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  • #OccupyCBN: Group to stage protest Friday over alleged sharp practices at CBN’s Forex trading

    A Civil Society Group, The Wailing Wailers has alleged sharp practices of Forex racketeering at the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, as it equally accused the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele of manipulating Forex tradings and illegally funding Federal Government budget and short-changing the Money Deposit Bank’s reserve ratio at the expense of the Masses.

    In a statement signed by its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Fasipe Oluyemi, it said that its members and other Nigerians would be embarking on a peaceful protest tagged, #OCCUPYCBN, to condemn the illegalities at the apex bank on Friday the 13th of January 2017.

    “We wholeheartedly call on the good people of Nigeria to come out en mass for a protest (#OccupyCBN) to stop this impunity: the Fraudulent Forex Trading, Round Tripping and racketeering going on in the Central Bank of Nigeria aided by its Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele and bring to an end the Manipulation of Forex, illegally funding Federal Government budget, short-changing the Money Deposit Bank’s reserve ratio at the expense of the Masses as the abuse of internal process is unbearable as the economy is negatively impacted and the resultant effects on the Nigerian masses is already at a dangerous level.”

    “The high level of impunity and rascality overlooked and/or condoned by the Nigerian people in the past without taking action has made the apex bank’s top executives to continue to engage in abuse of office, breach of trust, abuse of process and manipulation of the Economy.”

    “Recall that the apex bank’s top management carried out a backdoor recruitment exercise for the children of high profile Nigerian politicians, business men, in which the door was shut against the children of an average Nigerian who may have been qualified to work in the bank on merit base and were not allowed, but, the employment was freely handed to the children of friends and families of those in Government.”

    “The act stirred and arose anger amongst Nigerians, yet there was no punitive action or consequences against the perpetrators at the CBN because, the people overlooked the situation.”

    “It is rather sad that the poor masses who most of time supports the government to ensure good and robust revenue, peace and stability are the ones who always get shut out when it comes to benefits even in a so called democratic government.”

    We ordinarily imagined that the government of President Buhari whose campaign fulcrum was on anti graft, anti corruption will expose this all round, all sector massive corruption and impunity, but, alas, it is looking the other way to the astonishment of all and sundry.

    “Since the emergence of the administration of President Buhari, Forex Trading has been illegally turned to an exclusive business of the friends and family of those in power as against the principle of banking which allows for professionalism in trading and ensuring circulation to the business community for import and export of goods and services that will have direct positive impact on the economy and the people.”

    “We have again taught that the CBN will allow a level playing ground for all real stakeholders especially business community to access FOREX for trading, but they have aided the government cronies to horde it, and make it very expensive for them to in turn make huge profits upon trading. These are the factors that have made the prices of goods and services in the country to be very high and expensive, most times unaffordable.”

    “We shudder at the high impunity and knavery at which the CBN has carried on this illegality in this dispensation, playing lip service to the change mantra of Buhari’s government. This is another clear demonstration that the government and the CBN is double mouthed, playing double standards about corruption-free Nigeria.”

    “Matter of fact, the CBN is like a mother who openly shows love and care to her baby who is corruption by selling dollar at 304 naira to friends and families of Buhari led government and selling at 480naira to the commoners who are also carrying out forex trading. Many of these Buhari’s cronies make over N2 billion profit per trading which is sometimes on a daily basis.”

    “There is no other name to call what is going on in the Central Bank other than corruption. This is perpetrated to foist Buhari’s led government by allowing his friends and family to illegally divert funds, amass wealth in preparation ahead of 2019 elections to enable them have much more money that will be more than enough for them to control the poor people, manipulate and rig the elections to his favour without batting an eye.”

    “Therefore it is with great love for our dear nation that we passionately call on fellow Nigerians to come out en mass on Friday 13th of January, 2017 by 9am for a mass protest against the high handedness and impunity of corrupt officers in the Central Bank, so as to call the CBN to order and stop this deleterious evil for it’s perniciousness and harmfulness to our nation, as we must stop the CBN from continuing in this impunity, fraud, money laundering, corruption and wickedness and make life better and easy for an average Nigerian. God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

  • Forex Scarcity: BDCs task CBN, media on single market rate

    The Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has urged the CBN to harmonise the multiple exchange rates prevalent in the forex market to a single rate regime.

    Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, President, ABCON, made the call on Tuesday in an interaction with newsmen in Lagos.

    Gwadabe also appealed to newsmen to adopt a single foreign exchange rate system in their reportage.

    He added that quoting the rate at the parallel market was misleading as Nigerians could get better offer at the BDC window.

    “We urge the regulators and the government to harmonise the multiple exchange rates that pervaded the 2016 fiscal year.

    “We also use this medium to appeal to members of the print and electronic media to adopt a single foreign exchange market rate system in their reporting and completely disregard the rates in the parallel market.

    “The parallel market rate is small in volume, cash base and not recognised by extant laws,’’ Gwadabe said.

    The ABCON chief noted that Egypt and few countries had developed the single exchange system, adding that it had helped them to reduce volatility and speculation in those markets.

    While recognising the daunting task in switching to a “complete and single determined market rate’’, Gwadabe said that the task of identifying and blocking leakages rested on the CBN.

    According to him, the foreign exchange market is volatile, subject to the whims and caprices of speculators whose stock in trade is manipulation.

    The financial expert explained that journalists had a critical role in ensuring that the dictatorship of speculators was met with the reportage of the reality in the market.

    He reiterated the association’s resolve to embark on a nationwide media campaign to educate the public on the roles and activities of BDCs so as to provide a guide in dealing with only CBN licensed BDCs.

    In order to make ABCON’s operation more transparent, Gwadabe said that the association’s operation was undergoing automation, with over 2000 BDCs already captured.

    Recall that since the apex bank lifted its ban on BDCs in 2016, the association has been working closely with it to ensure the stability of the Naira.

    The association has also put a self check on its members to ensure that they do not operate above the guideline establishing them.

    The association believes that by working closely with the CBN, investors’ confidence will be restored to the market, which will translate to a bridging of the gap between the parallel and the official window.

  • New e-payment pricing policy coming – CBN

    New e-payment pricing policy coming – CBN

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has deregulated the Merchant Service Charge (MSC) and will be implementing a new pricing regime on electronic transactions by the second quarter of this year.

    MSC is a fee paid by merchants for e-transactions done through Point of Sales (PoS) terminals.

    CBN Director, Banking and Payment System Department (BPSD), ‘Dipo Fatokun announced that from May 1, the apex bank would no longer regulate the MSC, adding that it would be repalced with Interchange Fee regime.

    He said as a result of the limitations of the MSC regime and in tandem with the objectives of the Payments System Vision 2020, the CBN, in consultation with stakeholders decided to migrate the payment card to a superior pricing mechanism.

    He said the new pricing regime would boost payment card issuance, investment in loyalty programmes and the expansion of acquirer network infrastructure across the country.

    In a document entitled: Circular on the Implementation of the Interchange Fee, Fatokun said: “With the introduction of the Cash-Less Nigeria Project and the release of the Guidelines on PoS Card Acceptance Services, the CBN outlined the MSC and the modalities for the payments system.

    “This had enhanced the issuance and utilisation of cards transaction in the country and brought structure to the compensatory mechanism for parties involved in the transaction.

    “With effect from May 1, 2017, the CBN will no longer regulate Merchant Service Charge (MSC). The interchange fee regime will replace the MSC. Merchants and Acquirers will henceforth negotiate the MSC, while the CBN will control the interchange fees paid by the Acquirers to the Card Issuer and other regulated service providers, as defined by the CBN

  • Forex: CBN sells $1bn to clear backlog of demand

    Forex: CBN sells $1bn to clear backlog of demand

    As part of its statutory role as lender of last resort, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has sold about $1bn on the over-the-counter financial market to clear a backlog of dollar obligations in selected sectors, according to foreign exchange traders.

    The traders said on Thursday that the dollar sale was made last week. They described it as the largest special auction by the CBN since the naira peg was removed in June.

    Outstanding dollar demand was about $4bn before June, when the 16-month-old peg was removed. Efforts to cut dollar demand have been largely unsuccessful due to low oil prices.

    Crude sales account for about 90 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings.

    Traders said the CBN told banks to prioritise airlines, manufacturing firms, petroleum products importers and agriculture sectors, the sectors worst hit by the dollar shortage, in the auction.

    “The central bank sold $1bn at last week’s special forex auction and directed banks to issue fresh letters of credit to reflect the amount sold in favour of the affected sectors,” a senior currency trader affirmed.

    Traders said the CBN sold 30-day and 60-day forwards at the auction.

    Recall that the CBN had on December 19, the CBN instructed commercial lenders to submit their backlog of dollar demand from fuel importers, airlines, raw materials and machinery for manufacturing firms and agricultural chemicals for the special forex intervention.

  • Scarcity hits small Naira denominations as CBN fails to print in 1 year – Investigation

    …There’s no scarcity of small Naira denominations, CBN has always made provision, spokesperson affirms

    Investigations have revealed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) did not print the small Naira denominations for about a year, thus causing the scarcity of the notes in the economy.

    Sources at the CBN hinted that for a year now, the apex bank did not award contract for the printing of the notes such as N5, N10, N20 and N50 usually done abroad.

    According to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN the CBN recently printed the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes. The notes were produced by the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Plc (NSPM).

    NSPM produces currency notes and coins for the CBN and a wide range of security documents for the federal, state and local government establishments, commercial banks and blue chip companies.

    According to the NSPM website, the company has the ability to print over 40 million notes weekly.

    However, the sources said the high cost of printing banknotes was the reason the apex bank did not give contracts for their production.

    “The cost of printing N50 is almost the same as N1,000. Printing small denominations costs more than the value and with the present economic situation, it makes sense to print higher notes which can be done locally by NSPM.

    A worker at the first generation told newsmen in confidence that throughout the 2016 festive seasons, there were hardly smaller currency notes to give to customers.

    “We usually request for cash from the CBN through our Cash Management Centre, but recently, we have not been able to get mints of N100 and below.

    “We had N50 at one point but it wasn’t in the quantity we are used to getting.

    “We have been telling our customers who call to request for mints that the smallest currencies they can get is N200,” the worker, who also preferred anonymity, said.

    Mr Jude Ndukwe, a Political Economist, said the implication of the situation was that prices of goods were likely to increase since there were no smaller currencies in circulation.

    “A bread seller is likely to increase the cost of bread from N350 to N400 simply because he does not want to deal with the difficult task of getting change.

    “The same goes to a bus conductor and so forth. This act alone is enough to add to the hardship of the average Nigerians.

    “N10, N50 may not mean anything to some, but it means a whole lot to millions of Nigerians living in poverty. So the government should do something about this,” he said.

    But the CBN Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Mr Isaac Okorafor, denied the allegation that the apex bank had not contracted the printing of smaller denomination currencies since 2015.

    “There is no scarcity of smaller denomination in the market. People are complaining because we did not make provision for mints to be supplied in smaller denomination during the festive season.

    “You see people are fond of abusing these denominations by spraying them to be stepped on during weddings and other ceremonies.

    “The abuse is even worse during the festive season, so we decided to make scarce the denominations. But it’s not that we have not been printing them.

    “ Yes we haven’t printed abroad but we also print locally which we have been doing,” he said.

    When asked the last time Nigeria actually had these smaller denominations printed, he promised to get the details.

    He reiterated that it was still a crime to hawk or sell mint notes in the country, saying there was still an enforcement committee comprising CBN and the security agencies to check the menace and arrest culprits.

    Okorafor said that the CBN was collaborating with the police to ensure that the Nigerian currencies were not abused.

  • CBN sells N40bn treasury bills

     

    The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN said it had raised N39.72bn ($130.57m) at a Treasury bill sale, with yields unchanged on the previous auction.

    The CBN sold N13.17bn of three-month paper at 14 per cent, the same yield as on December 14, and sold N26.55bn of six-month paper at an also unchanged 17.5 per cent, Reuters reported.

    The auction was sparsely subscribed with total demand of N42.68bn, the CBN said on its website on Friday.

    The CBN issues treasury bills regularly to help lenders manage their liquidity, curb rising inflation, and provide naira to help the government fund its budget.

    Meanwhile, the currencies of Uganda, Kenya and Zambia seen trading sideways last week, will continue till next Thursday as most investors closed positions ahead of the end of the year while Nigeria’s naira is seen weaker as a dollar shortage persists, according to traders.

    The Uganda shilling is set to trade weaker over the next few days as commercial banks exert demand to square positions as the year nears its close.

    The Kenyan shilling will likely hold its position this week amid continued vigilance from the central bank, according to traders.

     

     

  • CBN to eliminate official, black market exchange rate gap soon – Adeosun

    The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun has said the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN is poised to eliminate the huge difference between the official and black market exchange rates against the dollar.

    According to Reuters, the naira is trading on the parallel market some 40 per cent lower than the official rate as low global crude prices have dried up vital oil revenues and pushed Africa’s largest economy into recession.

    The CBN scrapped a 16-month-old peg of 197 naira to the dollar in June, but it continues to trade in the official market, so that the naira remains far stronger against the dollar there than on the parallel market. The government has blamed that black market for damaging the already shaky economy.

    “The CBN is working on the elimination of arbitrage,” Adeosun told Reuters by text message, without saying how this would be done.

    Adeosun earlier told a conference that the central bank was working on removing the price difference.

    She said this had been in response to a question about manufacturers not getting incentives to produce given an arbitrage opportunity.

    The spokesperson for the CBN, Isaac Okorafor, said the bank was working towards “ensuring that the forex market operates as effectively as we would envisage.”

    He said the aim was to “ensure there is no black market,” but did not give details of how this would be achieved.

    The naira has traded around 305.5 naira to the dollar on the official interbank market since August, while it was quoted at 487 to the dollar on the parallel market on Monday.

    It is however not clear specifically when the disparity between the exchange rates will be fixed.

  • Emefiele elected to lead global Islamic bank

    The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has been elected as the Chairman of the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILMC).

    In a statement on issued on Friday, the CBN said Emefiele was elected on Thursday in Jakarta, Indonesia.

    The Acting Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, said that by this development, Emefiele had also become the head of the general assembly of the financial body comprising nine countries and the Islamic Development Bank, with headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

    The International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation is a global institution established by central banks, monetary authorities and multilateral organisations to create and issue short-term Shariah-compliant financial instruments to facilitate effective cross-border Islamic liquidity management.

    By creating more liquid Shariah-compliant financial markets for institutions offering Islamic financial services, the IILM aims to enhance cross-border investment flows, international linkages and financial stability.

    The body’s major mandates include developing a robust Islamic liquidity management as a catalyst for cross-border financial linkages and facilitating effective cross-border liquidity management instruments for institutions that offer Islamic financial series.

    The organisation is also charged with the responsibility of enabling a future global finance industry with greater connectivity, stability and sophistication.

    The body, which was established in 2010, is open to central banks, monetary authorities, financial regulatory authorities or government ministries or agencies that have regulatory oversight of finance or trade and commerce, and multilateral organisations.

    The current shareholders comprise of central banks and monetary authorities of Indonesia, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Qatar, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the Islamic Development Bank.

  • SIM swap: NCC plans new guidelines amidst process lapses

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecoms industry regulator, is set to come up with a new guideline that will harmonize the processes and procedures for Subscribers Identification Module (SIM) swaps across all networks.

    The decision followed various complaints by subscribers over unauthorized SIM swaps by service providers and fraudulent activities emanating from such exercise, all of which will stop if the new guideline comes into effect.

    Head, Legal and Regulatory Services, NCC, Mrs Yetunde Akinloye, who stated this at the Telecoms Consumer Parliament in Abuja, said the Commission had received so many complaints from the public on unauthorized SIM swap, adding that in some cases, some nefarious activities were carried out with such SIM Cards.

    She said that a taskforce has been set up between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the lender of last resort, and NCC to look into some of the issues with a view to finding solutions to them.

    She said: “CBN is the banking regulator that is why we have entered into this taskforce with them so that between us and the CBN, we can find solution to this matter”.

    “There was a situation that was brought to our attention where a subscriber was having issues with his number and thought that it was a network issue, but by the time he discovered what was happening, about N4 million had been taken out of his bank account.

    “The person is resident here in Abuja, while the money was taken away from Kano, and he has never been to Kano, so there is no way this would have been done without the connivance of an insider.

    “We discovered that right now, the procedure for SIM swap differs from one operator to the other and we want to standardize how SIM Swap is done,” she added.

    Akinloye also said there were pending Bills at the National Assembly aimed at addressing the problem of unsolicited massages, which subscribers are constantly subjected to.

    A representative of the Consumer Protection Council, (CPC), Shamm Kolo, had earlier identified some of the major complaints brought to Council by consumers to include unauthorized SIM Swap, unsolicited caller tunes and music religious massages, lotto, and promos which are being forced on consumers, which they find difficult to opt out of.

    Also at the event, telecoms subscribers complained that in spite of the introduction of the 2442 “Do Not Disturb (DND) code by the NCC, they are still being inundated with unsolicited massages by the service providers.

    One of the subscribers, Miss Eyitayo Oladokun, complained that even after activating the DND code, she still receives a lot of unsolicited massages from her service provider.

    Responding to some of the complaints, a representative of MTN, Adamu Abubakar, explained that some subscribers find it difficult to opt out either because they are using handsets that are not meant for the Nigerian market or as a result of wrong code activation.

  • CBN urges banks to be more proactive on economic recovery

    CBN urges banks to be more proactive on economic recovery

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says banks have a critical role to play in returning the economy to normalcy as their financial intermediation activities cut across all sectors.

    The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, said this in a statement by the apex bank’s acting Director, Corporate Communications, Mr Isaac Okorafor on Friday in Abuja.

    Emefiele spoke at the 2016 Bankers’ Committee retreat with the theme: “Economic Recovery: The Role of the Banking Sector.’’

    He said the intervention policies of the CBN, which were extended to the target populace through banks, made them the ideal partners in the nation’s development agenda.

    He said at a critical time in the country’s history, the emphasis on diversification and support for its achievement should be accorded priority by bankers.

    The governor reiterated that banks should come up with innovative solutions enable the finance sector to play a key role in driving Nigeria’s growth and development.

    Emefiele said that emphasis had been placed on creating an enabling environment for a more diversified growth structure that was not dependent on the sale and production of one produce – crude oil.

    He said that the new move dwelt on improving the productivity of farmers, manufacturers and firms, as well as their access to finance, to produce goods and services that could be made in Nigeria.

    Emefiele said this would improve job creation and growth for the nation as a whole.

    The apex bank chief reiterated that financing of two key sectors was central to the recovery efforts – agriculture and the manufacturing sectors.

    He said that the bank was focusing on the two sectors because they were recognised worldwide as catalysts for rapid growth, job creation and poverty reduction.

    The CBN governor said that in Nigeria, agriculture was currently the largest employer of labour contributing about 24.2 per cent of its GDP.

    “In 2015, we launched the Anchor Borrowers Programme as an innovative way of improving access to finance for farmers and manufacturers.

    “To date, CBN has committed close to N23 billion in the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme with active participation across 14 states of the federation.

    “In Kebbi State, over 78,000 smallholder farmers are now cultivating about 100,000 hectares of rice farms.

    “Kebbi State is expected to yield over one million metric tonnes of rice this year alone,’’ he said.

    Meanwhile, Governor Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos State urged banks to take their roles in the quest to revive the economy seriously.

    Represented by the Deputy Governor, Dr Idiat Adebule, Ambode called for a change of orientation and support for policy instruments that were aimed at achieving the overall goal of reviving the economy.

    “We must innovate now because there is no option to get out of the recession. We must get it right too.

    “The banking sector has a major role to play because the survival of other sectors depends in part on sustainability and vibrancy of banks,” he said.

    Ambode also assured that the suggestions of the bankers would be given due consideration by government and its agencies with a view to serve as a guide in policy formulation.