The report that the Nigerian currency, the Naira has weakened by 34 per cent in 10 months, closing at N710 to a dollar on Wednesday in the parallel market, with a margin of N280 from the official rate is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
The Punch reports that the Naira has weakened by 34 per cent in 10 months, closing at N710 to a dollar on Wednesday in the parallel market, with a margin of N280 from the official rate.
This is a pounding headache for manufacturers who are no longer able to get dollars from the official market to import their raw and packaging materials.
At the Investor & Exporter forex window, the naira hit a high of N444 before closing to the dollar at N430. The I&E market recorded a total turnover of $126.69m on Wednesday.
The President, Association of Bureaux de Change Operators of Nigeria, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, told The Punch on Wednesday evening that, “the rate closed at N710/$.”
Some Bureau de Change operators, who spoke to one of our correspondents from Ikeja, Lagos, said a dollar was bought and sold for N700 and N710 respectively.
The newspaper says that Senators on Wednesday threatened to impeach President, Muhammadu Buhari over the worsening insecurity in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and the country at large.
The angry senator, who are in the opposition, gave the President a six-week ultimatum to address the security crisis or face impeachment proceedings.
Opposition senators issued the ultimatum on Wednesday as fears over insecurity in Abuja worsened with the government ordering schools to shut to prevent attacks by terrorists.
The Presidency in a statement by the President’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, described the action of the opposition senators as babyish, advising them to put their time to a better use.
The nation’s capital had been gripped by fear following the attack by suspected terrorists on the elite Presidential Guards Brigade by gunmen along the Bwari-Kubwa road on Sunday in which a captain, lieutenant and six soldiers were killed. Three others were injured in the personnel who were on their way to the Bwari campus of the Nigeria Law School which had received a threat when they were ambushed.
Following this development, the security forces Tuesday deployed troops and policemen in strategic locations in the FCT, including helicopters and drones.
Also on Tuesday night, there were reports of sporadic shootings at Dantata Bridge, Airport road and Ministers’ Hill, Maitama, sparking panic among residents.
Similarly, a leaked memo from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps indicating that Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province terrorists were amassing dangerous weapons for massive attacks on Katsina, Lagos, FCT, Kaduna, and Zamfara States, created further fear in Abuja.
The criminals were reported to have acquired high-calibre weapons, including Anti-aircraft guns, General Purpose Machine Guns, among others.
Tension has, however, increased in the city as messages circulated on social media that the terrorists were planning to attack some estates in Gwarimpa, Lokogoma, Maitama, Apo and other highbrow areas.
The Guardian reports that the Federal Government, on Wednesday, said it had begun the move to end the exportation of raw minerals in Nigeria to diversify the economy, job creation and industrialization of the country.
The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, who disclosed this while briefing journalists in Abuja, lamented that Nigeria is still exporting crude oil as traded for refined petroleum products.
He said the state would take advantage of the abundant solid minerals in their area to improve its revenue generation.
He said: “As we started this policy and this regulation essentially what we’re saying is we do not want to be exported from Nigeria. There are instances of this. We have Kaolin in Nigeria. Kaolin is something that is mined from the ground.
“What is the normal is that miners who export Kaolin abroad then the end users in Nigeria, that is the pharmaceutical the cosmetic industry, the paint industry, they now import this semi process Kaolin for their own use in their factory.
“We also in the process, export our jobs out there, and we lose a lot of value. So if we’re able to have the value locally, we’ll keep the jobs we create worldwide people, which is what this policy is all about.
“What is happening to miners who export in the raw holes. When you export something in a container for 50 tonnes when it gets to China, there will say is 10 tonnes and you can’t argue.
“We got the final approval. So the regulation is now official. We will discourage anybody from exporting out of Nigeria. Through these, we are also creating a new line of business for people who don’t know what to mine. They can be processed and look as if people are mining in their area, All you need to do is bring your processing plan to that place.”
The newspaper says that governors of the 36 states of Nigeria, yesterday, declared unanimous opposition to the contentious National Water Resources Bill, describing the proposed legislation as unconstitutional. They also said it failed to carry states along.
In a communique issued at the end of the 5th teleconference meeting of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) held on Tuesday, the governors “argued that the bill does not adequately address interests of the states and is inconsistent with provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The bill, according to the forum, should be reviewed, with a view to accommodating the concerns of all states.”
The bill is the subject of a rumoured impeachment move against House of Representatives Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila.
Senate had in 2018 rejected the bill on account of its unpopularity across the country.
Specifically, the bill, as introduced in the 8th and current National Assembly, seeks to empower the Federal Government to control all water resources in the country, such as rivers, streams, lakes and underground water.
While northern senators, predominantly APC senators and Muslims, supported the bill and its objectives, their southern counterparts, mostly Christians, were strongly against it. Opponents had pointed out that if passed into law, it would hinder current move towards devolution of powers.
The Nation reports that Nigeria’s total foreign debt as at March, this year stood at $40 billion, increasing from $38.4 billion last December; domestic debt also rose from N23.7 trillion to N25 trillion within the same period.
Such levels of debt, the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) said, had become unsustainable.
NACCIMA National President Ide John C. Udeagbala, made this known at the Association’s Third Quarter Press Briefing in Lagos.
The briefing focused on socio-economic issues of interest to the private sector. It also reviewed the state of the economy and NACCIMA’s contributions on key issues and policies for an inclusive growth.
Udeagbala said Nigeria’s unsustainable debt profile was worrisome, especially against the backdrop of projection by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that by 2026, all of Nigeria’s revenue would go to servicing debt.
Udeagbala, therefore, counselled all levels of government to consider other sources of funding such as leveraging Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) for tax credits spread over time.
“This is so as we consider that the national budget is heavily skewed towards recurrent expenditure that is largely unmet by the estimated government revenue,” he said.
GIK/APA