With COVID-19 affecting supply chains and disrupting trade and global investment flows, the 3rd ministerial meeting of the United Kingdom-Nigeria Economic Development Forum (EDF) has underscored the priority of both governments to keeping the flow of bilateral trade going and maintain existing investments throughout the crisis as much as possible.
 
Attended, via video conference Tuesday last week, by Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, and the UK's Minister for International Trade, Rt. Ranil Jayawardena, the meeting highlighted critical barriers requiring prioritised action that could boost trade between the two countries. Part of the trade-related priorities singled out for further discussion was the importance of maintaining the freedom of movement of goods and simplifying and automating import/export procedures in line with World Trade Organisation’s commitments to ease cross border trade and increase trade revenues- also boosting Nigeria’s ability to take full advantage of the Africa Continental Free Trade…
 
More details through:
https://www.sunnewsonline.com/uk-nigeria-trade-relations-remain-strong-despite-global-pandemic/
​

The contribution of Nigeria’s agricultural sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2020 was the sector’s highest first-quarter contribution in the last two years, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.
 
Figures released on Tuesday showed that the sector in the first quarter of 2020 contributed 21.96 percent to the nation's GDP, which is the monetary value of all finished goods and services made in the country.
 
The contribution is higher than 21.89 percent and 21.66 percent recorded in the first quarters of 2019 and 2018, respectively.
 
If inflation is included, that is in nominal terms, and agriculture contributed 20.88 percent to nominal GDP in the first quarter of 2020…
 
More details through:
https://www.premiumtimesng.com/agriculture/agric-news/395214-agricultures-contribution-to-nigerias-economy-in-q1-highest-in-two-years-nbs.html

Given both its burgeoning population and current global health and economic crisis, the need to improve food security in Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. Wheat has arguably become one of the most important agricultural commodities. The nationwide demand for low cost, convenient staple, and baked foods are increasing demand for wheat products (flour and flour-based foods). Most wheat is imported today, and, as such, the country is in dire need to accelerate local production.
 
Nigeria’s total local wheat production last year was about 200,000 metric tonnes, according to sources from the Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria (WFAN), which was lower than expected due to harsh weather conditions and poor seed varieties available. Wheat imports by flour millers averaged 4.7 million tons per year over the last few years, according to the FAO, making Nigeria's local wheat production grossly insufficient to meet demand.
 
With an appreciation for the urgency to close the Wheat production gap, it has become imperative for all stakeholders in this value chain to work together in scaling up local production and minimizing the level of imports…
 
More details through:
https://guardian.ng/business-services/achieving-accelerated-wheat-production-in-nigeria/
​

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the release of funding to begin the first part of Phase 1 of the Siemens Presidential Power Initiative (PPI). A statement by the Presidency on its Twitter handle said the funding would be to kick-off the pre-engineering and concession financing workstreams.
 
Buhari also directed that the federal government engage the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to assist in developing the commercial structure of the intervention and that it should execute an independent valuation of the Distribution Companies (DisCos).
 
He also directed that Siemens AG shall be solely responsible for nominating its Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) partners for the project, without the involvement of middlemen.
 
More details through:
https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/buhari-approves-funding-for-25000mw-siemens-power-project.html

An aircraft maintenance centre in Lagos, 7 Star Hangar, has invested over $263,000 (N100million) on equipment on equipment for Maintain, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) facility.
 
Speaking shortly after an inspection by officials of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to the 7 Star hangar at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Ikeja, the Managing Director, Isaac Balami, said the three-man team was at the Hangar to ascertain the level of their compliance to the guidelines of their nose masks production
 
Balami explained the team was pleased with what they saw and gave the guidelines for the production of the nose masks. Balami said the 7 Star would soon start printing instructions on the use of masks and country of production as recommended by SON while it planned to commence the production of polo T-shirts and airline crew uniforms with its over 500 sewing machines…
 
More details through:
https://thenationonlineng.net/centre-spends-n100m-on-tools/

The telecommunications sub-sector bolstered the country’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP) by $7.1 billion (N2.7 trillion) between January and March this year, New Telegraph has learnt. This represented 12.5 percent growth over N2.4 trillion it contributed in the same period in 2019. With this, the telecommunications sub-sector accounted for 7.70 percent of the aggregate nominal GDP for the economy in Q1, which according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), stood at N35.6 trillion.
 
The NBS data showed that the information and communications technology sector, led by telecommunications, remained one of the major drivers of the economy. According to NBS, the ICT sector, which is one of the main drivers of non-oil growth, is composed of the four activities of telecommunications and information services, publishing, motion picture, sound recording, and music production and broadcasting.
 
While ICT's total nominal contributions to the GDP in the first quarter stood at N3.7 trillion, telecommunications alone accounted for 73 percent of the total figure. For the quarter, the ICT sector's percentage contribution stood at 10.31 percent, which is slightly lower than the 10.6 percent it contributed in Q1 2019…
 
More details through:
https://www.newtelegraphng.com/telecoms-contributions-to-gdp-hit-n2-7trn-in-q1/
​

Nigeria is finally on the verge of unlocking huge economic benefits arising from its natural gas endowment. For many years, the country had been hindered by the absence of gas transmission pipelines in her bid to harness its abundant gas reserves for the provision of gas to generate electricity, and stimulate rapid industrialization using gas as feedstock for fertilisers, ammonia, and other petrochemical applications.
 
The commencement of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)-sponsored Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project by leading indigenous EPC giant – Oilserv Limited is the cause for this renewed optimism.
 
Oilserv has been awarded the engineering, procurement, construction, installation, testing, and commissioning of the first segment of the 614 km x 40-Inch Gas pipeline, which is from Ajaokuta to mid-way between Abuja and Kaduna. The second segment has been awarded to another company…
 
More details through:
https://www.sunnewsonline.com/akk-gas-pipeline-project-springboard-for-nigerias-industralisation/
​

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday reported that Nigeria attracted $5.85 billion capital importation in the first quarter of 2020, representing about 31.19 percent decline from the $8.51 billion total inflows recorded in the corresponding period of last year.
 
However, the latest capital importation report released by the official statistics producing agency for Q1, inflows, represented an increase of 53.97% when compared to how much was received in Q4 2019.
 
When analysed based on capital inflow by type, the report indicated that in the quarter under review, the largest capital inflows came from portfolio investment, which accounted for 73.61 percent or $4.31 billion…
 
More details through:
https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/nigeria-attracted-5-85bn-capital-inflows-in-q1-2020.html
​

Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 1.87 percent (year-on-year) in the first quarter of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.
 
In a posting on its website on Monday accessed by The Nation, NBS said the performance was recorded against the backdrop of significant global disruptions, resulting in a sharp fall in prices and restricted international trade arising from the COVID-19 public health crisis.
 
It said the Q1 2020 performance represented a -0.23 percent point drop compared with Q1 2019, and 0.68 percent point dip relative to Q4 2019, adding that this was a reflection of the earliest effects of disruption, particularly on the non-oil economy.  In the review period, the NBS report indicated that quarter-on-quarter real GDP growth was -14.42 percent compared to 5.59 percent recorded in the preceding quarter…
 
More details through:
https://thenationonlineng.net/nigerias-gdp-grew-by-1-87-per-cent-in-q1-2/
​

Nigeria has realised $12.5 billion (N4.75 trillion) from export revenue between 2016 and 2019 at the nation’s seaports.
The revenue grew by 86.24 percent in the last four years from non-oil exports. In 2016, the country realised N344 billion; 2017, N629 billion; 2018, N1.1 trillion and 2019, N2.5 trillion.
 
Findings by New Telegraph revealed that between 2016 and 2017, the non-export revenue was raised by 45.32 percent from N344 billion to N629 billion, while in 2018 and 2019, the revenue grew by 56 percent from N1.1 trillion to N2.5 trillion.
 
To further boost Federal Government's revenue from non-oil exports, Nigerian Shippers' Council (NSC) said it had assisted exporters in facilitating the movement of 800 trucks of export cargoes that were stranded at Nigerian port terminals for several weeks since the outbreak of coronavirus in the country…
 
More details through:
https://www.newtelegraphng.com/nigeria-earns-n4-75trn-from-export/