From Uche Usim, Abuja

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has queried some deposit money banks (DMBs) for feeding it with inaccurate information on their foreign exchange (forex) sales.

Making this fact known in Abuja over the weekend, the Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, said some affected banks have responded to the queries and cautioned that some of the figures were related to formatting errors, which do not affect the true rates of the affected transactions. Okorafor said the apex bank would continually enforce the 60:40 forex sales policy adopted in 2016 and which ensures the lion share for manufacturers, agriculturalists, plant and machinery owners and critical raw materials users, among others.

He added that, under the new arrangement, there are no irregularities in the rates at which foreign exchange was obtained by some individuals and companies from different DMBs.  He noted that, to ensure transparency, the management of the CBN has directed DMBs to forward records of forex sale to end users and to advertise same in national dailies.

Okorafor dismissed reports in the media indicating irregularities in the purchase of forex, stressed that the CBN neither allocates foreign exchange nor deals directly with bank customers.

In a related development, the apex bank has begun disbursing the N50 billion earmarked for the revamping of textile sector. The CBN Governor,, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this in Abuja during the first meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee.

He noted that it is the apex bank’s desire to see the sector revamped so that it can contribute not only to the growth of the nation’s economy but also in the employment of youths.


NOA: NOA urges agitators to sheathe swords

From Magnus Eze, Abuja

The Director-General of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr. Garba Abari, has appealed to Boko Haram insurgents, Niger Delta militants, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and other agitators in the country to give peace a chance, for the sake of future generations.

Abari who bared his mind in a chat with Daily Sun, at the weekend, enjoined agitators to embrace constructive dialogue with government, and religious leaders across the country to use their positions as spiritual heads to de-emphasise hate and violence.

Lamenting the tendency among Nigerians to be violent, he disclosed that the agency has gone into partnership with de-radicalisation experts from the military and local and international institutions to help in this area.

The agency is also collaborating with schools to revive the teaching of civic education as it would help youths to imbibe good morals that would make them good citizens of the nation.

Abari who was visibly unhappy with “subversive news content” being put out, especially on social media, called on the Nigerian media to emphasise what unites rather than what divides the people.

He pleaded that this period of recession calls for patriotism and national commitment rather than “blame games.”


Agriculture: FG to train extension workers, beekeepers

From Magnus Eze, Abuja

The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has said that it will, as part of implementing the Nigerian Agricultural Promotion Policy and a proof of its commitment to economic diversification, commence enlightenment programmes on bee pollination as well as train beekeepers.

Making this known in a one-day train-the-trainers workshop organised in Abuja by the horticulture division of the ministry, the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Shehu Ahmed, said that the training of extension workers and beekeepers nationwide was key in bee-keeping for sustainable livelihood, revenue generation and job creation for serving and retired civil servants.

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Ahmed, who was represented by the Deputy Director (Horticulture), Mr. Mike Kanu, added that the ministry would need sufficient fund in order to actualise the goal, as it is does not have the required fund at the moment. In his paper presented during the workshop on the management of bees for pollination services, a lecturer/researcher at the Federal College of Forestry, Kaduna, Dr. Balogun Stanley, voted it as a huge source of revenue, which countries like the United States of America have tapped into and profited from, to the tune of about $153b billion.

Desk officer in the honey value chain of the ministry, Mrs. Patricia Odin, noted that the workshop was the first of its kind in the country, and it was intended to bring about increase in crop yield, add value to family nutrition, increase revenue generation and create employment for unemployed youth.


NCC: NCC threatens telecom operators with sanctions

From Wole Balogun, Ado Ekiti

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has advised telecommunication providers to improve the quality of their service, warning that the regulatory agency was aware of the shortchanging of Nigerians and would not hesitate to impose stiff sanctions on operators exploiting the system through poor network service and arbitrary charges.

Making the agency’s stand known during a town hall meeting, with the theme “Information and Education as a Catalyst for Consumer Protection” in Oye Ekiti, Ekiti State, at the weekend, the director of the NCC’s Consumer Affairs Bureau, Alhaji Abdullahi Maikano, directed telecom operators to ensure consumers have timely access to needed information. He stressed that NCC was duty-bound “to protect consumers from market exploitation and to empower them to make rational and informed decisions when making their choice of services.”

Apart from NCC top notches, representatives of MTN, GLO, AIRTEL AND ETISALAT, other people who participated in the forum include security agencies, as well as consumers comprising farmers, civil servants, market men and women and others from various sectors of the economy.

Speaking during the gathering, the Ekiti Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Mr Ismail Kugu, noted that network failure, had, on several occasions, led to loss of human lives on highways, when his men found it difficult to link up with relevant agency for evacuation of accident victims. He pleaded with the telecom operators to help the commission with a special line as the customised ones it is operating with at the moment are often blocked when they use them to call families of accident victims because they are specially made for special operational calls.

Some of the consumers like Mrs. Beatrice Ige and the Iyaloja of Oye Ekiti, Chief (Mrs.) O. Adegboyega, who decried what they see as endemic sharp practices among telecom operators, charged NCC to always impose stiff sanctions on any of them engaged in act of extortion.

Responding to the complaints, representatives of the telecom providers assured Nigerians of better quality service delivery in 2017 while promising to grant full access to subscribers on any information that could help them enjoy all benefits associated with services they provide.


Education: ASUP begins one-week strike

From Magnus Eze, Abuja

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has called on its members in all public polytechnics nationwide to commence one-week strike starting from  today.

In a chat with the press, the ASUP National President, Mr. Usman Dutse, said there was no going back on the decision of the emergency meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the union taken in Abuja, last week.

He hinged the decision to embark on the strike on government’s inability to honour an agreement freely entered with it, adding that the union’s earlier letters dated July 20, 2016, and November 14, 2016, which communicated the decision of its NEC to withdraw the services of its members, if a number of issues identified as undermining the sector were not addressed, did not receive favourable attention from government.

He decried the sustained poor funding of polytechnics as shown in the poor and unimplemented capital grants as well as withdrawal of allowances in federal polytechnics since 2016. It also listed sustained shortfalls in personnel allocations and non-funding of promotion exercises.

Regretting that there was no attempt to redress the issues in the 2017 budget estimates currently before the National Assembly, Dutse pointed out that their colleagues in state-owned polytechnics were worse off as they operate without grants.

He lamented that their members Edo, Bayelsa, Osun, Kogi, Benue, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Imo and Abia States are being owed salaries arrears ranging from two to nine months, adding that check-off dues and other deductions of the union had been withheld for more than four months in Rivers State.

“Members are therefore directed to ensure total compliance as no academic and administrative activity is expected in any public polytechnic across Nigeria within the period,” he declared. “They are also to wait for further directives from the union’s organs.”