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EFCC goes after dollar speculators, CBN slashes banks allocations

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Deposit Money Banks are battling dollar shortage after the Central Bank of Nigeria slashed their foreign exchange allocations.

Multiple bank officials told one of our correspondents they have been unable to meet their customers’ forex demand for school fees, Personal Travel Allowance, among others.

The gap between demand and supply has become worsened. The CBN will intervene and supply more forex soon, “ a top official of a tier-1 bank.

“For some weeks now, we have not got allocation. Sometimes they delay in giving” another bank official said.

The CBN on Monday said it would introduce measures to curb the naira slide.

However, the naira gained at the parallel market on Tuesday, after the central bank said it would intervene in the continued depreciation of the local currency.

On Monday, while speaking after briefing President Bola Tinubu on what the bank was doing to halt the naira slide, the Acting Governor, CBN, Folashodun Shonubi, said the fluctuation in the parallel market was not solely driven by economic factors, but also speculative demand.

However, some Bureau de Change Operators said the naira which was earlier exchanged to the dollar at 956/$ on Monday, exchanged at 925/$ on Tuesday.

A BDC operator, Alh Alli Kareem, said, “Today, we bought and sold the naira at 915/$ and 925/$. They are saying they will pump more dollars into the economy but, we are still waiting.”

On the Investors & Exporters window, trading of the naira commenced at 785.89/$ and reached a high of 799.90/$ before closing at 774.77/$ on Tuesday; it closed at 764.68/$ on Monday.

A former President, Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, Dr Sam Nzekwe, said, the intervention announced by the CBN might be a short-term one, adding that might not be sustainable.

He said, “People don’t have confidence in naira again; when people have money, they go to the BDCs and buy the dollar and keep. The best intervention they can do is to see how they can get the economy to be productive, but now, we are importing a lot.

“If they are saying intervention, is it the dollar you have or the one you don’t have? I don’t worry that the CBN floated the naira, but it cannot defend it.”

It would be recalled that in July 2021, the CBN discontinued dollar allocation to the BDCs, but continued through the Deposit Money Banks.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government may in the coming weeks clamp down on Bureau De Change operators.

Sources close to the matter, hinted to our correspondent that the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission might go after currency speculators whose activities have been putting pressure on the local currency.

“The Federal Government is planning to clamp down on operators of Bureau De Change across the country. Although they are businessmen, they are also part of the problem due to the rate at which they greedily hike rates to make profits. The current rates are not market driven but speculative, and that is why the government said they would intervene,” the source said.

EFCC could not verify the plan as of press time.

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Simon Ekpa denies terrorism charges in Nigeria and Finland

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Finnish prosecutors on Friday said they had charged a man with inciting terrorism online who a media report identified as Nigerian separatist leader Simon Ekpa.

According to the prosecution authority, the accused remained in custody and denied the charges.

AFP reports that Finland’s National Prosecution Authority said in a statement that it had charged “a Finnish individual in a case involving suspected public incitement to commit crimes with terrorist intent and participation in the activities of a terrorist group.”

It added that the alleged crimes had been committed in the city of Lahti between 2021 and 2024 and were related to the suspect’s efforts to establish Nigeria’s Biafra region as an independent state.

The prosecution authority did not name the accused but Finnish public broadcaster YLE identified him as separatist leader Simon Ekpa.Ekpa — who claims to lead the Biafra Republic’s government in exile — was detained in November.

According to the prosecution authority, the accused remained in custody and denied the charges.

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Tinubu to attend Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration May 18

The inauguration marks the formal beginning of the Pontificate of Pope Leo XIV, the 267th Bishop of Rome.”

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President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will depart Abuja on Saturday for Rome, Italy, to attend the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV as the new head of the Roman Catholic Church.

The President will be accompanied by a delegation that includes the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu; Archbishop Lucius Ugorji, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria; Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja; Archbishop Alfred Martins of Lagos; and Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Sokoto Diocese.

Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, confirmed in a statement via X.

‘Tinubu is travelling at the invitation of the Vatican and will lead Nigeria’s delegation to the solemn installation mass scheduled for Sunday, May 18, at St. Peter’s Square.

The inauguration marks the formal beginning of the Pontificate of Pope Leo XIV, the 267th Bishop of Rome.”

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JUST IN: Panic as fire guts Ifako-Ijaiye General Hospital in Lagos

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A fire broke out on Thursday at the General Hospital in Ifako-Ijaiye, Lagos, engulfing parts of the three-storey building and causing panic among residents and patients.

Videos from the scene showed thick smoke pouring from the hospital building as onlookers gathered in distress. Firefighters later arrived to battle the blaze.

An eyewitness, Modinat Melemuku, who shared footage of the incident on Facebook, called for urgent help.

She said: “Happening now at General Hospital Ifako-Ijaiye, College Road. Please repost.

Help is needed,” she wrote.

An eyewitness also told reporters the fire began in one part of the hospital before spreading to other sections.

“The fire then spread to the prenatal and postnatal rooms, after which it affected the pediatric ward,” the eyewitness said.

There were concerns that nursing mothers and infants might have been trapped inside, although no casualties were confirmed as of the time of filing this report.

Emergency responders were still on the ground trying to bring the situation under control.

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