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Thursday, 21 March 2024 05:06

CBN says all valid FX backlog settled, foreign reserves up

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it has successfully settled all outstanding foreign exchange (FX) obligations. Hakama Sidi Ali, acting director of corporate communications at CBN, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday. Ali said the financial regulator recently concluded payment of $1.5 billion to settle obligations to bank customers, effectively settling the residual balance of the FX backlog. On February 5, Olayemi Cardoso, CBN governor, said he inherited a $7 billion FX backlog when he became the head of the apex bank in September 2023. Commenting further on the backlog settlement, Ali disclosed that “independent auditors from Deloitte Consulting…

Wednesday, 20 March 2024 04:38

‘Who is the bagger or idiot that will speak when I am talking?’, Nnamdi Kanu boasts of ending insecurity in Southeast ‘within two minutes’ if released

Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB), says he would restore peace in the south-east in two minutes if released from detention. The IPOB leader said nobody in the south-east can counter his orders concerning the security situation in the region. Kanu spoke on Tuesday after he was denied bail by Binta Nyako, presiding judge of the federal high court, Abuja. He said violence has persisted in the region because he is being held in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS). “Anybody committing crime cannot go free. I swear, anybody committing crime in…

Wednesday, 20 March 2024 04:37

Residents of Delta community where 16 soldiers were killed narrate their own side of what happened

Residents of Okuama community in the Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State where 16 military personnel were killed have opened up on the alleged reprisal. It would be recalled that troops attached to 181 Amphibious Batallion, Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta were killed while on peace mission. Trouble started when the troops responded to a distress call after the communal crisis between the Okuoma and Okoloba communities both in the South South State. There were reports that the military went on a reprisal attack after the incident. But reacting, Director, Defence Media Operations, Edward Buba, said the…

Tuesday, 19 March 2024 04:56

Nigeria’s imports rise to N35tn on Naira devaluation

Nigeria’s total imports grew to N35.9tn in 2023, from N25.5tn recorded in 2022, according to data by the National Bureau of Statistics. A breakdown of the data showed that in the first and second quarters of 2023, total imports were N6.4tn. It increased to N9tn in the third quarter and again to N14tn in the fourth quarter. By volume, manufactured imports topped the chart with imports worth N18.3tn. Agric imports N2.2tn while imports of raw materials totalled N3tn. On the other hand, Nigeria was able to churn out exports worth N35.9tn. However much of these were under the category of…

Tuesday, 19 March 2024 04:55

Submit details of users to EFCC, court orders Binance

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered Binance Holdings Limited to release to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, a comprehensive detail of all persons from Nigeria trading on its platform. Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange platform that lists more than 350 digital currencies, which serve as alternative form of payment, using encryption algorithms. The government had earlier asked Binance for information on its top 100 users in the country, as well as all transaction history for the past six months. Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Olayemi Cardoso, had on February 27, disclosed that about…

Tuesday, 19 March 2024 04:54

Voice calls, data services back up and running after massive outage across West Africa - Service Provider

MainOne, a West African digital infrastructure service provider, says there is stability on its network across the region. In a statement on Monday, the service provider said it worked with regional partners last week and over the weekend to reroute traffic with restoration capacity. “We worked with regional partners late last week and over the weekend to reroute traffic with restoration capacity and our observations are that we have stability on our network across the region this morning,” MainOne said. These developments, it said, represent a significant milestone to ensure continued connectivity for the West African business community. However, MainOne…

Monday, 18 March 2024 04:27

FG in talks with World Bank for yet another $1bn loan for IDPs, others

Federal Government is in talks with the World Bank to complete the processes of obtaining over $1bn loans to address the challenges facing Internally Displaced Persons and their host communities, as well as bolster rural access and agricultural marketing in the country. The request is contained in World Bank documents titled, ‘Solutions for the Internally Displaced and Host Communities Project’ and ‘Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project – Scale Up.’ While the IDP loan is put at $500m, the rural access and agricultural marketing project loan is estimated at $550m. According to the documents provided on the bank’s website, the…

Sunday, 17 March 2024 05:00

Outrage as FG signs P&ID-type MOU with dormant UK company for railway construction

Some Nigerians have expressed displeasure over the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the ministry of transportation and MPH Rail Development Limited. The company, registered in the UK, is expected to manage the design, construction, commissioning, operation, and eventual transfer of the Port Harcourt-Enugu-Calabar-Abuja standard gauge rail line. “The Minister of Transportation, Said Alkali on behalf of @NigeriaGov has signed an MoU with Messrs MPH Rail Development (UK) Limited for the design, construction, operation & transfer of the Port Harcourt–Enugu –Calabar–Abuja SGR Line on a PPP basis,” the ministry wrote on its X page. The ministry said the…

Saturday, 16 March 2024 04:33

Internet outage in Nigeria, others risks leaving millions offline for weeks - Bloomberg

Disruption to internet services for millions of users in Africa could take weeks or even months to fix, following damage to undersea cables off the continent’s west coast. Eight West African countries were suffering a second day of major connectivity issues on Friday with users in South Africa also affected, after damage to four sub-sea cables. The cause of the cable cutting was still not known, though a shifting of the seabed was among the likely possibilities. “Repairs can take weeks to months, depending on where the damage is, what needs to be repaired, and local weather conditions,” said a…

Saturday, 16 March 2024 04:30

Nigeria’s inflation hits 28-year high, among Africa’s 10 worst - Report

Consumer prices remain high in Nigeria, as the February Consumer Price Index (CPI) reading otherwise known as inflation, released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicated that headline inflation scaled by 1.8 percentage points (ppts) to 31.7%, the highest level since April 1996. The inflation rate, which was a negative surprise to analysts, outpaced the Bloomberg consensus estimate of 31.3% and the 31.1% projection of analysts at CardinalStone Finance, a Lagos based investment house.The unabated inflation pressure indicates that Nigeria remains within the top 10 countries with the highest inflation reading in Africa. Most inflationary pressure in Nigeria…

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Friday, 15 March 2024 04:47

Glo 1 survives as undersea cables serving MTN, others get damaged - causing downtime for banks in Nigeria

Banks in Nigeria have been affected by a damage to submarine cables, causing internet outages in parts of Africa. The submarine cable cuts, on Thursday, affected subsea cable providers and disrupted internet traffic in major parts of the continent. According to reports, the damage affected major undersea cables near Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire, affecting submarine communications cables, including West Africa Cable System (WACS), the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), MainOne, and SAT3. The issue is said to be causing downtime across West and South African countries, affecting telecommunications network as well as banks in Nigeria. In a notice to customers…

Friday, 15 March 2024 04:45

Makinde announces death of Olubadan of Ibadanland

Mohood Lekan Balogun, Alli Okunmade II, the Olubadan of Ibadanland, is dead. The monarch, who ascended the throne of his ancestors two years ago, died at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State, on Thursday. Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state who announced the king’s death in a statement Thursday night, described Balogun as an epitome of royal excellence and a great achiever, who made great marks on Ibadanland in just a little over two years of his reign. He expressed his condolences to the Olubadan-in-Council, the Oyo State Traditional Council and the people of Ibadanland and Oyo State,…

Thursday, 14 March 2024 04:52

Budget padding: ‘Personal interests’ projects worth N2trn inserted into 2024 budget by NASS members - BudgIT

BudgIT, a civic-tech non-profit organisation, says the national assembly inserted 7,447 constituency projects worth N2.24 trillion in the 2024 project. The organisation said most of the projects inserted into the budget by the national assembly have “no national significance but narrowed to personal interests”. BudgIT, on Wednesday, released a report on its findings of the allegation of budget padding by the national assembly made by Abdul Ningi, senator representing Bauchi central. BACKGROUND Last Saturday, Ningi stirred controversy when he alleged that the 2024 budget was padded by N3 trillion and that the country is operating two budgets concurrently. The Bauchi…

Thursday, 14 March 2024 04:51

Senate windfall: ‘I got N266m, not N500’, senator confesses

Senator representing Abia South, Enyinnaya Abaribe, has said contrary to the claim that some ranking senators received N500 million from the 2024 budget, he had only received N266 million. A federal lawmaker representing Cross River North, Jarigbe Agom-Jarigbe, had during plenary, on Tuesday, said that some senior senators had received N500 million each from the 2024 budget. The revelation came on the heel of an ongoing controversy over an allegation of budget padding made by Abdul Ningi in an interview with BBC Hausa. Ningi had earlier accused the Senate of padding the 2024 budget, saying the National Assembly added an…

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