₦airaland Forum

freeborn02:
You just copied like a fooool without editing. You even copied contents not related to the news

The Federal Government, on Thursday, said it settled for N800 to dollar exchange rate in the 2024 Appropriation Act after considering the average performance of the naira.

It said it avoided basing the foreign exchange benchmark in the 2024 budget on a spot rate, to avoid eventualities and uncertainties.

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu, who spoke with State House correspondents explained that the FG had earlier chosen the projected exchange rate of N750 to the dollar in the 2024 budget which the National Assembly raised to N800 to the dollar,

Bagudu said, “For budgeting purposes, you don’t use the spot rate of anything. Oil prices can go to 120 today, maybe there is a shortage, or maybe there is a collision between two ships that will block a channel.



“It would be foolish to use that as a reference price, I should take a period maybe six months to one year and say let me observe this average behaviour, so you don’t use spot prices. So even with the exchange rate, it is like that.”

He explained further, “Much as we are hoping that it would soon come below, but at the time you are doing the budget, you will take a view on average performance. And that’s what we took.

“We took an average performance of N750 on the executive side and we proposed it to the National Assembly.”


The minister also said that Tinubu regarded the National Assembly’s decision to raise the rate further considering his respect for institutions and democracy.

“So, he respected democracy that even though it was higher than what he submitted, but the institution that says so has the authority to say so and even at the time they say 100 because it’s not an official rate it’s tidal because, with the deregulated market, you no longer have an official rate, it is much lower than even the way the markets are bidding,” the minister said.

The minister noted that the FG is positive that its current measures would soon yield a significant increase in the supply of foreign exchange in the economy.

Bagudu also spoke on the level of borrowing to fund the deficit in the 2024 budget, saying there is a significant difference between 2024 borrowing compared to last year’s.

“In 2023, the budget anticipated a borrowing of close to N14tn. This year’s budget is N9.1 trillion. So we think that is significant.

“Because it’s 2023 took us to about 6.11 per cent of our GDP as borrowing. This one is 3.8 per cent. So the quantum had decreased,” Bagudu added.

The former Kebbi State Governor said the FG will operate strictly within the dictates of fiscal responsibility law in the new year, which provides for the Central Bank of Nigeria to lend to the government through its Ways and Means window, only 5 per cent of the total budget.

He explained, “We will not go outside the law and borrow from ways and means, what is outside the law. So the fiscal responsibility law says, that every year, the central bank can lend the government up to 5 per cent of its budget for the year.

“So if you go out of that, you’re going outside the lawful limit, and that’s what the minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy was very clear we are not going to do. We are not going to resort to borrowing outside the law.

“And secondly, as much as possible, we will even borrow away from the central bank because sometimes it’s even cheaper to borrow. So, those are the two elements. So the quantum has decreased, then we will go by the book.”

The Defence Headquarters has urged Nigerians to prevent terrorists from having free rein in the new year.

The DHQ called on the citizens to be security conscious and report criminal activities in their environments to security operatives.

Addressing journalists in Abuja on Thursday, the Director of Defence Media Operations, Edward Buba, promised that the military would take action on such tip-offs.

“Make Nigerians no gree for terrorists this year. You see something, you say something and we assure them of doing something, ” he said in pidgin.

Buba joined in using the slang ‘no gree for anybody ‘ which is currently trending among youths as slang for the year.

Many believe that the slang is about staying to one’s beliefs and not easily succumbing to the influence of others.

Unlike Buba, however, the spokesman of the Nigeria Police Force, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, had on Wednesday warned that the slang was capable of plunging the country into crisis.

After asking Nigerians to rise against terrorists, Buba noted that the aim of the military in 2024 is to locate and destroy the terrorists wherever they were hiding.

He added, ” The aim of our ongoing operations remains unchanged and clear even in the new year 2024. We aim to find and destroy the terrorist wherever they may be hiding to ensure their enduring defeat. This would deny the terrorist the ability to terrorize or hurt citizens across the country.

“Our operations indicate that we are hunting the terrorist commanders and their senior leadership. Indeed, from their topmost leadership to the lowest commanders are dead men walking and we will stop at nothing until they are dead or surrender.”

He noted that military operations in the last two weeks had resulted in the killing of 86 terrorists, while 101 have been arrested.

“Our operations resulted in 86 neutralized terrorists with 101 of them arrested. Troops also arrested 30 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 21 kidnapped hostages.

“In the SS, troops denied oil theft of the estimated sum of N736,115,470.00 only,” Buba added.

infofta:
I applied for a visitors visa in 2005 and was refused based on family ties in the country I was supposed to visit.
My question is how long does the embassy keep record of visa denials?
I heard there is an immigration record retention period of six years.
How true is this? Valuable inputs from experts needed.

The ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia, which has an estimated net worth of $1.4 trillion (£1.1trillion), is believed to be worth four times more than the combined net worth of two of the biggest billionaires in the world – Elon Musk and Bill Gates.

While Forbes estimates Musk, the Tesla founder and X owner is currently worth $251.3 billion (£191billion), Gates, the founder of Microsoft turned philanthropist, is reportedly worth $119.6 billion (£93billion).

The Saudi Royal family includes descendants of Muhammad bin Saud, the founder of the Emirate of Diriyah in the 18th century – also known as the First Saudi state.

The family is composed of some 15,000 members – although the majority of wealth is held by around 2000 relatives.

The ruling faction of the family comes from the descendants of Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman, the modern founder of Saudi Arabia.

The current head of the family is King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who has been reigning since 2015.

His most famous son and heir apparent is Mohammed bin Salman. Also known as MBS, the Crown Prince is the current Prime Minister of his country and is seen by many as the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia.

MBS and King Salman oversee an absolute monarchy and autocratic state where civil liberties and political rights are restricted.


The origin of this family’s wealth is believed to derive largely from the vast oil reserves uncovered in the country seven decades ago, during the reign of King Abdulaziz ibn Saud.

The Saudi royals keep details of their finances private, but their lavish lifestyle and big spending often attract the attention of the public.

Meanwhile, the net worth and finances of the British Royal Family are often under the scrutiny of the media and the public. Business consultancy firm Brand Finance valued the monarchy treasure now being led by King Charles III as having a net worth of $88billion (£69bn).

This means the rulers of Saudi Arabia have a net worth estimated to be nearly 16 times that of King Charles’s family.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has put up for sale the sixth largest power distribution utility over a N110billin ($130 million debt), less than two years after the lenders who took over the company failed to turn it around and make it profitable.

Nigeria, has 11 power distribution companies but it is struggling to remain profitable because of lack of capital and sub-economic tariffs imposed by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).



Kaduna Electricity Distribution Plc (Kaduna Electric) is one of 18 successor companies created following the privatisation of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria in 2013 and sells electricity in four northern states.

The utility owes N110bn, NERC said in a notice on Monday, to companies including the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trader and power generation firms.


The regulator said it now considered the company a ‘failing licensee’, allowing NERC to dissolve its board using a law passed last year.

Kaduna Electric was taken over by African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and local lender Fidelity Bank in July 2022 but they have struggled to improve its financial performance. The Nigerian government through its Bureau of Public Enterprises also owns a 40% stake.

NERC said it had appointed an administrator and special directors to manage Kaduna Electric in the interim and sell its assets to the highest bidder.


It stated that Dr. Umar Abubakar Hashidu is hereby appointed as the administrator of KAEDC in furtherance to section 75 of the EA.


“The administrator shall be the de facto chief executive officer of KAEDC and shall be responsible for the management of the day-to-day affairs of the utility pending the finalisation of the sale of the undertaking to a new core investor.

“The administrator shall work with a team of special directors that shall constitute non-executive directors of the board for governance purposes. The following are hereby appointed as special directors for KAEDC; Alex A. Okoh, Chairman, Kabir Adamu, Sharfuddeen Zubair Mahmoud, John Ayodele and Rahila Thomas.”

It added that the executive management team that shall work with the administrator would be constituted by the commission and announced in due course.

“The Commission shall administer the sale of the undertaking in accordance with the provisions of the EA on the basis of the highest and best price offered for the undertaking.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Umar Abubakar Hashidu yesterday resumed office as the Chief Executive Officer of Kaduna Electric.

A statement issued by the Head of Corporate Communication, Abdulazeez Abdullahi, this morning, said a brief handover ceremony presided over by the NERC’s Commissioner for Legal Licensing and Compliance, Dafe Okpaneye, at the company’s corporate headquarters in Kaduna.

At the ceremony, which was followed by a short interaction with staff, Okpaneye thanked the former MD for the work he had put in in the past 18 months to move the company forward. He charged Dr. Hashidu to harness the talent and resources available to him to take Kaduna Electric to greater heights.

dre11:
The presidency has said that it is investigating the transfer of N585.189 million grant meant for vulnerable groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ogun and…





https://dailytrust.com/betta-edu-n585m-palliative-scandal-under-investigation-presidency/

Nlfpmod

CodeTemplar:
Yes. Can gistlover split any loot or settle them?
The kidnappers can and are probably willing to.
Will a bandleader just part with his money to the po-po? No.

iwaeda:
N91M, five bedroom, fully detached, in some parts of Lekki. We are just playing in Nigeria. May you not fall victims of kidnappers and bandits. So that one olode oduru will not rejoice over you.

Adewunmi Samuel Sofomade, the leader of the Abuja-based music band kidnapped along the Lokoja highway, has disclosed the amount paid for their release.

DAILY POST reports that the band leader was abducted in December 2023, alongside his crew, while returning from a show in Kogi State.

The 13-man group was later released after a few days in captivity.

However, recounting his ordeal in a recent interview with BBC Yoruba, the band leader, also called Omoba De Jombo Beats, stated that the kidnappers later reduced their ransom from N10m to N7 million each before they were released.

“We were 13 that went to perform at a burial ceremony in Itakete Isao, close to Isan-Olu in Kogi State. And we had to move by road because they don’t have an airport in Kogi.

“We had gone since Thursday. We finished performing at about 5:30 pm on Friday. So we felt that there was still time to return to Abuja. The incident happened just after we have past Dangote Cement.

“We spent six days with the kidnappers inside a very thick forest and the six days felt like six years because a lot of things happened in that forest.

“They asked for N10 million each. We started begging their commandant that we could not gather N10 million. He later reduced it to N7 million each.

“When we received the information that the money had been completed but there was no cash during the December period, we started looking for cash. They initially agreed that the money be converted to dollars, but their leader later changed his mind and insisted on naira.”

yinkus6750:
Good job by the eagle eyed customs officers that arrested the bullion van.
But, I read it was 12bags that was discovered, was that really a smuggling cartel or opportunity for personal use ?
The real smugglers still continue business as usual.
The bank and van owners are just lucky .
Could have as well been confiscated.
Especially the van.

Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are currently at the Lagos head office of the Dangote Group, TheCable understands.

They are conducting a search on forex allocations to the company during the tenure of Godwin Emefiele as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Dele Oyewale, the EFCC spokesman, declined comments when contacted by TheCable.

However, a Dangote employee confirmed to TheCable that the operatives are at the head office.

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“They asked for documents on forex transactions with the CBN,” the employee said.

The increasingly high cost of production, transportation and other factors have caused the price of one kilogramme of local rice to jump by 73.2 per cent in one year, according to findings by The PUNCH.

This happened despite a multi-billion naira funding support of the Central Bank of Nigeria for the nation’s rice value chain aimed at boosting production and stopping the importation of foreign rice.

Rice, a staple food widely consumed in Nigeria, has been rising in price despite its production locally. The commodity now sells for between N55,000 and N60,000 for a 50kg bag, depending on the area of purchase.

Data from the selected food prices watch report of the National Bureau of Statistics analysed by The PUNCH showed that the average price of 1kg of local rise rose by 73.2 per cent from N500.80 to N867.20 between November 2022 and November 2023.



When compared vis-a-vis with the price of 1kg of foreign imported rice, the NBS noted an increase of 61.53 per cent from N704.13 to N1,137, within the same period.

It was also observed that local rice was sold at the highest in Lagos State at the cost of N1,122.42 despite the operation of the 32-tonne per hour Lagos Rice Mill in Imota, which produces the Eko Rice brand and lowest at Kebbi State at the price of N688.

The PUNCH recalls that during the inauguration and at other fora, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu boasted that the mill would address rice importation as it had an annual paddy requirement of over 240,000 tonnes to produce 2.5 million 50kg bags of 50kg per annum.


Commenting on the high price of local rice, the National President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Kabir Ibrahim, in an interview with our correspondent on Wednesday, blamed the high price on inflation and its attendant heightened cost of production, adding that logistics, packaging and labour cost also contributed significantly to the rise in the price of local rice.

Kabir, however, disputed the figures projected by the NBS, arguing that it’s unrealistic and not market based.

He said, “The cost of production has always been very high due to various factors. Transportation is a factor and it became a very serious threat to pricing after the removal of the fuel subsidy. If you are buying a bowl of milled rice, the miller has to provide its own power, pay workers’ salaries and discount the cost of his machinery. He has to do packaging alongside transportation costs. so it’s definitely going to be costlier than imported rice that’s not edible in Thailand.

“Two, the farm gauge price is far different from the prices in the market and three markets stand out and should not be used as parameter for pricing. The price you get in Lagos, Abuja and Port-Harcourt, they are not good indices. There is already an apathy against imported rice because people have now realised the one with better quality and those countries selling it cheap are doing so just to get rid of it.

“However, I think a 70 per cent increase by the NBS is not realistic and too high. The bureau may be carrying out these information but I tell you the prices are bit cheaper than what is reported. If you go to real markets and ntoit artificial ones. to put things correctly, there is definitely food inflation and it is skyrocketing but if we go by these commodities, we are likely to be lying to our selves and the general public.”

“The past administration invested a lot in rice production and i think they should be applauded. We used to import rice to the tune of trillions but that has changed,” he added.

In a related development, Nigeria and other countries across the West Africa region are projected to see increased prices of staple foods such as rice, maize, millet, cereals, etc in 2024.


This is according to a report titled “West Africa Regional Supply and Market Outlook” published jointly by the Food and Agricultural Organisation, World Food Program, and others.

The Nigeria Railway Corporation, NRC, has concluded plans to kickstart night operations before the second quarter of 2024.

The Managing Director of NRC, Fidet Okhiria, disclosed this during a recent interview with NAN.

However, he said insecurity is the major hindrance to the commencement of night operations.

He stated that, “what is limiting us is the night operations, and that is not the way trains should operate. The train is meant to operate at all times. People may like to travel in the evening, but because of the security situation in the country, we limit ourselves to the daytime.

“We intend to bring back passenger and freight trains from Port-Harcourt to Aba, Lagos to Kano, and Kaduna because of the dry ports.

“We are going to increase the number of train trips to six on Lagos-Ibadan, Warri-Itakpe, and Abuja-Kaduna, which means the trips will be three times to and three times from, making six trips in a day.”

“The trips will commence before the second quarter of 2024 Right now, they are running four trips—two up and two down across the board”, Okhiria said

Akinboboz:
Thought there's army check point in the socalled chibok own abi nah audio one dey there.