The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN Godwin Emefiele has finally broken his silence on the extension of the old Naira notes as legal tender.

This is coming on the heels of the Supreme Court ruling, which demanded that the federal government order the CBN to suspend the complete withdrawal of the old naira notes until February 15, 2023.

However, the apex bank had remained silent on the ruling, causing the commercial banks to stop accepting the old naira notes.

Nevertheless, on Tuesday afternoon, CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele eventually broke his silence and declared that there was no need to shift the February 10, 2023 deadline.

Emefiele, during a visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss the monetary and currency redesign policy, said shifting the February 10 deadline was needless.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/old-naira-note-ceased-to-be-legal-tender-february-10/

Today is Valentine’s Day, and as expected, there is a lot of buzz on social media about the lovers’ day with people booking expensive getaways and vendors.

However, due to the current Naira scarcity, the poor network for electronic transactions, and the fuel scarcity, there may be limited options for couples wishing to splurge on themselves or even spend on a romantic getaway due to a lack of cash.

Moreover, who says you must leave your house in order to celebrate a memorable Valentine’s Day? A St. Valentine’s Day celebrated at home can also be fun and romantic.

Here are five ideas to make your Valentine memorable while in the midst of the naira scarcity.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/5-ways-to-make-valentines-day-memorable/

The prevailing uncertainty surrounding the old Naira deadline has led to even more confusion in the country as money deposit banks and petrol stations stopped accepting the old naira notes despite the ex-parte injunction from the Supreme Court.

Recall that the Supreme Court of Nigeria had ruled that the federal government should allow the circulation of the old Naira notes until a substantive suit is heard on February 15 in a suit jointly filed by three state governments against the federal government over the old naira deadline.

However, despite the ruling, the deposit money banks have yet to get a contrary directive on the old naira deadline from the industry’s regulator, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, leading to uncertainty over the continued use of the old currency notes as legal tender.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/old-naira-deadline-more-confusion-as-banks-petrol-stations-reject-old-notes/

The Labour Party Presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi has tasked the security agencies in Lagos to fish out all those responsible for the attacks on some of his supporters on Saturday.

Some of Obi’s supporters had been attacked by thugs while on their way to the venue of the Labour Party rally in Lagos.

About four people were said to have been attacked and sustained varying degrees of injuries.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/obi-to-security-agencies-fish-out-thugs-that-attacked-my-supporters-in-lagos/

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has denied that it admitted a lack of capacity to print new Naira notes.

The apex also denied that it is planning to shut down some banks as alleged by a voice note that circulated since Thursday.

Read more>>>https://nigeriatodaynews.com/cbn-denies-alleged-plan-to-shut-down-banks-insists-it-has-capacity-to-print-naira/

Thugs have attacked some supporters of the Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi in Lagos.

The supporters were said to be driving to Tafawa Balewa Square, the venue of Obi’s rally in Lagos when thugs descended on their car and attacked them, smashing windscreens and injuring some of the occupants.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/breaking-thugs-attack-obi-supporters-in-lagos/

This week, African payment unicorn, Flutterwave acquired its Payment Services Provider and Payment Facilitator licenses in Egypt, marking the formal launch of its operations in the North African region.

Below are three things you need to know about the strategic move.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/3-things-you-need-to-know-as-flutterwave-flutters-into-egypt/

The Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank Corporation, Herbert Wigwe has shared a picture of the ongoing construction of Wigwe University in Rivers.

Wigwe, who is obviously excited about the project, took to his Twitter handle to share some pictures of the ongoing developments.

He wrote: “We recently launched the construction of the highly anticipated Wigwe University test facility in the heart of Rivers state, and we are proud to see substantial progress being made.”

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/access-bank-ceo-herbert-wigwe-is-building-a-university-in-his-home-state-rivers-see-pictures/

Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi has again emerged as the top choice to win the February 25 Presidential election in a new poll by Bloomberg released on Friday.

The poll results showed that two-thirds of respondents said they intend to vote for Obi in a survey conducted for Bloomberg News by Premise Data Corp.

Of the 93 percent of participants who said they have decided how to vote, 66 percent named Obi as their preferred choice. Obi scored a slightly higher 72 percent among decided respondents in an earlier Premise poll that was released by Bloomberg in September as the official election campaign kicked off.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/again-peter-obi-remains-top-choice-to-become-president-in-bloombergs-new-poll/

Hello friends, it’s the weekend again!

Yes!

Finally, we can snuggle under the duvet until 7 am and ignore the alarm. Lol.

But, I think this week was fast enough, though, I mean, from my end. What was the week like for you, slow or fast?

Anyways, what are you up to this weekend?

Visiting friends or would you be slouching on the couch and binging on Netflix?

I thought right?

Well, whatever you do, I will always be here to give you the top 10 most interesting movies you can watch on Netflix this weekend to make the free hours fun and entertaining.

Lots of movies have made it to the top 10 categories this week, but I have skipped to the best ones for you.

Click here to check them out and let us know what you think>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/netflix-and-chill-10-must-watch-movies-on-netflix-right-now/

A video that surfaced online on Thursday shows the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai telling Kaduna residents that they can keep spending the old Naira notes until the next four years.

In the video, El-Rufai addresses an excited audience who cheer him on as he urges them to keep transacting in the old currency even though the Central Bank of Nigeria says they will cease to be legal tender on February 10.

Click here to read the full gist and watch the video>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/el-rufai-tells-kaduna-residents-they-can-spend-old-naira-notes-until-2027-video/

The Nigerian government on Thursday directed universities to close down campuses and suspend academic activities starting February 22 to enable students to take part in the general elections slated for February 25.

Tertiary institutions regulator, National Universities Commission ordered the closure of university campuses across the nation in a letter addressed to vice-chancellors of all universities and directors of inter-university centres.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/nigeria-shuts-universities-ahead-of-elections/

The Supreme Court order on Naira swap deadline extension may not be binding on the apex bank due to some technicalities, according to a legal expert that spoke to Nigeria Today News.

Recall that three State governments – Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara – had approached the Supreme Court seeking to restrain the Nigerian Government and its agencies from implementing the deadline for the swap of the old Naira notes.

However, according to Isaac Okeh, a legal practitioner, the Supreme Court order on Naira swap deadline may not be binding on the CBN for several reasons, one of which includes the fact the CBN was not named as a party in the suit.

“Can the Supreme Court competently make an order against the CBN in the suit that the CBN is not a party to? Had the CBN been joined in the suit, the Supreme Court would not have had jurisdiction. This is because the CBN was not listed amongst the persons that can appear before the Supreme Court in its original jurisdiction.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/why-cbn-may-not-obey-supreme-court-order-on-naira-swap-deadline/

According to the international lender, this was because the economy has recouped output losses sustained during the COVID pandemic, bolstered by favourable oil prices and domestic consumption.

Recall that the IMF had on February 1, upgraded its projection for Nigeria’s 2023 economic growth rate to 3.2 percent representing a 0.2 percentage points increase from the 3.0 percent earlier projected in its October 2022 World Economic Outlook.

[url]Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/why-imf-maintained-nigerias-growth-projection-at-3/[/url]

An attempt by Nigeria’s central bank to redesign some denominations of the country’s currency and withdraw the old designs from circulation has resulted in an acute currency scarcity, breeding chaos on the streets, with bank workers fleeing for their lives.

On Tuesday morning, a video (shown below) of some bank workers clambering onto a wooden ladder across a walled fence of the bank’s premises to escape irate customers circulated on social media.

Bank employee scamper to safety
That was just one of the many chaotic scenes that have played out across many locations in Africa’s largest economy over the past week.

The plan had been simple – to redesign the N1,000, N500, and N200 notes, withdraw the old designs from circulation within 100 days, and introduce the new Naira notes at least 45 days before the old designs cease to be legal tender. The plan did not work or is not working.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/nigeria-cash-chaos-africas-largest-economy-faces-unprecedented-currency-scarcity/

The death toll from the Turkey earthquake carnage on Monday has risen to nearly 3,000 as rescue teams continue to work early on Tuesday to release people trapped in the rubble of buildings in southern Turkey.

The magnitude 7.8 quake hit Turkey and neighbouring Syria early on Monday, toppling entire apartment blocks, wrecking hospitals, and leaving thousands more people injured or homeless.

Nearly 8,000 people have been rescued from 4,758 buildings destroyed in the tremors a day earlier, Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said in its latest statement.

AFAD head Yunus Sezer said that 2,921 people had died in Turkey as aftershocks continued to shake the region. Another earthquake of 5.6 magnitudes struck central Turkey on Tuesday, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/death-toll-from-turkey-earthquake-rises-to-nearly-3000/

The lawyer prosecuting Nigeria’s former Deputy Senator President, Ike Ekweremadu has told a UK court that he ought to go to jail for leveraging his political influence and wealth status to entice a donor against his consent.

The Prosecutor Hugh Davies, said Ekweremadu, and his family plotted to bring a street trader from Nigeria to Britain and pay him a few thousand pounds to donate his kidney for a transplant for his ill daughter.

At the trial, which resumed on Tuesday, February 6, 2023, Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 55, daughter Sonia, 25, and Nigerian doctor Obinna Obeta, 50, who is accused of acting as a middleman, all deny a charge of conspiracy to arrange travel of another person with a view to exploitation between August 2021 and May 2022.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/why-ekweramadu-must-go-to-jail-prosecutor-tells-uk-court/

The leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis said that any laws criminalising same-sex “are a sin and an injustice because God loves and accompanies people with same-sex attraction”.

Francis, who made his remarks in response to a reporter’s question aboard the plane returning from a two-country trip to Africa, received the full backing for his comments from two other Christian leaders on the plane with him.

“The criminalisation of homosexuality is a problem that cannot be ignored,” said Francis, who then cited unnamed statistics according to which 50 countries criminalise LGBT people “in one way or another” and about 10 others have laws including the death penalty for them.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/laws-criminalising-same-sex-are-a-sin-pope-francis/

Kaduna State Governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai claimed on Friday that the entire voting population in Anambra State is only equal to the voting population in one local government area in Kaduna State.

El Rufai made this claim while assessing Peter Obi’s chances of winning the Presidential election on February 25 while featuring on TVC’s Journalists Hangout programme.

According to El-Rufai, Obi stands no chance of winning the Presidential election because he is only popular in Southern Nigeria, which has a sparse voting population. He said Obi could win Anambra, which is his strong base, but that the voting population of Anambra is not even up to the population of one local government in his State, Kaduna.

Read more to see if El-Rufai lied>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/fact-check-are-there-more-registered-voters-in-one-lg-in-kaduna-than-entire-anambra-state-as-el-rufai-claimed/

African telecom and mobile money services provider, Airtel Africa Plc has posted $523 million profit after tax for the nine-month period ended 31 December 2022.

This represents a 1.7% growth compared to the corresponding period of 2021, with gross income growing by 12.1%, to $3.9 million.

A review of the financials which was released to the Nigerian Exchange Group on Thursday showed that the network provider’s subscribers rose 10.1% to 138.5 million within the period as the penetration of mobile data and mobile money services continued to rise, driving the data customer base up 13.6% and the mobile money customer base up 22.2%.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/airtel-africas-profit-rises-marginally-by-1-7-to-523m/

Payment startup, Moniepoint processed 1.7 billion transactions worth over $100 billion in 2022, according to its 2022 performance review report.

It also disbursed $1.4 billion in loans and booked less than 1% in NPL (Non-Performing Loan).

Within the period, Moniepoint, which rebranded recently to focus on providing banking, credit, payments, and business management tools for its customers, processed an average of 8000 transactions per minute, becoming the leading fund transfer platform on the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, NIBSS.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/moniepoint-processed-100b-worth-of-transactions-in-2022/

Why does Nigeria love cash so much?

Nigerians love to touch and feel their money.

Although the Nigerian government introduced a cashless policy over a decade ago, the appetite for cash transactions has more than doubled within the period.

In fact, at the time the CBN announced the redesign of the currency ahead of full implementation of the cashless policy in October 2022, currency in circulation had risen to N3.2 trillion, from N1.4 trillion in 2015 – more than 85% of which is raw cash outside the banking system.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/cash-junkies-nigeria-battles-to-wean-citizens-off-cash/

It appears that not all is going according to plan in the camp of the governing All Progressives Congress, APC as El-Rufai Governor of Kaduna State has decried the lack of support from the presidency.

El-Rufai, who is a prominent member of the APC Presidential Campaign Council of Mr. Bola Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate said that some elements in the Presidency wish the APC failure in the February 25 election.

In fact, the Kaduna State Governor told Channels Television Sunrise Daily programme that he believes “there are elements in the Villa that want us to lose the election because they didn’t get their way; they had their candidate. Their candidate did not win the primaries”.

Read more and watch video>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/presidential-election-el-rufai-cries-fowl-alleges-sabotage-from-buharis-men-video/

The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar told the BBC on Tuesday that he would accept defeat “in good faith” if he lost the February 25 Presidential election.

Mr. Abubakar, 76, has been running for President for at least 30 years. This is his sixth and probably the last shot at the Presidency.

Atiku spoke to the BBC mainly on the allegations of corruption and the recent attempt by the ruling All Progressives Congress to disqualify him through the courts.

Meanwhile, fresh allegations of corruption emerged after audio purported to contain Mr. Abubakar’s voice leaked discussing plans to divert state funds and fund party affairs through a special purpose vehicle.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/atiku-to-bbc-i-will-accept-defeat-in-good-faith/

Apart from the black market for foreign currency, a new parallel market for the local currency, the Naira has emerged, triggered by the New Naira note scarcity.

Nigeria Today reports that through the weekend until Monday, PoS operators and other racketeers charged between N300 and N500 per N1000.

While the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN continues to insist that it has supplied enough of the new Naira notes, Banks continue to make excuses that they do not have enough to go around.

The new Naira note scarcity has caused long queues at some cash machines that dispense them. Those who could not endure the long queues resort to the black market at unfairly determined rates.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/new-naira-note-scarcity-triggers-black-market-for-cash-dealers-charge-n300-per-n1000/

It was a scary moment on Monday as angry youths armed with stones and other dangerous weapons attacked President Buhari’s helicopter during his visit to the ancient city.

A video shared by TattleRoomNG that circulated on social media showed the moment the irate youths pelted stones at the helicopter believed to be conveying the President.

One video showed citizens angrily struggling with some unidentified security agents while a convoy made its way through their midst.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/angry-youths-attack-buharis-helicopter-in-kano-video/

Investors are currently dumping Nigerian bonds after rating agency; Moody’s downgraded the country on Friday to Caa1 from B3.

In long-term credit rating, any debt obligations rated Caa1 are generally judged to be of poor standing and are subject to very high credit risk.

Therefore, this rating means that Moody’s does not believe that Nigeria is capable of meeting its long-term debt obligations.

This rating is expected to have serious implications on Nigeria’s ability to raise external funding via long-term debt instruments such as Eurobonds.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/investors-dump-nigerian-bonds-after-moodys-rating-downgrade/

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN currency redesign programme has pulled 1.9 trillion Naira into bank vaults in three months. It has now allowed a 10-day extension to bring in the remaining N900 billion, which it believes still circulates outside the banking system.

Although the apex Bank reserves the right to redesign the currency every 5-8 years, the primary reason for this current programme was to mop up the excess cash circulating outside the banking system and fuel criminality.

When the CBN announced the redesign of the currency, currency in circulation had risen to N3.2 trillion, from N1.4 trillion in 2015; out of which only 500 billion was within the banking industry and N2.7 trillion “held permanently in people’s homes”.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/cbn-hauls-n1-9-trillion-into-banking-system-in-90-days-hunts-for-extra-n900b-with-10-day-window/

Unity Bank Entrepreneurship Development Initiative – Corpreneurship Challenge, targeted at empowering fresh graduates and Corp Members on one-year compulsory national youth service has, in its ninth edition of the Corpreneurship Challenge held across 10 States recently, doled out N10 million grant to 30 winners.

The winners emerged after a business pitch presentation held across 10 States; namely, Rivers, Delta, Sokoto, Edo, Abuja, Akwa-Ibom, Osun, Kano, Bayelsa, and Enugu, with each state producing three winners who took home cash grants of N500,000, N300,000 and N200,000.

The winners of this ninth edition included Corp Members focusing on developing entrepreneurship in renewable energy, fashion, beauty, agro-processing, confectionaries, etc.

Some of the winners at the Rivers State NYSC Orientation camp at Nonwa Gbam Tai included Muoneke Gift, whose business plan on renewable energy took home the grand prize of N500, 000; followed by Ilesanmi Olamide’s business proposal on beauty services to claim the N300, 000-business grant for first runner up. Ekanem Moses Idoreyin’s confectionary business proposal took home the N200, 000 grant.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/corpreneurship-challenge-unity-bank-splashes-n10m-grant-on-30-corps-members/

But for the slight difference in the colour codes, Nigeria’s redesigned naira notes contains no remarkable change in features when President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled the new N200, N500, and N1000 notes on Wednesday.

Nigerians are disappointed. Many have questioned the rationale behind the redesign policy if Nigerians would have to struggle to differentiate it from the old notes, at least until the old ones are completely phased out on January 31st, 2023.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/nigeria-unveils-poorly-designed-new-naira-notes/

Nigerian energy giant, Seplat was in the news for the wrong reasons last month after the oil and gas industry’s regulator, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission rejected its bid to acquire American oil and gas multinational corporation, Exxon Mobil Corp.

Now, it is in the news again for even the worse reason, an alleged conflict of interest that led to the two founders spending over $450 million, about N193.5 billion through companies tied to the founders over a 12-year period.

According to a Bloomberg expose, Seplat “spent more than $450 million on goods and services provided by companies linked to its two founders over 12 years, most of it after the firm publicly listed in London and Lagos in 2014”.

Read more>>> https://nigeriatodaynews.com/the-inside-story-of-how-founders-of-seplat-splurged-over-n190b-with-personal-companies/