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The Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC has called on critical stakeholders to work hard to make the country’s agricultural commodities to be accepted in the international market.

To this end, it Commission expressed readiness to collaborate with the National Pension Commission, PenCom, on areas that would assist in deepening the commodities ecosystem.

In a statement by the Commission, Director General of the SEC, Mr. Lamido Yuguda, said: “We have recorded a lot of successes in the sector so far and we see a lot of progress in the development of the sector. We are currently working with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, to develop standards that would make these our commodities acceptable in the international market. This would further boost our foreign exchange earnings and create wealth for our people.”

According to the statement, Yuguda, speaking through the Executive Commissioner Corporate Services of the SEC, Mr. Ibrahim Boyi, who represented him at a courtesy visit to the PenCom, stated that the SEC is very passionate about the commodities sector as it has enormous benefits for the Nigerian economy.

He stated: “One of the key pillars of the Capital Market Master Plan is the development of the commodities ecosystem which gives our nation the opportunity to diversify both the capital market and the economy and also create more products.

“We have witnessed major achievements by the Lagos Futures and Commodities Exchange, LFCE, and we are happy to see them progress. We are committed to creating the rules that will ensure investor protection. It is a strategic focus for us to deliver one of our key mandates which is market development that will lead to economic development. Our focus remains market integrity, market fairness and investor protection”.

Speaking earlier, Managing Director of LFCE, Mr. Akin Akeredolu-Ale, said the commodities exchanges are interested in exploring avenues for investing pension funds in the capital market.

He expressed his joy that the SEC is spearheading the moves to further boost the utilisation of pensions funds in the market adding that if pension funds are not reflated, inflation would keep affecting it.

“The primary part of our economic raw materials in crude oil, if you don’t capitalise the primary sector, the manufacturing sector will suffer, same as the service sector. SEC has made provisions for the PFAs (Pension Funds Administrators) to invest in the commodities sector and this is expected to catalyse our economy and spur growth” he said.

Nigeria recorded annual Gross Domestic Product, GDP, growth of 3.1 per cent in 2022, representing a 0.3 percentage point decline from the 3.4 per cent recorded in 2021.

But the GDP growth in the fourth quarter of last year, Q4’22 rose to 3.52 per cent from 2.25%in Q3’22.
The improved GDP growth in Q4’22 was driven mainly by the Services sector, which recorded a growth of 5.69% and contributed 56.27% to the aggregate GDP.

The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS disclosed this in the just released GDP report for the fourth quarter, Q4’22.

The report said: “Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.52% (year-on-year) in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2022, following a growth of 2.25% in the third quarter of 2022 and 3.98% in the fourth quarter of 2021.

“The performance of the GDP in the fourth quarter of 2022 was driven mainly by the Services sector, which recorded a growth of 5.69% and contributed 56.27% to the aggregate GDP.

“Although the Agriculture sector grew by 2.05% in the reference period, its performance was significantly hampered by severe incidences of flood experienced across the country, accounting for lesser growth relative to the fourth quarter of 2021 which was 3.58%.

“Moreover, the Industry sector was yet challenged recording -0.94% growth and contributing less to the aggregate GDP relative to the third quarter of 2022 and the fourth quarter of 2021.

“Overall, the annual GDP growth rate in 2022 stood at 3.10%, from the 3.40% reported in 2021. Thus, the performance of agriculture and Industry reduced in 2022 relative to 2021, while the performance of the Services sector improved in 2022.

“In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP stood at N56,757,889.95 million in nominal terms. This performance is higher when compared to the fourth quarter of 2021 which recorded aggregate GDP of N49,276,018.23 million, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 15.18%.”

The indirect tax burden on Nigerians rose by 18.88 per cent to N3.03tn in 2022 amid an economic downturn and rising inflation.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigerians paid N3.03tn as indirect tax in 2022, an 18.88 per cent increase from the N2.55tn that was paid in 2021. This is based on current basic prices.

Indirect taxes are taxes, which include value-added taxes, Customs or import duties, paid to the government by a producer and later passed on to a final consumer.

In 2022, Nigeria’s GDP grew by 3.40 per cent. Despite this, inflation grew from 15.60 per cent in January 2022 to 21.34 per cent in December 2022.

Rising inflation has contributed to increased economic hardship in the country. In 2022, inflation pushed five million more Nigerians into poverty. Between 2020 and 2021, inflation pushed about eight million more Nigerians below the poverty line, pushing the total number of poor people in the country to 90 million.

With the increase in inflation, the purchasing power of Nigerians has greatly eroded. According to the global bank, the value of minimum wage fell by 55 per cent from N30,000 in 2019 to N19,355 in 2022.

Recently, the Director-General, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, stated, “The inflation has eroded the purchasing power and, unfortunately, those who are involved, especially people who are earning fixed incomes, are the most impacted.

“Since their incomes are fixed, there is no mechanism to hedge it against the steady rise in inflation.”

Despite rising cost of living, the Federal Government is intensifying its effort to increase its tax revenues in the country.

Recently, when disclosing its plans to increase revenue generation, the government stated, “These measures include improving the tax administration framework, including tax filing and payment; as well as introduction of new and/or further increases in existing pro-heath taxes like excise on sugar-sweetened beverages, tobacco, and alcohol. Mixed reactions have greeted the implementation of these measures.”

Also, the government has tried to introduce new taxes such as excise duty to boost revenue. There have been calls from the international scene for Nigeria to increase its tax rates.

The International Monetary Fund recently urged Nigeria to increase its tax rates to ECOWAS levels.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has revised the regulatory requirements for the tenure of executive management and non-executive directors of Deposit Money Banks and Financial Holding Companies in the Code Of Corporate Governance For Banks And Discount Houses (Ref: FPR/DIR/CIR/GEN/01/004).

In a circular titled ‘Review of tenure of executive management and non-executive directors of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria’, on Friday, the central bank’s Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department, CBN, Chibuzor Efobi, said the development was part of measures aimed at strengthening governance practices in the banking industry.

The circular, which was issued to all DMBs, added thaty the tenure requirements will apply effective from the date of the circular.

According to the circular, “The tenure of executive directors, deputy managing directors and managing directors shall be in accordance with the terms of their engagement approved by the board of directors of banks, subject to a maximum tenure of 10 years.

“Where an executive who is a DMD becomes the MD/CEO of a bank or any other DMB before the end of his/her maximum tenure, the cumulative tenure of such executive shall not exceed 12 years.

“However, for an ED who becomes a DMD of a bank or any other DMB, his/her cumulative tenure as ED and DMD shall not exceed 10 years”

The circular added that “Non-executive directors with the exception of independent non-executive directors shall serve for a maximum period of 13 years in a bank, broken into three terms of four years each.

“EDs, DMDs and MDs who exit from the board of a bank either upon or prior to the expiration of his/her maximum tenure, shall serve out a cooling off period of one year before being eligible for appointment as NED to the board of directors.

“NEDs who exit from the board of a bank either upon or prior to the expiration of his/her maximum tenure of 12 years (Three terms of four years each), shall serve out a cooling off period of one year before being eligible for appointment to the board of directors of any other DMB.”

The circular said the tenure limit of EDs/DMDs, MDs and NEDs across the banking industry is 20 years.

Following losses suffered by many blue-chip stocks, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) reversed gains, to close on a downward note yesterday, causing the All Share -Index (ASI) to depreciate by 0.06 per cent.

At the close of transactions yesterday, market capitalisation of listed equities depreciated by 0.06 per cent to N29.519 trillion from N29.538 trillion it closed on Monday, while the ASI also depreciated by 35.04 basis points to 54189.31 points from 54224.35 points reported the previous day.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; International Breweries, Access Corp, UACN, GTCO, Fidson and Unilever.

On the price movement chart, 15 stocks depreciated in price while 10 constituted the gainers’ chart.

MRS led the gainers’ table, gaining 10 per cent to close at N25.30 kobo. Tripple G followed with a gain of 9.63 per cent to close at N2.39 kobo. Living Trust improved by 5.16 per cent to close at N2.65 kobo. AIICO Insurance gained 1.69 per cent to close at 60 kobo. Jaiz Bank added 1.11 kobo to close at 91 kobo.

Caverton gained 1.03 per cent to close at 98 kobo. UPDC garnered 1.00 per cent to close at N1.01 kobo. Sterling Bank advanced by 67 per cent to close at N1.51 kobo. First City Monument Bank also appreciated by 47 per cent to close at N4.30 kobo.

On the contrary, Veritas Kapital topped the losers’ chart, declining by 4.76 per cent to close at N0.20 kobo while Linkage Assurance trailed with a loss of 4.44 per cent to close at 43 kobo.

International Breweries dipped by 4.26 per cent to close at N4.50 kobo. Transnational Corporation of Nigeria fell by 4.03 per cent to close at N1.19 kobo. Chi Plc shed 2.99 per cent to close at 65 kobo. Cutix lost 1.91 per cent to close at N2.05 kobo. Accesscorp depreciated by 1.63 per cent to close at N9.05 kobo.

UACN shed 1.11 per cent to close at N8.90 kobo. Union Bank dropped 75 per cent to close at N6.60 kobo. Fidson fell by 63 per cent to close at N9.53 kobo, while United Bank for Africa shed 60 kobo to close at N8.35 kobo.

The volume of trades increased by 64.38 per cent as investors traded 254.174 million shares valued at N15.577 billion in 2950 deals against 154.628 million shares worth N5.505 billion exchanged hands the previous day in 3095 deals.

Transactions in the shares of Geregu Power lifted activity in the market with 125.010 million shares valued at N12.502 billion, GTCO Plc followed with an account of 31.074 million shares valued at N779.380 million.

Zenith Bank traded 15.036 million shares worth N375.845 million, Access Corp exchanged 11.072 million shares for N100.524 million while United Bank for Africa exchanged 7.190 million shares valued at N60.002 million.