Gov Chukwuma Soludo criticises and denies claims that Anambra foreign investments made by ex-Governor Peter Obi greatly appreciated.
The Governor described them as “fake news” reports of the current dollar values of the investment.
The repeated denials by the Soludo government rankles in Anambra and the southeast where these are seen as unnecessary.
The criticisms and denials are “unhelpful to the Labour Party flagbearer whose national approval rating soared in recent times, political analysts said.
The latest criticism comes from Finance Commissioner Ifeatu Onejeme who challenged Obi’s claim on current value of Intafact Beverages investment.
Onejeme disputed claims that the $12.5million investment has appreciated at today’s value.
Even though his statement showed a 15 percent appreciation in the Naira value of the investment, Onejeme based his calculation on the dollar value.
He also used today’s highly depreciated Naira to dollar value to base the calculation and “prove” that the investment has depreciated. Onejeme didn’t stop there; he further devalued the original investment using black-market dollar rate to measure its current value.
Consequently, the Commissioner said that the value of Obi’s $12.5 million investment for Anambra is now US$3.7million on parralel market exchange rate of N600 to the dollar. He however allowed that it could go as high as $5.3million on the official exchange rate of
Here is a summary of what Onejeme said:
“Given the repeated fake news about the current dollar value of the investment … in SABMiller, it has become imperative to clarify the matter in public interest.
“The Peter Obi Administration invested … N1,955,535,247.00, equivalent of approximately US$12,616,356.43 at the then average CBN exchange rate of N155.00/$1.00)”
“ANSG received and still holds 407,321,264 ordinary shares of International Breweries Plc in exchange for its investment in Intafact Beverages Limited .
Based on the NGX closing price of N5.50 as at 20/6/22, these shares were valued at N2,240,266,952 on that date.
2240266952
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“Based on the Central Bank of Nigeria I&E exchange rate of N415.75/US$1.00 on same June 20, 2022, this investment was valued at an equivalent of approximately US$5,388,495.37”
Onejeme went further to say that “at N604/$1.00 parallel market rate, (the value of the investment is) “only US$3,709,051.24”
“We do not want to join issues with the purveyors of the fake news but only need to state the facts to inform the public,” he said.
Subtle demarketing of Obi
Analysts continue to wonder why Soludo’s government embarked on subtle demarketing of the Labour Party Presidential Candidate.
The current statement from Anambra State Finance Comm the Anambra State statement as mischievous in many ways.
The resort to calculating the investment using “blackmarket” benchmark betrays a clever attempt to further degrade the investment value.
Even with that, the Commissioner says the investment, made in Naira, was N1.95billion but is now valued at N2.24billion. Analysts therefore wonder why Soludo is intent on subtly promoting it as a bad investment.
“Is there any contradiction in saying that the current value of the investment at N2.24billion is an appreciation over the original investment of N1.95billion?”
Current value of investment
As at 2019 Anambra State government holds 4.7percent in International Brewery Plc.
Remember SABMiller holds 47.4 percent of International Breweries Plc. But in 2016 AB InBev acquired SABMiller worldwide, including their subsidiaries in Africa.
In 2017 International breweries PLC merged with Intafact Beverage Limited and Pabod Breweries Limited.
Now AB-InBev, controls over 70 percent of the larger International Brewery, with direct and indirect stake of 75.1percent.
This 75.1 percent represents 47.4 percent held by SABMiller Nigeria Holdings BV, and 27.7 percent held by Brauhaase International Management GMBH, plus minority shareholdings.
Slug: Soludo criticises Peter Obi on Anambra Investments
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