World-renowned billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates were once asked at a gathering to write down on a sheet of paper their secret to success in one word. They both gave the same answer: focus.

“The thing you do obsessively between age 13 and 18, that's the thing you have the most chance of being world-class at,” Gates told Charlie Rose in a 2016 television interview.

In his case, the activity Gates was obsessed with was coding — which worked out pretty well. Gates went on to co-found Microsoft and became a millionaire in his 20s. He’s now the seventh wealthiest person on the planet, according to the Forbes real-time billionaires index, with a net worth of around $118 billion.

When Buffett was interviewed shortly afterward by CNBC, he was asked what he was obsessed with as a teenager.

“Well, I was pretty interested in investments,” he said.

When he was just 11 years old in 1942, Buffett says he took $114.75, his life savings at the time, and made his first investment, buying three shares of oil and gas company Cities Service (now called Citgo).

Fortune has since smiled on Buffett, who is now known as one of the most successful investors of all time. Aged 93, he still runs multinational conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, which owns dozens of giant brands, including insurer Geico, battery maker Duracell and restaurant chain Dairy Queen. He ranks sixth on the Forbes real-time billionaires index with a net worth of around $120 billion.

Buffett recounted the story to CNBC about Gates’s father gathering a group of men many years ago and asking them to share one word that accounted for each person’s success. Buffett and Gates wrote down the same thing without either knowing the other one’s answer ahead of time.

“He was focused on software, I was focused on investments,” Buffett said. “It gave me a big advantage to start very young — there’s no question about it.”

If you’re keen on following the shared ethos of these billionaires but you’re long past your teenage years, it may not be too late. Here are three ways to focus your investing strategy to emulate some of Buffett and Gates’s wealth-building success.

Start early and stay focused

The earlier you can start investing, the better off you’ll be. That’s probably the most common piece of investing advice — and it’s something that Buffett and Gates both stand by.

Buffett once described earning compound interest — interest you earn based on your personal contributions and the interest you've already earned — as the ability to snowball your wealth.

“We started building this little snowball on top of a very long hill,” he said at Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholders meeting in 1999. “The trick is to have a very long hill, either start very young or live to be very old.”

There are many ways to start investing. You can invest in stocks or index funds through a traditional brokerage account, or you can use tax-friendly investment vehicles like a 401(k) account (if your employer offers one) or an individual retirement account (IRA).

Once you start investing, it’s important to stay focused. It's possible to put your money to work every single day, for example, if you invest your spare change. And remember, the more time you have to earn interest, the bigger the rewards you'll see.

Focus on quality and value

Buffett is a well-known proponent of value investing, which is a strategy that involves buying stocks that are trading below their intrinsic value.

Typically, he looks for companies with long-lasting earning potential, consistent earnings, good cash flow and a low amount of debt.

He also likes to hold high-quality stocks for a long time — as shown via long-term investments in blue-chip companies like American Express and Coca-Cola — and famously wrote in his 1996 letter to shareholders: “If you aren’t willing to own a stock for 10 years, don’t even think about owning it for 10 minutes.”

While the investing juggernaut has been preaching the notion of value investing for many years, he reiterated it in Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder letter published in February 2023, where he wrote that the company’s investing goal was to back “businesses with both long-lasting favorable characteristics and trustworthy managers.”

Some good examples of value investing in Buffett’s portfolio are his stakes in Apple and Coca-Cola. Apple now ranks as Berkshire Hathaway’s largest stock holding at around $166.5 billion and makes up over 45% of the conglomerate’s entire portfolio.

“It just happens to be [a] better business than any we own,” Buffett said of the technology giant at the 2023 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting — alluding to Apple’s impressive financial metrics.

Focus on learning and improving

It’s likely you’ll see both gains and losses through the lifetime of your investment portfolio. The question to ask yourself is: how can I turn my investing blunders from the past into successes in the future?

Even investing greats like Buffett have made mistakes over time. At the 1997 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting, Buffett admitted to making “mistakes of omission,” where he had the opportunity to invest in attractive businesses but did not act.

Talking about some of those mistakes, Charlie Munger — Buffett’s long-time business partner and vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway — said that “most people get very few, what I call, no-brainer opportunities, where it’s just so damned obvious that this is going to work.”

He added: “I think people have to learn to have the courage and the intelligence to step up in a major way when those rare opportunities come by.”

But not everyone has the investing knowledge to jump on those opportunities. To gain some advantage, you may want to consider working with a professional financial adviser who can translate the investing world for you — or you can use investing apps and online platforms that will do much of the work for you.

Moneywise

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has approved the partial disconnection of Globacom to MTN due to a non-settlement of interconnect charges.

The NCC said this in a public notice by Reuben Muoka, the director of public affairs of the commission, on Monday.

The partial disconnection, according to the commission, means that Globacom’s subscribers will no longer be able to make calls to MTN, but will be able to receive calls to the Globacom network.

The commission explained that at the expiration of 10 days from the date of the notice, disconnection will be implemented.

“The Nigerian Communications Commission hereby notifies the public and subscribers of Globacom Limited (Globacom) that approval has been granted for the partial disconnection of Globacom from MTN Nigeria Communications Plc. (MTN), due to non-settlement of interconnect charges,” Muoka said.

He said Globacom was notified of the application made by MTN and was given the opportunity to comment and state its case.

“The commission, having examined the application and circumstances surrounding the indebtedness, determined that Globacom does not have sufficient or justifiable reason for non-payment of the interconnect charges.

“All subscribers are, therefore, requested to take notice that the Commission has approved the partial disconnection of Globacom to MTN in accordance with Section 100 of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003 and Paragraph 9 of the Guidelines on Procedure for Granting Approval to Disconnect Telecommunications Operators, 2012,” he said.

“At the expiration of 10 (ten) days from the date of this notice, subscribers of Globacom will no longer be able to make calls to MTN but will be able to receive calls.

“The partial disconnection, however, will allow inbound calls to the Globacom network. Please note that this disconnection will subsist until otherwise determined by the commission,” Muoka said.

PT

Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) on Monday launched the automated passport application process to expedite passport acquisition for Nigerians.

The NIS in a statement on Monday said the launch followed a live demonstration session hosted by the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, unveiling the functionality of the new system to stakeholders from across the country on Saturday in Abuja.

Speaking during the technical session, the Minister noted that the new reform seeks to redefine how citizens enrol and procure the international passport.

With an emphasis on convenience, reduced processing time, and an overall seamless experience, the Minister assured the public that this new solution will enhance national security and data protection.

He said: “With the new solution, application, processing, review, and approval will all be done online. On knowledge transfer, we have trained our officers to assume the new roles.

“With what we have done now, we have reduced the process of requesting for a passport to about six minutes. This does not require anybody to visit the immigration office and it will reduce the pressure on the immigration officers.

“As I speak, we have made arrangements for power and internet service providers to ensure at least 99.9% uptime. By February, Nigerians in the diaspora can have this same experience.”

On identity theft, the Minister disclosed that the Service has also achieved its objective of harmonization of data through its technical handshake with the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC.

Speaking on the readiness of the system and the men of the Service, Comptroller General of NIS, Mrs Adepoju Carol Wura-Ola, stated that the new process was a result of hardwork and determination of the Service.

She said: “What you’re seeing today is the product of dedication and motivation to see that an end comes to the stress, pains, and hardship that Nigerians go through to procure the international passport both at home and in the diaspora.

“We are motivated to stamp out corruption. That the Green Passport is restored to its place of pride. The Minister, Tunji-Ojo has challenged the Service, and has provided resources and technical know-how.”

CTV

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has invited Betta Edu, minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation, to its headquarters for investigation.

A source within the EFCC confirmed that Edu has been invited to appear before the commission “as soon as possible”.

“The government has directed us to investigate her over the N585 million scandal and so we will do that,” the source said.

Earlier on Monday, President Bola Tinubu suspended Edu as minister after a memo surfaced wherein she asked Oluwatoyin Madein, accountant-general of the federation, to transfer N585 million to a private account.

The instruction for the payment was contained in a leaked letter dated December 20, 2023.

In the letter signed by the minister and titled: “Mandate for Payment of Grant for Vulnerable Groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Lagos and Ogun States Respectively”, Edu instructed the accountant-general to transfer the aforementioned amount to the UBA account of one Oniyelu Bridget Mojisola.

The minister had said the payment instruction followed due process, even though the accountant-general of the federation said she did not carry out the minister’s request because no bulk money “is supposed to be made to an individual’s account in the name of Project Accountant”.

Edu had also approved the payment of flight fare for staff to Kogi, even though the north-central state has no airport to its name.

Alongside the suspension, Tinubu had also directed the EFCC “to conduct a thorough investigation into all aspects of the financial transaction” involving Edu’s ministry.

Ola Olukoyede, the commission’s chairman, was said to have recommended the suspension of the minister to the president.

The Cable

Oil prices fell over 3% on Monday on sharp price cuts by top exporter Saudi Arabia and a rise in OPEC output that offset supply concerns generated by escalating geopolitical tension in the Middle East.

Brent crude settled down $2.64, or 3.4%, at $76.12 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures lost $3.04, or 4.1%, at $70.77 a barrel.

Both contracts climbed more than 2% in the first week of 2024 as geopolitical risk in the Middle East intensified after attacks by Yemen's Houthis on ships in the Red Sea.

On Sunday, rising supply and competition from rival producers prompted Saudi Arabia to cut the February official selling price (OSP) of its flagship Arab Light crude to Asia to the lowest level in 27 months.

"That's raising concerns about demand in China and global demand as well," Price Futures Group analyst Phil Flynn said. "The stock market is off to a weak start this year and this news from Saudi Arabia has caused the bottom to fall out."

A Reuters survey on Friday found that OPEC oil output rose in December as increases in Angola, Iraq and Nigeria offset continuing cuts by Saudi Arabia and other members of the wider OPEC+ alliance.

The boost came ahead of further OPEC+ cuts in 2024 and as Angola exited from OPEC starting this year, factors which are set to lower January output and market share.

"If we were just to focus on the fundamentals, including higher inventories, higher OPEC/non-OPEC production and a lower than expected Saudi OSP, it would be impossible to be anything other than bearish on crude oil," said IG analyst Tony Sycamore.

"However, that doesn't take into account the fact that geopolitical tensions in the Middle East are undeniably rising again, which will mean limited downside."

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held more talks with Arab leaders on Monday as part of a diplomatic push to stop the war in Gaza from spreading further.

The conflict has already sparked violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, and also led to Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes.

Meanwhile, the oil price slide was tempered by a force majeure by Libya's National Oil Corporation on Sunday at its Sharara oilfield, which can produce up to 300,000 barrels per day.

Reuters

Israeli strike kills an elite Hezbollah commander in the latest escalation linked to the war in Gaza

An Israeli airstrike killed an elite Hezbollah commander Monday in southern Lebanon, the latest in an escalating exchange of strikes across the border that have raised fears of another Mideast war even as the fighting in Gaza exacts a mounting toll on civilians.

The strike on an SUV killed a commander in a secretive Hezbollah unit that operates along the border, according to a Lebanese security official who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with regulations. The commander, Wissam al-Tawil, was a veteran of the Iranian-backed Lebanese force who took part in the 2006 cross-border kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers that triggered the last war between Israel and Hezbollah, an official in the group said.

He is the most senior Hezbollah militant killed since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel triggered all-out war in Gaza and lower-intensity fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which has escalated since an Israeli strike killed a senior Hamas leader last week in Beirut.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is back in the region this week, appears to be trying to head off a wider conflict.

In other developments, Israel said it has largely wrapped up major operations in northern Gaza, though fighting and bombardment there continue. Israeli forces are now focusing on the central region and the southern city of Khan Younis, where thousands more Palestinians fled.

Israeli officials say the fighting will continue for many more months as the army seeks to dismantle Hamas and return scores of hostages taken during the militants’ Oct. 7 attack.

The offensive has already killed over 23,000 Palestinians, devastated vast swaths of the Gaza Strip, displaced nearly 85% of its population of 2.3 million and left a quarter of its residents facing starvation.

‘SICKENING SCENES’ IN GAZA’S OVERWHELMED HOSPITALS

Medics, patients and displaced people fled from central Gaza’s main hospital as fighting drew closer, witnesses said Monday. Losing the facility would be another major blow to a health system shattered by three months of war.

Doctors Without Borders and other aid groups withdrew from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, saying it was too dangerous amid Israeli bombardment, drone strikes and sniper fire. That spread panic among people sheltering there. Thousands left, joining the hundreds of thousands who have fled further south, said a hospital staffer, Omar al-Darawi.

Tens of thousands of people have sought shelter in Gaza’s hospitals, which are struggling to treat the continuous flow of wounded from Israeli strikes. Only 13 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are even partially functional, according to the U.N. humanitarian office.

The Al-Aqsa hospital was struck multiple times in recent days, al-Darawi said. After the pullout, large numbers of patients who cannot be moved were concentrated on one floor to be treated by remaining doctors. “They need special care, which is unavailable,” he said.

World Health Organization staff who visited Sunday saw “sickening scenes of people of all ages being treated on blood-streaked floors and in chaotic corridors,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “The bloodbath in Gaza must end.”

More dead and wounded arrive at the hospital each day as Israeli forces advance in central Gaza, backed by heavy airstrikes. The military said Monday it had uncovered a large Hamas site for building rockets in the nearby Bureij refugee camp.

Thousands have been fleeing the area, heading south. Fifteen members of the Ayash family crammed into a van with their belongings for the journey. “Along the way there was banging, missiles, bombing, and planes,” said Khawla Ayash.

Reaching Muwasi, a coastal area outside Rafah, they unloaded bags, blankets and thin mattresses and began setting up tents alongside other relatives.

The U.N. children’s agency UNICEF warned that 90% of Gaza’s children under 2 were consuming only bread and milk.

“As the threat of famine intensifies,” hundreds of thousands of children face severe malnourished, with some at risk of death, said Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s executive director. “We cannot allow that to happen.”

DIRE CONDITIONS IN THE NORTH

The situation is even more dire in northern Gaza, which Israeli forces cut off from the rest of the territory in late October.

Entire neighborhoods have been demolished, and most of the population has fled. Tens of thousands who remain face shortages of food and water. The WHO said Sunday it has been unable to deliver supplies to northern Gaza for 12 days because of bombardment and the inability to guarantee safe passage with the Israeli military.

Israel still battles what it describes as pockets of militants.

An airstrike early Sunday flattened a four-story home filled with displaced people in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp, killing at least 70, including women and children, according to Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for Gaza’s civil defense. There was no immediate confirmation from the Health Ministry, which has struggled to operate in the north.

Since the war began, more than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed, about two-thirds of them women and children, and more than 58,000 have been wounded, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The death toll does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates in populated residential areas, but the military almost never comments on the intended target in strikes that kill large numbers of civilians. The military says it has killed some 8,000 militants, without providing evidence, and says 176 of its own soldiers have been killed in the offensive.

SEEKING TO HEAD OFF A WIDER WAR

Blinken focused on preventing the war from spreading as he held talks in Gulf countries and Jordan over the past two days.

For the past three months, both Israel and Hezbollah have sought to limit their cross-border exchanges. Hezbollah appears wary of risking an all-out war that would bring massive destruction to Lebanon.

But last week’s killing of Hamas’ deputy political leader, Saleh Arouri, in Beirut threatens to throw the two sides into an escalating spiral.

A Hezbollah rocket barrage hit a sensitive air traffic base Saturday in northern Israel in one of the group’s biggest attacks of the war — an “initial response” to Arouri’s killing, Hezbollah said.

Israeli leaders say their patience with Hezbollah rocket fire is wearing thin and that if diplomacy doesn’t stop it, they are prepared to go to war. They have expressed particular concern about the Radwan Force, the elite Hezbollah unit in which al-Tawil was a commander, which operates along the border.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting troops near the border, vowed to return security to the north.

“We prefer that this be done without a wider campaign, but that won’t stop us,” he said.

Hezbollah began firing rockets shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, saying it aimed to ease pressure on Gaza. Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel that day, mostly civilians, and took some 250 people hostage, over 130 of whom remain in captivity.

In the cross-border exchanges, nearly 200 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, mostly fighters but also 20 civilians. On the Israeli side, five civilians and 12 soldiers have been killed and more than 150 injured. Tens of thousands of people in both countries have been driven from homes near the border.

AP

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia conducts major strikes on key Ukrainian military-industrial sites

Russia has announced that its forces have conducted a range of missile strikes targeting Ukraine’s military-industrial base. Kiev has confirmed the attacks, admitting that its air defenses failed to intercept most  of the projectiles.

In a statement on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had carried out “a group strike” using high-precision sea- and air-based weapons, including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles. The barrage, which took place in the morning, targeted military-industrial facilities, officials said, without providing details on the results of the attack.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the attack targeted various types of facilities in Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk and Khmelnitsky regions as well as in the parts of Zaporozhye region controlled by Kiev.

Authorities in the Khmelnitsky region reported six explosions, adding that one attack targeted an unspecified infrastructure facility. Local officials said that at least two people had been killed in the strikes.

Officials in Kharkov said that at least four rocket strikes had damaged an unnamed business and an educational institution, claiming there had been several casualties, including an elderly woman.

The Ukrainian Air Force said that it had managed to shoot down only 18 out of 51 missiles it claims Russia had launched. It admitted failure to intercept all four Kinzhal, six Iskander-M, and eight X-22 missiles. Yury Ignat, the spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, explained that Russia had launched a large number of ballistic rockets that he said could only be shot down by US-made Patriots or other similarly advanced air defense systems.

The latest strike wave comes after The New York Times reported on Saturday that White House and Pentagon officials had warned that they would be unable to provide Ukraine with Patriot missiles, as US Republicans continue to block president Joe Biden’s supplemental funding request, which includes a possible $60 billion for Kiev. The GOP has repeatedly demanded that the Biden administration do more to enhance US border security as a prerequisite for a potential deal.

Russia has ramped up its airstrikes on Ukraine’s military targets and critical infrastructure in the wake of what it called “terrorist attacks” on Belgorod and Donetsk. The strikes killed dozens of civilians, including several children, prompting Russian President Vladimir Putin to vow retaliation, while insisting that Moscow’s own attacks would not target civilians.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Four killed in combined Russian air strike on Ukraine

Russia sent dozens of missiles across Ukraine early on Monday, killing at least four civilians and hitting residential areas and commercial sites in its latest combined air attack, Ukrainian authorities said.

Two people were killed in the western Khmelnytskyi region, local officials reported, where critical infrastructure had also been struck.

In Kryvyi Rih, a 62-year-old was killed and a shopping centre and scores of private homes and apartment buildings damaged after nine Russian missiles hit the south central city, said Oleksandr Vilkul, the mayor.

"The mad enemy once again struck civilians," regional governor Serhiy Lysak wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "Directed missiles at people."

Ukraine's National Police said a total of 38 people had been wounded across the country.

Russia said it hit military-industrial targets in Ukraine from sea and air on Monday.

"This morning, a multiple attack was carried out with high-precision, long-range, sea and air-based weapons, including the Kinzhal hypersonic missile system, on facilities of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine," the defence ministry said in a daily dispatch.

Ukraine said its air defences had destroyed 18 out of 51 missiles, a much lower shoot-down rate than normal, which Kyiv attributed to the large number of ballistic missiles fired by Russia which are more difficult to intercept.

"On the one hand, you have lots of missiles not shot down," air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said on Ukrainian television.

"The explanation is simple: they were flying on a ballistic trajectory, and into the regions where we can't shoot them down."

All eight drones launched by Russia were also shot down.

The strikes came amid a cold snap sweeping Ukraine, with Vilkul, the Kryvyi Rih mayor, also reporting that 15,000 residents were without power and that local trams and trolleybuses were not running.

In the eastern city of Kharkiv, an industrial site and educational facility were damaged after at least four missile strikes, Governor Oleh Synehubov said.

A 63-year-old woman was killed in a strike on a town south of Kharkiv, he added.

Five people were also wounded in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, where governor Yuriy Malashko said residential areas had been struck.

"Not a single military target," he wrote on Telegram.

Russia in recent weeks has resumed a campaign of regular air strikes on Ukrainian population centres far behind the lines of its nearly two-year-old full-scale invasion.

RT/Reuters

Nobody wants to look incompetent or unskilled in the workplace. Unfortunately, the words we use every day can make us do just that.

There’s one common phrase experts say to avoid if you’re speaking with your boss: “I don’t know.”

“The simple acceptance of not knowing” can make it seem like you’re uninterested in going the extra mile to solve problems, Patrice Lindo, CEO of Career Nomad, a career consulting firm, tells CNBC Make It. Moreover, the phrase doesn’t show “initiative and willingness to learn.”

People usually say “I don’t know” in a variety of scenarios, from expressing disagreement to showing you don’t have the information your boss may be asking for. But even though you genuinely may not know, that shouldn’t be the definitive answer. 

Here are some alternatives you should exercise instead, says Lindo.

1. Ask for some time to research: Offering to find answers or examples from reputable online resources like studies, reports and articles can show that you’re solution-based.
2. Seek clarification:  If your boss’s request is out of your wheelhouse, ask them or a knowledgeable colleague to explain further. This can demonstrate the desire to gain knowledge and improve your performance at work.
3. Suggest a collaborative approach to find the answer: Getting a team of professionals with unique skills together can help you solve problems quicker and more efficiently than doing it alone.

Business leaders agree with Lindo’s advice. Sixty percent of companies say that the top qualities they look for in employees are current professional knowledge and eagerness to continually search for improvements in productivity, efficiency and profitability, according to a 2012 survey of more than 170 employers.

Even billionaire investor Mark Cuban says employees who make the effortto get things done, even if they aren’t sure exactly how, have a competitive edge. 

“The one thing in life you can control is your effort,” Cuban, 64, said in a LinkedIn video post published by entrepreneur and VC investor Randall Kaplan in May. “And being willing to do so is a huge competitive advantage, because most people don’t.”

Putting in effort means going beyond what’s required to solve problems, even when you aren’t asked to — on top of your job’s normal responsibilities, Cuban said. You take the initiative, and exhaust all possible options until you find an answer.

“There’s some people, or employees, that if you tell them to do A, B, and C, they’ll do A, B, and C and not know that D, E, and F exists,” Cuban said. “There [are] others who aren’t very good at details: If you tell them to do A, B, and C, all they want to do is talk about D, E and F.”

His advice for anyone with an “I don’t know” attitude: “Don’t apply for a job with me.”

CNBC

Lawmakers have budgeted an additional N30 billion for the renovation of the National Assembly Complex in the 2024 Appropriation Bill.

The N30bn earmarked for the renovation of the building was part of the N344.85bn budgeted for the National Assembly after they raised their allocations from N197.93bn.

The N344.85bn, signed by President Bola Tinubu on January 1, is the highest ever allocated to the legislature.

The additional N30bn brings to N60bn the amount being spent on the renovation of the National Assembly complex.

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, who is also the President of the National Assembly, had on June 30, 2023, declared that Tinubu would in December, last year inaugurate the N30bn different ongoing projects at the National Assembly.

Akpabio said, “The entire complex of the National Assembly is like a construction site due to ongoing general renovation work and fresh projects which would, on completion, be inaugurated by President Bola Tinubu in December this year (2023).”

The renovation was initially billed to be completed and delivered in August 2022 but the delivery date was later moved to January 2023 and then December 2023.

As of January 2024, the renovation of the National Assembly Complex is yet to be completed with skeletal work ongoing on the premises.

Our correspondent, who was at the site on Saturday, observed that the contractor, Visible Construction Company, was still at work.

An official of the construction firm, who spoke to our correspondent anonymously, said, “People keep blaming us for not finishing the project but those with the money have refused to release money to us.

“How are we expected to finish the work without money? If money is released to our company, the project will be done in no time.”

Earlier during an oversight visit by the Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory, the site engineer, Tajudeen Olanipekun,  blamed “fluctuations in the value of naira to the United States dollar for the delay.”

“This has hampered the importation of required materials and equipment, in addition to the need for more funds from the FCDA,” he said.

However, the Head, Public Relations, Federal Capital Development Agency, Richard Nduul, in June disclosed that N19bn had been paid to the construction company.

He said, “I would like to refer you to a recent press briefing by the Executive Secretary, Shehu Hadi Ahmad, just about three weeks ago, it was disclosed that so far about N19bn had been expended out of the sum of N30bn being the cost of the contract awarded in 2021 to Messrs Visible Construction Nigeria Limited with a completion date of August 2023.

“This project when completed, will bring the Complex to the status of a world-class parliamentary building that will ensure both the comfort, convenience and functionality of the complex,” Nduul added.

However, when our correspondent called Nduul to get an update on how much had been expended on the project, he said he was on sick leave.

He said, “Please call back on Monday so that I can get the records from the concerned department.”

In the same vein, our reporter reached out to the site engineer, Olanipekun for comment on the amount paid, but he refused to pick up his calls and even blocked our correspondent from reaching him.

He had also refused to reply to the text messages sent to him.

Punch

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it has disbursed approximately $61.64 million to foreign airlines through various banks. 

The payment is part of CBN’s efforts to decrease its remaining liability to the airlines and clear the forex backlog to commercial banks in order to ease pressure on foreign exchange.

Recall that in November 2023, foreign airlines operators disclosed that about 90 per cent of their $783m trapped funds had not been paid. The latest payment represents less than 10 percent of trapped funds.

According to data from the International Air Transport Association, as of August 2023, Nigeria accounted for $783m of airlines’ blocked funds.

However, Acting Director of Corporate Communications Department at the CBN, Hakama Sidi Ali, who confirmed this latest payment, further disclosed that, in the past three months, the apex bank also redeemed outstanding forward liabilities amounting to almost $2 billion.

This, she said, underscored the Bank’s commitment to the resolution of pending obligations and a functional foreign exchange market.

“These payments signify the CBN’s ongoing efforts to settle all remaining valid forward transactions, with the aim of alleviating the current pressure on the country’s exchange rate,” she said.

It is anticipated that this initiative by the CBN should provide a considerable boost to the Naira against other major world currencies and further increase investor confidence in the Nigeria economy.

Daily Trust/NewsScroll