CBN offers $367m for forex forwards
The Central Bank of Nigeria on Monday said it carried out another round of retail intervention in the interbank foreign exchange market by providing a total of $367,134,329.93 to meet the forward requests of customers.
A breakdown of the funds shows that the sum of $144,073,753.07 was for 45 days, while $223,060,576.86 was for 60 days. A statement by the CBN’s Acting Director in charge of Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, said the move was in line with the bank’s determination to ease the foreign exchange pressure on various sectors through forward sales under the new flexible forex regime to keep the market liquid.
Banks Begin Compliance with Directive on FX Teller Points
Some commercial banks have heeded the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) directive on the opening of teller points for retail foreign exchange transactions, THISDAY investigations have shown. The CBN had said the new directive was a reaffirmation of its willingness, capability and determination to meet FX demand in the market.
Some of the commercial banks branches visited in Abuja yesterday to assess the level of compliance with the directive had already created special points for FX transactions as well as electronic display boards to show current FX rates.
Banks may takeover Etisalat over debts
A consortium of local banks may assume the management of Etisalat Nigeria over unpaid loans extended to the telco about two years ago, The Nation has learnt. The development is a fallout of the difficult being faced by the telco in settling the. Already, the telco has approached the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for their intervention to prevent the takeover of the telco.
But sources said the CBN has already arranged a meeting with executives of the affected banks on the issue, adding that the banks’ chiefs at a meeting with CBN three days ago, were non committal to the apex bank’s truce.
Fuel queues surface in Abuja
Hundreds of motorists formed long queues in front of filling stations in Abuja on Monday as they waited to buy the Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol. The queues were pronounced in the city centre, stretching several metres in most of the filling stations visited.
It was learnt that the queues were triggered by the planned strike by the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, before the oil dealers were prevailed upon by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to suspend it.
‘Cybercrooks target smartphones’
Smartphones have become a mine of personal information, holding bank data, credit card information and addresses, making them the preferred target for cybercriminals, experts have warned.
“Cybercriminals go where there is value, and they have understood that the smartphone has become the preferred terminal for online shopping and payment,” head of the French branch of international anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab, Tanguy de Coatpont, said at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. According to AFP, ransomware, which seizes control of computers and demands money to unblock users’ data, has already started to target smartphones.
NCC to Engage Telecoms Firms on Quality of Service
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday would meet with telecommunications companies in the country on how to improve their Quality of Service (QoS). In a statement made available to the media in Abuja, NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Tony Ojobo, expressed the commission’s concern over the degenerating QoS provided by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and other service providers.
As part of measures to cushion the situation and ameliorate the recurrent inaccessibility to foreign exchange by operators, the image maker quoted the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, as saying that the commission had written to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emiefele, as favourably disposed to addressing the forex needs of the operators.
FG begs foreign airlines to use Kaduna airport
The Federal Government on Monday announced that the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja would be closed in the early hours of Wednesday. It said that adequate preparations had been put in place to secure passengers who would be travelling from Kaduna to Abuja during the six weeks when the Abuja airport would be shut.
This was disclosed in Abuja during a ministerial press briefing by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed; Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika; and Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris.
Minister, Stakeholders Condole Family of Omatek Boss
The Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu and the stakeholders in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) have commiserated with the family of late Mrs. Florence Omatule Seriki, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Omatek Ventures Ltd, as well as the nation’s ICT community over the sudden death of their daughter, who died on March 3, 2017, at the age of 53, after battling with cancer of the pancreas.
Nigeria loses N3.45bn daily as Shell shuts Bonga
Nigeria’s first deepwater development, the Bonga field, has been shut down, causing oil firms and the nation a huge loss of revenue estimated at N3.45bn daily. Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited announced on Monday that the field was shut down on Saturday to enable it to commence turnaround maintenance on the field.
It said, in a statement signed by the Corporate Media Relations Manager, Precious Okolobo, that executing the statutory activities would ensure continuous optimum operations at the deepwater field, which began producing in November 2005.
BoI Raises MSMEs Funding by 42%
The acting Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BoI), Mr. Waheed Olagunju has said the bank would sustain annual increment in micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) financing going forward.
Already, the bank had increased disbursement to small businesses to N8 billion in 2016, representing 42 per cent increment from N5.6 billion in 2015. The BoI acting MD said the increment would ensure more Nigerians get access to finance to create opportunities for rapid development of the country.
Nigeria, Egypt seek to improve $100m trade relations
The Egyptian Ambassador-designate to Nigeria, Mr. Assem Hanafi, on Monday expressed concern over the low volume of trade between the two countries, stating that there was a need to aggressively improve the situation.
Hanafi, who stated this when he visited the President, Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Tony Ejinkeonye, put the volume of trade between both countries at about $100m.
FG Seeks Increased Flow of Foreign Investment -Japan commits $30bn to sustainable Devt in Africa
The federal government has stated that it is working towards increased foreign direct investments (FDI) flow the country, noting that with the current state of the economy, all hands are on deck to seek areas where Nigeria can attract the much needed foreign exchange to carry out developmental projects for economic prosperity and sustainability.
Reps seek to warehouse dormant accounts in CBN
The House of Representatives moved on Monday to contain abuse of depositors’ dormant accounts by commercial banks in the country.
Amendments to the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, 2004 have been proposed to stop the trend by empowering the Central Bank of Nigeria to assume control of such funds after a stipulated period of inactivity or dormancy.
NLNG Predicts Demand Growth from China, India
The Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) has stated that with the current LNG demand growth from China, India, and some Asian markets, there would be a boost in LNG supplies in 2017.
The company said while the global LNG market experienced some very difficult periods in 2016 as a result of the dip in oil prices, some Asian markets were beginning to take up centre stages in LNG demand growth just as demand from European market could likely drop within the period.
$1bn Eurobond’ll boost corporate bond listings – FMDQ
The Federal Government’s recent listing of the $1bn Eurobond on FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange market will pave the way for domestic listing of Nigerian corporates’ Eurobonds and ignite the vision for an ‘afrodollar’ market, according to the FMDQ.
The Federal Government, through the Debt Management Office, had for the first time listed its Eurobond domestically after successfully raising $1bn from the international markets in February, and following a series of strategic engagements that spanned at least three years with the FMDQ and other stakeholders.
NBS: Imported Agric Products Totalled N212.73bn in Q4
The country spent N212.73 billion on imported agricultural products in fourth quarter of last year (Q4 2016), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) stated yesterday.
Nigeria’s total value of external Merchandise Trade rose to N5.28 trillion, helped by rising export in Q4 compared to N4.78 trillion in the previous quarter. Though total import fell to N2.31 trillion in Q4, representing 6.1 per cent decrease from N2.46 trillion in Q3, imported agricultural goods grew by 1.7 per cent more than Q3 estimates.
3.7m Nigerians lost jobs in 1 year –NBS
The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS in its yet to be released unemployment report for the fourth quarter of 2016 has given a breakdown of how 3.67million Nigerians became jobless in one year. The figures show that the number of unemployed Nigerians rose from 7.51 million in the beginning of October 2015 to 11.19 million at the end of September 2016. The unemployment report for the fourth quarter of last year covering October to December 2016, which is still being prepared by the NBS, is due for release on March 29.
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