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  • IMF, CBN disagree on true Naira value

    IMF, CBN disagree on true Naira value

     • World Bank seeks further devaluation of currency

    Calls by the global financial institutions on Nigeria to devalue her currency reverberated at the weekend at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) / the World Bank Group meetings in Lima, the Peruvian capital in South America.

    The IMF’s African Department Representative Director Ms. Antoinette M. Sayeh said further devaluation of the naira was required “as a way of adjusting to the reality of the current economic conditions”.

    The ADR-IMF representative , who spoke at a press conference at the Peruvian capital, said the adjustment was necessary to ease tension for private sector investments, stressing that foreign exchange flexibility plays an important role for investors and their investments.

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said a further devaluation of the naira is out of consideration, a stance President Muhammadu Buhari has endorsed.

    Insisting that the naira be devalued, the IMF acknowledged that there are other factors, in the case of Nigeria, that call for examination.

    “The exchange rate pressures in Nigeria and other oil producers has been considerable in the course of this past year because of what has happened in terms of, for example, exchange earnings as oil prices have reduced considerably, and the demand for foreign exchange in a number of conditions continues to exert considerable pressure on their exchange rates. In the case of Nigeria, of course, a number of other factors have been at play.”

    She listed some of these factors to include the last general elections this year and the uncertainty about what the possible outcome of the elections would be. Since the elections, Ms. Sayeh said, “continued uncertainty about the policy direction that the current administration is going to take, the waiting (until lately), for a cabinet and the vision and plans for pursuing the reform effort, and what can be expected from that, continued to be factors that have led to pressures on the naira.”

    While acknowledging the measures so far adopted by the CBN in response to the volatility of the exchange rate, the IMF official, however, critised the steps, saying the policies are detrimental to businesses.

    In her words:” Of course, the Central Bank has introduced administrative measures that limit access to foreign exchange and that banned certain imports as a way of restricting the demand for foreign exchange. Those are measures that are quite detrimental, we think. It has certainly led to a lot of unhappiness in the private sector, as far as we’ve been aware, and understand that private investors see this as very detrimental to their economic activities. So it’s not something we think is sustainable or advisable. We hope that there will be an opportunity to review those restrictions and permit the exchange rate to continue to adjust.

    “The exchange rate being an important instrument of adjustment in countries that have a flexible exchange rate, we think it’s been appropriate to allow the exchange rate to depreciate, with a view to helping to contain the demand for more foreign exchange, and to help contain the level of imports that was not sustainable in light of the shock to the Nigerian economy. So the exchange rate plays a very important role there.

    “There are countries that don’t have the exchange rate, and as a result have an even more arduous burden of adjustment on the fiscal side,” that’s what Nigeria and other countries that have an exchange rate can avoid. So we think it’s appropriate to have the exchange rate adjust, she argued.

    On the restriction of access of foreign exchange for certain imports by the CBN, Ms. Sayeh said the measure was hurting the public.

    “ Clearly, some of the products that are being disallowed are products that average Nigerians buy. Those restrictions on those products are already making it harder for the average person to buy milk or to buy milk at an affordable price. So they’re already feeling the impact of those restrictions. Not in a very beneficial way, so we think it’s certainly advisable to have a second look at those,” Ms. Sayeh said.

  • CBN forex policy: Experts seek dialogue

    CBN forex policy: Experts seek dialogue

    CONCERNED that the economy is suffering from regulatory headwinds like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) new forex policy, a cross-section of experts have called for a synergy of cooperation with other agencies of government to cushion the effects of such policies.

    At a public forum in Lagos to debate the CBN forex policy jointly hosted by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and the Policy Development Facility, Phase II (PDF II), a UKaid programme, experts suggested way out of the crisis.

    In his welcome address, Laoye Jaiyeola, Chief Executive, NESG, said there was need for better stakeholder engagement to the fallout of the policy.

    “This problem will continue to hurt us if we keep on delaying or deferring a dialogue on it,” Jaiyeola said.

    Echoing similar sentiments, the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele said the apex bank was not averse to dialogue as most of its policy initiatives usually benefitted from divergent views.

    The CBN governor who was represented by Mr. Moses Tule, Director Monetary Policy Department, CBN, emphasised that the short and long-term effects of the forex policy was considered before the policy was rolled out.

    According to the CBN boss, the economy of Nigeria desperately needs to be revamped, as such no efforts should be spared to achieve this aim.

    In his remarks, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, who chaired one of the panel discussion, said: “The consequence of doing nothing is that the problem never goes away.”

    It may be recalled that the CBN had suspended foreign currency funding for about 41 imported items which are considered a strain on Nigeria’s already dwindling foreign reserves in June 2015.

    The policy which has been met by Nigerians with mixed feelings, affects various business sectors and SME products ranging from vegetable oil to palm kernel, wooden fabrics, even toothpicks and many other items.

    While admitting Nigeria is in dire a crisis, Dr, Eniola Ajayi of Consumer Advocacy Foundation of Nigeria (CAFON), however argued that the CBN needs to sit down with other ministries and departmental agencies to determine what the economic policy for the country will be in the short term, medium term, and long term.

  • CBN to roll out new e-payment initiatives 

    CBN to roll out new e-payment initiatives 

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is rolling out new initiatives to deepen electronic payments and its cashless policy.

    One of the initiatives designed to break the logjam associated with Point of Sale (POS) terminals connectivity that the CBN is considering is a voice call.

    The CBN’s Director of Banks and Payment Systems Department, Mr. Dipo Fatokun, told journalists of the impending voice innovation in POS  during an interview after the presentation of  cash rewards to banks’ customers who won prizes in the electronic payment raffle draw  .

    Fatokun said: “The major infrastructure in POS is connectivity and it is because of this that the mobile POS—the MPOS—is coming into the market. The way mobile POS works is such that, if the signal strength is not even enough or as high as what you will need for a desktop POS, if the signal strength is enough for you to make a voice call, your transactions can still go through. That is why the industry is embracing this mobile POS.”

    He noted that “as more of it is being deployed, you see a higher level of successful transactions”. ”A lot of discussions are ongoing so that the telcos will also make this connectivity available on their network, because it rides on the platform of the telcos. If the connectivity is there, then the transactions will be very successful,” he said.

    Another aspect of the electronic payment in the incentive scheme that will start soon “is the purchase and cash back, in which case the card holder can walk up to a merchant, make some purchases and also get some cash withdrawals for a token”.

    Fatokun is confident “that this will not only encourage users to use their cards, it will also serve to reduce long queues at the ATMs as we have it”. “The only thing you have to do is to make some purchases, though there is a limit to the amount of cash you can withdraw, but, of course you can get cash, so, all these will start very soon – all in an effort to ensure the success of the cashless policy.”

    Fatokun added that “daily when you talk of values, close to N100 billion is processed through electronic payment system, but for the POS, they have done an average of about N1.5 billion every day and some days you can have more than that, but on average, it’s about N1.5 billion transactions done on Point of Sale transactions (POS) terminals alone for which these awards are being given today. That shows that, we are really making a lot of progress on POS and others. But of course, there will always be room for improvement as we go on the cashless journey” Fatokun said.

    Speaking for the winners, Jephta said he was “very surprised”, adding: “I wasn’t too aware that something like this existed so it came as a shock I also want to try to use this opportunity to tell the banks up to their branch levels to communicate with their customers on this incentive because it took a lot of convincing to get me down here. I got a call yesterday, telling me that I had won some money, I was supposed to come to CBN; it sounded like some 419.”

  • Fed Govt loses N7b to CBN’s forex policy

    The exclusion of some items from foreign exchange (forex) transactions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has affected the revenue generation profile of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

    The Apapa Area 1 Command of the NCS yesterday, announced a dip in its monthly revenue collection for September. The Command said it collected N23.3 billion as revenue in September, far below the N30.1 billion collected in August,  according to a report signed by its Area Controller, Comptroller Eporwei Edike.

    The N7billion decline was blamed on the exclusion of some items from foreign exchange transactions by the CBN.

    The apex bank in July published a list of items for which forex will no longer be sourced from the banking system.

    The list  included rice, cement, clothes, textiles, toothpick, poultry products, meat and processed meat, margarine, palm kernel/palm oil and vegetable oils, private airplanes/jets, tinned fish, incense and wooden doors. Others are soaps and cosmetics, tomato/tomato paste, woven fabrics, table ware, kitchen utensils, furniture, plywood boards and panels, wood particle boards and panels, and glassware. Cold rolled steel sheets, galvanised steel sheets, wire mesh and steel nails were also on the list.

    Apapa Customs revenue collection showed that N12.6 billion went into the Federation Account in September, comprising import duty, fees and Common External Tariffs (CET).

    Under  the Non-Federation Account, the command generated N10.7 billion from five per cent Value Added Tax (VAT); seven per cent Port Levy, and 0.5 per cent Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS).

  • CBN to retain currency controls

    CBN to retain currency controls

    • Apex bank raises N127b T-bills

    • DMO to issue 10-year bond

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will retain foreign currency controls because of concerns about slowing growth, a senior bank official has said.

    The apex bank also says it plans to raise N127.07 billion in treasury bills with maturities of three months to one year at an auction on October 7.

    It  said it will issue new 91-day paper worth N25.40 billion, N33.49 billion in 182-day bills and N68.18 billion in one-year debt, using the Dutch Auction System. Results of the auction are expected to be released the following day. Nigeria issues treasury bills twice-monthly to fund the government budget deficit and manage liquidity in the banking system.

    Nigeria’s economic growth was 2.35 per cent in the second quarter year on year, compared with 6.54 in the same quarter last year. “We are concerned that we are having declining growth,”  CBN’s monetary policy director, Moses Tule, was quoted by Reuters as saying.

    He defended the bank’s decision to impose currency controls to preserve foreign reserves, which fell 23 per cent in the year to September 23, according to CBN data.

    “We have to protect the nation before we protect businesses,” Tule told a conference in Lagos.

    Meanwhile, the Debt Management Office (DMO) plans to re-issue its five- and 10-year bonds in the last quarter of the year to raise up to N270 billion after JP Morgan’s index delisted half of the maturities belonging to Nigeria’s economy.

    The 10-year bond, among those to be delisted on the influential index, edged higher to yield 15.09 per cent after the DMO released its calendar showing it will re-introduce the benchmark paper, which was not issued in the third quarter.

    The DMO said it will sell between N60 billion and N90 billion each in five- and 10-year bonds in each of the remaining three months of the year as re-openings of outstanding maturities.

  • CBN: banks have sufficient liquidity

    CBN: banks have sufficient liquidity

    There is liquidity in the banking system, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said yesterday.

    But the apex bank is concerned that Africa’s biggest economy is slowing.

    Monetary Policy Director Moses Tule, said yesterday that the bank’s decision last week to cut the cash reserve ratio to 25 per cent from 31 per cent had injected 300 billion naira ($1.51 billion) into the financial system.

    Prior to the move, liquidity on the interbank market had dried up after commercial banks were ordered to move government revenue to a single account at the central bank, as part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption drive.

    That exacerbated problems felt by Africa’s top oil exporter, which has been hit by a drop in crude revenues, the main source of funds for the state budget and imports of basic food items.

    JP Morgan’s decision to remove Nigeria from its influential emerging markets bond index (GBI-EM), which means investment funds tracking the index will sell Nigerian bonds, added to upward pressure on national borrowing costs.

    “There’s sufficient liquidity in the Nigerian banking system to take up whatever foreign investors may dump, so we are not disturbed,” said Tule,

    “By cutting the cash reserve ratio we introduced back more than 300 billion naira,” he said adding, however, that the bank was “concerned that the economy is slowing”.

    Growth halved in the second quarter compared with the same period last year, prompting Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele to say at last week’s monetary policy committee meeting that the economy was at risk of slipping into recession in 2016.

  • CBN laments poor enrolment for BVN

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised the alarm that less than half of active bank accounts in the Nigerian banking system have been enrolled in the Bank Verification Number (BVN) exercise.

    A statement from the CBN last night in Abuja expressed concerns that bank customers are not taking advantage of “the extension to complete their BVN registration and also ensure that their various bank accounts have been linked to the BVN.”

    The CBN statement noted that “the emerging statistical trend of the BVN registration exercise showed for about 52 million active bank accounts in various banks,  total  enrolment stood at about 20million, out of which about 14million accounts have been  found linked to the BVN as at September, 2015.”

    Another interesting trend the CBN said “also showed that after the initial rush between the end of June and July 2015,  there has been a steady decline in new BVN enrolment figures for August and September, 2015. The emerging scenario therefore, strongly suggests that many bank account holders have continued to show apathy instead of taking advantage of the extension period.”

    Given this development, the CBN was worried that “there is the apprehension that  the commotion and melee experienced at various banking halls in the month of June 2015 would be repeated if customers do not use the remaining one month to ensure that they complete their BVN registration, and also get their various accounts linked to the BVN.”

    Inspite of this apprehension, the CBN made it clear that there would not be further extension after October 31, 2015 deadline.

    This means that customers without the BVN-linked accounts may risk being restricted from normal operations of their accounts or free access to their bank account balances.

    The CBN said: “BVN is now a mandatory requirement for opening new bank accounts. As a result, those affected by the restrictions are customers with bank accounts which were opened prior to the commencement of the BVN scheme.”

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in collaboration with the Bankers’Committee, introduced the Bank Verification Number (BVN) on February 14, 2014.

    This initiative of the Bankers’ Committee is aimed at ensuring unique identity for all bank customers and other users of financial services in the country by the use of the customers’ biometrics as means of identification.

  • ‘Why CBN is supporting MSMEs’

    ‘Why CBN is supporting MSMEs’

    The  Director, Development Finance Department, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Mudasiru Olaitan has said the apex bank is supporting the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) because it beleives it is the engine of growth for the economy.

    Olaitan spoke in Abuja at  the N220billion MSME Development Fund workshop organised by the Bankers Committee’s sub-committee on Economic Development, Sustainability & Gender in collaboration with the CBN.

    He said the essence of the workshop was to get the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to key into the strategic plan of the apex bank for the MSMEs.  “MSMEs are the engine room for economic growth, vehicle for job creation, tools for poverty alleviation and wealth creation for any country’s economy, so there is need to support them to grow so that the economy can grow,” Olaitan  stressed.

    In his presentation, the Assistant Director, MSME Development Fund, CBN Mr. Tobin Jonathan, said the workshop was organised to cross-fertilise ideas and bridge the knowledge gap on the MSME sector by the lending institutions and to also correct the wrong perception of the risky nature of the sector.

    He sad: “The rejection rate of MSME applications by commercial banks is very high. We are aware that this is necessitated by the banks’ aversion to risk due to lack of entrepreneurial skills and the poor governance structures of most MSMEs, hence the necessity of the workshop to enlighten the bankers and encourage them more on the need to partner with us on the need to grow the sector.”

    In his  presentation titled Movable Collateral, Registry Reforms and MSME Financing in Nigeria, Dr. Olasupo Musa of the Monitoring & Evaluation Department, National Collateral Registry said, CBN is collaborating with International Finance Corporation (IFC) to establish a National Collateral Registry to stabilise MSME financing and also boost the confidence of Nigerian banks in playing active roles in financing the real sector in Nigeria, most especially the MSME sector.

  • Exchange rate: Different rates for different banks

    Exchange rate: Different rates for different banks

    Although the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) stipulates that banks should sell forex for eligible persons who have legitimate request based on the official and interbank exchange rate, investigation shows that majority of the deposit money banks sell forex at arbitrary rates outside the officially approved rate, reports Bukola Aroloye

    A huge industry has been built around the sale of hard currencies, especially the greenback (dollars). Of course, the forex dealers in the parallel market have always been getting a kill anytime the naira falls, as they are most certain to exchange the dollar higher for a weaker naira.

    But thankfully, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which is the apex regulatory body for banks has always risen to the occasion anytime it feels the value of the local currency is being undermined through different policies such as reviewing the exchange rate.

    Only recently, the CBN banned commercial lenders from re-selling central bank dollars among themselves, which was an attempt to curb speculation on the naira.

    Besides, the apex bank had barred 41 items from access to foreign exchange. It had directed that as from August 1, all foreign exchange transactions in any Bureau de Change must have the BVN of applicants as foreigners were said to have invaded the nation’s foreign exchange market.

    Conscious of its mandate to strengthen the local currency, the apex bank had in a circular released signed by the Director of Trade and Exchange, CBN, Olakanmi Gbadamosi, “The Central Bank of Nigeria has considered the recent statements by deposit money banks concerning the large volume of foreign currencies in their vaults and the decision to stop accepting foreign currency cash deposits into customers’ domiciliary accounts as a welcome development.

    “Therefore, in its continued efforts to stop illicit financial flows in the Nigerian banking system which aligns with the anti-money laundering stance of the federal government, the CBN hereby prohibits from the date of this circular the acceptance of foreign currency cash deposits by DMBs.

    “For foreign currency cash lodgements made prior to the date of this circular, the account holder has the option to either withdraw his or her foreign currency cash or the Naira equivalent. For the avoidance of doubt, only wire transfers to and from Domiciliary Accounts are henceforth permissible.

    “The CBN advises individuals that wish to source foreign currency for eligible and legitimate purposes such as BTA, PTA medical, mortgage, school fees, goods etc. to do so through recognised channels with the use of Form ‘A’ for “invisible” and Form ‘M’ for ‘visible’ transactions. By this circular, those who deposited foreign currencies into their accounts before the directive will now have to withdraw the cash as they are not going to be allowed to transfer the funds.”

     

    The fire this time

    The apex bank in line with its mandate also place limitation on spending. In the new arrangement, all ATMs that were hitherto enabled for domestic and foreign transactions have been restructured to limit naira cash withdrawal at ATMs to N60,000 per day while foreign currency is $300 per day. Hitherto, the domestic withdrawal limit was N150,000 per day.

    The new arrangement has separated traditional ATM from MasterCard credit card where the former has now been deactivated and can no longer be used for transactions abroad. Hitherto, a single ATM card serves for transactions for both domestic and abroad.

    Also, the restructured cards now have spending limits on POS/eCommerce (online shopping) pegged at $300 (about N60,000) per day. Before this, the limit was N2 million per day.

    In the new arrangement, a bank customer with multiple debit cards (ATM cards), only the one linked to the primary transactional account will be enabled for use abroad. Hitherto, such customers could transact with any of the cards that is funded and changer high than the official rate.

     

    The fire this time

    It is however instructive to note that most money deposit banks have also join the league of money speculators.

    Investigation by The Nation shows that the official exchange rate is N199 but at the black market, it is N209/210.

    The Nation investigation showed that many banks don’t use the official rate given by CBN.

    Some of the banks officials who spoke with our correspondent while admitting that did not denied it but don’t want their name to be mention.

    GTbank, N225 to dollar, via debit card transition, UBA N210, Fidelity Bank N220, Skye Bank, 210 FCMB 210, why the official rate is 199.25 as at today.

    A banker who spoke with The Nation explained that, if you deposit N1million with any bank in Nigeria today saying 10% can only trade with N390 thousand the remaining N610 is sterilised by government hence cost of borrowing will always be high. At the moment MPC is at 13%. How much is treasury bills today? These are the barometers for you to understand average cost of borrowing as a business man.

    For instance, Standard Chartered Bank has asked its customers to request a complementary ATM card for domestic use only so that the original N150,000 daily cash withdrawal limit can be restored and also reactivate POS/online purchase limit of N2 million per day.

    Meanwhile a banker in one of this new generation said that, why most of the Nigerian banks charge more than the official rate is that since the apex bank has give them directive to source for foreign exchange outside CBN, it is not possible for us to give it at the official rate for transaction, he also accused CBN of devalue the Naira.

    While Zenith allows online transactions the GT Bank chose not to. As one banker confessed, while in the past banking cards linked to naira accounts enjoyed the official exchange rate when used abroad, banks are now using the parallel market rates, removing any previous incentive to adhere to the cashless policy.

    In a CBN circular of July discussing limits and controls on corporate and individual naira denominated cards being used abroad, one of the instructions was for banks to inform customers “the banking industry has instituted a tracking system on the use of naira denominated cards”. If this is possible why put limits on the use of anyone’s money? Set certain triggers for amount and frequency and investigate those flagged.

    An entrepreneur who wanted to pay $2000 to a software developer outside the country, was informed by his bank that he would have to fill out a form and get CBN approval for an exemption to make the payment.

    Apart from the time-is-money cost that this process entails, this surely is an inefficient use of CBN’s time and resources.

    The news about the stash of dollars found in Akwa Ibom State House recently indicates that in the long term, the CBN’s current policy is futile. Those who have access to the type of money that keeps Nigeria at the top of the table for illicit financial flows ($15.7b annually) do not need the banks to keep their dollars safe – they have the state security to do that for them. Two, despite the installation of a special task force at the international airports to harass travellers about how much foreign exchange they have on them, those with access to the type of money which needs to be tracked, either travel on private jets thereby skipping this process or are social and political untouchables who will be waived through by the same members of this task force as has been recently observed and reported. Finally, if part of this current regime of restrictions is to address the high levels of corruption by federal and government officials in the successive administrations, then what happens to the money already out of the country, safely in foreign banks and easily accessible with Barclays or CitiBank cards? If these people have no intention of bringing this money back into Nigeria how does the CBN intend to track their transactions?

    The bank also required their customers to apply for a foreign currency denominated ATM linked to domiciliary account which would be enabled with no daily or annual international transaction limits.

    Earlier, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc had informed its customers of its decision to reduce the daily international spending limit on their Naira MasterCard to $300.

    In a communication to the customers, the bank explained: “In view of the increased difficulty in sourcing foreign currency to settle international transactions on Naira MasterCards, we have reduced the daily international spending limit on your Naira MasterCard to $300.This means that you can only spend up to $300 daily when using your GTBank Naira MasterCard for international payments via POS and online.

    “You will, however, continue to have the option of paying for medical bills, school fees, mortgages and credit cards using Form A, as these are eligible transactions for foreign currency. Simply visit any GTBank branch to complete a Form A along with the required documents to make these payments.”

    A statement from the CBN added that already all the legitimate demands for such transactions through recognised channels have so far been fully met by CBN.

    The statement stated: “The CBN hereby directs all authorised dealers in foreign exchange in Nigeria to henceforth treat as top priority all legitimate demand for foreign exchange for eligible transactions.

    “The CBN once again advises individuals that wish to source foreign currency for such eligible transactions to approach their banks with their legitimate demand as the CBN has made adequate provisions of foreign currency for all such legitimate and eligible purposes.”

    According to Tolu Ajayi a business man told The Nation is expresses with one of the new generation bank, “when I call their customer care line they told me it is N225 and as at that time it was N210, later the rate come back to  N197 still they did not change the rate to the official one. What is going on? What is the official rate? Some banks are even helping to smuggle hard current out of Nigeria ,I was told at the rate between N237 and N240, is Emefiele saying is not aware? Are Nigeria banks now working for the politicians who drilled holes into our treasury or are they the one working for Mallams? Were all quite while this taking place or am I missing something.”

    An aggrieved customer with one of the old generation bank said: “70% of Nigeria banks don’t even use the official rate for online transaction and this is a way to defraud customers especially those who use the money to pay school fees, those who buy goods from outside the country were affected.”

  • Bailout funds: CBN pegs repayment time at 20yrs

    Bailout funds: CBN pegs repayment time at 20yrs

    .Ogun opts for 10yrs

        19 states access funds

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday said 19 out of the 27 states of the federation have accessed the bailout funds, and are expected to repay the loans in 20 years.

    CBN spokesman, Ibrahim mu’azu, said the decision was approved by the National Economic Council (NEC) and that the beneficiary states which had benefitted from the workers’ salary bailout package are expected to deploy the funds to pay the workers’ salary arrears.

    He said contrary to reports that Ogun State had accessed N20 billion, spokesman confirmed that the actual amount is N18.9 billion.

    On the tenor of the bailout facility, he said that all the states had a 20-year tenor except Ogun which opted for a 10-year tenor.

    Earlier, states like Kwara, Zamfara, Osun, Niger, Bauchi, Gombe, Abia, Adamawa, Ondo and Kebbi had applied for and received various sums from the bailout facility.

    Other states included Ekiti, Imo, Ebonyi, Ogun, Plateau, Nassarawa, Sokoto, Edo and Oyo which were granted in the week.

    CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele earlier told the NEC meeting that 18 states – up from 11 as at last month – had benefited from the Special Intervention Fund aspect of the presidential relief package.

    He said the loan was part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s relief package designed to help states pay backlog of salaries and ease their financial challenges caused by the drop in allocation from the Federation Account.

    Also, the Director-General of the Debt Management Office, DMO, Mr. Abraham Nwankwo, told the NEC that the second phase of the debt restructuring offered to the states was in effect, with 13 new states now being considered.