Displaying items by tag: CBN

The Nigerian naira, on Friday, weakened to N607 per dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange (FX) market amid increased demand.

The figure represents a drop of N7 or 1.2 percent from the N600 it traded earlier this week.

Currency traders known as Bureaux De Change operators (BDCs), who spoke to TheCable in Lagos, quoted the buying rate of the greenback at N598 and the selling price at N607 per dollar.

A parallel market (street market) is characterised by noncompliant behaviour with an institutional set of rules.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has consistently maintained that the parallel market represents less than one percent of foreign exchange transactions and should never be used to determine Nigeria’s naira/dollar exchange.

On the official market side, the naira depreciated by 0.26 percent to close at N420.33 to a dollar on Thursday, according to data on FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, a platform that oversees official foreign-exchange trading in Nigeria.

Bloomberg had reported that there is a huge demand for dollars in cash from politicians competing for support from delegates in the party primaries.

“Dollars is the unofficial currency in Abuja and other parts of the country in terms of the prestige and more importantly, the convenience,” the news agency quoted Idayat Hassan, director of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), as saying.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) plan to hold primary elections for legislative, governorship, and presidential candidates next week.

[THECABLE]

A federal high court in Abuja has declared that the direct deduction of funds from the federation account to fund the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) is illegal.

In a judgment delivered on Wednesday, Ahmed Mohammed, the presiding judge, held that the provisions of section 4(1)(a) (b) of the Police Trust Fund Act 2019, requiring the deduction of 0.05 percent of any funds in the federation account and 0.005 percent of the net profit of companies operating in Nigeria to fund the police are unconstitutional.

Mohammed said the provisions are contrary to the provisions of section 162(1) (3) of the constitution, which states that the payment of total revenue collected by the government of the federation, including levies and taxes, into the federation account is for sharing among the three tiers of government.

Consequently, the judge ordered the federal government to refund all money deducted from the federation account belonging to Rivers state government.

Rivers state, through its attorney-general, had on May 20, 2020, filed a suit against the federal government’s decision to fund the NPF from the federation account.

The attorney-general of the federation (AGF), accountant-general of the federation, auditor-general of the federation and the minister of finance were joined as defendants in the suit.

Rivers state contended that it was not the responsibility of the state governments but that of the federal government to fund the police.

It prayed the court to declare the section of the law “permitting the direct deduction of any sum or percentage of revenue accruing to the federation account or which ought to have been paid into the federation account for the purpose of providing funds for the Nigeria Police Trust Fund” as “unconstitutional, null and void”.

It also urged the court to order a refund of the money deducted from the federation account and paid into the NPTF since when it was informed in April 2020 Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting.

The court ruled in favour of the state.

However, the judge stated that Rivers state will be the only beneficiary from the refund of the deduction and not the remaining 35 states.

[THECABLE]

African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential aspirant, Kingsley Moghalu, on Wednesday tweeted about the 2023 presidential contest.

The former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Deputy Governor said he forgot to inform President Muhammadu Buhari of his intention to run.

The post was ostensibly a reaction to State House visits by All Progressives Congress (APC) leader, Bola Tinubu, and Ebonyi Governor, Dave Umahi.

The duo, at separate meetings on Monday and Tuesday, told Buhari that they would seek the party’s ticket.

“I forgot to inform President @Mbuhari that I am running for President. But I informed Nigerians, of whom he is one, so no wahala!”, Moghalu wrote.

The tweet didn’t sit well with some respondents who posted photos of him sharing biscuits to kids, while others joked about it or gave him advice.

Lolofirstclass: “Twitter doesn’t win elections. Many of them will be online warriors that day. Send people to start spreading your word from street to street, churches, higher institutions, markets and even viewing centres.”

GenesisClothin2: “If you came out during the #Endsars protest to stand with the youths, by now your campaign for done finish but all of una hide una head now una need us.”

Desmond Stephen: “You will have to do more advocacy. Most people outside Twitter don’t know you.”

Okunola Smart: “First go try and contest for the Federal Hon position to test your popularity and acceptance by your people.”

Olatunde Olaleye: “Find your way to the villa with your face mask. Then snap a few pictures with Buhari.”

Moghalu joined the ADC in October 2021. The National Chairman, Ralph Nwosu said Nigeria needs “servants and dedicated leaders” like him.

Moghalu, one of the Third Force leaders, is a lawyer and political economist. He was the Young Progressives Party (YPP) presidential candidate in 2019.

Moghalu served as Special Envoy of the United Nations on Post-COVID Development Finance for Africa.

In June 2021, he was elected member of the Board of Directors, Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS).

[DAILYPOST]

Senator Andy Uba said that he made Prof Charles Soludo Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

Senator Uba made this known during the Anambra gubernatorial debate on ARISE News Channel Supported by Enough-is-Enough.

Candidates who were present during the debate have already been cleared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), including Mr Andy Uba of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), and Mr Valentine Ozigbo of the People's Democratic Party (PDP).

This was not the first time Senator Uba has alluded such claims that he was instrumental to Prof Soludo’s emergence as the Governor of CBN during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo tenure.

He made similar remarks in Lagos whilst briefing journalist last week.

In a reaction from Prof Soludo, he raised a gray area about secondary status.

“when did you graduate from secondary,” Soludo threw jab.

“I graduated in 1974,” Uba responded.

Recall that Ubah was recently taken to court over a school diploma that he reportedly provided for the election.

According to a suit filed in the Federal High Court, Abuja, on October 8, 2021, with the case number FHC/ABJ/CS/1211/2021, Uba's Form EC9 to INEC was full of incorrect information.

The statement of result for the Senior School Certificate Examination May/June 1974 apparently issued by Union Secondary School, Awkunanaw, Enugu, Enugu State, under the Enugu State School System and allegedly bearing the name of Uba Emmanuel Nnamdi with Candidate Number 05465/089 is fraudulent.

The WAEC did not hold exams in 1974, when Uba graduated from secondary school, according to the report Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE).

In a rebuttal by Prof Soludo, "you cannot lie against someone who is alive.

He said, “I know Andy was a Masseur in the U.S.

“If throwing up my name gives Andy Uba a CV, then I will concede that to him.”

Uba in a reaction said, “When he (Soludo) became the CBN Governor, he came to my house to say thank you."

Co-founder and vice president of the Nigeria -Malaysia Business Council, Dr. Michael Aderohunmu said that Nigerians always have alternatives when they not able to transact as they should.

The economist said on CityTalks with Reuben Abati that Nigerians need to embrace the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) now as the eNaira, because it is the new norm.

 According to him, the idea behind the eNaira is to drive Nigeria cashless economy.

He said, “The world is going towards cashless economy and the objective of that is to make life easy for everybody.”

On the 25^th October, 2021, Nigeria became the first African country to launch a digital currency called the eNaira to upend commercial banking in Nigeria.

The digital currency will have the same value as the physical cash we use on a daily basis.

The Central Bank of Nigeria made it clear that the eNaira is not a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, or any other type of cryptocurrency, contrary to popular belief. It is not decentralized and cannot be controlled privately in the same way as cryptocurrencies can.

Dr Aderohunmu is of the view that the eNaira platform is going to be a platform that will drive all transaction, but the challenge is that; “how easy is it going to be for users to access this platform without being frozen or a challenge of bandwidth?”

He noted that the major thing to start with for every country that is going into digital economy; is the availability of bandwidth without interruption.

“As we go by the question, we need to ask is how do we link the advantage of a digital currency into the Nigeria economy itself. Because if you don’t have anything to sell, you are still exposed, the difference here is that it has reduced the pressure on naira compare with what we use to have,” he said.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has weakened the naira on the futures market across multiple maturity periods, according to data reported by Reuters on Wednesday,

The futures market is where currencies are traded on locked-in rates, through contracts to be fulfilled on later dates.

According to data reported by Reuters, the CBN weakened the five-year naira futures contract, the longest maturity for the currency, to record low of 630.30 naira to a dollar. The contract with three-weeks to maturity eased 7.01 naira to 412.14 naira.

The CBN’s decision came as the local currency fell to a record intra-day low of 416.95 per dollar on the over-the-counter spot market, where currencies trade daily. On the black market, naira traded at 480 naira. The CBN’s official rate set in July 2020 is 381.

The naira has faced pressures from investors trying to repatriate money home after the Debt Management Office last week repaid a $500 eurobond.

The central bank last month vowed to sanction exporters who fail to repatriate their dollars.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) expressed in a circular yesterday, that it will resume the sales of foreign exchange to the Bureau De Change segment of the foreign exchange market on the 7th of September, 2020 to enable travelers have more access to foreign exchange.

The naira exchanged at the investors and exporters FX window on the FMDQ at N386.15 to a dollar yesterday.

In a circular, signed by the Director, Trade and Exchange Department, CBN; titled, ‘Resumption of sales to Bureau De Change operators,’ stated that, “As part of efforts to enhance accessibility to foreign exchange particularly to travellers following the announcement of limited resumption of international flights by the Honourable Minister of Aviation, commencing with Abuja and Lagos, the Central Bank of Nigeria hereby wishes to inform the general public that gradual sales of foreign exchange to licensed BDC operators will commence with effect from Monday, September 07, 2020.

“Consequently, purchase of foreign exchange by BDCs shall be on Mondays and Wednesdays in the first instance.
“The BDCs are to ensure that their accounts with the banks are duly funded with the equivalent naira proceeds on Fridays and Tuesdays accordingly.
“Meanwhile, authorized dealers (Deposit Money Banks) shall continue to sell foreign currencies for travel-related invisible transactions to customers and non-customers over the counter upon presentation of relevant travel documents (passports, air tickets and visas).”