The Nation Newspaper

Tag: black market

  • Motorists lament as fuel scarcity bites hard in Kano

    Motorists lament as fuel scarcity bites hard in Kano

    Motorists and commuters in the ancient city of Kano are now experiencing untold hardship, following the acute fuel scarcity.

    Long queues have dotted filling stations, in anticipation of motorists possible selling of fuel to them.

    It was observed that most filling stations within and outside the state owned by both independent and major marketers sell their fuel above the stipulated price.

    In some filling stations the pump price rose between N180 to N200 per litre. While at the black market is sold between N1000 to N1200 per gallon against the normal N650.

    However, most motorists and commuters attributed the biting fuel scarcity hoarding, which usually comes up during festivities and urged the federal government to urgently do something about it before is too late.

    Bus drivers and tricycle operators have also increased their transport fares from N50 to N100, depending on the distance, forcing commuters to trekking for those who could not avoid it.

    A motorists lament the poor handling of the issues affecting the people on the fuel scarcity as people now sleep at filling stations in search of the product.

    Alhaji popoola, who to this reporter said many filling stations have adjusted their meters by selling it at exorbitant price and on the federal government to come to the rescue of Nigerians.

     

  • Naira recovers to N385/$ in black market

    Naira recovers to N385/$ in black market

    The naira yesterday regained its strength as it exchanged at N385 to dollar in the parallel market.

    Bid-offer spread widened as much as N15 on the black market after the currency gained 4.9 per cent on Wednesday to a seven-month high. It firmed to as much as N385 on the black market. Others quoted N406 to the dollar. On the official market, the naira was quoted at N308 per dollar on Thursday and traded with a spread of N0.50.

    The naira recovery came after more than $1.4 billion interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the interbank market.

    President, Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) Aminu Gwadabe, said he expected the naira to stabilise around N380 to N400 to the dollar, but added that the CBN must review the multiplicity of rates.

    Also, the gap between what traders bid and offer for the naira on the black market has widened following a series of CBN’s interventions on the official market.

    Traders are trying to hedge against losses after the currency firmed sharply during previous session. The central bank has been intervening on the official market in recent weeks to narrow the official currency spread with the black market rate. The CBN offered to sell $100 million in currency forwards yesterday.

    “Everyone is hedging their bets. We bought the dollar as high as N500 and we don’t know where the rate is going,” one black market trader, known as Salisu said.

    Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele on Tuesday said speculators betting on a naira fall “are taking a risk and will lose”.

    He added that he expects the black market rates to narrow further. Bid-offer spread on the black market was N5 before those comments.

    The bank has also been weakening the naira on the official market to converge rates, traders say. But has said the weakness was not a devaluation and it has not provided a target rate.

  • Security agents raid forex ‘black market’

    The Department of State Services (DSS) yesterday raided the foreign exchange (forex) parallel market in Lagos and Abuja, arresting dealers selling the dollar above N400.

    A dealer said some of his colleagues were among those arrested.

    “The DSS visited the market and arrested some of my colleagues, but I was saved because I didn’t have dollar to sell at the time.

    “They want us to buy at N390, and sell at N400. That cannot work for now; there is no dollar in the market.”

    Another dealer, Ibrahim Baba, said DSS and police visited the markets, but made no arrest.

    Baba said: “They came yesterday and today, and said we should sell at N400. Anyone who sells above that will be arrested and detained.

    “For now, the market is just dull, people are buying and selling cautiously.”

    Other traders in Alade market, Ikeja, Lagos, confirmed the visit of the security agents, adding that “everyone is still buying and selling at will”.

    “If you want to sell dollars, I am buying at N440, but I don’t think I want to sell for now,” he said.

  • IG orders arrest of black market petrol sellers

    IG orders arrest of black market petrol sellers

    Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Solomon Arase has directed Zonal Assistant Inspectors-General of Police (AIG), FCT’s and other state commands’ Commissi-oners of Police (CP) to arrest anybody found selling petroleum products in plastic containers.

    The Police High Command explained that the order became imperative following untold suffering and hazard emanating from the activities of black marketers.

    The IGP noted that the act has led to fire outbreaks, thereby rendering many people homeless.

    He spoke through Force spokesperson, Olabisi Kolawole, in a statement in Abuja yesterday.

    The statement said: “Apart from the hardship this act is causing to fuel buyers, it has also rendered some innocent and law-abiding citizens homeless due to fire outbreak from jerry-can petrol storage.”

    Arase, while warning fuel attendants at filling stations to desist from selling petrol inside jerry-can and plastic containers, added that the buyers and the sellers of the products, if caught, would be arrested and prosecuted.

    He noted that fuel products such as petrol are highly flammable and if not stored and handled properly, “can seriously endanger people, property and the environment”.

    The IGP, who assured Nigerians of Police readiness to fulfill their constitutional mandate, solicited for a cordial relationship between the Force and the citizens.

     

  • SEC cancels ‘black market’ for shares, bonds

    SEC cancels ‘black market’ for shares, bonds

    Nigeria’s capital mar-ket regulator, the Se-curities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has proscribed underhand trading in the shares and other securities of unlisted public limited liability companies.

    A document on new rules and regulations approved by SEC obtained at the weekend indicated that there shall be no trading on shares, bonds and other securities of unlisted public limited liability companies outside the platform of a registered securities exchange established and registered by SEC for the purpose of facilitating over-the-counter (OTC) trading of securities.

    The new rules and regulations will have the force of law as they were made pursuant to section 313, subsection one of the Investments and Securities Act (ISA) 2007, which empowers the Commission to, from time to time, make rules and regulations for the purpose of giving effect to the Act as well as amend and revoke rules and regulations so made. ISA is the main body of law for the capital market.

    According to the new rules, all securities of unlisted public companies shall be bought, sold or transferred only by means of a system approved by the Commission and under such terms and conditions as the Commission may prescribe from time to time.

    “No person shall buy, sell or otherwise transfer securities of an unlisted public company except through the platform of a registered securities exchange established for the purpose of facilitating over-the-counter trading of securities,” the rules stated.

    Any unlisted public company, director, company secretary, registrar, broker, dealer or such other persons who facilitate the buying, selling or transfers of the securities of an unlisted public company other than through the platform of a duly registered securities exchange, shall be liable to a penalty of not less than N100, 000 in the first instance and not more than N5, 000 for every day of default.

    The Commission stated that the aim of the new rules and regulations is to ensure that all securities of unlisted public companies are traded within securities exchanges that are registered with the Commission.

    The new rule effectively cancels ‘black market’ trading on the shares of several unlisted Plcs including companies such as Fan Milk Plc and Cappa & D’Alberto Plc among others.

    The Nation had earlier exclusively reported that SEC was considering proscribing unregulated trading in shares of public limited liability companies.

    The new rules now effectively concentrates trading on the shares and other securities of unlisted Plcs on the only registered OTC platform, the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD)  Plc.

    NASD is a registered OTC trading platform for unquoted securities including equities and bonds. Owned by several investment and financial institutions as well as strategic investors, it is registered by SEC as an organised trading platform for unlisted securities.

    NASD started trading on unlisted securities in July 2013. All investment instruments approved by SEC could be traded on the NASD including shares of unlisted multinational companies. After the initial formative period, the NASD plans to trade on commercial papers and then other complex instruments like derivatives and options.

    As an OTC market, NASD does not have a trading floor like the traditional exchange but trades through the internet and a hosted platform leased from the NSE. To facilitate its trading, the company had developed an integrated market system made up of the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS), six settlement banks and some registrars to ensure smooth operations.