By David Agba Abuja The Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman H. Adamu, has charged members of the Steering Committee and Technical Sub-Committee of the River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs) to work assiduously to reform the river basins and the water sector to drive the agricultural sector towards the provision of food security, creation of jobs, diversification of the economy and development of the rural economy. The Minister spoke at the inauguration of the Steering Committee of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) and Technical Sub-Committee for the RBDAs in Abuja on Thursday, May 26, 2016. The Minister stated that the task ahead was enormous, and urged the members to consider the work as a national assignment aimed at achieving Mr. President’s promises to Nigerians through diversifying the nation’s economy. To achieve this, he said, requires repositioning agricultural sector through effective utilization of water resources and the river basins. He noted that the RBDAs have not performed up to their full capacities over the years in terms of service delivery and financial management and failed to realize the high expectations of the government and the people of Nigeria of becoming vital instruments for the attainment of self-sufficiency in food production and equitable allocation of water resources across Nigeria. The Minister who enjoined the Committee to work at amore faster pace, promised to provide the necessary support and cooperation to enable the teams deliver on approved Terms of Reference (TOR) and Work Plans without delay.

By Amaka Ifeakandu
Lagos

Trading activities on the floor of Nigerian Stock Exchange yesterday took upward trend after two day massive dumping of shares by investors, gaining N94 billion. Specifically, the market capitalisation of listed equities increased by 1.02 per cent to N9.336 trillion from N9.242 trillion recorded the previous day. Also the NSE All Share Index rose by 273.41 basis points to 27183.64 points from 26910.23 traded on Wednesday. Investors purchased 332.232 million shares worth N2.160 billion in 4167 deals against 352.297 million shares cost N3.846 billion in 5024 deals.

A review of the investment for the day showed that Nigerian Breweries led gainers table during the day, gaining N6.41 kobo to close at N134.71 kobo, Lafarge  Wapco followed with a gain of N3.67 kobo to close at N77.07 kobo, Dangote Cement appreciated by N3.00 to close at N170.00, Cadbury Nigeria Plc improved by N1.84 kobo to close at N20.21 kobo, Flour Mills Nigeria Plc gained N1.02 kobo to close at N21.44 kobo. On the contrary, Nestle Nigeria Plc topped losers chart, dropping by N29.66 kobo to close at N755.00, Seplat Petroleum Development trailed with a loss of N9.85 kobo to close at N350.00.15 kobo, Forte Oil fell by N4.80 kobo to close at N191.10 kobo, Guinness Nigeria Plc N1.46 kobo to close at N97.65 kobo and UAC of Nigeria declined by N0.86 kobo to close at N19.00.

Further analysis indicated that United Bank for Africa led the activities for the day, exchanging 93.131 million shares worth N386.905 million, FCMB Group followed with account of 40.544 million shares valued at N59.389 million, Access Bank traded 30.959 million shares cost N163.716 million, FBNHoldings exchanged 25.764 million shares cost N102.135 million, Skye Bank sold 24.944 million shares worth N28.484 million.