I Will Make Nigeria a Tourist Haven – Ooni Oba Adeyeye

Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye said, he is ready to make Nigeria a tourist haven. Ooni during a courtesy visit to the Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba, Mr Carlos Trejo in the presence of Dr Sally Mbanefo, the Director General, Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) on Friday in Abuja, said he will do all in his power to make this a reality.
He also promised to facilitate collaboration between NTDC and the Republic of Cuba.
“I will ensure that NTDC collaborates with the Republic of Cuba to strengthen and grow domestic tourism in Nigeria and to develop it to international standards. By the time the collaboration is done, Nigeria will become a tourist haven,’’ he said

Governor blames Buhari for naira crash

Ekiti state governor, Ayodele Fayose, has blamed President Muhammadu Buhari for the continuous fall of the naira, saying the currency was stronger under Goodluck Jonathan's administration.

With the US Dollar exchanging for N350 as the time of filing this report, Fayose said the President lacks the mental capacity to resolve the economic challenges confronting the country.

He said Buhari's foreign trips is a sign that he is insensitive to the hardship confronting Nigerians.

In a statement released by his special assistant on public communications and new media, Lere Olayinka, he said after nine months in office, the President has not formed an economic team or articulated his policy direction.

The statement reads: “It is the height of insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians that the president, who just returned from trips to France and United Kingdom, will again be traveling to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar from February 20 to 27, spending seven days out of Nigeria in what they called ‘three-nation tour.

“Travelling from one country to another won’t solve any of our problems because I have not seen where foreigners assist any nation to develop. The president should know that Nigerians are suffering and they do not need their President to junket around the world, to alleviate their sufferings.

“Nigerians should prevail on President Buhari to stay at home and govern the country… It is worrisome that President Buhari does not have any economic team and there is no policy direction yet, despite spending close to nine months in office.

“The implication of the president’s obvious lack of the required mental capacity to tackle the nation’s economic problems and the resultant effects are human right abuses, prices of goods and services skyrocketing, daily retrenchment of workers, folding up of businesses, states finding it difficult to pay workers salary and the Federal Government not being able to prepare common budget.”

On the dollar crash, he said: “Dollar has gone double since Dr Goodluck Jonathan left office, with US Dollar exchanging for N350 as at today, Foreign Reserve is declining on daily basis, Boko Haram insurgents have come back even stronger than they were when Buhari assumed office and Nigerians are now being made to pay more for electricity that is not available for them to use."

“Most importantly, prices of foodstuffs, newsprint, medicine among others have gone over the roof. Should we still continue to attribute all these to Jonathan or the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)?

“Even former Central Bank Governor (CBN) and Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi is saying that President Buhari’s anti-corruption stance is totally inconsistent with the forex regime he supported and that the Federal Government Forex Policy encourages corruption and rent-seeking.

“Funny enough, some people are already talking about President Buhari’s second term not minding the reality that anybody thinking about Buhari’s second term is only planning to snuff life out of Nigerians.”

Fayose is known to criticising Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC), almost on a daily basis.

A former governor of Ekiti state, Niyi Adebayo, had earlier today said Fayose is making a mockery of the state, noting the APC leadership is doing everything possible to take power from him by the next political dispensation.

Naira falls to N345 against dollar in parallel market

The naira yesterday exchanged at N345 to the dollar in the parallel market. The exchange rate volatility worsened thereby forcing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to devalue the official exchange rate to narrow the gap between it and the parallel market.

The local currency eased 1.47 per cent from Friday’s close of 340 to the dollar, while the official rate remained at 197.50 to the dollar at the close of trading yesterday.

Traders said the black market rate had slipped as Nigerians with school and medical bills to pay abroad anticipated the CBN would stop allocating currency for such payments. The bank has not denied or confirmed any such plans.

Tumbling global oil prices have battered Nigeria’s crude exporter, with foreign exchange reserves down to an 11-year low at $27.85 billion by February 11.

Nigeria’s government is concerned that further depreciation will hurt poor Nigerians, but the bank’s refusal to revise the pegged exchange rate has widened a chasm between official rates and the parallel market.

“In my own view, the central bank should address the supply side of the market by allowing oil companies and banks to sell dollar to bureau de change operators as an immediate measure to reduce pressure on the naira,” said Aminu Gwadabe, head of the Association of Bureau de Change Operators of Nigeria.

Managing Director, Financial Derivatives of Nigeria Limited, Bismark Rewane, said naira devaluation is the answer to Nigeria’s economic woes. The economist said there is a big difference between economic drama and reality adding that people denying the need for devaluation are same people that keep stealing from the people.

He said those who want the naira not to be devalued should remember that it is all about competitiveness adding that the local currency can also appreciate if things are done rightly.

Rewane said that in the last 10 years, Western Union, Thomas Cook and others were bring dollars to the country. “The CBN said it sold $8 billion to bureaux de change (BDCs) in nearly two years but who are the owners of these BDCs? The issue is if you are a manufacturer and you get dollar at N197 from the CBN to import raw materials. There are two decisions to make. Manufacture the goods and sell as if you bought the at N310 to dollar because of the wide gap between the official and parallel market rates, or open a Letter of Credit and refuse to import. Then roundtrip the money and make 50 per cent outright profit,” he said.

He said devaluation will solve such problem because it will reduce the widening gap between the official and parallel market rates. He said many of the people asking government not to devalue the naira is because they want to abuse and steal the fund, pretending to be protecting the naira.

“I can tell you, there are vested interests. They pretend to be protecting and defending the naira, but in reality, they are not. In 1987, the naira depreciated by 76 per cent and by 20 per cent in 2009. But when oil prices rose, did they allow the naira to appreciate?”

Customers set to boycott banks on March 1, 2016

The Consumer Advocacy Foundation of Nigeria (CAFON) and the Coalition of Nigerian Consumer Protection Associations have set aside Tuesday, March 1, 2016 as No Banking Day.

Punch reports that according to the groups, on that day, customers have been asked to boycott all forms of banking activities and banks.

This action is basically a form of protest against the charges introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Speaking to newsmen, the founder of CAFON, Sola Salako said “For many years now, customers of banking services have endured excessive charges, unexplainable fees and unfair contracts that only protect the banks but do not protect the consumers.

“Banks debit customers’ accounts at will for charges we never agreed to or were not aware of; they charge us for everything; some banks are charging N210 for the use of deposit and transfer forms in their branches!”

Adding that “Thousands of customers have been victims of ATM fraud because the banking industry failed in its duty of educating and informing consumers of the inherent dangers in online banking at commencement.

“These incessant multiple charges are even more prevalent on loan accounts, while many banks have also taken advantage of the CBN’s fluctuating forex policy to charge customers exchange rates that far exceed the CBN rates without even notifying the customers of the rates before the transactions.”

The group also frowned at the practise where the CBN changes policies, without notifying Nigerians.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in January 2016, instructed all deposit banks and financial institutions operating in the country to place a N50 charge on every bank deposit of N1,000 and above.

This is in line with the Stamp Duties Act and Federal Government Financial Regulations 2009

Falana to govt: recover outstanding $66.5b loans, others

Lagos Lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) yesterday urged the federal government to recover its outstanding $66.5billion in loans, royalties, levies and other recoverable revenues instead of “seeking an emergency loan of $3.5 billion” to fund its ambitions N6.8 billion loan

In a letter to Minister of Finance Mrs Kemi Adeosun dated February 12, Falana hinted of his plan to seek the leave of the court “not later than February 29” to stop the government from taking the loan, since “you have not deemed it fit to react to the serious issues raised in the letter.’

Falana had written a letter dated February 5, addressed to the minister, cautioning the government against taking an emergency $3.5 billion loan.

But the federal government has since announced that it is not taking “any emergency loan” to fund its 2016 budget plans.

Senate to pass budget before March 31, says Ndume

The Senate will pass this year’s budget before the end of next month, Ali Ndume said yesterday.

The Senate leader said the 2015 budget would end next month and it was the desire of the Senate to pass the 2016 budget before that time.

Ndume said contrary to reports in the media, the Senate did not suspend its passage indefinitely, but only said February 25 “may not be feasible”.

The Senate leader noted that it was the wish of the National Assembly to pass the budget five weeks before the expiry of the period set for the implementation of the 2015 budget.

But he explained that it would not be possible due to some errors.

His words: “We have not postponed it indefinitely; we are saying that with the developments we are seeing, the February 25 deadline may not be realistic.

“That is why we now said that going by this, it is not possible to say we will come back on February 25 and say this is the budget; we are not saying that we have suspended it indefinitely.

“The reason we fixed February 25 was because we wanted to have a gap of five weeks,” he said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

The Senate leader said the gap would have enabled the Senate fix whatever issues that needed to be handled before the March 31 deadline for the implementation of the 2015 budget.

The leadership of the National Assembly, Ndume said, met with ministers to iron out the grey areas and make corrections to the contentious areas.

He assured Nigerians that the Senate would ensure strict compliance with the implementation of the budget.

Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, yesterday exonerated President Muhammadu Buhari for the inconsistencies in the 2016 budget.

The lawmaker, who made the statement while receiving leaders of the National Association of Nigerians Students in Abuja at the weekend, said the civil servants should be blamed.

He said: “I’m going to absolve the President; but I’m not going to absolve the people that put it in. Why I must absolve the President, I will tell you.

“The job was done by civil servants; it’s always been done by civil servants

The President does not sit in a ministry, he doesn’t know what’s going on in a ministry or what they need or do not need.

“The argument can be that the buck stops at his desk. I agree with that. He must take responsibility. Under the constitution, he has the right to delegate his work to ministers. And he delegated the issue of budget and planning to the minister of Budget and Planning.

“Where I think the ball was dropped, was with the minister of Budget and Planning. Because after the civil servants, whether intentionally or not, did what they did, it was for the minister of Budget and National Planning to vet and scrutinise those things before coming to the House, or the National Assembly. It’s not for the President to do so.”

The lawmaker reminded the students that it was Buhari who first drew the attention of Nigerians to the issues in the budget.

Also, Senator Gbenga Ashafa yesterday assured Nigerians that the 2016 budget would be transparently passed and that there won’t be hidden figures.

Speaking with reporters in Lagos at the weekend, Ashafa promised that the Presidency and the National Assembly would not cover up for any shortcomings in the budget.

He assured the citizens that they would get the best from the budget.

Naira falls to record N335 to dollar

The naira on Friday exchanged at N335 to the dollar as the scarcity of the greenback worsened at the parallel market.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the naira lost N10 to exchange at N335 to the dollar, a depreciation of three per cent.

It previously traded at N225 to the dollar.

Meanwhile, the official Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) exchange rate remained at N197 to the dollar.

Traders at the market expressed worry at the increasing shortage of the greenback and urged the government to take immediate steps to stem the tide

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