The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Central Bank of Nigeria

  • Naira appreciation: Economist advises Nigerians to import less

    Naira appreciation: Economist advises Nigerians to import less

    An economist, Prof. Uche Uwaleke, has advised Nigerians to import less to sustain the appreciation of the naira at the foreign exchange market.

    Uwaleke, who is an Associate Professor and Head, Banking and Finance Department, Nasarawa State University Keffi, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Thursday.

    “ I expect a reduction in imported inflation and a general increase in the tempo of economic activities following the increase in reserves and appreciation of the naira in the parallel market,’’ he said.

    Uwaleke said the new foreign exchange measures by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) were mainly designed to ease access to foreign exchange at the official window and reduce pressure on the shallow parallel market.

    He said the measures would ultimately close the wide gap between the official and parallel market rates and in turn discourage round tripping and rent seeking.

    Uwaleke said the increased supply of foreign exchange by the CBN was made possible by the accretion witnessed in foreign exchange reserves in recent time.

    “Its sustainability will depend on continuing favorable conditions in the international oil market with regard to oil price.

    “It will also depend on the sustenance of the current relative peace in the Niger Delta region which has enabled improved production,’’ he said.

    Mr Isaac Okorafor, the Acting Director, Corporate Communications in CBN, on Tuesday said that the apex bank had injected another 100 million dollars into the interbank foreign exchange market.

    Okorafor said the fresh injection by the apex bank brought the amount so far pumped into the interbank market in the last two weeks to 1.14 billion dollars for both forwards and invisibles.

     

  • CBN threatens to bar forex dealers

    CBN threatens to bar forex dealers

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has threatened to bar authorized dealers in foreign exchange (forex) that fail to comply with its new directive on foreign exchange transactions.

    According to a circular released over the weekend and signed by Dr. Alvan E Ikoku, Director, Financial Markets Department to all authorized dealers, the apex bank ordered such authorized dealers to “open teller points in all locations in order to ensure access to foreign exchange by their customers without any hindrance.”

    Other directives given by the CBN include having electronic display boards in all their branches, showing rates of all traded currencies; process and meet the demands for PTA/BTA customers within 24 hours of such applications and to process and meet demands for school fees (including allowances) and medical bills within 48 hours of such applications.

    These directives/ orders the CBN said is “to further increase foreign exchange liquidity in the market and ensure availability to end users.”

    The CBN then warned that “non-compliance with these directives would attract sanctions, including but not limited to being barred from all future CBN foreign exchange interventions.”

    For over a week now, the CBN has carried out several interventions in the foreign exchange market to curb the value of the Naira from getting out of control.

    The measures have seen the Naira appreciate throughout last week with the possibility of the nation’s currency further appreciating in the near future.

  • Airport closure is best safety options for Abuja – Allied Air boss

    Airport closure is best safety options for Abuja – Allied Air boss

  • Moghalu to address Swiss business leaders

    Moghalu to address Swiss business leaders

    Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Professor Kingsley Moghalu will deliver the keynote address at the 2017 edition of Le Rendez-vous du Commerce International (International Business Conference) on January 10, 2017 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

    The annual conference is jointly organised by the Swiss global bank Credit Suisse, the Swiss state corporations Swiss Export Risk Insurance (SERV) and Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE). Professor Moghalu will speak on the topic “Outlook Africa 2017: How to Cope with Weak Commodity Prices”.

    The conference, the fifth since its inception in 2013, will be attended by 200 chief executives of major Swiss international companies, and will be moderated by the Swiss television anchor Olivier Dominik of RadioTelevision Suisse (RTS).

    Keynote speakers at previous annual editions of the conference include Yannis Varoufakis, former Minister of Finance of Greece, H.E. Manuel Barroso, former President of the European Commission and H.E. Dominique de Villepin, former Prime Minister of France.

    Dr. Moghalu is currently the Professor of Practice in International Business and Public Policy and Senior Fellow in the Council on Emerging Market Enterprises at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

    He served as a Deputy Governor of the CBN from 2009 to 2014 and was the Head of the Financial System Stability (FSS) Directorate that implemented the CBN’s extensive banking sector reforms in the country after the global financial crisis.

    He also served as Deputy Governor for Operations.

  • Embrace professionalism in forex market – ABCON

    Embrace professionalism in forex market – ABCON

    The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) says it is committed to deepening professionalism among its members to gain investors’ confidence.

    Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, ABCON’s President, said this at the South-West zonal meeting of the association on Thursday in Lagos.

    He said that the body believed that professionalism engendered foreign investors’ confidence in the Nigerian foreign exchange market.

    Gwadabe called on Bureaux De Change (BDCs) operators to distinguish themselves from parallel market operators by rendering efficient services and complying with regulations.

    He said that while the pressure on the naira was due to liquidity problems and confidence, professionalism on the part of BDCs would help boost foreign investors’ confidence in the nation’s foreign exchange market.

    “ABCON is committed to boosting foreign investors’ confidence as this will help attract the much-needed liquidity into the market and reduce pressure on the naira exchange rate.

    “You have to distinguish yourselves from parallel market.

    “We are the ones licensed to operate the business, but we must prove this by distinguishing ourselves through the way we serve our customers.

    “Before now, there were criticisms about BDCs but now we are the new bride of the regulators,’’ Gwadabe said.

    The president also urged members of the association to comply with the necessary requirements in their businesses, to ensure that they sustain the renewed regulatory interest and confidence in BDCs.

    “The Central Bank of Nigeria is willing to expand our scope of business, but this is conditioned on our willingness to increase our level of professionalism.’’

    Gwadabe advised BDCs not to limit their services to foreign exchange needs for Personal Travel Allowance (PTA).

    “Why is everybody just doing PTA, when you can do mortgage, school fees and medical expenses?

    “You can do mortgage, medical and school fees on a cash basis, provided you don’t exceed $5,000, and you ensure all the necessary documentations are provided.’’

    Gwadabe assured members that the association had started addressing the challenges experienced by BDCs in verifying Biometric Verification Numbers (BVNs) and the international passports of prospective customers.

    He added that ABCON had started discussions with the management of Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), on the need to provide the dedicated channel for BDCs to verify BVNs and international passports.

    He, however, advised BDCs to be patient and continue to use the available channel to verify BVNs and the international passports of customers.

    He also advised BDCs to deal with people they were familiar with to ensure compliance with the Know Your Customer (KYC) requirement of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    Gwadabe also said that the association had set up a surveillance committee to monitor the activities in the BDC sector.

    He called on members of the association to help facilitate the work of the committee by providing it with information on any observed malpractice, by any operator.

  • Nigeria’s rice exportation to start in 2017 — CBN

    Nigeria’s rice exportation to start in 2017 — CBN

    The Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) on Tuesday said it’s set  to begin exportation of rice by 2017, based on its Anchor Borrowers Programme  for the promotion of Agriculture

    According to the CBN, the Anchor Borrowers Programme of  the CBN and the Presidential Committee on Rice Production, launched in July had jointly set the target.

    The Acting Director of Corporate Communications of the apex bank, Mr Isaac Okorafor, said this in Yenagoa at a sensitisation workshop for farmers.

    The theme of the workshop is entitled: “Promoting Stability and Economic Development’’.

    According to him, farmers in Kebbi, Jigawa, Ebonyi, Sokoto and Cross River states, among others, have already keyed into the programme, resulting in massive rice cultivation.

    He said the country would achieve self-sustenance in rice production if the momentum was sustained, adding that the country should commence exportation of locally produced rice by 2017.

    Okorafor said Kebbi State had already harvested one million tonnes of rice, adding that Ebonyi’s harvest had outstripped the earmarked production for the year.

    “The development is encouraging and by the end of 2017, we will not only meet our national demand which is between six and seven million tonnes but have a surplus to export.

    “We must rid ourselves of eating foreign rice that has been stored for over nine years in Thailand, Vietnam and India. Nigerian rice is fresh and healthier.

    “We should eat Nigerian rice provided for by the CBN Anchor Programme;  50 Kg of local rice is now N8, 000 in Ebonyi. Already, the Abia Government has ordered rice from Ebonyi for Christmas,’’ he said.

    He further said: “What we have done with this programme so far is to create jobs through farming, especially for the unemployed youths.

    “Nigerian youths must wake up, dust themselves up and join this worthy campaign.

    “Remember that the status of our farmers is now better due to the support they are receiving as a result of government’s policy.

    “Our currency is weak because we engaged in a needless importation of all kinds of foodstuffs, including toothpicks; the government is determined to stop this.’’

    The Branch Controller, CBN, Yenagoa, Mr Oke Nwajah, said the state was blessed with rich wet soil that supported rice cultivation.

    He,therefore, urged the farmers to take pride in farming, adding that the Anchor Borrowers Programme was an intervention to reduce their burden.

  • Recession: CBN advises FG to settle domestic debts 

    Recession: CBN advises FG to settle domestic debts 

    …Retains Monetary policy indices 

     

    After resolving to retain all key monetary policy indices, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has urged the federal government to settle its domestic debts.

    Addressing journalists at the end of the meeting in Abuja Tuesday, the CBN governor Mr. Godwin Emefiele called on the federal government “to urgently assess the extent of its indebtedness to domestic economic agents and develop a framework for securitizing the debts in order to settle its outstanding domestic contractual obligations which cuts across all sectors of the economy.”

    These accumulated debts he said “have slowed business activities of economic agents; most of who are indebted to the banking system, thus compromising the integrity of the financial system.”

    Members of the MPC also advised the CBN “to commit to greater surveillance and deployment of early warning systems in managing the banking system.”

    Before arriving at the decision to retain interest rate and corresponding indices, Emefiele stated that “available data and forecasts of key economic variables indicate that the outlook for growth and inflation in the medium term continues to be challenging. Growth is expected to remain less robust given the absence of sufficient fiscal space while the current tight stance of monetary policy and improved agricultural harvests are expected to contain further price increases and moderate price expectations.”

    The Committee he said assessed the relevant risks to the global and domestic economy and “concluded that the risks to the economy remained highly elevated on two fronts (price and output).”

    However, considering the importance of price stability, and being mindful of the limitations of monetary policy in influencing output and employment under conditions of stagflation, the Committee he said “decided unanimously in favour of retaining the current stance of monetary policy, thus keeping the MPR at 14.0 per cent alongside all other policy parameters which include  retaining  the  Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 22.5 per cent; retaining the Liquidity Ratio at 30.00 per cent; and retaining the Asymmetric Window at +200 and -500 basis points around the MPR.

    Asked to comment on the allegations that the CBN was planning to jail holders of foreign currency and confiscating the currencies, Emefiele said those allegations are untrue.

    According to him, “there is nothing in our forex regulations that says that people will be jailed or that their dollars will be confiscated. But am aware, just today, that the Nigerian Law Reform Commission is looking at reviewing the exchange regulations just like they normally will from time to time.”

    The Law Reform Commission he said is an agency of government “that has responsibilities for reviewing all laws in the country from time to time depending on the exigencies of the time. We have not been contacted regarding whether or not some of the clauses that are involved will be reviewed, but am saying here categorically that if we are contacted or whenever it becomes an issue for discussion, we will suggest and advise against the clause that forbids people from keeping their dollars if they choose to or a law that says that people should be jailed for keeping foreign currency.”

    On the deployment of security agencies to suspected currency black market locations, the CBN governor stated that “the forex regulation in Nigeria today forbids trafficking in currency on the streets. The security agencies have a right to enforce the laws and as the law says you cannot traffic currency o  the streets, you’re supposed to be in your office conducting your business. You will have to adhere to that and if you don’t adhere to that, the security agencies will arrest you. Whether it would drive black marketers underground, they are illegal, we don’t consider people who want to go underground to conduct illegitimate businesses.”

    At the meeting earlier, Emefiele said “the MPC believes that the Security agencies should sustain their checks on the activities of illegal foreign exchange operators in order to bring sanity to that segment of the market. The Committee reiterated that the extant foreign exchange regulation outlaws the trafficking of currency on the streets as some unlicensed operators currently do. Thus, to evolve an appropriate naira exchange rate that stabilizes the foreign exchange market, BDC operators must strictly observe the terms and conditions of their license.”

    Emefiele also responded to enquiries of a possible reduction in the number of Bureau De Changes (BDCs) saying that “we believe that everybody is entitled ones regulations are set, we don’t need to preclude anybody who meets the conditions, but of course naturally the regulator has a right to put in place policies that limit entry. If we want to limit entry, we know what to do and I can assure you that we will do it at any point we decide to limit entry or even exacerbate exit from the market, that’s something we would look at at the appropriate time.”

    The CBN governor was asked to speaking to the level of risk Nigerian banks were in currently and he said that “as a result of current challenges being faced by the global economy, all agents in the financial system including banks and other players are facing tremendous risks.”

    He added that “normally in any economy where there is a slowdown and recession naturally financial institutions particularly banks will face certain risks risks of NPL rising and different other risks, what that does is that it imposes on the regulators a great challenge to ensure that it strengthens its prudential guidelines to ensure that the banks and particularly depositors are protected.”

    Nigerian banks like other banks in other climes he said “are facing risks but those risks are surmountable and the CBN is doing its best to ensure that those risks don’t crystallize to a point where we begin to talk about depositors risking their deposits, so for that reason, the risks is overtly elevated. These are risks being faced by any banking system or any financial system in any clime today arising from the global challenges.”

    On efforts to stimulate the economy, Emefiele said “the CBN has from time to time played its role in putting in place measures that are meant to intervene and stimulate the economy. The CBN is involved in various types of interventions in line with the enabling act that asked it to conduct development finance activities to channel funds at low interest rates to benefit the economy and people.”

  • Reps seek bailout for automotive industry

    Reps seek bailout for automotive industry

    In a bid to avert total collapse of the automotive industry, the House of Representatives Thursday called for measures that will provide financial and bailout assistance for the sector.

    To this end the Green Chamber has set up an ad-hoc committee to interact with relevant stakeholders in the sector with a view to address the problems faced by the industry.

    The committee is also to investigate the inability of the industry to access foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

    The resolution was sequel to the passage of a motion sponsored by Hon. Saheed Akinade-Fijabi (APC, Oyo) on the need for financial and bailout assistance for automobile industry in Nigeria,

    The lawmaker while arguing the motion noted that industrial growth contributes to a nation’s development in terms of increased foreign earnings, job creation and achieving other macro-economic objectives.

    According to him, most developed countries “depend on industrial development to revolutionize their economic powers through manufacturing of goods for local consumption and exportation of same to other countries as a booster to their foreign trade for earnings”.

    He said economic recession is not peculiar to Nigeria, adding developed countries at one time or the other witnessed economic recession but helped their indigenous automobile to survive the recession.

    His words: “The US government considering the importance of this sector came to the rescue of their indigenous automobile industries like GM and Chrysler through provision of bailout and other incentive, including government patronage.

    “Nigeria had a breakthrough into automobile manufacturing industries with the commissioning of Innoson motors, being her first indigenous vehicle manufacturing company in year 2010 to cut down the country’s dependence on importation of vehicle.”

    The lawmaker further said: “Investigation revealed that Innoson motors, known for importation of basic motor components, including engines, from abroad and assemble them locally, is shutting down business due to foreign exchange issues borne out of economic recession.

    “If this company is allowed to shut down, while government folds its arms, it will have negative effect on our economy in the area of job loss, loss of local and foreign revenue.”

    While supporting the motion, a member, Hon. Hassan Sale this is need to support local industries.

    “Even if we cannot give the bailout, we should support and encourage them. We must make effort to support indigenous companies”.

    When the Deputy Speaker, Yussuff Lasun called for a vote on the motion it was supported by many members.

  • CBN unveils flexible forex market

    CBN unveils flexible forex market

    … Rolls out new forex products 

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Wednesday  released the much awaited guidelines and operational details of the flexible exchange rate regime promised by the Federal Government.
    Under the new flexible exchange rate market initiative, the CBN has pegged the minimum amount primary dealers are required to trade in at a minimum of $10 million.
    Addressing journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, said “there is one window and that is what it will be as long as there is one window. Whatever comes out at the end of the day as the marginal rate will be the rate that is recognized officially by the world about the rate for Nigeria Naira. I do not expect that another rate will be recognized in the market.”

    He gave the highlights of the framework and operational guidelines of the flexible exchange rate to include: The market shall operate as a single market structure through the inter-bank/ autonomous window; The Exchange Rate would be purely market-driven using the Thomson-Reuters Order Matching System as well as the Conversational Dealing Book; The CBN would participate in the Market through periodic interventions to either buy or sell FX as the need arises; To improve the dynamics of the market, we will introduce FX Primary Dealers (FXPD) who would be registered by the CBN to deal directly with the Bank for large trade sizes on a two-way quotes basis; These Primary Dealers shall operate with other dealers in the Inter-bank market, amongst other obligations that will be stipulated in the Foreign Exchange.

    Primary Dealers (FXPD) Guidelines, which would also be released immediately after this Press Briefing.

    Other features of the flexible exchange rate initiative Emefiele said include that :there shall be no predetermined spread on FX spot transactions executed through the CBN intervention with Primary Dealers, while all FX Spot purchased by Authorized Dealers are transferable in the inter-bank FX Market; The Forty-One (41) items classified as “Not Valid for Foreign Exchange” as detailed in a previous CBN Circular shall remain inadmissible in the Nigerian FX market; To enhance liquidity in the market, the CBN may also offer long-tenored FX Forwards of 6 to 12 months or any tenor to Authorized Dealers; Sale of FX Forwards by Authorized Dealers to end-users must be trade-backed, with no predetermined spreads.

    The CBN, he added: “Shall introduce non-deliverable over-the-counter (OTC) Naira-settled Futures, with daily rates on the CBN-approved FMDQ Trading and Reporting System. This is an entirely new product in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market, which would help moderate volatility in the exchange rate by moving non-urgent FX demand from the Spot to the Futures market; The OTC FX Futures shall be in non-standardized amounts and different fixed tenors, which may be sold on any dates thereby ensuring bespoke maturity dates; Proceeds of Foreign Investment Inflows and International Money Transfers shall be purchased by Authorized Dealers at the Daily Inter-Bank Rate; and Non-oil exporters are now allowed unfettered access to their FX proceeds, which shall be sold in the Inter-bank market.”

    In terms of timelines, the Management of the Central Bank, Emefiele said has agreed that: The detailed operational guidelines for the Flexible Foreign Exchange Market will be released immediately after this Press Briefing; The guidelines for the selection and operations of FX Primary Dealers would also be released immediately after this Press Briefing; Selected FX Primary Dealers would be notified by Friday 17th June 2016. All other non-Primary Dealers would remain valid and eligible to participate in the market; Inter-bank trading under the new guidelines will begin on Monday 20th June 2016; and the tenors and rates for the OTC Naira-settled FX Futures will be announced on Monday 27th June 2016.

    The Central Bank, the Governor said: “is strongly determined to make this market as transparent, liquid, and efficient as possible. Therefore, we would neither tolerate unscrupulous behaviour nor hesitate to bring serious sanctions on offenders.”

    He also warned that “the CBN will not allow the system to be undermined by speculators and rent-seeker, any attempt to breach any aspect of this new framework will be heavily sanctioned by the CBN and this may indeed result in the suspension or withdrawal of the FX dealing license of an offending Authorized dealer.”

    Speaking on the preparedness of the CBN to measure to forex demand pressures, the CBN Governor stated that the country’s “reserves, despite having fallen, is still robust and is able to cover about five months of Nigeria’s imports as against the international benchmark of three months. Furthermore, the domestic production of items restricted from the FX market is picking up nationwide, thereby creating more jobs for many more Nigerians.”

    Answering questions from journalists on the development, the CBN Governor noted that “the CBN will deal primarily with foreign exchange primary dealers, there will be primary and non-primary dealers, the guidelines for qualification for being foreign exchange primary dealer will be on our website but there will be a number of qualifications either the size of the bank, the size of foreign exchange transaction it has handled before, the level of liquidity, the extent to which those banks have complied with central bank guidelines and regulations, the level of preparedness in terms of being able to deploy the software needed in a very transparent manner that will hand-shake with the Thomas Reuters and FMDQ software, those will be the bases.”

    With regards to the number of primary dealers, Emefiele revealed that “we do not think from what we see, that there will be maximally eight or ten primary dealers. What that means is that we have what we call grade A dealers and grade B dealers.”

    “By being a grade A dealer, primary dealer does not confer on you any special preference other than the fact that the size of the trade the CBN will be willing to deal with you will be larger than those of non-primary dealers. Foreign exchange dealers and banks know what we mean by trade we are talking of an open, transparent, two way quote system, I can close or they can close on themselves and their capacity to deliver at any time within the trading period is very important here that is why we are trying to separate them into two parts,” he said.

    From what will be published, Emefiele stated that “the level of trade for a primary dealer will be a minimum of $10 million so what that means is that to do that you have to have a the capacity, must have prepared yourself, you have to be ready to play at the highest level of transparency and nobody is ready to take any nonsense from you if you decide to breach the regulations.”

    These new sets of forex dealers he said “will be people who can deliver on their words and they must be people who can face the implications of whatever they do regarding the size, volume and exchange rate they decide to quote, we have decided to ensure that we don’t have speculators, we don’t have rent seekers who just want to come to primary market to just auction and stacking of prices against each other.”

    The OTC/FX Futures market he explained: “is an innovation which we have introduced to moderate volatility in the foreign exchange market, it is a situation where we make it easy for you as a businessman to plan your business, and the rate at which you want to do your business. You do not have to fear about what happened to the price of crude oil today that you are afraid that you will not be able to source your dollar in the next three to seven months anymore.”

    According to the CBN Governor, “once you have locked yourself onto a price you go and do your business if the rate you locked your deal in the futures market is N260 and in three months time the market is doing say N270 at that time, that N10 gap, the CBN will give you the Naira equivalent of that gap such that you are not seen to be losing money by waiting for the next two to three months to procure your foreign exchange.”

    What that does, he said, is that the CBN wants to “see how that shifts your demand from the spot to the time you need it not that you need dollar in the next three, six to nine months you begin to ask you dollar on the spot thereby putting pressure on the demand for dollar.”

    The CBN, he said: “will be engaging more and more with the banks and those primary and non-primary forex dealers on how this will work, but we are determined to ensure that this works and I am very optimistic that this will work. I know a couple of people, particularly those with matured Letters of Credit who expect that they want to buy their foreign exchange what happens is that all backlog transactions will be taken to the market for clearance, the CBN today has the foreign reserve of close to about $26.5 billion to $26.7 billion, this is certainly substantially higher than any pent-up demand that is in the market and we are making efforts to improve on the supply of foreign exchange in the market.”

    Emefiele expressed optimism “that the steps we have taken today will further deepen the market and also help get foreign exchange into the market. We are very hopeful this will work, the CBN is working to improve the level of supply on its own into the market so those demands will be met at the market so there is no need for anybody to rush into the market because you may find yourself losing money, if you rush into the market and take some emergency decisions, that will hurt you, your profit, hurt your balance sheet and ultimately if you have taken a bank loan your interest targets on your bank loans.”

    He urged operators “to be careful that is the reason we have provided opportunities for you to go to the futures, don’t worry just take it easy if your not too sure, go to the futures you will find a deal, all the banks will provide you with futures rate for two to nine months or even one year, they will provide it, so with that you are able to go about your business without necessarily bothering and we have committed ourselves to a level of guaranteeing you. It’s like a debt, if the rate that you get eventually on the day of your futures maturing higher than the deal day, we will pay you the difference but if the rate on that day is lower than the rate on the deal day, then you will pay us. We are just trying to say be calm don’t worry everything is well.”

  • Dariye diverted Plateau’s N1.162b meant for land reclamation – Witness

    Dariye diverted Plateau’s N1.162b meant for land reclamation – Witness

    A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Gudu, Abuja was told Wednesday that the N1.161,162,900 allegedly diverted by former Plateau State governor, Joshua Chibi Dariye was meant for land reclamation in the state.

    A prosecution witness, James Olanrewaju Adewesu, who testified at the trial of Dariye Wednesday, told that court that Dariye applied to the Ecological Fund Office in 2001 for N3, 197,000,000.00 but got N1, 161,162,900.

    The witness, an Assistant Director in the Federal Ministry of Finance, said the decision about whether or not a request for assistance to Ecological Fund Office would be granted was dependent on the Vice President and the Minister of Special Duties.

    Led in evidence by prosecution lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) the witness said, as at the time when the funds were released to Dariye, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was the Vice President, while Yomi Edu was the Minister for Special Duties.

    Adewesu said the approval for the release of N1.162b to Dariye was given by the then Vice President and Minister for Special Duties.

    “As the Principal Accountant, I was in charge of the Central Pay Office. I will go through the voucher and all attached documents to ensure that the payment has been approved.

    “Once I am convinced that the payment has been approved, I will pass it to the cheque Writer to write the payment.

    “Plateau State Government in 2001, had an approval for payment in the Ecological Fund Office to the tune of N1b plus. I was one of the signatories that signed the cheque. The second man that signed in the second category was Mr Topah Ukanah. He is late now.

    “In the minute of approval sent to us, the Permanent Secretary told us the the Plateau State governor was waiting in his office to collect the cheque.

    “After the signing, I took the cheque to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for confirmation. When I returned from the CBN after the confirmation, I received a telephone call from the office of the Permanent  Secretary, Ecological Fund Office, that I should come with the cheque and our delivery register to his office for the release of the cheque to the governor.

    “On getting to the office of the Permanent Secretary, I met the then governor of Plateau State in the office of the Permanent Secretary. And one of the aides to the governor signed our delivery register and I released the cheque to him.

    “The Permanent Secretary who I related within the Ecological Frund Office was Dr. K Nkoma, while the governor who came for the cheque was Chief Joshua Dariye. It was this case that led to Dr. Nkoma’s sack from the service.

    “Aside the defendant (Dariye), no other governor has ever come on his own to collect cheques issued in favour of his state.

    “The Minister of Special Duties approved the N1.161, 162,900 on July 12, 2001. The approval was given by the Minister of Special Duties on July 12, 2001, the cheque was written the same day, the cheque was confirmed on the same day, I released the cheque to the governor the same day.

    “The normal process is for the name of the person assigned by the benefiting state to collect it to be sent to the Perm Secretary, Ecological Fund Office, who minutes the name on the approved letter and send to the Central Pay Office for collection.

    “The cheque was written in the name of Plateau State Govt. The cheque was supposed to be paid into Plateau State govt’s account.

    “After I released the cheque to the governor, I did not know what happened to the cheque later,” the witness said.

    Adewesu identified the person, who signed for the cheque, on behalf of the Plateau State as Victor Delang, described as one of Dariye’s aides while he was governor.

    On cross -examination by defence lawyer, Garba Pwul (SAN), the Witness insisted that the decision to approve any request for ecological fund rested with the Vice President and the Minister of Special Duties.

    On whether the discretion to approve any amount was solely with the VP and Minister of Special Duties, the witness said the operation of the fund was not within his knowledge.

    On whether the Permanent Secretary was still in service, the witness said “I heard that because of this cheque, Dr. K. Nkoma had a problem and since then, I did not see him again.”

    On Tuesday, a prosecution witness told the court how Dariye allegedly shared the N1.162b.

    The witness, Musa Sunday, an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said investigation revealed that Dariye gave N1000m to a company owned by Atiku Abubakar – Marine Float; N100m to PDP South-West, which was alleged received by Yomi Edu and N80m, which Dariye allegedly paid to Nkoma, through an account in the name of Union Homes Saving and Loan.

    Trial judge, Justice Adebukola Banjoko adjourned further proceedings 12noon Thursday.