AFR Business Media

AFR Business Media

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AFR Business

VEMS says 15,000 kg of its coffee to reach Europe in March

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More than 15,000 kg/month of coffee, produced by the Angolan VEMS company, will begin to be exported, as of March this year, to European markets.

The pledge came from the company’s manager, Vladmir Satula, who said that the initiative is intended to boost the export diversification process and the country’s image overseas.

The plan results from a partnership between the firm and the Angola – Spain Trade Chamber, the manager said at the 2nd edition of the exhibition and parade of jewelry with embedded diamonds from Angola, held Thursday.

Satula clarified that the respective exports will be made through the supply of coffee to the international business group AZ, which distributes this product to large commercial areas in Europe.

With a billion dollars investment, this company produced close to 100, 000 kilograms of coffee in the 2022 campaign, which corresponded to approximately eight exportable containers.

In this period, stressed the source, the revenue obtained stood at around 50% return.

The businessman predicts to expand his production to around a million kilograms/year and reach other international markets, as part of the 2022/2027 strategic plan.

NNPC says it has 1.8b litres of petrol in stock

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The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd., NNPC Ltd., says it has 1.805 billion litres of petrol in stock.

Its spokesman, Garbadeen Muhammad, stated in Abuja on Monday that the volume of petrol in stock would last for 30 days.

He explained that 805.35 million litres of the product were in depots nationwide, while one billion litres were still inside vessels.

He added that in its efforts to ensure steady supply NNPC Ltd. placed a robust plan for the supply of petrol from mid-February to March 2023.

“An additional petrol supply of 884 million litres is also expected by Feb. 28.

“For March 2023, a total of 2.3 billion litres of petrol is expected, while about 2.5 billion litres, equivalent to 42 days sufficiency, will be the closing stock for the month,’’ Muhammad stated.

Court convicts John Abebe over money laundering

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Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo’s brother-in-law, Dr John Abebe, has been sentenced by the court to seven years’ jail term after being found guilty of money laundering and forgery.

This was contained in a judgement delivered by Justice Mojisola Dada of an Ikeja Special Offences Court, Lagos State.

In lieu of imprisonment, Justice Dada offered the convict a N50 million fine to be paid within 30 days.

Justice Dada delivered the verdict after determining that the prosecution had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt and convicted him accordingly.

Mr Abebe, who is a younger brother to the late former First Lady, Stella was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for forgery.

On July 26, 2018, the convict was arraigned before the Special Offences Court in Ikeja by the prosecution, led by Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), on a four-count charge of forgery, fabricating evidence, using fabricated evidence, and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

In the charges, the EFCC claimed that Abebe "knowingly forged" a letter written by BP Exploration Nigeria Limited to Inducon (Nigeria) Limited on November 30, 1995.

The anti-graft agency claimed that the businessman “illegally inserted” into page 2 of the said letter “the following statement: “Also note that the ‘Buy-Out Option’ only applies to the pre-production stage of the NPIA. The $4m buy-out is thus irrelevant from production of oil in any of our fields.”

According to the EFCC, Dr. Abebe also attempted to “pervert the course of justice” by tendering the allegedly forged November 30, 1995 letter “as a fabricated evidence” in court, in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/224/2010 between Dr. John Abebe, Inducon Nigeria Limited and Statoil Nigeria Limited.

APC Presidential candidate calls for calm as unrest worsens

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Bola Ahmed Tinubu the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress has called for calm across the country as civil unrest worsens over the controversial naira swap policy of the Federal Government.

In a statement obtained by the Business Daily, Mr Tinubu said:

"I am saddened by reports of violent protests in parts of our country today especially in Delta, Oyo, Kwara and Edo states. In Delta, there were reports of arson and destruction of bank branches.

I sympathise with all Nigerians who are going through the pains of not being able to get money from banks and ATM points to meet their basic daily needs. I also sympathize with the banks for being victims of the CBN currency redesign policy.

Be rest assured that this phase will soon pass away as our governments at both the federal and state levels are working to surmount the current challenges.

With the Supreme Court reaffirming its order of 8 February on monetary authorities to allow the old and new Naira notes to circulate together, I believe a solution is right on the way and the scarcity of Naira notes will soon be over.

I am happy to note the various measures being put in place by many of our Governors to cushion the effect of the scarcity of Naira on households.

I want to appeal to our young people not to take law into their hands through destructive protests.

We feel your pains and frustration but destroying lives and properties will not solve any problem.

Rather, it will only complicate the crisis we have on our hands.

We must keep the peace and remain calm.

Let us not be provoked. Instead, let us cooperate with the government in seeking immediate and lasting solution.

This difficult time shall soon be over. We must keep hope alive as we move forward to a better, stronger and more prosperous Nigeria of our dream.

God bless you all.

AFDB appoints Sefiani as acting head of Treasury

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African Development Bank appoints Omar Sefiani Acting Director of the Treasury Department

The African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) has appointed Omar Sefiani as Acting Director of the Treasury Department, effective 1st November 2022.

Sefiani is a Moroccan national and finance expert with over 17 years of experience in international capital markets. He currently manages the Treasury Investments & Trading Division at the Bank. In this capacity, Sefiani currently oversees the management of the Treasury investment portfolios of the Bank Group (including the African Development Bank, the African Development Fund, Trust Funds and Special Funds), with over $27 billion of assets under management.

Sefiani joined the Bank in 2012 as Senior Investment Officer in the Investments & Trading Division, managing the Bank and Fund’s Euros investment portfolios. He was appointed as Chief Investment Officer in 2015 and Division Manager in 2018. During this period, he led several key projects including the Bank Group’s readiness for the Renminbi inclusion in the Special Drawing Rights basket and setting up the Bank’s U.S Commercial Paper programme. He also serves as the Vice Chairperson of the operational committee tasked with preparing the Bank Group for the transition away from Libor and as the Chair of the financial projection’s working group.

Omar is a seasoned and respected professional with extensive experience and leadership skills required to drive the financing strategy for the African Development Bank Group

In 2014, Mr. Sefiani received an award of Excellence from the Finance Vice President for achieving the highest score in an International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) examination.

Prior to joining the Bank, Sefiani served in several top tier financial institutions. He worked at Citigroup London as an Interest Quantitative Analyst, building credit and debit value adjustment (CVA/DVA) models for interest rate and inflation products. He worked at Morgan Stanley London as a Hybrid Desk Strategist on complex cross-asset transactions (Interest Rates, Commodities and Equities) and at Credit Agricole as a Credit Structurer devising structured credit products for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) clients. He was responsible for executing several large public transactions (of up USD 1 billion) and the first short credit Undertaking for the Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) fund.

Commenting on his appointment, Sefiani said: “I am grateful to President Adesina for his confidence and the opportunity to lead the Treasury Department and its talented staff during this interim period. Treasury will continue to play a central role in shaping some of the Bank’s key initiatives and I am honored to be given the chance to help drive these. The Bank Group’s mandate and ambitions are important and I look forward to contributing to them.”

President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina said: “I am pleased to appoint Mr. Omar Sefiani as the Acting Director of the Treasury Department. Omar is a seasoned and respected professional with extensive experience and leadership skills required to drive the financing strategy for the African Development Bank Group. He will also assure stability and continuity of leadership of the Treasury team at the Bank, following the appointment of the former Director of the Treasury Department, Ms. Hassatou N’sele as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Bank Group”.