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The central bank of Nigeria stated that the recent appreciation of Naira against the Dolar was the result of intervention and market monitoring by the CBN. The acting director of cooperate communication CBN , Mr Isaac Okorafor in sokoto clarifies the allegations by Mr Babatunde Gbadamosi on the illegal sales of foreign currencies at ridiculous rates was responsible for the change in forex policy. The Lagos Businessman Babatunde Gbadamosi, also former governorship candidate made the allegations of racketeering against the CBN and favoritism in allocation of foreign exchange to cronies of the present administration. The Central bank of Nigeria later clarifies the issue that the transactions in question were third party transactions like Japanese Yen to the South African Rand, or Euros to U.S Dollars.  The CBN later went supplementary to direct banks to file returns on the sale of foreign currencies in dollars to avoid ambiguities and misinterpretations in future. Mr...

The naira to dollar yesterday nosedive from N523 to N505 as a result of the  revaluation of foreign exchange by the Central Bank of Nigeria on Monday. Acting President of Association of Bureau de change Operators,Aminu Gwadabe,who confirmed this in a chat with our correspondent, said the apex bank  use of carrot rather than stick to banks directing them to sell their invisibles services at  20percent margin is really bringing out the stashed liquidity in the banking safe, homes, etc. He said other measures of the CBN like reduced tenored futures, intervention in the parallel market have aided a significant naira rebound in the market. He however added there is the need for the apex to still look at the sources of supply ends of the market like the diaspora remittance and FDI agitations to complement the mouth watering margin of 20% to banks transactions. “The CBN should also harmonise the rates between that of the BDCs buying and selling rates and banks to ens...

Nigeria loses $2.9 billion annually to corporate tax waivers, the ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) has said. The country director of AAN, Ms. Ojobo Ode Atuluku, who disclosed this yesterday in Abuja, said Ghana and Senegal also lose $2.7 and $0.2bn respectively annually to tax waivers bring the loss of the three countries to $5.8bn annually. She was speaking at the West African Summit on Tax Treaties organised by ActionAid themed, ‘A Common Treaty Protocol: Cutting the Giveaways’. Mrs Atuluku also stated that Nigeria lost over $3.3bn in 10 years to tax incentives under the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Act. She urged the labour, civil society organisations civil servants and other stakeholders to rise as a movement to end the extravagant waivers that characterise treaties that African countries have signed. She said studies by her organisation and other development agencies showed that there is need to take more than a cursory look at the treaties which have become maj...

Nigeria wants to borrow at least $1 billion from the World Bank and to sign within months for a $1.3 billion loan from China to fund railway projects, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun said on Tuesday. Africa's biggest economy needs to plug a gap in its record 7.3 trillion naira ($23.17 billion) 2017 budget, which boosts capital expenditures by a quarter to end its first recession in 25 years due to low oil prices. The government has been in talks with the World Bank for a year and wants to finalise this month a reform proposal necessary for a loan application, according to officials. " We expected to borrow at least $1 bln dollars ," Adeosun told CNBC when asked about the talks with the Washington-based bank. "There is also some possibility of doing sector specific intervention in the power sector, they are working very closely with us on power," she added, without being more specific. Nigeria had initially promised to submit an economic plan to t...

The executive directors of the International Monetary Fund have adopted a proposal to promote Islamic Banking (IB) due to its popularity in the global financial system. The board, at the end of its first formal discussion on IB, adopted a set of proposals on the role the fund should play in this area. The proposals, according to the bank, and the case for adopting them, are contained in the staff paper titled “Ensuring Financial Stability in Countries with Islamic Banking” and the accompanying country case studies paper. A statement from the IMF said the board noted that the growth of Islamic Banking and its complexities posed new challenges and unique risks for regulatory and supervisory authorities. “Against this background, the directors called for stronger efforts to establish a policy framework and environment that promote financial stability and sound development of Islamic Banking, particularly for countries in which Islamic Banking has become systemically importan...

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, says Nigeria has achieved the status of second largest producer of rice in the world. Malam Garba said this in Abuja at the weekend at a special interactive session with the youths organized by Citizens Support for Good Governance in Nigeria (SGGN). The presidential media aide, who spoke on the efforts being made by President Muhammadu Buhari to restructure the economy, called for more patience. He said the government met a situation in which the economy had been ravaged, while the people had been used to lifestyles that could no longer be sustained. He said, “No country will develop when you have to import virtually everything, including tooth pick and tissue paper. All the food we eat in this country was being imported. So, all of the money earned was just going to buy food. “But as I speak to you now, Nigeria just achieved the record of the second largest producer of rice in the ...

Arik Air, the largest Nigerian carrier taken over last week by the Federal Government would require N10bn to return to full and uninterrupted flight operations. The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) which took over the management of the airline on behalf of the government said it discovered "deep rooted rot" at Arik Airlines. The new management in a statement on Sunday said "The situation is so bad that only nine aircrafts out of the 30 in the fleet of the airlines is operational. 21 of them have either been grounded, gone for C-check in Europe among other forms of challenges. "As if these problems are not enough, the airline does not have money to procure aviation fuel for the nine operational aircrafts because no dealer wants to sell aviation fuel to Arik if it is not on cash-and-carry basis. This also calls for public understanding because flight schedules may be realigned based on the nine aircrafts that are available, technically sound...

Dangote Rice, a subsidiary of Dangote Group, is set to launch in Sokoto State it’s multi-million naira 25,000 hectares of rice outgrower scheme with a prospect of hundreds of employment opportunities for the rural communities. By year-end 2017, Dangote Rice plans to produce 225,000MT of parboiled, milled white rice. This will allow us to satisfy 4% of the total market demand within 1 year. Our model can then be successfully scaled to produce 1,000,000MT of milled rice in order to satisfy 16 per cent of the domestic market demand for rice over the next five  years, it said.  President of the Group, Aliko Dangote, disclosed at the weekend that the company will on Wednesday, flag off with a pilot project of 500ha by Goronyo dam, in Goronyo community. Goronyo dam is the second largest in the country, after Kainji.  The flag off ceremony which will be performed by the governor of the state, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, will witness seedlings being distributed to the prim...

Oil prices rose yesterday with traders shifting money into crude futures as the dollar weakened and on concerns that new U.S. sanctions against Iran could be extended to affect crude supplies. But markets were held back by more signs of growing U.S. production and by worries that import demand in China could slow. International Brent crude futures were trading at $57.01 per barrel at 0620 GMT, up 20 cents from their last close. U.S West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were up 19 cents at $54.02 a barrel.

The Dangote Tomato Processing Factory, Kadawa, Kano State, has begun survey of tomato farms in six major tomato producing states to ascertain the level of availability of the commodity. The company’s Managing Director, Alhaji Abdulkarim Kaita, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview on friday in Kano. Kaita said the survey would be conducted in major tomato growing areas within the states which are: Jigawa, Katsina, Kaduna, Kano, Gombe, Plateau and Sokoto. He said that the survey would enable the company to assess the availability of the commodity before resuming production in the next few weeks. “We want to make sure that the commodity is readily available in these states before we resume production. “We will require 40 trailers of tomato daily, hence our decision to embark on the survey of major tomato growing areas to know whether the farmers have started harvesting,” Abdulkarim said. He disclosed that the company had engaged over 50 casual...

The task force set up Wednesday by the Federal Executive Council to tackle rising cost of food items has clarified that its assignment is “not about government intervening directly in the market for staple foods either though purchases or price fixing.” The task force set up Wednesday by the Federal Executive Council to tackle rising cost of food items has clarified that its assignment is “not about government intervening directly in the market for staple foods either though purchases or price fixing.” The task force clarified this at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja yesterday during its inaugural meeting presided over by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo. The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, in a statement, quoted the task force as making the clarification at its meeting yesterday. The taskforce, comprising the ministers of Finance, Agriculture, Water Resources and Transportation, is expected to report back t...

Nigerian naira on Monday crumbled to 500 per dollar at the parallel market sending significant shock to businesses as analysts predicted a sharp depreciation on the currency. The currency plunged further against the United States dollar to an all time low record of 500 on Monday morning, down from 498 it closed on Friday. The currency had continued to fall since the beginning of the year as experts see the currency hitting over 500 to the dollar this year. It is also trading 615 and 525 to the pound and euro respectively at the back market segment. At the highly pegged official market, the currency remain unchanged at 305 to a dollar. In a bulletin containing the FDC’s economic outlook for 2017 released in January, Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr. Bismarck Rewane had predicted that the naira would trade at N350/dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange Market and depreciate to N520/$ at the parallel market

Some petroleum marketers in Katsina State have increased their fuel pump price from N145/L to N155/L. This was revealed by an investigation done by Radio Nigeria, Katsina correspondent. It was further revealed that the situation is worst outside the state capital. According to the investigative report, the price of the commodity at the black market has also been sky rocketed where a 4L gallon is being sold at the cost of between N800 to N900. KATSINA POST checks on the issue also revealed that vehicles queue is gradually coming back in some of the filling station in the city while many more of the stations are closed due to the scarcity of the commodity. In another news, Eighteen babies, abandoned by their mothers, have been recovered in Funtua town, Katsina State, in the last four months, an official has disclosed. Alhaji Ibrahim Nasir, Director of Education and Social Services (ESSD), Funtua Local Government Council, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Funtua...