Investors lose N671bn as NGX dips further
The equity market on Thursday took a further dip, losing N671 billion due to sell-offs in Dangote Cement and Tier-one banking stocks.
The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) market capitalisation dropped by N671 billion, or per cent, closing at N55.777 trillion, down from N56.448 trillion.
Similarly, the All-Share Index declined by 1.19 per cent to settle at 97,064.42, compared to 98,232.39 recorded on Wednesday.
As a result, the Year-To-Date return fell to 29.81 per cent.
Losses in Dangote Cement, Dangote Sugar, Zenith Bank, FBN Holdings and Transnational Corporation, among others, drove the market into negative territory.
Market breadth ended negative, with 28 stocks declining and 23 gaining.
Dangote Cement and McNichols led the losers’ table by 10 per cent each, to close at N478.80 and N1.35 per share, respectively.
Secure Electronic Technology Plc followed by 7.58 per cent to close at 61k, UPDC Real Estate Investment lost 4.72 per cent to close at N5.05 per share.
Computer Warehouse Group also dropped 4.62 per cent to close at N6.20 per share.
Conversely, Seplat led the gainers’ table by 10 per cent to close at N4,513.40, Livestock Feed Plc trailed by 9.93 per cent to close at N2.99 per share.
Regency Alliance Insurance gained 9.76 per cent to close at 90k, Caverton rose by 9.63 per cent to close at N2.39, Axa Mansard added 7.82 to close at N5.93 per share.
Analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled lower, relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 20.02 per cent.
Investors traded 268.39 million shares valued at N6.76 billion in 8,565 deals, compared with 425.76 million shares valued at N8.45 billion exchanged in 11,954 deals, posted in the previous session.
On the activity chart, United Bank for Africa (UBA) led in volume with 37.09 milllion, while Seplat Energy led in value with deals worth N2.34 billion.(NAN)
Universities groan under huge administrative costs – ASUU
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has expressed worry over huge administrative cost incurred by many public universities.
ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said this while speaking with newsmen at a two-day programme organised by the union on the state of nation conference on Thursday in Abuja.
The theme of the conference is, “Nigeria in a State of general crisis: the search for a new path to development”.
Osodeke said that most of the internally generated funds from universities were nothing to write home about when compared to the daily or monthly running costs for electricity, security among others.
“We are so challenged, but let me give you a quick example, University of Lagos, University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University, and University Nigeria, Nsuka; what they get from the government account for overhead running of the university in a month is N15million.
“Meanwhile, the University of Lagos needs about N200 million naira to pay electricity bill. It is this IGR that you talk about that is used to pay for the electricity.
“One of the universities today is closing down because they have been given electricity bill of N300 million naira.
“What government gives you to run the system is N15 million, and you get a bill for electricity alone of 300 million naira,”he said.
According to the ASUU president, the IGR is not enough to buy books in the library, or to run the library.
“For whatever reason, they have refused to fund the university systems as it was in the earlier part of our history.
“From the way we are going, if nothing is done, many universities will close up because they can not afford the so called band A and Band B,”he said.
Osodeke also said that the economic situation of some academics in the country had become worrisome.
He said that farming had become even more lucrative for academicians, especially as some professors earned lower than N300,000 per month, and still publish journals.
He also criticised the proliferation of Universities in the country, adding that they are merely running on skeletal manpower as most of the academic staff were out of the country searching for greener pastures.
He said that the situation within the university system was very disturbing.
He also noted how rigging was perpetrated by the polictical class, which warranted ASUU members to stay away from electoral processes after the 2015 general elections.
Osodeke added that, academicians still presiding over elections were doing so in their individual capacities, not as ASUU members.
The Speaker, House of Representatives, Mr Tajudeen Abbas, called on ASUU to shelve its planned strike.
Abbas said that there must be other alternative means of resolving industrial disputes in the university system other than the regular resort to strike.
“We must equally strive to maintain industrial harmony and stability through alternative dispute resolution,”he said.(NAN)