The Godwin Emefiele-led Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has extended the discounted interest rate for its intervention facilities for another 12 months. The apex bank, however said the one year extension will be considered on case by case basis.
Recall that the apex bank, last year, granted a 12 months extension for all its intervention funds, citing the need to cushion the effects of the corona virus pandemic on the economy.
According to a circular titled ‘Re: Regulatory forbearance for the restructuring of credit facilities of other financial institutions impacted by COVID-19,’ and obtained by the magazine, the government bank said the action was taken to mitigate the impacts of the COVID 19 on the economy.
It reads, “The Central Bank of Nigeria reduced the interest rates on the CBN intervention facilities from nine per cent to five per cent per annum for one year effective March 1, 2020, as part of measures to mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the Nigerian economy.
“Credit facilities, availed through participating banks and OFIs, were also granted a one-year moratorium on all principal payments with effect from March 1, 2020. Following the expiration of the above timelines, the CBN hereby approves as follows:
“The extension by another 12 months to February 28, 2022 of the discounted interest rate for the CBN intervention facilities.The role-over of the moratorium on the above facilities shall be considered on a case by case basis.”
I don’t know about you, but there are States in Nigeria, I constantly go to Goggle to know the names of their Governors.
It is not that I am uninterested in the States, it is just that their Governors neither have positive nor nuisance value. They are just there, answering “Their Excellencies, the Executive Governors of so and so States.”
The emphasis on Executive is mine. It is very important to them and their Aides. Addressing them as Governors is not enough. It is as if a Governor does not already have executive powers so, they need to re-emphasise it. Nigerians and titles.
Even some Local Government Chairmen now answer Executive Chairmen. Just like a number of Houses of Representatives and Assembly Members are no longer satisfied with answering “Honourable.” It is “The Rt. Honourable.”
But these are by the way. I was talking about States which Governors I constantly ask Goggle to tell me their names They are just there. Contributing nothing to National discourse. A number of them live in Abuja, and visit their states. They are visiting Governors.
But many of them are active. They talk. You hear their voices. You feel them. Even if they are just of nuisance value. You cannot miss them.
Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State is one of the Governors one cannot miss.
Governor Bello Matawalle
He is one of Nigeria’s “Miracle Governors.” Of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, a party which he once swore he would dump because of what he called the unbearable attitude of a South-south Governor, Matawalle was thoroughly defeated at the Governorship polls by the All Progressives Congress’s, APC, candidate. But 48 hours, (or was it 24 hours?) I forget now, to the swearing-in of the APC winner, the Supreme Court truncated it. He was kicked out, and Matawalle declared the winner, and sworn -in. He shares this miracle with the Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri.
But in the North, along with Governors Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna, Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano, Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Babagana Zulum of Borno State, Matallawe has been in the news. And now, he has opened the pandora’s box.
The Governor has just revealed that high profile Nigerians were behind the abduction of the 317 female students of Jangebe Girls’ Secondary School, Zamfara. He said the high profile sponsors even went as far as offering the bandits money to abort the release of the girls.
And, because of the Zamfara abduction, we now know, according to the Federal Government, that Helicopters drop arms and food stuffs for bandits. Do they also drop for Boko Haram? Who knows?
Dr Obadiah Mailafia, remember him?, must be having a good laugh. When he made the allegation, months ago, that Helicopters were transporting arms to bandits across the country during the COVID-19 lockdown, many people, including yours truly, dismissed his claims. Doubting Thomases, we now know. The Federal Government gives that as the reason it declared Zamfara State a no-fly-zone on Tuesday. Now that we know, the Federal Government owes Nigerians a full disclosure of where the Helicopters come from. Do they emanate from within or outside the country? How do they enter our airspace, and drop arms undetected, How vulnerable is Nigeria?
I have not been to Zamfara State since Matallawe, but I was there twice as a Commissioner on the Police Service Commission, PSC.
I don’t know if the state has developed now. When I visited, aside from the beautiful natural environment, I didn’t see much development infrastructure-wise. Not even the Government House was good enough. Big houses. Expensive furniture. But dirty.
We were given Guest Houses within the Government House to stay. Two others and I, including former Lagos and Benue States Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, couldn’t stay. The bedrooms were unkept. The restrooms made me sick, as it did the two others. So, we opted for a not-too-big, very decent hotel.
The allegation, then, was that the Governor was, usually, away to Abuja, and was a visitor to the State. He apparently didn’t care much.
I may be wrong, but I will be surprised if the state has done any better under Matallawe. If not, it is likely not his fault. The man inherited a State under the stranglehold of bandits; a State reduced to one of the most dangerous states in Nigeria.
Since his inauguration, the Governor has not had a breather. He has been running after bandits. He was the first to begin a negotiation with them. He granted them amnesty just so they leave his state alone. They began to surrender their guns in exchange for amnesty and rehabilitation. His style became a model for other states under the burden of bandits. He even began to intervene, in those states each time bandits struck. On a couple of times, his help was acknowledged.
But criminals have large appetites. The more you try to feed them, the more insatiable their appetite is. They are like blackmailers. Once you start paying a blackmailer, you never stop.
The Governor’s agreement with bandits notwithstanding, they kept wreaking havoc on the state.
The criminal activities of the bandits got to a head this order day when they invaded Jengebe Girls’ Secondary, and abducted 317 students in one swoop. For about one week, they held them hostage, putting the country on edge, the state in disarray, and the Governor, confused and talkative.
It was during one of those talkative moments, when the Council of Traditional Rulers visited him to condole with him, that Matallawe told them they would be shocked to know those behind the abduction of the students. He said he knew them. While Nigerians tried to absorb that, he dropped a second secret.
During the visit of the Federal Government delegation to the State led by Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika to, also, condole with him, he disclosed that some people were giving the bandits money not to free the students.
The Governor says he knows the big people behind the abduction of the students but wouldn’t name and Shame them. He knows those who were offering the bandits money not to release the abducted girls, while their parents reeled in pains and trauma and sleepless nights, and our country, once again, reduced to International ridicule. But he wouldn’t name them,
The questions are: If Governor Matallawe knew all along, those behind the abduction of the girls,to the extent that he knew they were giving the bandits money so as not to release the girls, why would he not let on immediately? What is he hiding? Who is he protecting? Has he given their names to the Police, the DSS, or any other Security Agency? Did he give their names to them?
He is threatening to make their names public. What’s preventing him from doing that? It is the most natural thing to do. It is the right thing to do. Or, is he waiting for the bandits to carry out another abduction?
The President should hold Governor Zamfara State to his words. He should make the names of the high profile people behind the abduction public. He should name them, so we can shame them.
I really wonder why Matawalle and the other Governors of bandit – states were not invited to the Security Council meeting in Abuja on Tuesday. After disclosing that he knew the high profile sponsors, he should have been invited for debriefing. Instead, they took decisions behind him. Mr President declared Zamfara State a no-fly-zone, and banned every mining activity, So announced the cerebral National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno, Rtd.
The Governor felt slighted. No wonder he chuckled at the decisions, and dismissed Abuja as ignorant of the security situation in Zamfara State when Dr Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti State Governor, and Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum, visited him. He made nonsense of the Council’s meeting and decisions.
Matawalle: “It seems the Security Council doesn’t understand the nature of the security problems in Zamfara state. But if they decided to take such action let them go ahead.
“I’m not afraid of anybody, and the problem of insecurity in the state predated my administration.
“Nigerians are waiting to see the outcome of the Security Council’s resolution to see if these bandits would be crushed. If the Federal Government fails to crush them after this resolution, then Nigerians will understand that they only sat and served themselves tea, nothing more.”
He has started an investigation into the abduction of students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jengebe, he quipped.
Investigation? I thought he already knew those behind the abduction. All he needs to do is hand the list over to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Finally, Mr President should listen to Governor Matawalle, and order a thorough investigation of his list. Mr President should put a stop to this nonsense. It is getting out of hand. Indeed, it is out of hand already. And remember: that was not Mr President’s promise in 2015. Whatever happened to that promise? And whatever happened to trust?
Former chairman of Diamond Bank Board of Directors Seyi Bickersteth is dead, according to a report by Nairametrics. The online medium, quoting multiple sources, said Bickersteth was found dead in his Ikoyi apartment, even though the cause of his death is yet to be determined.
The deceased resigned from the now defunct bank in 2018 to pave way for new investors to recapitalizes the bank.
Until his death, Bickersteth was a Regional Managing Partner and Chairman of Andersen Tax, Africa. According to his LinkedIn profile, he started his career at Arthur Andersen as a partner and rose through the echelons to his most recent position, in a career that spanned over forty years.
Bickersteth: Found Dead in His Ikoyi Home
He was an alumnus of the famous University of Ibadan and York University, Canada where he obtained a Bachelor`s and Masters’ degrees in Economics respectively. He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria ,FCA and Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, FCTI.
The ex- chairman of Diamond Bank will be remembered for his pioneering role as a team leader of Arthur Anderson team in the 1988 International Merchant Bank, IMB restructuring exercise. He served in various leadership positions and Boards in top firms like; KPMG, ARM and the defunct Diamond Bank.
Within two months, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has released 350,000 metric tonnes of maize into the Nigerian market, as part of the efforts to crash the prices and ease the scarcity of the commodity in the country.
In January, the apex bank released 300,000 metric tons and has now added 50,000 metric tons, even though analysts insist that the intervention will not serve much purpose.
“The current shortfall in the quantity of maize available in the market, that CBN is working on mitigating, is attributed to activities of banditry, drought in some parts of the country last year, activities of hoarders and middlemen as well as insecurity around the major maize producing belt of Niger, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara and part of Kano states,” the CBN said in a statement.
Over 11 million tons of maize is consumed annually in the country while barely 7 million tons are produced locally, leaving the shortfall to be imported. But the CBN has placed a ban on importation of maize to encourage local production, leading to scarcity. The 2020 corona virus pandemic lock down has made things worse because farmers could not plant for the better part of the season.
As the scarcity bites harder, some livestock producers had recently appealed to the federal government to intervene over the rising cost of maize which has also led to the increase in the prices of poultry products, including eggs and chickens. At least, over 50 per cent of national consumption is consumed in the livestock sector.
The CBN said the release was part of efforts to reduce the price of the commodity in the market, adding that the impact of its action is already being felt as the price of maize has crashed from N200, 000.00 per metric tonnes to about N180, 000.00 per metric tonnes.
More price reduction is expected in coming weeks as more of the products flood the markets, the government bank said.
The CBN gives the breakdown of the beneficiaries to include Premier Flour Mills, Crown – Olam, Grand Cereals, Animal Care, Amobyn and Hybrid Feeds. Others include Zartech, Wacot, Sayeed Farms, Pandagri Novum and Premium Farms as well as the South West, South-South, North West and North Central chapters of the Poultry Association of Nigeria, PAN.
According to the apex bank, the benefiting companies represent the major players in the poultry value chain in the country, noting that the 50,000 metric tonnes of Maize will minimize the activities of intermediaries (middlemen) in the Nigerian maize market.
To kick-start his second term, Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, has named his kinsmen into strategic positions just as he dissolved some political appointees with immediate effect.
Akeredolu re-appointed his kinsman, Chief Olugbenga Ale, as Chief of Staff, and another Owo indigene, Richard Olabode, as Chief Press Secretary.
Mr Jimoh Dojumo, from Owo, a retired policeman who served as Chief Security Officer, (CSO) during first term, was also reappointed.
Apart from his kinsmen, Governor Akeredolu also favoured some non-indigenes as appointees during his second voyage.
New appointees include Bola Alabi, as the new Chief of Protocol. Alabi, a Legal Practitioner, served as Deputy Chief of Protocol in the first term of the Governor.
Mrs. Olufunke Bisi Aruna has been appointed as the Deputy Chief of Protocol.
Mr. Governor also approved that Mr. Kunle Adebayo and his two other committee members should continue to superintend over the affairs of the OSRC Media Group as Chairman and members of the committee.
Mr. Bayo Olafusi has equally been nominated as member of the Ondo State Judicial Service Commission. His name is being forwarded to the Ondo State House of Assembly for confirmation.
Other appointments approved by the Governor are:
Prince Olusegun Omojuwa – Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor, Dr. Doyin Odebowale, Senior Special Assistant, Special Duties and Strategy; Pastor Akin Olotu, Senior Special Assistant, Agriculture.
Other appointees from Owo include Dapo Aruwajoye, Senior Special Assistant, Broadcast Communications; and Leke Akeredolu, SA, Media.
Appointees are Mrs. Gilda Amata, Mr. Rowland Iheloghara, Stella Anyanwu, Mrs Elizabeth Akpan, and Alex Ukah, all Special Assistants.
Others are, Nguher Zaki, Odilii Peace, and Miss Ngozi Ugochi Igbo.
Following the blockade of persishable goods and cows from the North to the South, the Lagos State Government has assured Lagosians not to panic and get disturbed as the State Government is on top of the issue.
It stressed that the food blockade from North to South will not lead to food crisis in the State.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Information, Gbenga Omotoso, said that there is no need for anxiety as Food security is guaranteed, despite the crisis.
But Lagosians are already feeling the brunt. A number of people who spoke to this magazine do not agree with the Government’s assurance. They say the markets are empty; That there are no food stuffs in the market. Many fear hunger would reign in the land.
However, speaking as a Guest on “Daily Digest with Jimi Disu”, a programme on Nigerian Info 99.3FM, Omotoso said the Government was not ignorant of the food supply situation and assured citizens that it would not be allowed to become a crisis.
Omotoso added that the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu government is aware of the situation and the Governor is on top of it.
He disclosed that the Governor have initiated steps to ensure the matter is resolved by the weekend.
“I assure you Lagosians that Governor Sanwo-Olu is on top of the matter. There will be a meeting. He will tell both sides to embrace peace in the interest of all.’’
He also urged residents to “take it easy” as Lagos State would continue to put facilities in place to ensure self-sufficiency in food production and supply.
It would be recalled that decision of the North to block food transported to the South was as a result of the crisis that emanated from the clash of traders in Shasha, Ibadan, Oyo State Capital.
Food and cattle merchants from the North have withheld supplies, an action that has sparked rising prices.
Findings show that Lagos consumes at least 50% of agricultural products in Nigeria.
Speaking on the return of Lekki Concession Company(LCC) to the Lekki Toll Gate, the Commissioner said that contrary to the misconception in some circles, the facility will not resume tolling soon, considering its destruction during the #EndSARS riots.
He envisaged that it would take months before the toll gate could be put in shape for full operations.
“Even then, there will be a better tolling system, with the use of technology,” Omotoso said.
He said repairs would leverage technology for better travel experience to eliminate time wastage and what the anchor of the programme, Mr. Jimi Disu, described as “stress”.
A Pan Yoruba Group, Apapo Oodua Koya, AOKOYA, has called on South West Governors to be more security conscious, proactive.
The Group is alleging a plot by Bandits and Terrorist Groups to kidnap School Children from the South West States of Ogun, Oyo and Ondo, imploring their Governors to rise to the occasion.
In a letter addressed to the three Governors, the Pan Yoruba Group said it has received information that the armed terrorists in Ogun, Oyo and Ondo forests are targeting primary and secondary schools in the three states where they plan to abduct pupils.
“The terrorists are at present mapping out their targets in Ondo, Oyo and Ogun States where they are gradually building armed fortresses. The groups are coordinated and linked with the kidnappers in Niger, Zamfara and Kaduna States”,AOKOYA said in the letter dispatched to the Governors of the aformentioned States.
“We got the information through credible intelligence. We have the capacity to tap some of the communications of the insurgents usually rendered in Fulfulde. They are planning to kidnap school children in large numbers in any, or all of the states mentioned above.
The Group said the Bandits and Terrorists Groups are presently located at Yewa in Ogun State, they are in Oke-Ogun in Oyo and Idanre-Ondo town axis in Ondo State”.
The Group said; “It is our responsibility to inform you of information at our disposal. We hope you begin to trust our intelligence beginning from two years ago when we warned the South West Governors about armed Fulani cells spread across the South West forests” The governors are Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State and Seyi Makinde of Oyo State.
“If you allow this kidnapping to take place, you will be helpless because the security network you have around you are not for you but designed and controlled by enemies of Yoruba Nation. The intelligence information you receive are largely designed to deceive you because you don’t own the structures.
“You are as vulnerable as a lonely bird on house top. Your future lay in alliance with you own people at this difficult moment in Yoruba history.” AOKOYA said.
The letter signed by Ahmed Akorede on behalf of the Group urged the South West Governors including Lagos, Ekiti, Osun, Kwara, Kogi and Itsekiri to adopt what it called an offensive strategy.
The group said it is naïve for anyone to believe what is going on has no Government support.
“There is a fundamentalist ring in the Government of Nigeria heavily funded by certain individuals in Government and also by two identified Middle East countries. The goal is to make Nigeria the terrorist hub in West Africa. Any conscious student of history should know this is possible if nothing is done to stop them.”
The group listed suggestions for the SW Governors which included the following:
Identify vulnerable institutions and provide an effective architecture.
Set up what the military calls “Watching Posts” in all towns and villages across Yoruba land. Instead of using state budgets, communities should be mobilized to do this on their own.
*It will be about 15 feet tall mounted with night vision to locate oncoming attacks for immediate security alert. The cost is less than N350,000 (Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira Only) including the cost of binoculars for night vision and the building of the post which every community should be able to provide.
Restructure Amotekun through retraining and recruitment of more hands to give prominent roles to radical Yoruba self determination youths.
Islamic Scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has come under the criticism of the Ohaneze Nd’Igbo, a Pan Igbo Group, for comparing the Bandits with the late Igbo leader, Odimegwu Ojukwu.
For that, the Ohanaeze Nd’Igbo Youth Council, OYC, has demanded the immediate arrest of Sheikh Gunmi.
Gunmi drew the ire of the apex Igbo Group following his interview with British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, pidgin, where he was reported to have compared late Igbo leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu with the bandits.
Ojukwu had led Nd’Igbo to the Nigeria/Biafra civil war which lasted for three years, claiming millions of lives, and Gunmi now believes Ojukwu committed the same offence like the bandits.
But reacting to Gumi’s comments, the OYC President-General, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike said he was surprised that Gunmi was still walking the streets a free man.
Sheik Ahmed Gumi
He said despite glaring evidence that Gumi was in deep romance with terrorists, the security agencies had looked the other way while things worsened in the country.
Mazi Nnabuike said in saner climes, Sheikh Gumi would have been arrested and interrogated.
“There is no doubt that Nigeria is at a crossroads in its journey to nationhood. Never in the history of the country has it witnessed such orge of violence and criminality being perpetrated by terrorists hiding under different nomenclatures.
“However, more worrisome is the fact that the chief mobilizer and the spokesman of the terrorists, Sheikh Gumi, has been left to be walking freely despite clear evidence that he is part of Nigeria’s security problems.
“Ranging from his claims that bandits are not terrorists, to his mindless comparison of bandits with the IPOB and now Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, it is clear that Gumi has turned the chief spokesman of terrorists and should be arrested and prosecuted.
“He did not start today as his track record shows that he was part of those that laid the foundation to what we are seeing today; his divisive and inciting messages are not new in the country. It is now time for security agencies to do the needful as this is the only way to end the current mindless killing and kidnapping of Nigerians,” OYC said.
Okwu, also in the statement, took a swipe at Kogi West Senator, Smart Adeyemi over his last week tirade against Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State.
He described Senator Adeyemi as a shame and a bad image of the current Senate.
He however urged Ikpeazu to ignore “a man who got to the Senate not by the people’s vote but violence and intimidation of voters.
“Smart Adeyemi is no doubt a disgrace to the journalism profession and the National Assembly, as we wonder how such a man with an unsound mind rose to the apex leadership of the revered union.
“We ask Governor Ikpeazu not to be distracted or allow himself to descend to the level of such a man who has no form of dignity”, he concluded.
National Association of Nigerian Students, (NANS) has urged protesting lecturers of the Federal Polytechnic, (FEDPOLY), Ado Ekiti, to return to work in the interest of the students.
The lecturers, under the auspices of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic(ASUP), on Tuesday, embarked on protests to press home payment of their entitlements.
The protest, which coincided with the second semester examination of the school, disrupted the process.
Ekiti state Joint Campus Committee,(JCC,) of NANS, in a statement signed by the Chairman, Olanrewaju Felix, on Wednesday, noted that the students could not afford a further threat to their future by “the avoidable crisis, despite the prolonged academic interruption caused by the pandemic.
“After several rounds of consultation with the management and ASUP, it was resolved that ASUP should adapt an alternative means of resolving the impasse rather than using examinations, and by extension, the future of the students as basis for negotiation.
“The management should return to a round table for a peaceful engagement with ASUP within the shortest time possible.
“While we sue for a lasting peace within the polytechnics community, NANS- JCC, Ekiti State axis, insist that the second semester exams must not be truncated.
“Students have wasted too long a time to be inflicted with any further delay for which we will never take lightly.
“These positions were taken in the best interest of the entire polytechnics, and expected to be greeted with a sense of alternative dispute resolution tendency for peace to reign, hence, the need to protect the system from collapsing.”
