Headline

Fuel Subsidy Removal, Forex Unification: We’re On Track – Tinubu

Published

11 months ago

July 4, 2023

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has expressed confidence that his administration is on the path to success despite the country’s challenges, saying Nigeria has no reason to fail the African continent.

Dele Alake, Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communication, and Strategy, said Tinubu disclosed this while receiving visiting Bank of America officials in his office at the State House on Tuesday.

Tinubu stressed that his government was committed to instituting reforms that would engender sustainable growth and development in the country.

“We believe we are on the right track so far. We believe we need all the help we can get,” the President said as he asked the bank’s management for support and partnership to advance mutual benefits for Nigeria and the financial institution.

President Tinubu said the governance and development challenges facing the country cannot be addressed without fiscal and institutional reforms.

“Twenty-first-century actions on climate change, finance, and innovation are intertwined.

Having a good platform and believing in innovation will help in undertaking reforms and tackling the issues.

This is the largest economy and democracy in Africa, and if we cannot do it, nobody will do it for us,” he said.

Affirming that no one can do it alone, President Tinubu made a case for the bank and other willing financing institutions to help the country, for instance, by partnering to ensure Nigerian gas competes favourably in the global market as a viable source of alternative revenue.

Within a month of the President’s inauguration, Tinubu announced reforms such as fuel subsidy removal, foreign exchange window unification, and other policies resulting in immediate macroeconomic effects such as price hikes for transportation, goods, and services.

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EFCC bars dollar transactions, orders embassies to charge in naira

Published

6 days ago

May 11, 2024

Desmond Ukafor

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has barred foreign missions based in Nigeria from transacting in foreign currencies and mandated them to use Naira in their financial businesses.

The EFCC has also mandated Nigerian foreign missions domiciled abroad to accept Naira in their financial businesses.

The anti-graft agency said the move is to tackle the dollarisation of the Nigerian economy and the degradation of the naira

The Commission, therefore, asked the government to stop foreign missions in Nigeria from charging visa and other consular services in foreign denominations.

The EFCC gave the advisory in a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar, for onward transmission to all foreign missions in the country.

In the letter, the EFCC said it issued the advisory because the practice of paying for consular services in dollars was in conflict with extant laws and financial regulations in Nigeria.

In a letter dated April 5, 2024, which was addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, titled: “EFCC Advisory to Foreign Missions against Invoicing in US Dollar,” the EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede expressed dismay over the invoicing of consular services in Nigeria by foreign missions in dollars.

The EFCC cited Section 20(1) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007, which makes currencies issued by the apex bank the only legal tender in Nigeria.

The letter read, “I present to you the compliments of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and wish to notify you about the commission’s observation, with dismay, regarding the unhealthy practice by some foreign missions to invoice consular services to Nigerians and other foreign nationals in the country in United States dollar ($).

“It states that ‘the currency notes issued by the Bank shall be the legal tender in Nigeria on their face value for the payment of any amount’.

“This presupposes that any transaction in currencies other than the naira anywhere in Nigeria contravenes the law and is, therefore, illegal.”

The commission further stated that the rejection of the naira for consular services in Nigeria by certain missions, along with non-compliance with foreign exchange regulations in determining service costs, is not just unlawful but also undermines the nation’s sovereignty embodied in its official currency.

The letter continues: “This trend can no longer be tolerated, especially in a volatile economic environment where the country’s macroeconomic policies are constantly under attack by all manner of state and non-state actors.

“In light of the above, you may wish to convey the commission’s displeasure to all missions in Nigeria and restate Nigeria’s desire for their operations not to conflict with extant laws and regulations in the country.”

Diplomatic sources said yesterday, May 10, that some embassies were wondering whether the EFCC’s advisory represented the position of the Federal Government.

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Prince Harry visits sick Nigerian soldiers in Kaduna

Published

6 days ago

May 11, 2024

Alero Danjuma

Prince Harry and his team visited the 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital in Kaduna to interact with wounded soldiers who are receiving treatment.

The Duke of Sussex is in Nigeria with his wife to champion the Invictus Games, which Harry founded to aid the rehabilitation of wounded and sick servicemembers and veterans.

Nigeria joined the Invictus Community of Nations in 2022 becoming the first African country to join.

Prince Harry’s visit to Kaduna came 68 years after his late grandmother Queen Elizabeth II visited the state during the time of the late Premier of Northern Region Sir Ahmadu Bello.