💆🏽♀️ The terrorist is your friend
Hi,
Here's how the Naira is looking in parallel markets
On Friday, 13th of August = N515/$
On Friday, 21st of August = 520/$
(source)
In this week’s issue
FG supporting terrorists more than their children’s dreams
CBN is working overtime to keep forex stable
FIRS and FG subpoenaed for missing funds
Buhari signs new Petroleum Industry Bill
Lai Muhammed when journalists report the news
The Federal Government has warned that Nigerians should stop complaining about how the military treats repentant terrorists
Some people have, for some reason speculated that the photos of 300+ repentant terrorists holding "Nigerians please forgive us" banners while in military custody was staged, but the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed says they're just naysayers. It’s perfectly normal for the military to endorse terrorists
Mohammed said rather than changing the narratives, the President and the military should be respectfully commended for their effort.
He "spoke to the military" and the plan is to "profile [the terrorists] to ensure that they are genuine and reintegrate them into the society".
He also reassured that Nigeria's situation is totally different from Afghanistan's. We are not "engaged with repentant militants". We're simply integrating them into the population. Brilliant.
Meanwhile: The Federal Government has also rescued 101 Nigerians stranded in Libya, including 22 family members of ISIS terrorists who have died in Libya.
Terrorism still on
Last Sunday, suspected armed bandits again abducted many students and teachers in Zamfara, at the state’s College of Agriculture and Animal Science in Bakura Local Government Area of the state.
According to the college registrar, 4 people: 1 police officer and 3 gatemen, were killed in the attack. They kidnapped 15 students, teachers and the registrar's wife.
The police spokesperson in the state, Muhammed Shehu, however claimed that the police have rescued 3 staff of the school who were kidnapped during the attack
Premium times reports that days later, the attackers shared a video of the kidnap victims pleading for the government to save them. There's no report of who it was shared with or how.
Insecurity: Military response
The military has concluded plans to deploy the fighter Jets in the North-east and North-west. The Jets, which were recently acquired from the United States, will be good to go anytime from the 1st of September, though no specific dates have been announced
Recent attacks in Jos
5 buses travelling along Rukaba road in Jos were attacked in Saturday, leading to the loss of over 20 lives and 40 people missing. The Police say they’ve arrested 20 suspects.
Premium times reports that days later, 33 victims were rescued and 20 suspects apprehended.
This is just one of a series of attacks in Plateau. Locals estimate that this year, over 13 people have been killed in rival attacks and more than 20,000 people have been left homeless.
For years, Jos was a flashpoint for ethnic and religious rivalry. In 2001, religious clashes in Jos left almost 1,000 dead.
CBN to financial institutions dealing in forex
A federal high court in Abuja approved the CBN's request to freeze the accounts of 6 investment platforms: Bamboo Systems Technology Limited, Rise Vest Technologies Limited, Bamboo Systems Technology Limited OPNS, Chaka Technologies Limited, CTL/Business Expenses, and Trove Technologies Limited.
The platforms offer Nigerians access to stocks, bonds and other securities in both local and international markets.
In April, SEC said investment services the firms offered were illegal. The CBN now accuses them of engaging in “illicit forex transactions”, so they'll keep their accounts blocked for 6 months while they complete their investigation,
Bamboo, Risevest have however said that on the consumer side, everything is all good. Users can still take their money out whenever they want as all their investments, are managed by regulated third-parties in all jurisdictions in which we operate”
The CBN also threatened to revoke licences of Microfinance banks dealing in foreign exchange transactions.
The CBN says they've noticed that some Microfinance banks have overstepped by engaging in wholesale banking, foreign exchange transactions and other non-permissible activities.
A rep from CBN's financial and regulation department said such activities pose danger to the financial system and violate the Regulatory and Supervisory Guidelines for Microfinance Banks in Nigeria 2012.
This might be part of the CBN's recent attempts to control the FX in circulation and stop the Naira from further deteriorating. So far they have stopped selling to blackmarket dealers and fixed an exchange rate of N412/$ across banks
FIRS, missing tax. FG, missing loot
The Senate has ordered the management of the Federal Inland Revenue Service ( FIRS) to go after companies that failed to pay their due taxes in 2015 as shown in the report of the Auditor General of the federation.
The report said unrecovered taxes are made up of Value Added Tax( VAT), Company Income Tax( CIT), Withholding Tax ( WHT), Education Tax ( EDT) and NITDEF and totalling about N17. 69 billion is missing from different companies that refused to pay their taxes.
Naturally, the FIRS cannot trace the addresses of the companies.
The Senate has given them 90 days to trace and recover the "missing" taxes
Last week River's State filed and won a case reallocating the right to collect taxes other than VAT to the state.
The FIRS is also trying to impose "road tax". The agency's chairman, Mohammed Nami, said this is one of their initiatives to get taxes from the informal sector, because "the informal sector is a veritable area where we can get a lot of money". Nami says a proposal has been sent to the FG.
FG served over reallocated loot
Nigeria’s 36 governors, under Nigeria Governors’ Forum, are suing the Federal Government at the Supreme Court over the status of an estimated N2.28 trillion recovered loot.
They're asking the court to compel the FG to account for approx. N2.28trillion (both in cash and assets) so far recovered from ex-government and military looters since 2015.
The governors said that that numerous illegally acquired assets have been recovered by the FG since 2015 through the EFCC, ICPC, the Nigerian Police Force and the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation (OAGF), and none of the recovered loot has been accounted for.
They claimed that, rather than pay the recovered cash into the Federation Account, the FG has been illegally diverting it into the Consolidated Revenue Accounts (CRA) and other accounts not recognised by the constitution.
The FG (via the Attorney General's media aide) said the governors are on a "wild goose chase", insisting that the recovered loot is not governed by state laws.
Remember: in May, the Minister of Finance and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed admitted that the the FG had been "borrowing" some of the recovered loot to "fund the national budget", but cannot recall what exactly it was used for or how much
Nigeria's new Petroleum Industry Bill
President Buhari (who is currently isolating due to a COVID scare), signed the Petroleum Bill - The Petroleum Industry Act" into law this week.
Buhari, in his address on the Petroleum legislation noted that the previous bill is 50 years old and its time to get with the century.
“This lack of progress has stagnated the growth of the industry and the prosperity of our economy. In the past 10 years, Nigeria has lost an estimated $50bn worth of investments due to uncertainty created by the non-passage of the PIB.
in his address on the Petroleum Industry Act expressed optimism that the development would help the country attract investments across the oil and gas value chain.
There have been disagreements about some of its provisions since the final version was approved by the Senate in July, particularly the percentage of petroleum profit allocated to host communities (the communities where oil is extracted)
Host community leaders suggested a 10% remittence, but the final version of the bill provides 3% and repair of any vandalism in a community will be paid for from their 3%
30% to communities where the government is exploring new natural gasses
The legislation also repeals 10 existing laws, and states that board members of host communities don't have to be indigenes.
More Presidential work
The president last week also reappointed former JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede to continue his tenure.
Hero story
“Despite the fact that he reduced the fee forms from N5,000 to N3,500 in 2017.” JAMB remittance to the FG went up significantly.
According to his PUNCH profile, his profit numbers prompted the FG to investigate past Registrar's activities which lead to the suspension of Philomina Chieshe- the JAMB employee who claimed that a snake swallowed the missing N36
Villain story
According to the chairman of ASUU, while Oloyede was the vice-chancellor of Uni of Illorin in 2011, he doubled the amount of pension being deducted from staff under the false claim that the previous deductions were lower than prescribed by law. ASUU accused him of defrauding the staff of N2 billion.
Health updates
Healthcare workers in hospitals across the country have begun administering Mordena COVID-19 vaccines this week. Visit your primary healthcare centre for your vaccine!
Nigeria is also expecting additional doses of the AstraZeneca version of the vaccine in the coming weeks
Last week alone, Nigeria has recorded over 1,000 cases and 6 from COVID-19 complications
Other News
The Federal Government has submitted a proposal to borrow the sum of N5.62 trillion to finance deficits in the 2022 budget, and also slash capital expenditure in 2022 by N259.315 billion (Vanguard)
Over 11, 000 birds, including laying birds and the ones at the point of lay, have been killed in the farm in the last three days as bird flu worsens in Delta (Vanguard)
Ahead of Sept 1 Target, More Southern Nigeria States Enact Anti-Open Grazing Bills (Arise)
NTDC boss Folarin Coker says the local tourism industry would benefit from restriction of Nigerians from foreign travel (People's Gazette)
Kano State moves to ban mannequin heads on Islamic grounds (BBC)
The Nigerian Information and Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is proposing amendments to its regulatory Act (TechCabal)
Although the announcement was made earlier in March, a recent leak of the draft bill has reignited conversations surrounding the proposed amendments.
The Central Bank of Nigeria has released a framework to protect ‘Other Financial Institutions’ against rising cyberattacks in the country (People's Gazette)