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China Mobile, Huawei deliver world’s highest 5G

Financial Street
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China Mobile, Huawei deliver world’s highest 5G

China Mobile and Huawei have jointly completed the world’s highest 5G base station on the altitude of 6,500 meters, by bringing the network to the summit of Mount Everest.

Together with the launch of the Gigabit optical fibre network at the altitude of 6,500 meters, Huawei enables China Mobile to run its dual Gigabit network on Mount Everest, a statement by the firm said.

“On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first successful arrival at Mount Everest from the northern slope, and the 45th anniversary of China’s first official accurate measurement and announcement of Mount Everest, the 5G network on Mount Everest will provide communication services for this 2020 Mount Everest re-measurement is of great significance,” it noted.

Picture of 5G Base station at 6500m

Huawei has offered its end-to-end solutions in the construction of China Mobile’s Everest dual Gigabit network, where base stations were built in Mount Everest Base Camp at the altitude of 5,300 meters, the Transition Camp at 5,800 meters, and the Forward Camp at 6,500 meters.

The statement disclosed that Huawei’s 5G AAU and SPN technologies were applied at these base stations, where network maintenance and optimization are done by a dozen of network specialists “who station 24/7 in regions at altitudes of 5,300 meters and above to ensure smooth network operations.”

It explained further, “Huawei’s 5G AAU is highly integrated into a compact size, making it easy for deployment and installation. It fits particularly well for infrastructure in extreme environments such as Mount Everest. In this project, a network in the ‘stand-alone plus non-stand alone’ (SA+NSA) mode connects five 5G base stations.

“Meanwhile, the 5G fast and huge-capacity connectivity is achieved by Huawei’s Massive MIMO technology supporting lightning speed and large bandwidth.”

The MIMO has flexible three-dimensional narrow beams and “works particularly well vertically” in Mount Everest.

At the altitude of 5,300 meters, said Huawei, the 5G download speed exceeded 1.66 Gbps, where the upload speed topped 215 Mbps.

The IT company added that Huawei’s Intelligent OptiX Network solutions guarantee quality and undisrupted networks.

“With its HoloSens intelligent video surveillance system, Huawei ensures streaming quality with the capabilities of optimisation and fault locating with just one click, keeping the networks always on even at the attitude of 6,500 meters at the summit of Everest,” it said.

Live screenshot from the Huawei 5G camera

Huawei added, “The ground-breaking establishment on Mount Everest once again proves that 5G technology connects mankind and the earth harmoniously.”

Use our digital platforms for cargo clearance, SON tells importers, customs brokers 

John Chukwu
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Use our digital platforms for cargo clearance, SON tells importers, customs brokers 

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria has urged importers and their customs clearing agents to use its digital platform while processing release of their consignments.

The SON in a statement advised shippers and their agents at seaports and airport to utilize its automated service offerings while processing their cargo clearance documents as it announced that it had resumed operations nationwide.

The automated services, according to SON, include certification for locally manufactured and imported products, product registration, ports and borders clearance and service charge payments.

Osita Aboloma, Director General of SON, said this was important to reduce the number of visits to its offices for the safety and well-being of everyone.

Meanwhile, the SON boss directed staff on grade levels 14 and above to resume work thrice a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 am to 2 pm.

“All staff must observe all the guidelines provided by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, including use of thermometer to check body temperature, physical distancing, use of barrier masks and basic hygiene such as regular washing of hands with soap and water as well as use of alcohol based hand sanitizers,” Aboloma said in the statement.

Departmental heads and state coordinators were directed to draw up rosters to ensure rotational attendance by the staff, to ensure physical distancing at SON’s offices while providing basic services to stakeholders.

SON further charged its staff nationwide to comply strictly with all guidelines and directives by the government in their respective states

Oil maintains positive signs as China imports bounce back

Kolawole Onasanya
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Oil maintains positive signs as China imports bounce back

Oil prices showed signs of improvement on Thursday following rebounds in China’s crude imports.

However, market watchers believe expecting the gains to stay for long would be premature given the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the global fuel demand.

The market report of the global oil giants, Brent Crude and US West Texas Intermediate shows that Brent crude was up by 3 cents or 0.1% to $29.75 a barrel 0341 GMT, which is seen as a positive move following its movement to the south by 4% on Wednesday.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures gained 4 cents or 0.2% to 24.03 a barrel, after declining more than 2% in the previous session.

Both contracts traded in an out-of-negative territory through the Asian morning on light trade with some markets on holiday.

Oil prices were supported by data showing Chinese crude imports rose last month. Imports climbed to 10.42 million barrels per day in April from 9.68 million bpd in March, according to Reuters calculations based on customs data for the first four months of 2020. Overall exports from China also rose against expectations of a sharp drop.

“Oil prices should eventually settle on a wide $10 range, with WTI crude’s upper boundary being around the $30 a barrel level, while Brent crude targets the $35 a barrel level,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.

While prices have risen since late April as some countries started easing lockdowns put in place to combat the worst pandemic in a century, oil continues to be pumped into storage, leaving a massive mismatch between demand and supply.

The US crude inventories were up for a 15th straight week last week, rising by 4.6 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

That was less than analysts had forecast in a Reuters poll, which suggested a 7.8 million-barrel rise, but the gain highlighted once again how much supply is being stored. Distillate inventories also rose sharply.

Gasoline stocks, however, fell for a second week as some US states eased lockdowns that had sharply hit traffic.

“The latest report (on US inventories) added to tentative evidence that — after a catastrophic few weeks — the pressure on the US oil market is beginning to lessen,” Capital Economics said. “That said, we wouldn’t rule out more turbulence in the coming weeks.”

There are also signs that some oil producers are struggling to comply with an agreement between the members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other suppliers, including Russia, to cut output by a record amount.

Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest producer after Saudi Arabia, has not yet informed customers of impending restrictions on its oil exports.

OPEC and allied producers — a group known as OPEC+ — agreed to cut production from May 1 by around 10 million bpd to stabilize prices amid the plunge in demand in economies ravaged by the coronavirus outbreak.

Why NNPC reduced ex-depot price of fuel to N108 per litre

Gideon Remigius-Iwu
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Why NNPC reduced ex-depot price of fuel to N108 per litre

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has announced the slashing of ex-depot  price of petrol from N113.28k per litre to N108.00k across its entire loading facilities in the country.

The reduction is the second in barely two months after the NNPC had in March 19 reduced the price to N113.

In a statement by the state-owned petroleum company, signed by its Group General Manager, Dr. Kennie Obateru, the reduction in the price “reflects the company’s market strategy to make more sales while complying with the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency’s (PPPRA) price template.”

The NNPC said, “The new price regime would enable Petroleum Products Marketing Agency (PPMC) to boost sales volumes from the billions of litres of Petrol it has in storage while providing affordable price to millions of customers.”

The reduced price, it said, was arrived at after a far- reaching review of the market realities by the PPMC’s internal price review unit.

The NNPC also revealed that the price of diesel had already been deregulated, thus allowing market forces to determine its price.

Airlines lose N17bn monthly as airports remain shut – Aviation Minister

John Chukwu
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Airlines lose N17bn monthly as airports remain shut – Aviation Minister

Airlines in Nigeria are losing N17bn every month since the country closed its airspace and airports as part of measures to curtail the spread of Coronavirus, Hadi Sirika, minister of Aviation, has said.

This is as the Nigerian government announced the extension of the airport closure by another one month, as Covid-19 infection figures continue to rise.

Sirika said the COVID-19 pandemic had hit the nation’s aviation sector badly with the airlines losing about N17bn monthly since their operations were grounded.

The Federal Government had five weeks ago closed the airports to local and international flights following the outbreak of coronavirus.

Sirika disclosed this at the Presidential Task Force briefing on COVID-19 in Abuja, according to a statement made available to Financial Street on Wednesday.

He said, “We are in very difficult moments like everyone else. All of this started because someone travelled and unfortunately came back home with it and the consequence is what we’ve been going through.

“We are the worst hit, than any other sector. Some N17bn monthly is being lost by the airlines, no thanks to COVID-19.”

Meanwhile, Boss Mustapha, chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, has said airports in the country would remain closed for another four weeks.

Mustapha, who is the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, announced this at the daily media briefing of the committee in Abuja on Wednesday.

The extension of the airports’ closure for another one month became necessary after the government received advice from experts, he said.

Nigeria’s Covid-19 cases reached 2,950 with 98 deaths on Tuesday. Patients’ recovery from the virus slowed at 481, leaving 2,371 active cases, amidst concerns that the NCDC capacity to handle the pandemic was waning.

There were 148 new cases on Tuesday.

Ezekwesili appointed to IBFD board of trustees

Kolawole Onasanya
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Ezekwesili appointed to IBFD board of trustees

Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili has been to the board of trustees of the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation.

The appointment took effect from 1 April 2020.

The IBFD is a leading international provider of cross-border tax expertise, with a long-standing history of supporting and contributing to tax research and academic activities.

According to a statement by the organization, as a member of the trustees, Ezekwesili will contribute to the oversight of IBFD’s expansion in developing economies, bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience in international organizations and capacity building.

It added that Ezekwesili would help IBFD build on its strengths, independence and quality.

The CEO of IBFD, Jan Maarten Slagter, said, “IBFD is delighted that Dr. Ezekwesili has joined our board of trustees and expect that her unique perspective and contribution will be enormously beneficial, in particular to the work that we do in developing economies. The current crisis will put more strain on government budgets and domestic
resource mobilization will be more important than ever going forward.”

Ezekwesili was a presidential candidate in Nigeria’s 2019 election. She is an economic policy expert and senior economic adviser at the Africa Economic Development Policy Initiative.

She was a Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy and is a co-founder of Transparency International.

Ezekwesili was vice-president of the World Bank’s Africa division and is former Nigerian Minister of Education, Minister of Solid Minerals, head of the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit, and former chairperson of the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative.

She is also co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Africa Regional Strategy Board and a co-founder of the #BringBackOurGirls movement.

For her national service and social commitment, Ezekwesili was decorated with the national award of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. She was on the 2015 TIME 100 list of the most influential people in the world by Time Magazine.

LCCI proposes one-year tax break for businesses

Gideon Remigius-Iwu
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LCCI proposes one-year tax break for businesses

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called on the Nigerian government and commercial banks to grant a one-year tax break to businesses, temporarily suspend and 50 percent increase in VAT.

LCCI also asked banks to grant loan moratorium to businesses.

During a press briefing on the state of the economy by the President of the Chamber, Mrs. Toki Mabogunje, LCCI noted that the coronavirus pandemic had dealt a severe blow to the global economy with continued disruptions to economic, business and financial activities around the world.

With businesses shutting down operations, factories on lockdown, trade activities on hold, Mabogunje called for proactive measures to be taken to help mitigate the negative impacts of the pandemic.

Describing the business environment as “bleak”, the LCCI president said, “Businesses will continue to grapple with the devastating shock of the pandemic amid weak macro fundamentals for some time to come.

“We, therefore, propose the following policy measures for the business community for consideration: a year tax break for health care and pharmaceutical companies, airlines, manufacturers, agro-processors, SMEs, and hospitality players.”

“Temporary suspension of 50 percent increase in VAT rate until the end of the year. Also, PAYE should be suspended for the next six months. This would help boost purchasing power and aggregate demand, thereby
stimulating the economy.”

On loan rescheduling, Mabnogunje said, “Commercial banks are implored to offer a reprieve to businesses and corporates indebted to them. The reprieve could be in the form of loan moratorium and restructuring.

“We urge the CBN to review the cash reserve ratio downwards to 20 percent to enable commercial banks to have more liquidity to support businesses.”

LCCI further called on the Federal Government to complete critical infrastructure projects across the country such as the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, the second Niger bridge, and the East-West Road as they will have a significant impact on commercial activities and businesses.

FG: Abacha loot to fund Lagos-Ibadan expressway, second Niger bridge

Gideon Remigius-Iwu
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FG: Abacha loot to fund Lagos-Ibadan expressway, second Niger bridge

The Federal Government has decided to use part of the $300m recovered from the Gen. Sani Abacha looted money to complete the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway and the second Niger bridge.

Other projects the repatriated stolen money will be expended on include the Mambilla power plant.

The President Muhammadu Buhari administration, through the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, had confirmed the receipt of the Abacha loot repatriated from the United States and the Island of Jersey.

In a statement, ‘On The Return of The Abacha Stolen Millions From The United States and Jersey’, by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed the funds were already allocated and would be deployed in projects that will be “useful in future”.

Shehu explained, “These funds have already been allocated, and will be used in full, for vital and decades-overdue infrastructure development: The Second Niger Bridge, the Lagos-Ibadan and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano expressways – creating tens of thousands of Nigerian jobs and local skills, which can then be useful in future projects.

“Part of the funds will also be invested in the Mambilla Power Project which, when completed, will provide electricity to some three million homes – over ten million citizens – in our country.

“The receipt of these stolen monies – and the hundreds of millions more that have already been returned from the United Kingdom and Switzerland – are an opportunity for the development of our nation, made far harder for those decades the country was robbed of these funds.”

Shehu added that part of the previously repatriated funds were being used to implement “the government’s free school feeding scheme, the stipend for millions of disadvantaged citizens, and grain grants for those in severe food hardship”.

Oil prices in fresh blow following US inventories rise

Financial Street
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Oil prices in fresh blow following US inventories rise

What was seen as a multi-day streak of gains in the oil sector ended in prices crash on Wednesday after the United States’ crude inventories rose beyond expectation, courtesy of the demand slump.

The US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell as much as 2.1% to $24.05 a barrel and were down 14 cents at $24.41 a barrel at 0201 GMT, while WTI snapped a five-day winning streak.

Brent crude futures were flat at $30.97 a barrel and prices climbed 13.9% in the previous session, part of a six-day rise.

Investors may be hesitant to increase their purchases of Brent as the contract has climbed too much over the past streak.

Brent’s relative strength index, a technical measure used to track the future’s trading momentum, was at 72.93 on Wednesday, indicating it was overbought after the recent gains.

WTI also slipped after a report showed that the US crude inventories rose 8.4 million barrels last week, more than expected, according to data from the American Petroleum Institute late on Tuesday.

Oil prices had gained recently as European and Asian countries had ended their lockdowns to halt the coronavirus spread and as producers had axed supply after the demand crunch.

But analysts cautioned the rebalancing of the market would be choppy.

“We’re talking about normalization of supply and demand but we’ve got a long way to go,” said Lachlan Shaw, National Australia Bank’s head of commodity strategy.

“There are a lot of supply cuts that have come through. That combined with some early signs of demand lifting has meant the rate of inventory build is slowing.”

But analysts also pointed to comments by the US shale producer Diamondback Energy saying it will consider reviving drilling plans if WTI held above $30 a barrel as a sign that producers will not want to shut in production for long.

“When (prices) start to hold on to those gains, there’ll be a point where producers start to reverse those well shut-ins,” Shaw said.

Gasoline stocks in the US, the world’s biggest producer and consumer of oil, fell by 2.2 million barrels, API reported, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 43,000 barrel increase, and refinery crude runs rose.

Traders will be looking for further confirmation of the inventory data when the Energy Information Administration comes out later on Wednesday.

COVID-19: Nigeria seeks debt rescheduling

Gideon Remigius-Iwu
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COVID-19: Nigeria seeks debt rescheduling

Nigeria says it is seeking debt rescheduling and has been talking with multilateral lenders as the coronavirus pandemic and oil crisis impact on economic activities.

This was disclosed on Tuesday by the country’s Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, during an online event jointly organised by the ministry, the United Kingdom’s Department for
International Development (DFID), and Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn.

According to the minister, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is currently in talks with some multilateral lenders on the feasibility of deferring Nigeria’s debt servicing obligations to 2021 and beyond.

The coronavirus pandemic ravaging the world, the sharp drop in oil revenues arising low demands of the country’s crude oil, and the continuous decline in international oil prices, have left Nigeria with tough fiscal decisions and difficulty fulfilling financial obligations.

Zainab stated pointed out that more than half of Nigeria’s revenues went into debt servicing, which informed the federal government’s decision to cancel its plan to borrow N850bn from the domestic capital market.

“We are not asking for debt forgiveness, but just rescheduling of our obligations,” said the minister.

Also participating in the online programme, the Director General of the Budget Office, Ben Akabueze, said earnings from crude oil were expected to drop by more than 80 percent.

He further revealed that the cost of servicing Nigeria’s debts would rise by about N200bn this year.

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