Tuesday, 31 May 2016

FirstBank gets $13.745m Forex allocation from CBN

The latest returns on forex utilisation for FirstBank Nigeria Limited
have shown that the bank was allocated $13,745,768.19 by the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last week.
 
The returns published on Monday showed that FirstBank sold the
greenback to 678 customers.
 
FirstBank's biggest customers, according to the returns dated May 19,
were Dangote Cement Plc, which got $2 million for the importation of
machinery for its cement plants; Gulf Treasures Limited, which
purchased $1 million from the bank for the importation of gasoline;
and Kam Industries Nigeria Limited, which got $1 million also.
 
The bulk of the forex it sold was for the payment of school fees abroad.

Nigeria, eight nations to revive Niger Basin with $6.4m

The nine member-states of the Niger Basin Authority (NBA), Nigeria, Cameroun, Guinea, Mali Republic of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Chad, are to commit $6.44 million towards reviving the Basin and improving the lot of the people living there in.

The funds are to also facilitate access to hydro-power and boost agricultural production in the region.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who disclosed this during the opening ceremony of the Council of Ministers meeting yesterday in Abuja, decried the deteriorating state of the basin hugely spurred by the combined effects of climate and human activities.

“This phenomenon is heavily compromising the future of the ever increasing population of the Niger Basin through the intensity and number of environmental, social and economic problems it is inducing,” he said.

While expressing concerns at the security situation within the basin and the entire West and Central African region, Buhari noted that the implementation of the Operational Plan NBA would provide job opportunities for the youths in the areas of agriculture, livestock, fisheries and conservation of the basin’s natural resources.

He said by so doing, the institution would contribute to the fight against idleness and lack of future prospects for the youths which could lure them into extremism as observed over the years.

Represented by the Minister of Environment, Hajiya Amina Muhammed, the President said the investment outlay was developed with the active participation of representatives of all member- countries for select 350 investment and capacity building actions for the benefit of countries and the basin’s secretariat.

In his remarks, the Chairman of NBA Council of Ministers and Nigeria’s Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, stressed the need for member- countries to contribute at least 10 per cent for the funding of the operational plan, adding that a new sharing formula had been formulated.

Recall that the Basin was established in November 1980 to “promote cooperation between member-countries and ensure an integrated development of the Niger Basin in the areas of hydraulics, energy, agriculture, livestock, fisheries as well as fish farming, forestry and logging.

Banks To suspend cross border transactions on ATM cards - EFFC

Banks may have decided to suspend international transactions on Naira and Dollar denominated ATM cards in protest of harassment of staff by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Indications to this emerged last week, when a bank announced a temporary shutdown of Mastercard International transactions.

“Please be informed that all international transactions on your MasterCard Naira and Dollar (Debit, Prepaid) will be temporarily declined, effective May 26, 2016 due to the current volatility in the foreign exchange market.

“However, your Naira denominated cards can still be used for local transactions on PoS Terminal, ATM and online for Nigerian retailers”, the bank informed its customers.

A bank executive who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the development was in connection to the harassment of bank staff over the exchange rate charged for international transactions on naira debit cards.

He said that the bank’s decision to shut down Mastercard international transactions was to prevent arrest or further arrests of its staff by EFCC. “That is what you get when you have the EFCC arresting banks’ staff and the CBN not doing anything to defend the banks,” he said, adding that, “You will see more of such actions from other banks as time goes on.” In a letter written to the CBN last month, banks complained that, EFCC has been going to banks and arresting staff of banks stating that card rate for cross border transactions should not be more than the CBN rate plus a margin of N0.50 Titled, “Harassment of banks by the Economics and Financial Crimes Commission over charges on FX Card Rates,” the letter stated, “As you will recall sir, the Central Bank of Nigeria does not sell foreign exchange (FX) to banks for settlement of international cards schemes for the cross border spend on our Naira debit card, most banks have had to be sourcing FX from autonomous markets.

At several meetings of the CBN with Deposit Money Banks, it was reiterated that we need to protect the scarce FX of the country and limits were placed on cross border spend of naira debit ($300/ day for ATM withdrawal and a total of N50,000 p.a for ATM and PoS purchase per card). One the measures adopted by banks to discourage the abuse of usage was the card rate as most banks PTA/BTA at the CBN rate.

Any customer of a bank travelling with appropriate document can access the PTA window at $4,000 per quarter. Deposit Money Banks set the card rates based on a daily market competitor scan, thereby leaving market forces to dictate what the banks can charge their customers.

“As the sole regulator of banking practice in Nigeria, we hereby request the CBN to urgently take steps to clarify to the EFCC that the banks have been allowed to offer the product solely on a market determined basis. This has become unavoidable in order to forestall further harassment by the EFCC”.

[Video] Falz Ft. Olamide & Davido – Bahd Baddo, Baddest

Falz the Bahd Guy releases visuals for his smash hit “Bahd Baddo Baddest” which features YBNL’s Olamide and HKN’s Davido.

The Video was directed by Unlimited L.A and shot in Lagos. Enjoy!

Watch Falz Ft. Olamide & Davido – Bahd Baddo, Baddest Video Below:-

RCNR Entertainment crew Present Official Video for Kay_Ennyg hit single "below " Video Directed by Sodeeqstar Watch & download below!!!

Download 3GP

Download MP4

Miss to Download audio

Download Audio

Play Online

You can follow him on

Facebook:- Adelu Kayennyg

Twitter:- @KAY_ENNYG

Instagram:- @kAY_ENNYG

Watapps:- 08109044917

Contact For Colaboration: +2348109044917

VIDEO: Olamide – “Who You Epp?” ft. Wande Coal & Phyno

The Cleanest Video of the Year is Out! Olamide came through with a brand new video to one of the most acceptable version of his “ Who You Epp” Tracks that hits the Nation months back featuring Wande Coal and Phyno.

The Video was directed by Sesan and was shoot in Lagos.. Enjoy it!!

Watch Video below:-

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has recovered N900million from Mr. Waripamowei Dudafa, a former Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.

A reliable source at the EFCC told disclosed on Sunday that the money was found in one of Dudafa’s accounts, which was immediately frozen.

The source said, “Dudafa told us that he had no money; so, we began to investigate his accounts. We then found N900m that was hidden in one of his accounts through the connivance of his account officer. “Dudafa initially denied owning the account but when he was confronted with evidence, he had no choice but to admit. Some people, who had paid money into the account based on Dudafa’s instructions, even came forward to say that the account indeed belonged to Dudafa. The N900m will be used as evidence against him in court.” Dudafa, a close aide and kinsman of Jonathan, was arrested on April 18 at the Murtala Airport in Lagos. The former presidential aide, alongside Jonathan’s ex Aide-de-Camp, Col. Ojogbane Adegbe, was accused of sharing as much as N10bn to delegates at the presidential primary of the Peoples Democratic Party in December 2014, in which Jonathan was the only candidate. The money was allegedly diverted by the Office of the NSA from a Signature Bonus Account in CBN.

The N10bn is believed to have been diverted from oil receipts as follows: $5m (November 14, 2014); $47m (November 27, 2014); €4m (December 3, 2014) and €1.6m (December 24, 2014). Dudafa was said to have fled to either Dubai where he stayed for several months. He was later arrested by the SSS on arrival and the EFCC is set for his prosecution.

Sdtrendsblog

Pages