Peter Obi identifies insecurity as biggest challenge against foreign investment in Nigeria

 

Former Vice Presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr. Peter Obi has commended the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria for significantly drawing the national & global attention to the worsening security situation in Nigeria.

Obi who spoke at the weekend at the sidelines of an International business conference organized by Ngeria, America Business Forum (NABF) said the peaceful protest by the Bishops shows their patriotic level of concern on the challenging situation in the country.

According to a statement from Obi’s media office in Abuja, Obi charged other critical stakeholders in the country to join the Bishops in elevating the insecurity situation in the land for necessary action.

Obi who was one of the keynote speakers at the well attended forum said what Nigeria desperately needs now is Investment especially Foreign direct investment to reboot her declining economy & create employment for her teeming unemployed youth.

But nobody will be attracted to invest in an unsecured or lawless environment.

He said that unemployment situation in the country is so frightening and any nation who cannot engage it’s teeming educated youths surely will have issues with social vices like crimes and criminalities.

Obi regretted that Ghana whose entire population is less than 20 per cent of Nigeria’s population is attracting more Investment and attention than Nigeria with all its abundant capital and material resources.

Obi said that all the attendees he spoke to personally had one or two worries, security, law  and order He, therefore, urged government to aggressively tackle the situation.

GTB grows PAT by 6.6% to N196.9bn, proposes N2.50 final dividend

Guaranty Trust Bank PLC (GTB) recorded a growth of 6.6 per cent in its Profit after Tax for the full year ended December31, 2019 from N184.711 billion in the same period of 2018 to N196.849 billion in the review period.

The comprehensive account of the lender’s performance is contained in GTB’s December 2019 Audited Group Financial Statements submitted to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday.

Its revenue rose from N434.699 billion in 2018 to N435.307 billion in 2019 which translates to 0.14 per cent increase.

GTB’s Net Interest Income appreciated by 4 per cent from N222.434 billion in 2018 to N231.363 billion in the corresponding period of 2019.

Net Fee and Commission Income rose to N59.444 billion in the period under review from N50.470 billion in 2018, translating to a 17.8 per cent growth.

The Profit Before Income Tax (PBIT) of the bank rose to N231.708 billion in 2019 from N215.587 billion in 2018, representing a 7.5 per cent increase.

The bank’s Earnings Per Share (EPS) was similarly positive, rising by 6.4 per cent from N6.54 at to N6.96 at 2019.

Its Total Assets grew by 14.3 per cent from N3.287 trillion of 2018 to N3.759 trillion in 2019.

The board of GTB is proposing a final dividend of N2.50 per share subject to shareholders’ approval.