According to a top official of the anti-graft agency, Okonkwo’s arrest became pertinent, as the recently-uncovered $72.8 million is domiciled in Fidelity Bank when Okonkwo served as the financial institution’s Managing Director (MD).

The arrest of the First Bank chairman is, therefore, part of the ongoing investigations of the former minister, who is being probed for siphoning public funds during her time in office.

“Okonkwo, who is currently the Chairman of First Bank Holding, alongside others, had earlier been grilled over a sum of $153m and $115m by the commission.

“Okonkwo is currently being detained by the EFCC over the whereabouts of the new $72.87 million,” the anti-graft agency’s Spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, said in a statement.

The involvement of First Bank chairman with Diezani

According to the EFCC, the former minister had embezzled $153 million from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and stashed it in three banks in the country, including Fidelity Bank.

Futher uncovering the activities surrounding the siphoning of the public funds, the EFCC said Okonkwo, who headed Fidelity Bank at the time Diezani intended to divert the money, helped her take delivery of it, and kept $40 million with the former Executive Director, Public Sector Accountant of First Bank, Dauda Lawal.

EFCC stated that Okonkwo did this to conceal the source.

The post First Bank Chairman Nnamdi Okonkwo Arrested appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.

According to him, in spite of the enormous advantages African countries can leverage, Nigeria has not been positioned as the ‘real’ stakeholder for agro-export under this agreement.

Okakpu stressed that the country’s participation and gain from AfCFTA, in the agricultural value chain, depends on the effectiveness and implementation of government policies, especially in the agricultural sector.

He said that AfCFTA will form a $3.4 trillion economic bloc, which Nigeria cannot afford to be out.

Unmaskng.com understands that UNCTAD reports that trade between African nations in agricultural products as a percentage of Africa’s total agricultural trade remains below 20 percent, one of the lowest in any region. Total trade between African nations was only 2 percent in the period 2015–2017, compared with 67 percent in trade between European countries, 61 percent in Asian countries, and 47 percent in the America.

“Now, AfCFTA intends to change the narrative. It has created the world’s largest free trade area, representing the 1.2 billion consumer market, and mandates states to remove tariffs and non-tariff in order to boost shipments and services between nations and boost economic growth in doing so.

“If you look at the trend, Africa exports agricultural products such as tomatoes, onions, vegetables, cocoa, coffee, cotton, yam tobacco and spices to the nations of the world to earn significant foreign exchange. But the continent imports important foods such as cereals, vegetable oils, dairy products and meat in large quantities. Now, our neighbouring countries have positioned themselves to benefit from AfCFTA by building robust logistics and cost-effective export systems. So, looking at it critically, our logistics cost cemented our losses on AfCFTA unless we address it now, ”Okakpu explained.

Understanding AfCFTA Agreement

AfCFTA is a strategic framework adopted by 54 African countries to eliminate or reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers amongst themselves.

By doing this, the African countries believed that they would collectively build a single market for goods and services, facilitated by movement of persons in order to deepen the economic integration and prosperity.

The post How Nigeria Can Gain From AfCFTA -Abx World’s Okakpu appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.

Unmask NG understands that within a period of six years that Buhari rode into power on the promise of making naira stronger as against the dollar, the local currency had lost its value by at least 250%.

However, as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) launched Africa’s first-ever digital currency in Abuja yesterday (Monday, October 24, 2021), there was excitement among the citizenry, as many opined that the newly-floated eNaira would save the naira.

But financial experts and market analysts thought otherwise, as they all shared the same sentiment on the topic.

According to them, the eNaira would not change or affect the value of the naira in the foreign exchange market.

The immediate past Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Muda Yusuf, said there was no relationship between the foreign exchange market and the eNaira.

He said, “There is no connection between the eNaira and the exchange rate. No relationship at all. The exchange rate is determined by the demand and supply fundamentals in the foreign exchange market.

“These are driven largely by imports, exports, and the flow of capital across borders. The naira, whether digital or physical, is just a means of exchange and to some extent, a store of value.”

He, however, noted that the eNaira was consistent with the current digitalisation trend across all sectors globally.

Yusuf, who is the chief executive officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprises (CPPE), explained that digital applications typically came with efficiency, cost-effectiveness, smartness in usage, and convenience.

“But it is still not clear what the value proposition of the eNaira is, beyond the psychological satisfaction of joining the league of countries with digital currencies,” Yusuf stated.

The CPPE boss noted that transactions on these platforms were already in trillions of naira, and still counting, adding that it remained to be seen what additional value the eNaira would bring.

He said, “A great deal of sensitisation and awareness need to be undertaken to generate trust and confidence in this new payment system initiative.

“International investors typically would prefer a currency that is acceptable globally and convertible such as the dollar.”

Corroborating Yusuf’s claim, Dr. Olalekan Aworinde, a senior lecturer at the Pan Atlantic University, explained that there was a need to do more sensitise the public more on the risks.

He said, “I think that the CBN should be aware of the fact that there is the risk of cyber attacks with the introduction of the eNaira.

“As a result, the CBN needs to properly educate the masses on how to use the eNaira in a way that would not put their safety and the safety of their funds at risk.

Another expert and the Chief Executive Officer of SD&D Capital Management Limited, Idakolo Gbolade, also said there was the need to sensitive the public more.

Dollar to naira exchange rate for Monday, October 24, 2021

Data from FMDQ securities exchange windows, where forex is officially traded, showed that naira exchanged hands with the foreign currency at N415.07 to a dollar on Monday, October 24, 2021. The same rate it exchanged in the past two sessions (Thursday and Friday) last week.

At the black market in Uyo, dealers said they exchanged dollar to naira at N560.00, as against the N565.00 it exchanged last week’s Friday.

“Dealers here are skeptical of buying the dollar due to the launch of the eNaira, they don’t want to buy and lose,” a dealer who does not want his name mentioned, was quoted as saying.

While at Abuja, dealers exchanged dollar to naira at the rate of N568.00.

The post Dollar To Naira: Can eNaira Influence Exchange Rates (Experts Discuss) appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.

Unmask NG learnt that Ike was interrogated over an account belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), in which about $200 million was hidden.

Polaris Bank and NNPC’s Bromance

The committee invited the NNPC for an explanation of the circumstances surrounding the hidden account, while asking the bank to forward evidence of the remittance within one week.

Chairman of the committee, Adejoro Adeogun, had noted that a special prosecutor to the defunct Special Presidential Panel for the Recovery of Public Property, Tosin Ojaomo, raised the alarm over the alleged maintenance of an account with the Deposit Money Bank (DMB) against the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy.

He said, “In the course of our ongoing inquiry, we did find out that there were depositions; they alleged that there were infractions by your bank and there were gaps in the records supplied by some of these agencies, and you have been invited to give your side of the story.”

Polaris Bank’s defence

In his defence, Ike who represented the financial institution formerly known as Skye Bank, before the committee, disclosed that Polaris Bank forwarded the balance to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in compliance with the TSA policy of the Federal Government.

Ike, in his presentation, recalled that when the defunct Skye Bank was enmeshed in financial and administrative crises, it was difficult to meet its obligations.

According to him, huge credit facilities were granted to operators in the petroleum sector following a major crash in global oil prices.

He further recalled that the CBN, in July 2016, dissolved the board of the erstwhile Skye Bank and Polaris Bank took over the assets and liabilities of the erstwhile Skye Bank.

Ike noted that it was a normal banking service to the NNPC, adding that the account was opened before the TSA policy was introduced.

His words: “Permit me to conclude that the money deposited at Skye Bank and Polaris Bank was at no time hidden from any government agency and, therefore, we do not believe that it should be classified as looted funds at all.

“At that same time, the bank, among other things, was unable to honour the directive to remit all government funds to the TSA, inclusive of the NNPC fund. So, when we came on board, it was one of the challenges that we had to deal with at that point in time.

“The account was opened in early 2012. The first transfer was about $30m. Subsequently, some more money actually came in.

“So, it was an all banking relationship. But then, when these instructions were issued, the bank was not able to remit this money as directed because of the liquidity issue.

“The bank lent out money particularly to the oil and gas sector. Because of the challenges that the sector had gone through earlier, customers were not able to pay back all the money at the time that was required to enable the banker to pay the money.

“Somewhere along the line, the Federal Government, through the disbanded Special Investigation Panel for Recovery of Looted Property instituted a suit against Polaris Bank on the same matter.

“In 2019 February, in demonstration of our commitment to begin to repay the money, we made a proposal to begin to make an instalment payment of $10m monthly and we started payment the same month.

“Because the Federal Government found merit in our case and since we began the payment, subsequently the government had pleaded that the monthly payment should be entered as consent judgment, and it was so done.

“As of today, we have made a total payment of $224,324,958.75 which was outstanding as of February 19. Today, we, therefore, have nothing – not a dollar, nor a cent – outstanding in Polaris Bank in favour of NNPC. We have attached evidence of payment and remittances.”

It however remains unclear if Polaris Bank has been serving government parastatals, and individuals as a mechanism for shady deals.

The post Is Polaris Bank Promoting Fraud? appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.

Like Abdulkareem, another Twitter user, Paul Bolaji wrote: “Tomato is f**king expensive, a basket is now 24k.”

The above assertions are the reality faced by many Nigerians across regions. Arbiter understands that the prices of farm produce have gone up as much as 30 per cent, leaving the Nigerian citizenry in a state of exclamation.

Here’s why…

Farmers who spoke to Unmask NG, blamed the development on many factors, some of which are -insecurity, unfavourable inflation rates, and climate change.

Speaking with this publication, Ojebola Matthew, the CEO of Cibo Prima Farms, revealed that “the high price of farm produce is due to the high cost of the inputs used in farming. Everybody does business to make profit, likewise farmers. So, when there is high cost of inputs, prices are naturally affected.”

Ojebola exemplified his point, citing how much farmers pay to cultivate an acre of land. His words: “For instance, last year, to cultivate an acre of land in my own locality was N8,000, but now it is over N10,000. The exchange rate is also not friendly to the naira. There is a high cost of tractors’ spare parts, diesel is expensive, fuel is expensive, fertilizer is expensive, and all.”

He continued: “Another thing is unfavourable climatic conditions. Like now, the weather has been so unpredictable. We have been experiencing less rainfall, and this has been happening since last year. There is no more mechanized or irrigation pond. Most farmers are conventional farmers, they are not into mechanised farming as such. And the government too is not helping, mechanised or irrigation Farming is expensive. 

“Insecurity, the rate of insecurity in our farm these days, is underreported. A lot of people have abandoned their farms. Personally, I have three security personnel on my farm. Last year, I lost about 15 acres of cassava to herdsmen. Our farms are not secured, the farmers are not secured as well. Just about six weeks ago, one of my colleagues was kidnapped on his way to the farm, and since that time, he has not been to his farm, and as a result, everything he has planted there, is a waste.”

Corroborating Ojebola’s claim, Akintobi Olanrewaju, the founder of Lanse Farms, stated: “Inflation has affected the prices of food commodities in the market, and especially the things we used in growing our crops. If we look at the change in the price of dollars, the cost of even renting a tractor, amongst other things, you will realise that it is normal we also increase our farm produce.

“More so, during the COVID-19 lockdown, many farmers didn’t have access to basic input needed for production, and also many of them could not even access their farms. The food production for last year was very low, and you will agree with me that the consequence of having higher demands of low-supply commodities will definitely be an increase in price.

“The insecurity in the country is also another alarming factor for why farm produce is now very expensive. I’m aware that at Katsina, people couldn’t cultivate about 60,000 hectares of land, and what you can get from there was over N4.4 billion from maize planting. All these were lost due to insecurity…Now imagine the other places that insecurity has affected that we don’t even know. Look at Zamfara, Benue, Nassarawa, and Niger State, and even some parts of Abuja, and the South, you will realise that farmers are now leaving their farms. And if farmers are leaving their farms, the quantity of food from the farm will be low, and we have over 200 million mouths to feed.. 

“Another thing is that the average cost of things used in farming has increased. We cannot not also talk about climate change, which is now a big problem. Last year, when some farmers planted maize, their maize turned to popcorn in the soil because there was no rain. When you have five weeks without rainfall, all the plants that are still germinating, which need more water, will naturally dry off. The productivity you get from that will be very low compared to what you expected. So, investments are lost, food production is reduced.”

Another farmer who doesn’t want to be mentioned in this report blamed the increase of farm produce on the factors he claimed could have been avoided. “Would I be the one to solve the issue of insecurity? The herdsmen are really causing grievous harm to farmers, most of which you don’t even read in the newspapers. Climate change is also affecting a whole lot, and the reality is how many farmers can afford to irrigate their farms now? All these inputs are now very expensive, and the effect is what consumers are experiencing,” she stated.

Meanwhile, an analysis of the country’s gross domestic products (GDP) by Statisense, a data analysis platform, revealed that the agric sector grew at an average of 15 per cent in the past five years of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.

The percentage at which the sector grew, according to Premium Times, was low compared to how it grew in the past. By comparison, the sector grew by 133 per cent under former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration; 19.1 per cent under former President Musa Yar’adua’s short tenure and 22.2 per cent under the immediate-past President Goodluck Jonathan’s government.

The post Food Crises Loom In Nigeria, Here’s Why appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of the brand, Mr. Philip Ikezahu, he said the requests for their products have been overwhelming and it’s still of great surprise that such sales can be pulled in the first month of business.

Recall that the Fashion brand which is a sister company to Soso Music Worldwide- a music production & recording company, earlier last month disclosed that the fashion outfit will be kicked-off with about 50,000 pilot merchandises ranging from luxury wears to shoes, jewelries, as well as other fashion accessories.

“Our target is the Nigerian Pop Culture. And fashion as you know it evolves every day; we promise to continue giving our esteemed customers top notch designs. The accelerated sales we have experienced in the last one month is an indication that we need to do more and with our team of creative innovators and designers, our customers are rest assured they will get only the best,” Ikezahu said.

While the Dubai-Based jeweler also spoke on Soso Music Worldwide, he disclosed that the music company is ready to unveil its two newly signed artiste by the end of June 2021. He said that the artistes are fired-up already and that the Nigerian music scene should be ready to witness talents like never before.

“Also, our talent management outfit is in the pipeline and will commence operation before the end of 2021, the actual goal is to fuse together Music, Fashion, and Talent management which will eventually showcase Nigeria to the world,” he added.

The post SMW Fashion Sets Record, Hit 25,000 Sales in First Month appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.