Business

UK rejects French claim of steps towards agreement over fishing rights row

A dispute between the UK and France over post-Brexit fishing rights has escalated significantly after a meeting between Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron, with Downing Street rejecting a French claim that the two leaders had agreed a path towards resolving the issue.

Johnson and the French president met alone for half an hour on Sunday morning on the fringes of the G20 summit in Rome, where they discussed the fishing row, as well as tensions over Northern Ireland and this week’s Cop26 climate summit.

In an unusual turn of events, Downing Street denied French officials’ claim that the two countries had agreed to work on “practical and operational measures” to resolve the dispute in the coming days.

In a post-G20 press conference, Macron said Britain must give ground or France would trigger threatened trade reprisals this week. “The ball is in Britain’s court. If the British make no movement, the measures of 2 November will have to be put in place,” he said.

The disagreement threatens to distract from the vital climate summit in Glasgow, where Johnson will greet more than 120 world leaders on Monday.

After the two leaders had met, with no officials present, Macron’s staff talked about “space for de-escalation in the coming hours”. But Johnson’s spokesman denied any agreement had been reached, or that there were even formal plans for more talks to discuss the situation.

“It will be for the French to decide whether they want to step away from the threats they have made in recent days about breaching the Brexit agreement,” he said. “Of course, we would welcome that if they want to de-escalate the threats that they have made.”

Asked if this meant no agreement had been reached, the spokesperson said: “You would have to ask the French government about whether they want to proceed with the threats they have made.”

Questioned about the comments by French officials’ comments that the leaders had agreed to more “exchanges” between the two sides, Johnson’s spokesman said: “If the French government wishes to come forward with how they want to de-escalate the threats that they have made, then we would absolutely welcome them.”

Boris Johnson sought to slightly play down divisions at a post-G20 press conference, saying only: “The position is unchanged.” However, he did profess himself “puzzled” by a letter that the French prime minister, Jean Castex, sent to Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, seeking an EU-wide response to the row.

Johnson also said the letter called for the UK to be “punished for leaving the EU”, which is not the case, with Castex giving the standard EU line about it having to be shown that being outside the EU could not have the same advantages of being a member.

Downing Street officials declined to say why, in their view, the French had given a seemingly misleading account of the meeting, but they did raise the possibility that the “mooted” exchanges were simply a reference to more standard, lower-level contact between officials that would be expected anyway.

Before the meeting, France’s Europe minister, Clément Beaune, argued in a Twitter thread that the UK seemed to be making a “political choice” to target French fishing boats, saying that while 90% of overall EU requests were granted, “all the missing ones are French”, meaning 40% of French requests had not yet been approved.

Johnson’s spokesperson rejected this: “We’ve seen comments ahead of the meeting from Clément Beaune that were completely untrue to suggest that all outstanding licence decisions are for French vessels.

“We’re applying a reasonable, evidence-based approach to all EU vessels, irrespective of what member state they belong to.”

Business

Ponzi: SEC warns Nigerians against doing business with Forsman and Bodenfors over ‘fraudulent’ activities

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned Nigerians about the activities of Forsman & Bodenfors Limited, also known as F&B.

In a statement on Monday, the SEC said the entity is fraudulent and operates with criminal intent.

The commission said the promoters of the firm claim to be operating as the Nigerian branch of a Swedish advertising company with a similar name.

“The attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission (The Commission) has been drawn to the activities of FORSMAN & BODENFORS LTD also known as F&B, which is paraded by its promoters as the Nigerian Branch of a Swedish advertising company bearing that name with obvious criminal intent,” the statement reads.

“The promoters of this fraudulent Nigerian entity go about promising Nigerians automatic employment in the company as compensation for recruiting more members who are lured to pay various sums of money for various positions in the company.

“Preliminary investigations reveal that FORSMAN & BODENFORS LTD has been actively promoted on social media platforms and online forums. Its operations exhibit the typical indicators of a fraudulent (Ponzi) scheme.

“The Commission hereby informs the public that FORSMAN & BODENFORS LTD is NOT REGISTERED by the Commission nor authorized to solicit funds from the public or to operate in any capacity in the Nigerian capital market.

”The SEC urged the public to avoid engaging with the firm or its representatives concerning activities in the Nigerian capital market, warning that there is a potential risk of financial loss due to the fraudulent nature of its promoters.

Business

NNPC refineries may never work again – Dangote

The President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has stated that Nigeria’s state-owned refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna may never function properly again, despite the reported $18 billion spent on their rehabilitation.

Speaking while hosting members of Global CEO Africa at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Dangote revealed that his decision to construct the 650,000-barrel-per-day facility followed the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua’s administration’s refusal to sell the refineries to him.

According to Dangote, he and other investors had acquired the refineries in January 2007 but were compelled to return them to government ownership after a change in administration. He observed that despite significant subsequent investment, the refineries have remained inoperative.

“The refineries we bought before, which were owned by Nigeria, were producing about 22 per cent of PMS. We bought them in January 2007 but had to return them due to a change in government. The managing director at that time convinced Yar’Adua that the refineries would work,” he said.

“As of today, they have spent about $18 billion on those refineries, and they are still not working. I doubt very much if they will ever work,” he added.

Dangote likened the rehabilitation efforts to attempting to upgrade a 40-year-old car with modern technology, suggesting that even a new engine would not be compatible with the outdated framework.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had earlier expressed similar misgivings. In a previous interview, he asserted that the NNPC knew it was incapable of effectively operating the refineries but actively blocked private sector involvement.

Obasanjo disclosed that Dangote and other investors had paid $750 million to acquire the refineries, only for the deal to be reversed by the Yar’Adua administration.

“I told Yar’Adua the refineries would not work. I said, ‘NNPC cannot do it.’ He said, ‘NNPC said they can.’ I told him, ‘When you want to sell them again, you won’t find anyone willing to pay even $200 million as scrap.’ And that is where we are today,” Obasanjo said.

He alleged that the failure to privatise the refineries was fuelled by entrenched corruption within the NNPC, and insisted that those responsible should be held accountable.

Obasanjo further claimed that over $2 billion had been spent on the refineries in recent years, with no tangible results.

“If anyone says the refineries are working, why are they now relying on Aliko Dangote? He will make his refinery work and deliver,” he said.

Business

Nigerian stock market hits historic N1.806trn gains

The Nigerian Stock Exchange, under Nigerian Exchange Group, NGX, Limited, recorded a historic milestone as investors gained N1.806 trillion in a single day.

This development follows a significant rise in the All-Share Index, ASI, which surged by 2,457.13 points, or 2.01 per cent, to close at 124,446.80, crossing the 124,000 mark for the first time, from its previous close of 121,989.67.

The market’s positive performance has been attributed to growing investor confidence in Nigeria’s equities market, bolstered by improved liquidity conditions and ongoing economic reforms.

Market capitalisation similarly rose by 2.35 per cent to settle at N78.726 trillion on Thursday, up from N76.970 trillion recorded on Wednesday.

Consequently, market breadth closed strongly positive, with 70 gainers and only 10 losers.

On the gainers’ table, FTN Cocoa rose by 10 per cent to end the session at N6.82, while UPDC also gained 10 per cent, closing at N4.62 per share.

United Bank for Africa, UBA, soared by 10 per cent to settle at N39.60, while Consolidated Hallmark Holdings similarly rose by 10 per cent to close at N3.30 per share.

Haldane McCall also gained 10 per cent, ending the session at N4.73 per share.

Conversely, Neimeth International Pharmaceutical declined by 9.91 per cent, finishing at N9, while Legend Internet shed 9.88 per cent to settle at N7.21 per share.

Industrial and Medical Gases dropped by 7.36 per cent to close at N34, and Cadbury Nigeria fell by 6.22 per cent, ending the day at N55 per share.

Similarly, Livestock Feeds lost 5.67 per cent, closing at N9.15 per share.

In terms of market activity, 1.3 billion shares valued at N27.73 billion were exchanged across 27,875 transactions.

This compares to 888.70 million shares worth N15.609 billion traded in 24,303 transactions on Wednesday.

Leading the activity chart was Access Corporation, with 174.22 million shares valued at N3.99 billion.

AIICO Insurance followed with 81.96 million shares worth N165 million, while Ja Paul Gold recorded 74.01 million shares traded, valued at N245.2 million.

UBA exchanged 64.51 million shares worth N2.52 billion, and First City Monument Bank traded 63.3 million shares valued at N585.75 million.