Osaretin Victor Asemota shared this photo of Edo State former Governor and incumbent Governor - Lucky Igbinedion and Godwin Obaseki. The photo got Twitter users talking.
Lagos State Government has convened a meeting of all critical stakeholders to evaluate the state’s preparedness for any eventuality over the ravaging massive flooding across the states of the federation.
The state has, however, directed all relevant enforcement arms of the state to step up their supervisory roles to contain any eventuality.
The situation which has elicited renewed fears among residents of the state was convened on the directives of the state Governor, Bababjide Sanwo-Olu.
Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tunji Bello, briefing newsmen at the end of the meeting, over the weekend, said the stakeholders came up with a resolution that while Lagos is not totally immune from flooding, the state will continue to effectively manage its situation without posing risk to lives and property of residents.
According to Bello, “now is the time for all enforcement arms of the state to step up their supervisory roles.”
He stated that the enforcement impact must be felt by recalcitrant people and institutions who have defied government and built structures on drainage alignments, flood plains and low lying areas now more than ever before.
Bello added that despite the fact that Lagos is a coastal city with almost one third of its total landmass under water, what it experiences after each bout of heavy rainfalls is flash flooding which will recede few hours after the cessation of such rainfalls.
The commissioner, who expressed sympathy with victims who have suffered any form of losses due to the prevalence of flooding, across the states, said Lagos is constantly monitoring the Ogun River which flows directly into the Lagos Lagoon.
Directs residents of river banks to relocate
The commissioner, therefore, said that as a result of the latest development, residents of all identified areas like: Ketu, Alapere, Agric, Owode onirin, Ajegunle, Alagbole, Kara, Isheri olowora, Araromi Otun orisha community, Agiliti, Maidan, Mile 12, Odo ogun, Owode elede, Agboyi 1, Agboyi II, Agboyi III which are banks to the Ogun River were alerted to be ready to relocate at any given time.
He stressed that residents fail to realize that the position and location of Lagos State on the map makes the state’s Lagoon the convergence point of all water from the Ogun River, Ona Ibu River, Osun River, Sasha River that runs across many South West States.
Bello, explained that the state is also working in concert with the Ogun Oshun River Basin Development Authority to ensure that rain water releases that pass through the Oyan Dam have a minimal negative impact on the residents.
The commissioner, reiterated that the state, through the Office of Drainage Services and Water Resources has embarked on massive dredging and cleaning of all primary and secondary collectors across the state.
‘This is in addition to construction of new channels as well as deployment of the quick response Emergency Flood Abatement Gang to free up manholes and black spots all to ensure that the drains perform at optimum capacity to be able to contain runoffs,” he stated.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary in the Office of Drainage Services and Water Resources, Engineer Nurudeen Shodeinde assured residents that the state government “is upping the ante” in terms of its preparedness on a 24 hour basis.
He commended Governor Sanwo-Olu for always providing the financial wherewithal to the ministry which has enabled it actualise many of its plans and programme to ensure a flood free Lagos.
Flash flooding alert
He also said other residents living along major drainage channels of System 1 to 169 round the state must also be wary of the effects of flash flooding.
He recalled that a few days areas ago, areas like Oko Oba, Abbatoir and Aboru in Alimosho were flooded after a 2 hour rainfall which had an intensity that had not been witnessed in the last 30 years due to climate change.
He stressed that such one off rainfall of unprecedented intensity should be expected at the present period and should be prepared for.
He said the Seasonal Rainfall Pattern for 2022 released earlier in the year by the Nigerian Metrological Services NIMET had predicted that the peak of the resurgent rainfall for the year will be in October.
Bello, said Lagos may be susceptible to dangers of flooding with the periodic release of rain water from Oyan Dam by the managers, the Ogun Oshun River Basin Development Authority to maintain the sanctity of the dam and which may increase the level of water of the lagoon.
MISSING & FOUND: Precious Leonard aged 20 was found wandering. She cannot remember anything but her name and age. She is currently with the police, safe.
Kindly share this information with her family and friends to enable them get reunited.
Shared by Tunde Onakoya, founder of Chess in Slums Africa:
There’s a barbaric tradition known as “Money wife” in a remote village in Cross river state called Becheve where girls as young as 10 years old are being sold into marriage
I decided to travel down to learn more about how these girls are being robbed of their childhood.
It all started back in march this year, when a cinematographer sent a video to me on twitter which properly detailed the stories of some of the victims of this barbaric act, and asked that we considered it as our next project for @chessinslums
The video broke me.
I spent the next few days doing extensive research on the “Money Wife” practice in Becheve and I was utterly shocked and enraged by some of the discoveries I made. It was the first time I had ever heard of such practice in Nigeria.
I knew we needed to do things differently if we were ever gonna have a chance at fundamentally solving this problem and saving these girls. I told the team @chessinslums about it and we started working on staging an intervention.
The Becheve tribe of Obanliku LGA in Cross river state is made up of 17 villages all of which practice the Money wife tradition. It’s located just beyond the famous Obudu hills with a population of about 100,000 people.
The money wife is a custom in which a girl child in the community is sold out to a man by her parents as a wife in exchange for money as little as 5,000 naira (10dollars) , Food items, or to pay a debt.
How it really works is that a “rich” man in the village is approached for a loan that is to be repaid by handing over a daughter to him. In the case of the unavailability of a daughter, the lender waits till they have one.
So most debts are incurred before the girl child is born
Let me delve into some of the things we learned:
This practice ensures that once a girl becomes a money wife, she is considered dead by her family and must not return irrespective of how she is treated by her husband or his relatives.
It gets worse…
Upon the death of the man (In most cases, the girls are married off to old men in their 60-90s), the girl is given to his next of kin as a wife.
If the money wife dies without having a child, her parents are obligated by tradition to give another girl child as replacement.
The girl is surrendered to the lender as a wife to use as he pleases. The girl will have no rights and her opinion is not sought in the matter as she is practically enslaved and put to work on farms which they cultivate for their husbands. She is not allowed to get an education.
The men in Becheve cherish this practice as a status symbol as it earns them acclaim amongst their peers.
For the innocent girls, their entire childhood is stolen from them and their existence reduced to being mere sex slaves.
The physical and psychological trauma that these girls have to face is something we can never fully understand.
We have failed these girls as a society. We are far too disconnected from the realities of children in places like this.
Yes, all of this is happening in 2022.
Now, a few organizations, NGOs and civil societies in the past have tried to advocate for these girls,there was even a BBC documentary sometime in 2018 spotlighting this barbaric act of child abuse,but sadly very little has changed.
The money wife practice in Becheve is a cultural issue that is so deeply ingrained in poverty and can only be challenged from within the system. Outsiders attempt to intervene, but are hindered by a cultural ideology.
I spent months obsessing about what we could do differently.
Ending child marriage in communities like this is a very delicate subject that could worsen the experience of the victims if you sell them false hope of saving them without considering a Holistic approach to intervening.
When the hashtags fizzle out and the outrage dies down, the girls are still left by themselves with their abusive husbands who may even become more violent to them for being rebellious.
Having good intentions is not enough, it might even reinforce the status quo.
After several months of putting a plan together with the @chessinslums team, I was finally convinced that we had a chance at saving these girls.
4 days ago, I finally booked a flight to cross river state for the first time in my life to assess the situation on ground.
Actually, we had to fly to Enugu first and make the rest of the trip by road as Becheve is an 8 hour drive from the airport in Calabar-the capital of Cross river state. That was too much time on the road with the insecurity issues in the country. It took us 4 hours from Enugu.
We had established contact with a Man called Pastor Richard- a missionary who has lived in Becheve for over 30 years. He was the one that first brought the world’s attention to this and has continued to fight against this tradition till date. He has rescued over 50 girls. Hero❤️
We got to the Obanliku local government around 8pm and lodged in a nearby hotel. We had scheduled a meeting with some of the community clan heads the next day to speak to them about our plans for their people.
We set out by 8am the next day to the residence of the paramount ruler of the community to seek his blessing and permission.
One interesting sight that struck me was this public prison system to shame petty thieves and criminals in the village.
After a long drive to the Paramount ruler’s home, we finally met him and told him of our plans for the community and asked for his blessing. He welcomed us very warmly and offered us Kolanut as a sign of peace and acceptance. We also offered gifts and took pictures with him.
Our next drive was to the Utanga village to meet with the Clan heads and village chiefs. This was going to be a lot trickier as we were fazed with a dilemma to either be diplomatic with our approach or just come straight with our intention for the girls.
Pastor Richard suggested that we maintained a diplomatic approach to engaging the clan heads as talking about the money wife practice could make them apprehensive and deny us access to their people.
The meeting with the Clan heads was very tense at the beginning but something very interesting happened as the conversation progressed.When we mentioned that the chess project was to be just for the young girls, one of the elders immediately asked us if it was for the money wives
I said Yes. Deep down, I knew we couldn’t really achieve anything without the full cooperation of the community leaders. There was deafening silence for a moment. The man sighed and said he had suspected that was our intention
To our surprise, all the village chiefs and clan heads committed to giving us all the support we needed to abolish the practice in the village.
The chiefs started narrating how their mothers were also victims of this age long tradition and how it was no longer a thing of pride but a necessity borne out of extreme poverty where the families are left with no choice but to sell their daughters. They wanted it to stop too.
I couldn’t believe my ears. Everything felt like a Nollywood movie dated back in the 60s. The chiefs gave us their blessing and we took pictures. Pastor Richard mentioned that in all his years of being in the village, he had never seen the chiefs be so vulnerable and open minded.
Our next stop was the Ugbakoko village where we had to walk several miles to meet with another community leader who was very influential amongst his people. We got his blessing and he gave us permission to use the town hall for our training session with the girls.
Finally, we met the girls.
The stories were horrible. Just horrible. Girls as young as 5-15 years old were already married or sold to men old enough to be their grandfathers. There were a lot of 14-18 year old girls who had kids already.
You can’t make this up.
Everything I had read about was real. I met Faith, now a 20 year old girl with 3 children. Abandoned by her husband and now left to fend for herself and children. All she ever wanted was to go to school and become a nurse.
I met Dorathy who was now 27 years old with 6 children and a life filled with pain and extreme suffering. She had her first child at the age of 13. She told me she had contemplated committing suicide a few times but needed to stay alive to take care of her children.
I met Goodness who was just 9 years old but could read and speak English fluently. She had to drop out of school recently and has been sold as a money wife to an old man from a Neighboring village. It is only a matter of time before he comes to claim his “property”
Many of the girls had tried to runaway but mentioned that there was a charm called “Olembe” that is used to kill or harm any money wife that tries to escape the marriage.
A lot of girls have lost their lives during childbirth and many currently live with obstetric and vesicovaginal fistula. This was a true humanitarian crisis. An entire community blinded by ignorance into sheep mentality of even condoning the abuse of girls in this manner.
Pause.
I know you feel a lot of rage right now, I feel the same way too. An outrage is not sustainable, we need to take practical steps to save these girls.
I’m back in Lagos now but we’ll be returning to Becheve in a couple of days with a team of 20 people.
This is our plan:
1 With Pastor Richard’s help, we’re creating a Database for women between the ages of 18-40 who are money wives and already have kids. We are going to pair them up with a support system of female mentors where they can get monthly stipends to support their farming business.
We are going to put out a form for people to apply to be female mentors for these women. You will have to commit time to speak to them monthly so they know they’re not alone in this world.
This is very important.
2. We have selected 50 girls between the ages of 5-18 who are money wives across all the Becheve villages and we will camp them in Ugbakoko for two weeks to teach them chess, mentor them and create a safe space where they can talk about their ordeals.
We’ll also need to partner with organizations leading the advocacy to end Gender based violence and early child marriage in remote communities. Please send email to : hello@chessinslumsafrica.com
3. In our time in the community, we will go from house to house to educate the families about this barbaric act and do our best to eradicate this primitive mindset amongst the young men and the families selling their daughters.
4. We will partner with financial institutions to offer loans to the people of Becheve as an alternative to using their daughters as collateral. Poverty and high levels of illiteracy is the major culprit here.
The local school in the community is dilapidated. We will renovate it and place all the girls on educational scholarship support. We will also partner with other schools around and get as many girls as possible back to school.
We will host a chess tournament and community event at the end of the 2 weeks training camp so the girls can showcase their talents to the entire community. We will invite all community leaders and villagers so they can come watch the girls show intellectual prowess.
7. We will make sure all the village heads commit and sign to a law that criminalizes the money wife tradition in Becheve and get the police to enforce this law.
8. We will set up a permanent training Centre (Safe space) in the community where the girls can continue to learn chess, introduce them to a world of technology and build a library where they can read new books and learn about the world beyond the confines of Becheve.
9. We will renegotiate the deals for the money wives under the age of 18 and pay back the debt their families owe to the lender.
10. We will do all of these things whilst simultaneously running a global campaign to end child marriage in Africa.
WE WILL NOT LEAVE BECHEVE UNTIL SOMETHING CHANGES.
It will be very shameful if we reduce this to gender wars on twitter. We all have a responsibility to those without a voice. Let us all become duty bound and show up for these girls in every capacity.
I hope the government intervenes too. It will take time but we won’t give up.
Culture is no excuse for child abuse.
It is time to do great things from a small place.
You can donate to this project here: 0491316991 Gtbank Chess in slums initiative.
The Nigerian navy has revealed that international oil corporations, not petty thieves are responsible for the oil theft. Shell is among those named by the navy as participants in the oil theft ring in the Niger Delta.
The navy said the "oil heads" were left open on purpose so that criminals could take oil. The navy also asserted that older oil heads were removed under the pretext that they were unprofitable. In particular the aforementioned oil company's response were oddly strange.
When they were informed of oil head spills. The Commander NNS Soroh reported seeing limitless streams of crude oil coming from Shell owned oil well.
QUOTE
Seven months ago we saw that crude oil was running out from a Shell owned oil well. When we informed Shell oil company
..of this leakage their answer was startling. They claimed not to have observed it. It wasnt top priority. What kind of priority is that supposed to be? Crude oil is still gushing from the oil well as we speak and nothing appears to have been done about it.
END QUOTE
Now, it will naive to think foreign oil companies are solely responsible for the the nation's oil theft. We all know about the illegal pipeline from the FORCADOS export terminal that has been functioning discreetly for 9 years.
Abuja is going hard on oil theft in the creeks of the Niger Delta as it did with piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, with a 24 hours monitoring system soon to be installed. With a C4i command centre connected to both manned and unmanned aircrafts and ships and amoured vehicles.
Imagine an entire pipeline 4.5km long siphoning thousands of barrels daily. It takes an elite level crime syndicate to pull this off. The navy only showed interest in these oil companies because of their response when they were told of the theft. Their response raised questions
..about whether they were directly participating in the hesit or rather were in charge of the entire smuggling network for the profit of their western employers.
Several parts of Nigeria have been hit by floods. Some people, families have been displaced. Some properties, farms, houses, cars have been swallowed up by flooding.
There are several reports of how floods are ravaging Kogi, Bayelsa, Nasarawa, Largos and other parts of the country.
According to a report by Vanguard, as at Sunday, October 16, 2022, the Federal Government, while assessing the current flood impact across the country, said the disaster had killed over 603 persons, displaced 1,302,589 more and partially destroyed over 108,393 hectares of farmlands across the country.
Also, 2,407 persons had been injured, 121,318 houses partially damaged, 82,053 houses totally wrecked and totally damaged 332,327 hectares of farmlands.
Flooding: Are you a victim, survivor or eyewitness?
Share your stories with pictures and videos, and provide the location.
Nigerian Navy impounds two vessels with stolen petroleum products in Rivers State. MT Platform and MV Caribbean Crest, alongside a crew of 22 suspected oil thieves were handed over to EFCC.
Oil theft: Navy hands over vessels, 22 crew members to EFCC
The Nigerian Navy on Tuesday, October 18, handed over two vessels, MT Platform and MV Caribbean Crest alongside a crew of 22 suspected oil thieves to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for further investigation and possible prosecution.
The EFCC confirmed the handing over in a Wednesday, October 19 statement.
Commanding Officer of the Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base, Bonny, Rivers State, Lieutenant Commander MG Munza disclosed that the vessel, MV Caribbean Crest and her crew members were arrested on the 15th of February, 2022 at the Bonny Fairway Buoy with an unspecified quantity of stolen Petroleum Product suspected to be automotive gas oil (AGO), while MT Platform was intercepted on the 8th of June, 2022 in the vicinity of the Bonny Anchorage for illegal dealing in petroleum products without license.
According to him, they neither have any authority or certificate from the appropriate authority to ply the Nigerian waters.
The crew include: Emberru Michael, Inengibo Ebiegberi, Audu Michael, Gaius Ajakaiye, Igbomgbo Edward, Ndubisi Collins, James Eyak, Ezebri Ayakpo, Okokon Joseph and Wali Michael.
Others are: Adediran Ayo, Kelvin White Ohre, Martins-Biyi Shola, Ekundayo Ajayi, Olowu Olusegun, Etim Samson, Michael John, Kelechi Nwafor, Popoola Felix, Ishola Adetunji, Omachekeji Sunny and Onuh Solomon.
The vessel and her crew were received on behalf of the EFCC by Deputy Superintendent of the EFCC, DSE Arasah Shaka of the Port Harcourt Zonal Command, who thanked the Navy for their efforts toward safeguarding the nation’s territorial waters adding that the EFCC was happy with the Navy for its collaboration in fighting economic crimes.
“They will be properly investigated and prosecuted”, he assured.
In Southern Africa, the Zimbabwean government has reportedly stopped issuing clearance letters to nurses in a bid to prevent them from leaving the country for greener pastures.
This follows #massresignations that have hit #Zimbabwe’s public hospitals as health professionals migrate abroad for better salaries and working conditions.
Earlier this year, the government doubled application fees for nurses' confirmation letters and certificates from US$ 300. Official figures show that last year alone, Zimbabwe lost 1800 professionals, mainly to Britain.
Robert Chiduku, the Zimbabwe Professional Nurses Union President, joined us to unpack this latest development. #ZimbabweanNurses - News Central TV
President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the Nigeria Startup Bill into law.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, announced this on Wednesday after a meeting with the President at Aso Villa.
He disclosed that the startup bill passed on July 20, 2022, was initiated by the executive arm and seeks to create an enabling environment for tech-based startups in Nigeria.
Pantami further revealed that the law which holds huge benefits for the Nigerian economy, adopted an approach to allow startups to identify business challenges and voice them out.
Based on the provisions of the law, the Federal Government plans to set up a 10 billion naira fund for startups in the country.
The Information and Communications Technology sector has so far contributed 18.42 percent in 2022.
Yakubu Gowon (born 19 October 1934), affectionately known as Jack Gowon, is a retired Nigerian Army general and military leader. As Head of State of Nigeria, Gowon presided over a controversial Nigerian Civil War and delivered the famous "no victor, no vanquished" speech at the war's end in an effort to promote healing and reconciliation. The Nigerian Civil War is listed as one of the deadliest in modern history, with some accusing Gowon of crimes against humanity and genocide. Gowon maintains that he committed no wrongdoing during the war and that his leadership saved the country.
An Anglican Christian from a minority Ngas family of Northern Nigeria, Gowon is a Nigerian nationalist, and a believer in the unity and oneness of Nigeria. Gowon's rise to power following the July 1966 counter-coup cemented military rule in Nigeria. Consequently, Gowon is the longest serving head of state of Nigeria, ruling for almost nine years until his overthrow in the coup d'état of 1975 by Brigadier Murtala Mohammed.
Early life
Gowon is a Ngas (Angas) from Lur, a small village in the present Kanke Local Government Area of Plateau State. His parents, Nde Yohanna and Matwok Kurnyang left for Wusasa, Zaria as Church Missionary Society (CMS) missionaries in the early days of Gowon's life. His father took pride in the fact that he married the same day as the future Queen Mother Elizabeth married the future King George VI. Gowon was the fifth of eleven children. He grew up in Zaria and had his early life and education there. At school, Gowon proved to be a very good athlete: he was the school football goalkeeper, pole vaulter, and long-distance runner. He broke the school mile record in his first year. He was also the boxing captain.
Early career
Gowon joined the Nigerian Army in 1954, and received his commission as a second lieutenant on 19 October 1955, his 21st birthday. He was trained in the prestigious Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, UK (1955–56), Staff College, Camberley, UK (1962) as well as the Joint Staff College, Latimer, 1965. He saw action in the Congo as part of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force, both in 1960–61 and in 1963. He advanced to battalion commander rank by 1966, at which time he was still a lieutenant colonel.
Head of state
In 1966, Gowon was chosen to become head of state. Up until then, Gowon remained strictly a career soldier with no involvement whatsoever in politics, until the tumultuous events of the year suddenly thrust him into a leadership role, when his unusual background as a Northerner who was neither of Hausa nor Fulani ancestry nor of the Islamic faith made him a particularly safe choice to lead a nation whose population was seething with ethnic tension.
Gowon promoted himself twice as Nigerian Head of State. Gowon was a Lt. Colonel upon his ascendancy to the top of the new Federal military government of Nigeria on August 1, 1966 however other senior military officers such as Commodore Joseph Wey, Brigadier Babafemi Ogundipe, and Colonel Robert Adebayo were a part of the government and their military seniority to Gowon was awkward. To stabilize his position as Head of State, Gowon promoted himself to Major-General just before the start of the civil war hostilities in 1967 and to full General at the end of the civil war in 1970.
Overthrow
On 29 July 1975, while Gowon was attending an OAU summit in Kampala, a group of officers led by Colonel Joe Nanven Garba announced his overthrow. The coup plotters appointed Brigadier Murtala Muhammed as head of the new government, and Brigadier Olusegun Obasanjo as his deputy.
Years in exile
Gowon subsequently went into exile in the United Kingdom, where he acquired a Ph.D. in political science as a student at the University of Warwick. His main British residence is on the border of north London and Hertfordshire, where he has very much become part of the English community in his area. He served a term as Churchwarden in his parish church, St Mary the Virgin, Monken Hadley.
Personal life
Gowon married Miss Victoria Zakari, a trained nurse in 1969 at a ceremony officiated by Seth Irunsewe Kale at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos.
Nigeria LNG Ltd. declared force majeure on shipments from its Bonny Island liquefied natural gas facility after supplies were cut off by flooding.
“The notice by the gas suppliers was a result of high flood water levels in their operational areas, leading to a shut-in of gas production which has caused significant disruption of gas supply to NLNG,” company spokesman Andy Odeh said by email Monday.
The announcement comes as NLNG, which can produce 22 million tons of LNG a year, was already operating at reduced capacity due to difficulties securing adequate feedstock. The company is a joint venture between the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Co., Shell Plc, TotalEnergies SE and Eni SpA. The shareholders are also the plant’s main providers of gas.
NLNG is “reviewing the situation with gas suppliers to ascertain the extent of the disruption to its operations,” according to the statement. The company will try to “mitigate the impact of the force majeure to the extent reasonably possible,” it said.
Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s) has placed on review for downgrading the long-term deposit ratings, as well as long-term issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings, where applicable, of nine Nigerian banks.
They are: Access Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, United Bank for Africa Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Limited, Union Bank of Nigeria plc, Fidelity Bank plc, FCMB (First City Monument Bank) Limited and Sterling Bank Plc.
According to the global rating agency, constraints on domestic oil production, capital outflows, and the increased cost of the country’s imported refined petroleum products, coupled with US dollar strengthening, have together weighed on the availability of foreign currency liquidity in the country despite higher oil prices.
It also expressed worry about material discrepancies between official and parallel market exchange rates that persist in the country.
Moody’s said its decision to place the long-term ratings of the nine banks on review for downgrade reflects the risk of increasing foreign currency rationing that could compromise the banks’ operational ability to meet their foreign currency obligations, as well as the risk arising from a potential material depreciation in the country’s foreign exchange rate to the banks’ capitalisation and asset quality.
Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves have declined to $38 billion as of September 2022 from $40 billion as of January 2022 despite higher oil prices, and “we understand that the Central Bank, which is the main provider of foreign exchange in the country, has consequently scaled down and become increasingly selective with its foreign currency allocations,” it stated in a recent report.
According to Moody’s, the review for downgrade on the long-term ratings of Nigerian banks also captures the risk that a potential material depreciation in the country’s foreign exchange rate could pose to the banks’ capitalisation and asset quality.
On average, around 40 per cent of loans extended by Moody’s-rated Nigerian banks as of December 2021 were denominated in foreign currencies, predominantly dollars.
Some of these borrowers are vulnerable to a further depreciation of the Naira because they do not earn foreign-currency income, and a weaker Naira would harm their repayment capacity.
It said the banks’ relatively high level of dollarisation also constrains the Central Bank’s capacity to act as a lender of last resort in case of need.
“Moody’s rating review will focus on assessing the banks’ operational ability to meet their foreign currency obligations.
“The rating review will take into account the expected evolution in foreign exchange reserves, as well as the various tools at the banks’ disposal to conduct foreign currency payments amid reduced availability of US dollars.
“Moody’s rating review will also assess the resilience of the banks’ foreign currency liquidity positions and risk management frameworks amid ongoing foreign currency rationing in Nigeria and tightening funding conditions globally,” the report read in part.
Moody’s rating review will also evaluate the resilience of the banks’ balance sheets to a potential material depreciation in the country’s foreign exchange rate.
In particular, the rating agency review would assess the extent to which the banks’ capitalisation buffers and foreign currency positions mitigate the risk from a potential material weakening in the local currency.
The rating agency noted that in order to upgrade, the confirmation of the current ratings at the end of the review period could result from an assessment that: the banks have the operational ability to continue to meet their foreign currency obligations in case the foreign currency liquidity shortages were to continue for an extended period of time, and their balance sheets are resilient enough to withstand a potential material depreciation in the local currency in the context of a potential convergence of official and parallel market foreign currency exchange rates.
Diesel Tanker Explodes Near Abuja School Causing Pandemonium
Pandemonium In Abuja School Owned By Bishop Oyedepo’s Winners Chapel As Diesel Tanker Explodes Near School, Church
There was pandemonium at Kingdom Heritage Model School located at Jahi in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja as parents rushed to pick up their children following a tanker explosion near the school.
Kingdom Heritage Model School belongs to Living Faith Church, aka Winners Chapel.
Bishop David Oyedepo is the founder and presiding Bishop of the church.
The incident occurred at about 11:30 am when a tanker loaded with diesel tipped over on its way to supply a gas station in the area.
The tanker went up in flames, causing a commotion in the area as parents thronged the school to get their children.
Meanwhile, when SaharaReporters visited the scene firefighters from the FCT were seen battling to put out the raging fire which was a few metres away from the school. No life was lost in the incident.
Some teachers and other staff members in the school formed a circle on the premises, praying over the incident.
SaharaReporters could not ascertain the cause of the explosion at the time of filing this report but normalcy has returned to the area.
It was gathered that the school management had sent a 'distress message' to the parents to pick up their children for safety purposes following the explosion.
Many parents who could not understand the nature of the explosion thought that the school and the church were under attack considering the insecurity in the country.
Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, on Friday, inaugurated a multi-billion naira Galaxy Mall to mark the state’s annual economic summit, KADINVEST 7:0.
The shopping mall, which has Shoprite as the anchor tenant and is the biggest in the state, was built by a Chinese firm at the cost of N2bn.
El-Rufai, while speaking at 11,000m² Galaxy Mall, said it would boost the economic activities in the state, create jobs as well as improve social life.
The mall has spaces for cinema halls, restaurants and a variety of shops and spaces for commercial activities.
“This new Galaxy Mall will maximise retail marketing in Kaduna state. There will be cinemas, restaurants and shops, with Shoprite as the anchor tenant. Shoprite is expected to open before Christmas to give residents something to celebrate at Christmas,” the governor added.
Earlier in her remarks, Managing Director, Kaduna Market Development and Management Company, Tamar Nandul, said the mall was built under a public-private partnership arrangement, adding that the development partners, Amsalco Group, contributed N800m to the project.
She said, “Our development partner, Amsalco contributed N800m, while the Kaduna State Government contributed N1.5bn to the development of the project. Shoprite will serve as the anchor tenant, while there are open-plan 8,445 shops, 53 other shops and cinema halls with 341 sitting capacity.
“There are spaces for entertainment, sports, fashion and others. The Galaxy Mall will improve the internally-generated revenue, create employment opportunities for the residents and improve the socio-economic development of Kaduna City.”
University of Port Harcourt announces the commencement of examinations in 10 days from today . It’s assumed that students spent the last 8 months reading , and are ready now.
Security Forces have arrested a 10year old bandits informant in Zamfara State. The 10year old said he had killed 3 people with his own hands by shooting them in the chest with a gun. He also said the bandits were giving him five to ten thousand Naira as his own share.
I've received several calls of concern following the release of the Labour Party's Presidential Campaign Council list. Admittedly, there were some omissions and erroneous entries in the list, hence the concerns expressed.
In response, the Labour Party Chairman in the presence of members of the NWC addressed the issues during a press conference. In keeping with our commitment to accountability, responsiveness and transparency, an updated list will be issued in due course. I plead for patience. - PO
The money supply in the economy is at its highest level on record, at almost N49.3 trillion in August, topping the previous record set in May 2022.
Money Supply is now at a 9.9% gain from December 20, 2021, when the country recorded N44.4 trillion. This is based on statistics acquired by Nairametrics from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the country’s money supply.
In its last monetary policy committee meeting, the central bank explained the growth in money supply was due to an increase in net domestic assets.
“The Committee noted that broad money supply (M3) grew by 11.05 per cent in August 2022, compared with 8.66 per cent in July. This was driven largely by the growth in Net Domestic Assets (NDA) of 26.19 per cent in July 2022, compared with 22.78 per cent in the preceding month. The sustained growth in Net Domestic Assets (NDA) was driven largely by increased claims on the Federal government and other financial corporations and the private sector.”
Considering the multiple interest rate hikes implemented since July is intended to combat inflation and lower the amount of money in circulation, this increase in the money supply is concerning.
The CBN also mentioned that the recent rate hike could help slow down the pace of money supply, though Nairametrics believes this will take some time to occur effectively.
“The MPC noted that a tight policy stance would help consolidate the impact of the last two policy rate hikes, which is already reflecting in the slowing growth rate of money supply in the economy.”
Money supply and inflation A country’s money supply is a crucial factor in whether or not inflation develops, and Nigeria’s money supply is at an all-time high. The amount of money in circulation has grown over time, owing largely to the CBN’s low-interest policy implemented to stimulate economic growth.
Trillions of naira in CBN intervention funds, as well as CBN bailouts of federal and state governments through its Ways and Means powers, have boosted the money supply and created a strong inflationary environment. According to the data, the Ways and Means balance was N16.1 trillion in August 2021 but has since risen to N22.068 trillion in August 2022. This is a 36% increase year on year. A cursory examination of the data also reveals that the private and public sectors received sector credit worth N40.1 trillion and N21 trillion, respectively.
As of August 2022, Nigeria had the highest-ever net domestic credit to the economy, at N61.1 trillion as earlier reported by Nairametrics.
The data also shows that Nigeria’s economy expanded by an average of 1.3% from 2016 to 2021. In contrast, during the same period, the money supply increased from N23.6 trillion to N43 trillion.
Despite several interest rate hikes announced by the central banks, the money supply has continued to grow. This prompted the CBN to take more aggressive measures to limit the money supply and inflation.
What the CBN is saying In October 2022, the Central Bank raised the interest rate to 15.5%, its third and most aggressive hike since the beginning of the year. The actions are being taken to combat Nigeria’s rapidly rising money supply and inflation.
The CBN said, “The MPC was concerned that within four months, inflation had accelerated aggressively by 280 basis points from 17.71% in May 2022 to 20.52% in August 2022. The committee was thus, of the view that given the primacy of its price and monetary stability mandate, it was expedient that significant focus is given to taming inflation.”
Given the increasing inflation, the bank noted that the options of holding or loosening were not being considered at the last MPC meeting. This is because easing policy would increase the negative real interest rate gap and aggravate financial market conditions by reducing savings mobilization and investment inflows.
The bank maintains that a more aggressive rate hike will reduce the economy’s money supply. The CBN said, “The MPC noted that a tight policy stance would help consolidate the impact of the last two policy rate hikes, which is already reflected in the slowing growth rate of money supply in the economy. It also felt that an aggressive rate hike would slow capital outflows and likely attract capital inflows and appreciate the naira.”
The CRR was also raised to a minimum of 32.5% from 27.5%, while the liquidity ratio remained at 30%. Following the initiative to mop up liquidity from the Nigerian economy, Nigerian banks received N838 billion in CRR debits from the CBN.
Why you should be worried If the Central Bank’s interest rate hikes continue to be inefficient in managing the money supply and inflation, the average Nigerian would be faced with massive erosion of purchasing power and worsening economic conditions.
Also, further aggressive rate hikes tend to derail economic growth and create unemployment in the economy because firms must deal with an increase in borrowing costs. Moreover, a high inflationary environment would hasten the depreciation of the Naira in the black market.
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