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CBN

  • Again, CBN injects $142.5m into foreign exchange market

    …as Naira exchamges for N364/$1

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday injected 142.5 million dollars into the inter-bank foreign exchange, days after intervening in the retail segment of the market with 254.3 million dollars.

    The spokesperson of the apex bank, Mr Isaac Okorafor, in a statement, said the CBN would continue to carry out its regular mediation in the market to keep the market liquid and guarantee the international value of the naira in line with its mandate.

    A breakdown of Monday’s intervention indicates that the Bank offered 100 million dollars to dealers in the wholesale segment, while it allocated 23 million dollars to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) segment.

    Also, for those requiring foreign exchange for invisibles such as tuition fees, medical payments, business and personal travel allowances received 19.5 million dollars.

    Okorafor said the CBN would not relent in ensuring transparency and efficiency in the sale of Forex.

    According to him, the Bank has mandated dealers to make public their forex utilisation.

    He, therefore, urged all stakeholders to continually play their roles to guarantee transparency in the market.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the CBN last Friday intervened in the retail segment of the forex market to the tune of 254.3 million dollars following bids received from forex dealers by the apex Bank.

    The figure sold by the Bank was for companies in the raw materials, agricultural, airline and petroleum industry.

    Meanwhile, the naira maintained its stand at the Bureau de Change (BDC) segment of the forex market, exchanging at an average of N364 to a dollar in Abuja.

     

     

     

  • Etisalat gives 3 weeks ultimatum to phase out of Nigeria completely

    Etisalat has announced pull-out from Nigeria, giving a 3-week ultimatum to phase out of the country completely, after loan restructuring talks collapsed, according to a Reuters report.

    The Abu Dhabi’s telecoms firm operating in Nigeria as Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Limited (EMTS), otherwise known as Etisalat Nigeria, terminated its management agreement and gave the business time to phase out the brand in the country completely, the chief executive of Etisalat International told Reuters on Monday.

    The Nigerian Communications Communication (NCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have intervened on several occasions in talks with the telecoms firms’ lender banks to renegotiate the $1.2 billion loan in order to save the firm from the collapse to no avail.

    “All UAE shareholders of Etisalat Nigeria have exited the company and have left the board and management,” Hatem Dowidar told Reuters in an interview.

    He said discussions were ongoing with Etisalat Nigeria to provide technical support, adding that it can use the brand for another three weeks before phasing it out completely.

    >>Also read: Etisalat Group willingness to release brand name conditional

    >>Also read: Etisalat going down, down: CBN, NCC intervention not enough rescue

    Key changes had been on-going at the telecoms firm — that included restructuring of the management board, changes to its shareholding and trading name — before this recent development.

    The operator had said operations and services would remain normal and would in no way be affected, as it pledged to continue to deliver quality services to the subscribers.

    “We will continue to tap into the rich, creative and innovative resources within our workforce to build a stronger business upon the stable foundation we have laid in our 9yrs of operations,” Etisalat Nigeria said in a press release.

    Also, telecoms regulators, NCC, had in June assured that the network’s integrity of Etisalat Nigeria would not be compromised amid the loan disagreements, with NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Tony Ojobo saying the commission was fully aware of the situation and that the commission is doing all it could to salvage it.

    But as it stands, the direction Etisalat Nigeria is headed is verily verily unknown.

     

  • FOREX: CBN releases $254.3m to boost Retail Segment

    As part of its continuous intervention to strengthen the Naira against major international currencies and also sort the recurring forex scarcity, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on Friday $254.3 million dollars in the retail segment of the Nigerian inter-bank Foreign Exchange (FOREX) market.

    The acting Director, Corporate Communications at the CBN, Mr Isaac Okorafor, in a statement explained that the sale was in response to bids received from authorised dealers, on behalf of their customers.

    He disclosed that the 254.3 million dollars sold was for companies in the raw materials, agricultural, airline and petroleum industry.

    He recalled that the Bank, at its last intervention in the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) on June 23, injected 240 million dollars for spot and forward deals.

    He said the apex bank had also intervened with 390 million dollars in the wholesale, SMEs and invisibles segments of the market on June 28 and July 3, 2017.

    Okorafor said the CBN remained very committed to ensuring that all the sectors continue to enjoy access to the foreign exchange required for their business concerns.

    Meanwhile, the naira, on Friday exchanged at an average of N364 to a dollar at the Bureau de Change segment (BDCs) in Abuja, which shows a slight depreciation of N4 compared to the N360 it exchanged for on Thursday.

     

     

     

    NAN

     

  • Olusanya emerges CEO of Etisalat as firm constitutes new board

    Mr. Boye Olusanya has emerged the new Chief Executive Officer of Etisalat Nigeria in a move the telecoms firm is taking to constitute a new management board in aftermath of its indebtedness crisis.

    Mr. Olusanya holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering, with an M. Sc in Environmental Civil Engineering from Liverpool University and another MSc. in Computer Science from Manchester University.

    He is one of the pioneer staff of Vee Networks at inception in February 2001, and had formally served as Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Celtel Nigeria.

    In a statement in Lagos yesterday, the management of Etisalat said Olusanya would replace Matthew Willsher, who stepped down as the CEO on Monday, July 3.

    Etisalat also said Mrs Funke Ighodaro has been appointed as the Chief Finance Officer to take over from Mr Olawole Obasunloye, who also resigned on the same date.

    “Etisalat Nigeria today confirms that as a result of the ongoing restructuring efforts, a new board has been constituted.

    “A Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, Dr Joseph Nnanna will be the Chairman of the board, taking over from Akeem Bello-Osagie, who resigned as part of the agreement reached for a seamless transition.

    “Other members of the board comprise Mr Oluseyi Bickersteth, Mr Ken Igbokwe, Mr Boye Olusanya and Ighodaro,” it said.

    Etisalat said that the consortium of lenders working with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the CBN were committed to the ongoing efforts to restructure the company.

    The management said that the restructuring was toward a path of long-term success of the business.

    According to Etisalat, the appointment of a seasoned board of directors and top management is a testament to the long term success.

    It said that the decisions reached so far reflected the high confidence all the stakeholders had in the continued viability and sustainability of the business.

    Etisalat said that the smooth transition was also proof of the management’s commitment to ensure that the operations of the company ran seamlessly.

    “It is to ensure that customers continue to enjoy superior network quality and positive customer experience.

    “Etisalat Nigeria remains committed to continuously serving our subscribers through the provision of innovative products and services with its committed staff, partners and vendors.

    “We are committed to empower the needs of our customers and improve their experience on the network.

    “We thank all our customers for their loyalty, understanding and continued patronage,” the management said.

     

  • Etisalat Nigeria: Why subscribers need not panic

    Ongoing discussions to ensure the crisis rocking Etisalat Nigeria is yielding some positive results meaning subscribers on the Etisalat network need not panic, but there is more.

    In response to stakeholder enquiries regarding the current position on Etisalat Nigeria, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently reinstates that subscribers on the network are assured of quality of service.

    In a press release signed by Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Tony Ojobo, the Commission noted that Etisalat and its creditors have successfully reached an amicable resolution of key issues pertaining to its indebtedness, and that a smooth transitional process is currently ongoing on mutually agreed terms.

    “The Commission is confident that the amicable resolutions reached by the parties will further strengthen Etisalat’s capacity to continue to provide services to its over 20 million customers and to fulfil its obligations to its other stakeholders as a going concern, regardless of any changes that the parties have agreed to Etisalat’s Ownership, its board and/or its executive management,” said Ojobo.

    The telecoms regulator assured that, empowered by the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, it will continue to work assiduously with all industry stakeholders to ensure that the Nigerian telecommunications industry remains capable of playing its critical role as a key driver of national socio-economic development.

    “NCC is mindful of the need to sustain the industry’s significant contribution to National GDP, employment and infrastructure roll-out at all times,” the Commission spokesman said.

    He said the Commission’s intervention in the Etisalat crisis was informed by these considerations, and that the Commission is pleased at the success of the ongoing process.

    NCC, however, acknowledged the pivotal role of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in resolving the matter in a manner that protects the interests of all stakeholders – especially the creditor banks and Etisalat’s over 20 million customers.

     

  • Recession: FG yet to prioritize telecoms industry for Forex – ntel laments

    Recession: FG yet to prioritize telecoms industry for Forex – ntel laments

    The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ntel, Mr. Kamar Abass, on Thursday cried out that the unavailability of foreign exchange (Forex) for telecommunications firms is fatally affecting telecoms service delivery in the country.

    Speaking in an interview on the challenges of the telecoms industry and the need for increased broadband access to address poor service quality, among other issues, Abass said, “There are issues of poor service quality, occasioned by the economic recession, which the country is currently facing”.

    “We are providing the best of telecoms services, but infrastructure is a challenge because we do not have the required number of base stations that will give full telecoms coverage across the country,” he added.

    The ntel CEO stated that since the commercial launch of the telecoms firm last year, the firm has been able to do the much it could given the prevailing circumstances posed by the recession.

    “We raised money to acquire the business, we also raised money to commence the first commercial rollout, and since then we have been in the business and we are now about to begin the process of raising another money to expand the business beyond our existing three cities,” he said.

    The ntel CEO believes ubiquitous broadband will drive telecoms growth in the country, and noted that telecoms operators are not yet on the priority list of the federal government for those sectors that should have easy access to foreign exchange.

    Telecoms regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said it is doing all it could to make forex available for telecoms firms to ease the business of the operators for them to deliver on the quality of service key performance index.

    “We are in a world where we have to deal with issues affecting us. But if the NCC is making efforts to create a window of opportunity for telecoms operators in the forex market, we will welcome it as a good development because it will come with some forms of relief,” said Abass.

    “The truth is that telecoms operators, alongside the ministries of communications and finance, have been lobbying for easy access to foreign exchange (Forex), and as a priority sector that needs to purchase the needed equipment in foreign currencies, the telecoms operators need such window of opportunity to enable us have access to Forex.

    “Although it is an ongoing discussion between NCC and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), but we are yet to benefit from it, because the telecoms operators are not yet on the priority list of the federal government for those sectors that should have easy access to foreign exchange,” he further stated.

    The ntel boss, however, hopes that ongoing negotiations will yield positive results.

    “The negotiation is ongoing and we are glad that the ministries are supporting our request to be part of the priority list of the federal government for access to forex,” Abass said.

     

  • Nigeria’s manufacturing sector expands for 3rd consecutive month – CBN

    Nigeria’s manufacturing sector expands for 3rd consecutive month – CBN

    Nigeria’s manufacturing sector has witnessed expansion for the third consecutive month, according to data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) which measures the size of the nation’s manufacturing sector rose to 52.9 index points at the end of June.


    This figure showed a 0.4 per cent increase from 52.5 per cent of its value in May, 2017.


    According to the CBN data, 12 of the 16 sub sectors reported growth in the review month in the following order: computer & electronic products; paper products; plastics & rubber products.

    Others included primary metal, transportation equipment, petroleum & coal products, appliances & components, textile, apparel, leather & footwear, furniture & related products.


    Electrical equipment, food, beverage & tobacco products and fabricated metal products also made the list.


    The remaining four sub-sectors which declined in the order included nonmetallic mineral products, cement, chemical & pharmaceutical products and printing & related support activities


    “Composite PMI above 50 points indicates that the manufacturing/non-manufacturing economy is generally expanding.


    “50 points indicates no change and below 50 points indicates that it is generally declining,’’ the data showed.

     

     

    NAN

     

  • CBN’s intervention in forex not sustainable – Prof. Nwaekeaku

    CBN’s intervention in forex not sustainable – Prof. Nwaekeaku

    Prof. Charles Nwaekeaku of Nassarawa State University, says the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) interventions in the Foreign Exchange Market (FOREX) is not sustainable

    Nwaekeaku, a lecturer at the Pubic Administration Department, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that CBN might not be able to sustain the interventions.
    “CBN’s intervention in the foreign exchange business is a welcome development but it is a temporary relief because the money CBN injects into the foreign exchange is money derived from oil.

    “That means that anytime the price of oil falls again the money will vanish and we do not have much reserve and that means the measure is temporal,” he said.

    He suggested that what should actually be done was for government to ensure good business environment in the country and diversify the economy.
    According to him, if we go into manufacturing, productivity will increase and when that is done, the pressure on the foreign exchange will reduce.
    “This is because we will not be asking for foreign exchange for goods and services that we can produce locally.

    “The problem is that the demand for foreign exchange is very high and the money from oil is what is being used to supply and it is temporal, it is not sustainable.
    “Therefore, government should make efforts to diversify the economy and ensure that we reduce the demand for foreign exchange.

    “When we reduce the demand for foreign exchange and then increase productivity, even prices of things will come down and then you will have sustained foreign exchange regime.
    The don noted that due to the inflationary nature of Nigeria’s economy, when goods were imported into the country the price of such goods were usually high.
    This, according to him, is because such goods have to be transported, they have to be warehoused and the importers still have to tackle with power, all of these increasing costs.

    He said that these factors made the prices of goods in the market to continue to rise in spite of the interventions by the government in Forex.<

  • GEJ’s cousin allegedly misappropriates $40m communication kits money

    Cousin of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) has been alleged to have misappropriated a whooping sum of $40 million meant for communication kits.

    Azibaola Robert and his wife, Stella were accused of diverting the $40m ostensibly meant for the supply of tactical communication kits for Special Forces at a Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja on Friday in the lingering case.

    Investigation reveals that the money was transferred from the account of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the domiciliary account of their company, One Plus Holdings.

    Tenth prosecution witness, David Nkpe told the court that analysis of documents relating to One Plus Holdings Nigeria Ltd showed that the company actually received the $40m from the account of Office of the National Security Adviser with the CBN.

    According Nkpe, the investigation was extended to the National Security Adviser Office to ascertain the purpose for which the payment was made.

    “EFCC wrote to ONSA to avail them with documents regarding the payment mandate and the reply came”, said Nkpe.

    “We investigated the utilisation of the funds and discovered that the funds were transferred to other companies including Bureau de Change and some of the funds transferred offshore to countries like London and United Arab Emirates,” he further stated.

    When Nkpe was asked if he could recall some of the beneficiaries of the communication kits money, “there were several of them,” he said, adding: “but I remember that $6.6 million was transferred to a company called ‘Karahyna’ between October 2014 and April 2015, which was specifically done in eight tranches”.

    “I also recall that the sum of $1.5 million was transferred to ‘Reya Telecommunication’ which is a company under One Plus Holdings group.

    “Another sum of $1.493million was transferred to ‘Kakatar El Ltd’ which is also a company under One Plus Holdings; a sum of $2 million was transferred to ‘Capitafield Investment Ltd’ and another $330,000 transferred to a company called ‘Teledom’,” Nkpe further witnessed.

    “Most of the companies that received the money did not supply any goods,” he added.

    Nkpe said the analysis carried out on One Plus Holdings account on September 9, 2014 showed that the $40m communication kits money received was the only major inflow into the account, and that from the time of that receipt, all the transactions in the account were outflows, which is the distribution of the said $40m.

    He said the credit balance in the account before the transaction was $17,277.50.

    Thereafter, documents were presented and admitted as exhibits including: petition from the ONSA to EFCC as exhibit ASO 16 (1&2), Search warrant dated March 23, 2016; two power of attorney as exhibit ASO 18a &18b; Deed of Assignment as exhibit ASO 19a, 19b, 19c; transfer mandate from One Plus Holdings to Zenith Bank as ASO 20 (1-39); the two statement of the first defendant dated March 23 & 24, 2016 marked as exhibit ASO 21a & ASO 21b.

    Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court then adjourned the case to July 7, 2017.

     

    Source

     

  • Etisalat saga: NCC reveals legal implication, assures of network integrity

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has revealed the legal implications of the takeover of Etisalat Nigeria by a consortium of banks while assuring subscribers of telecoms service provider of continuous quality service.

    This is coming on the heels of the change in the ownership structure of Etisalat Nigeria.

    The company had on Tuesday announced the divestment of part of its shares following its inability to meet up with the payment of a loan it took from the consortium of local and international banks, which amounted to N541 billion.

    In this wise, after the loan restructuring talks failed, the company had to cede a substantial part of its shares to the consortium of banks, led by Access Bank Plc.

    Following this development, there had been fears about a possible nosedive in the quality of service rendered by Etisalat Nigeria, which is regarded as one of the best service providers in the country.

    The NCC, in a statement by its Director of Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, however, said it would continue to monitor Etisalat for the delivery of quality service.

    He drew the attention of the lender banks to Section 38 and Sub-section 1 of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003 which spells out that, “The grant of a license shall be personal to the licensee and the license shall not be operated by, assigned, sub licensed or transferred to another party unless the prior written approval of the commission has been granted;”

    Ojobo, said that the lenders banks must take note of relevant provision of the NCA 2003 as well as relevant provisions of the laws guiding the transfer of licences issued operators by the telecoms regulator.

    According to the NCC, Sub Section 2 of the same provision equally states that, “A licensee shall at all times comply by the terms and condition of the license and the provision of this act and its subsidiary legislation”.

    Ojobo, who said that NCC is aware of the indebtedness of Etisalat Nigeria to the consortium of banks says that the telecoms regulator and its banking counterpart, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), “mediated by holding several meetings with the banks, Etisalat and other stakeholders with a view to finding a resolution”.

    Despite the efforts of the two industry regulators of Federal Government, “regrettably these meetings did not yield the desired results”.

    “The NCC wishes to reassure the over 21 million Etisalat subscribers that it will do all within its regulatory power to ensure that Etisalat subscribers continue to enjoy the services provided by the operator,” the telecoms regulator stated.