report read in part.

A positive light in the report was that some companies managed to add a few new hires, extending a six-month trend of job creation. The downside to this was that the companies employed these staff on a short-term basis.

The report also stated that companies are making efforts, now more than ever, to help their staff stay afloat in the current economic situation.

“Meanwhile, efforts to help workers with rising living costs meant that staff pay was increased to the greatest extent in seven months,” the report added.

Metrics like the private sector output, volume of orders, and quantities of purchases made by customers all recorded steeper values than they did in September.

Trends showed that prices, cost of staff maintenance and input prices, on the other hand, recorded very sharp increases, with some metrics posting record hikes since March 2023.

Inflation in the general Nigerian macro environment is telling in every quarter and businesses are not exempt.

Analysts told Investors King that special interventions will help ease the pressure on companies, but warned that risky conditions attached to these measures may scare off firms from accepting them.

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