News
EFCC goes after dollar speculators, CBN slashes banks allocations
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.
News
Akran of Badagry is dead, aged 89
The demise of the monarch marks the end of his 48-year reign on the throne, making him one of the longest-serving traditional rulers in Lagos State.
Photo: Akran of Badagry, De Wheno Aholu Menu-Toyi
The traditional ruler of the Badagry local government area in Lagos State, the Akran of Badagry, De Wheno Aholu Menu-Toyi, is dead, aged 89.
The demise of the monarch marks the end of his 48-year reign on the throne, making him one of the longest-serving traditional rulers in Lagos State.
According to the palace, the Akran was pronounced dead by medical experts, after a brief illness, and the traditional rites for his burial have gradually commenced.
Residents of Badagry, who are currently mourning the loss of their revered monarch, described his death as a heavy blow, noting that the town has lost not just a king but a father figure whose wisdom, counsel and presence brought reassurance in moments of uncertainty.
News
Osun sues UBA, officials to court over illegal LG accounts
They were specifically accused of allowing the opening, operation and maintenance of accounts for each of the local government councils “by unknown private individuals as signatories…
• Map of Osun State
The Osun State Government has instituted a criminal case against United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) and four of its top officials over alleged illegal opening of local government accounts.
Tribune newspaper reported that the Chief Magistrate Court, sitting in Osogbo, Osun State, has fixed January 30 for the hearing of the case, marked Charge No: MOS/601c/2025.
The defendants in the suit are: the UBA Plc, its Group Managing Director, Mr Oliver Alawuba, the Company Secretary and Group Legal Adviser, Mr Billy Odum and the Deputy Managing Director, Mr Chukwuma Nweke.
In the charge sheet, the government filed the 31-count charge against the bank and its officials, with each count relating to alleged infractions involving opening of bank accounts for the state’s 30 local government councils.
In count one, the prosecution alleged that the defendants, on or about December 9, 2025, and on subsequent days, at UBA’S Osun State branch office located in the Olonkoro area of Osogbo, conspired to commit a felony by opening, operating and maintaining what it described as illegal Osun State Local Government Council accounts.
The alleged offence, the charge stated, occurred within the Osogbo Magisterial District and is said to be contrary to and punishable under Section 516 of the Criminal Code, Cap 34, Volume 2, Laws of Osun State of Nigeria, 2002.
They were specifically accused of allowing the opening, operation and maintenance of accounts for each of the local government councils “by unknown private individuals as signatories” after the Local Government Service Commission had introduced to the defendants, Directors of Administration and General Services and Directors of Finance of all the local governments as signatories to the councils’ statutory accounts “and thereby committed an offence contrary to Sections 2 and 3 (1) and (2), and punishable under Section 5(1) and (2) of Osun State Local Government Accounts Administration Law, 2025.”
News
Umahi: We’re not tolling Third Mainland Bridge
Umahi affirmed this during inauguration of the N40 billion Closed Circuit Television Camera Centre on the Third Mainland Bridge, the previous day.
• Third Mainland Bridge
The Minister of Works Senator Dave Umahi has confirmed that the Federal Government has no plan to toll the rehabilitated Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos.
Umahi affirmed this during inauguration of the N40 billion Closed Circuit Television Camera Centre on the Third Mainland Bridge, the previous day.
He said : “We will not engage construction on this bridge because it will entail static load on the bridge.
“It is also within the town, so it will introduce many bottlenecks; that is why we are not tolling this bridge,” he said.
Umahi said that security would be handled by the police, noting that the 11-kilometre bridge would have a five-minute response time.
Akran of Badagry is dead, aged 89
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