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Tag: Central Bank of Nigeria

  • CBN mobilises school children to embrace saving culture

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has started a campaign to educate school children about money, saving, creating livelihoods and becoming an entrepreneur.

    The CBN’s Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability (FSS), Mrs. Aisha Ahmad led some CBN Directors to visit some schools within Abuja as part of activities to mobilise secondary school children to embrace money saving culture as well as mark the Global Money week.

    The schools visited were the Government Secondary School, Wuse Zone 3 and the Staff Community Secondary School, Asokoro.

    Ahmad urged the children to learn to manage their money wisely, save and invest for their future.

    READ ALSO: CBN vows to make Nigeria world’s third palm oil producer

    The CBN Deputy Governor also spoke to the students on the benefits of budgeting, “which gives one control over finances, help to build assets and create a healthy financial situation.”

    According to her: “Budgeting is about choices. Choose what to save for the future, what to spend now and what to spend on. Needs first, wants later.”

    She also took the opportunity to educate the children on the difference between good and bad debt.

    Specifically, she explained to the children that “going into debt for things that do not improve your net worth such as vacations, clothes and eating out could undermine their financial goals.”

    The CBN, she said, is “passionate about creating an economy that will benefit all Nigerians and to be able to do that, everyone needs to be financially literate.

    “They need to know the proper ways to earn money. My message to all children today is do the right thing, study hard, try and understand yourself, who you are, what you like to do and see how you can use that to change the world.”

  • POS leads e-payment transactions with 286m deals

    Point of Sale (POS) transactions is leading other e-payment channels, rising from nine million transactions in 2013 to 285.89 million last year, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said.

    CBN Deputy Governor (Financial System Stability), Mrs. Aishah Ahmad, who broke the news at the weekend, said that Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transactions rose by over 196 per cent (295 million in 2013 compared with 875 million in 2018.

    However, electronic transfers, via web, rose 2,440 per cent (from two million in 2013 to 50.8 million in 2018 while  paper-based payments transactions using cheques declined from 14 million transactions conducted using cheques in 2013 to nine million transactions in 2018. Mrs. Ahmad spoke at the Electronic payments Incentive Scheme Efficiency Awards held in Lagos at the weekend.

    Mrs. Ahmad said the Nigerian payment system has changed significantly and continues to evolve.

    She said: “New technologies and a growing number of Financial Technology companies in the markets are supporting faster payments and settlements. Technological advancements and the Adoption of mobile as the primary channel have also made it easier and cheaper to conduct electronic transactions.”

    Adding that the developments have been validated by the astronomical increases in transaction volumes in virtually all electronic payment platforms, she said the categories of the awards reflect CBN’s aspirations for the payment system, recognising leaders in bank and non-bank categories in the critical areas of driving cashless, platform efficiency, innovation and customer experience.

    “Despite the progress recorded we are not yet at the goal. Electronic transactions are not yet at desired levels, increasing digitization heightens cyber security threats while policy makers are faced with the twin but often conflicting objectives of fostering technological innovation whilst managing the risks to financial stability,” Mrs. Ahmad said.

    She said the CBN was undertaking a review of the PSV 2020 (created to provide a sound regulatory framework that supports innovation, protects consumers and promotes financial stability) the proposed refreshed strategy is tagged PSV 2030.

    Also, the Shared Agent Network Expansion Facility was established in March 2018 by the body of deposit money banks, mobile money operators and super agents, to expand the number of agent outlets by 500k to support the National Financial Inclusion strategy objectives. With The Shared Agent Network Expansion Facility (SANEF), the number of agents per 10,000 individuals will increase from four agents to 65 agents by 2020.

  • TraderMoni loans not for election purpose, Presidency insists

    The Presidency on Thursday said that the TraderMoni scheme and other GEEP micro-credit products (MarketMoni and FarmerMoni), which are components of the Buhari administration’s Social Investment Programme, are still very much in operation.

    A statement by Mr Laolu Akande, the Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity to the President (Office of the Vice President), said that the loans are not for the purpose of election.

    According to a progress report on the GEEP micro-credit products (TraderMoni, MarketMoni, and FarmerMoni), he disclosed that over 30,000 beneficiaries per state have been captured under the programme.

    He said “So far, a target of 30,000 minimum beneficiaries per state has been achieved in majority of the 36 states and FCT since after the national and state polls.”

    “What the implementing agency has been doing since the last phase of disbursements is generating the balance of program funding while ramping up on the states with shortages.”

    “Consequently, disbursements have continued to happen in the states; for instance, we have had over 28,000 disbursements across 10 states since after the elections. Our priority is ramping up these numbers in the balance of states before we move to phase two of the program after detailed reviews and structural enhancements for larger scale. Under the Next Level agenda, Trader Moni loans will target ten million petty traders, a significant ramp up from the initial target of two million beneficiaries.”

    On the role of the Ministry for Industry, Trade and Investment in the implementation of the scheme, he said, “it is actively involved in the project.”

    Mr Akande said, “that ministry is, in fact the oversighting Ministry of Bank of Industry, which is the deploying agency. The office of the Minister executes the GEEP program via the Bank of Industry.

    “The governance structure of GEEP includes the office of the Vice President (National Social Investment Office), The Ministry of Trade and Investment, and the Bank of Industry.”

    Speaking on measures adopted to enhance repayments, the Presidential Media Aide said GEEP has pioneered innovative solutions to drive repayment compliance.

    “Working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), we successfully piloted the concept of the BVN as digital collateral; and we saw repayment go up significantly on the MarketMoni and FarmerMoni loans.

    “For TraderMoni, beneficiaries can pay back at any commercial bank in the country just like a NEPA or WAEC bill; all they need to provide the bank teller with is their phone number. We also developed and successfully piloted scratch cards as a repayment option for beneficiaries who stay kilometres away from the nearest banks in their community. The cards are loaded the same way Telco recharge cards are loaded, thus requiring no new learning curve.

    “This improved repayment received compliance to the extent that in January, the Bank of Industry began second level disbursements – disbursements of N15,000 – to beneficiaries in Lagos, Borno, Ogun and Oyo states for trader who had successfully paid back their first N10,000 loans,” Mr Akande disclosed.

    According to him, “GEEP’s vision (in the long term) remains to empower the over 30 million MSMEs in Nigeria with interest-free, collateral-free loans.”

    The GEEP programme, a component of the Buhari administration’s Social Investment Programme (SIP) has since inception about two years ago, impacted many lives, improved living conditions and expanded opportunities for ordinary Nigerians to do petty trading as well as small and medium scale businesses.

    Under the Trader Moni scheme, an initial N10,000 loan is given to petty traders and once they repay within six months, they can receive a new N15,000 loan and when they repay that they can get another N20,000 loan until they get as much as N100,000

  • CBN eyes $10b revenue from palm oil

    An ambitious plan, which is expected to lift Nigeria to the world’s third-largest palm oil producer, was announced yesterday by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    The plan is to overtake Thailand and Columbia as major palm oil producers.

    Addressing stakeholders in the palm oil industry in Abuja yesterday, CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele stated: “Our ultimate vision is to overtake Thailand and Columbia to become the 3rd largest producer over the next few years.”

    The CBN boss noted: “If we had kept pace with our peers in supporting improved cultivation of palm oil, at the current global market price of $600 per tonne, and an assumed production level of 16m tonnes, Nigeria could have generated close to $10bn worth of foreign exchange for the country.

    “This analysis does not take into consideration the amount of jobs that could have been created in our rural communities from large scale smallholder developments.”

    To achieve this, the CBN governor is advocating for improved financing.

    He said: “With regards to improving access to finance for smallholder farmers focused on cultivation of palm oil, the Bankers Committee has established a special sub-committee to make recommendations on sustainable financing models for oil palm and four other critical agricultural commodities that include cocoa, sesame seed, shea-butter, animal husbandry and cashew.

    “As part of the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) and our Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS), the CBN will work with large corporate stakeholders and smallholder farmers to ensure availability of quality seeds for this years planting season and agro-chemicals in order to enable improved cultivation of palm oil.

    “We will also work to encourage viable off taker agreements between farmers and large-scale palm producing companies.

    “Loans will be granted through our ABP and CACS programs at no more than nine per cent p.a to identified core borrowers.

    “With an estimated three million hectares of land under cultivation, abundance of suitable arable land, we need the cooperation of our state Governments in the oil palm producing zones to make land available to investors with proven financial and technical capabilities, who will be able to support developments of large scale palm oil plantations in the country.”

  • CBN sets April 2021 deadline for MfBs’ recapitalisation

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday set a three-year timeline for all categories of Microfinance Banks (MfBs) to recapitalise. The apex bank directed all categories of MfBs to complete their recapitalisation process on or before April 2021.

    In a circular to all MfBs signed by CBN Director, Financial Policy and Regulation, Kelvin Amugo, the CBN also approved N5 billion minimum capital base for National Microfinance Banks. The minimum capital bases for State Microfinance banks were set at N1 billion; Tier 1 Unit Microfinance Bank, N200 million and Tier 2 Unit Microfinance bank N50 million.

    Amugo said the apex bank revised the categories of Microfinance banks with a view to ensuring continued operations of Microfinance banks in the rural, unbanked and underbanked areas of the economy.

    “Accordingly, Unit Microfinance Banks shall comprise of two tiers: Tier 1 Unit Microfinance bank, which shall operate in the urban and high-density-banked areas of the society; and tier 2 Unit Microfinance Bank, which shall operate only in the rural, unbanked or underbanked areas,” Amugo said.

    He explained that to aid the process of recapitalization, all Tier 1 Unit Microfinance banks shall meet a N100 million capital threshold by April 2020 and N200 million by 2021; Tier 2 Unit Microfinance Banks shall meet a N35 million capital threshold by April 2020 and N50 million by April 2021; State Microfinance bank shall increase its capital to N500 million by April 2020 and N1 billion by April 2021 while National Microfinance Bank shall hold a capital of N3.5 billion by April 2020 and N5 billion by April 2021.

    The CBN had earlier announced its plans to set up National Microfinance Bank backed by the Nigeria Postal Services (NIPOST) to enable it drive financial inclusion to the people living in rural communities.

    It is also hoped that the bank would help to fill the vacuum in extending credit to small and medium enterprises as private Microfinance banks had failed to fulfill the promise of financial intermediation to lower segments of the society.

  • CBN-licensed microfinance banks drop to 898

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has confirmed the licences of 898 Microfinance Banks (MfBs) spread across the 36 states of the country and Federal Capital Territory(FCT).

    The number is far less than the 1,028 MfBs confirmed by the apex bank last May after the regulator withdrew the licences of some operators late last year.

    The report on approval, posted on CBN website, also showed that the apex bank confirmed the operations of two regional banks, and three banks with Holding Company structures, five merchant banks, one non-interest bank and 19 commercial banks, as at last year.

    As part of efforts to enable speedy disbursement of its several intervention funds including the Agribusiness/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS), the CBN has said it will in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee and the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) start the operation of a National Micro Finance Bank (MFB) this year.

    The new MFBs are expected to further enhance financial inclusion and credit to fund the agricultural sector and small and medium scale (SME).

    The national MFB would leverage on the existing NIPOST presence in 774 local and aid the CBN and the bankers committee effort in accessing the Anchor borrowers fund, SME fund and other initiatives tailored towards SMEs, farmers and the CBN’s financial inclusion drive.

  • CBN to establish Microfinance Banks in 774 LGs

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is targeting to have Microfinance Bank branches in all the 774 local governments of the country.

    The capital base of the new NIRSAL Microfinance Bank will initially be N5 billion and as a first step, the apex bank said this new Microfinance banks which is a collaboration between the Bankers Committee, NIRSAL and NIPOST will see the establishment of seven Microfinance banks in the six geopolitical zones and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    Thereafter the number will be scaled up to 50 Microfinance banks which are expected to become operational in the second phase of the launch of NIRSAL Microfinance bank. The first seven branches to be opened will be located in Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Bauchi, Kaduna, Enugu and Lokoja in addition to the one in Gwagwalada Abuja.

    Governor of the CBN Mr. Godwin Emefiele made this known on Wednesday at Gwagwalada, in Abuja when he embarked on a facility tour of Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) microfinance bank, an agribusiness initiative which provides risk for framers.

    According to Emefiele, “we are just inspecting one out of the first seven and we are scaling up to the next 50 in the next phase. We believe that before the end of this year, we would have moved substantially in making sure that they are set up and be able to provide finance to small businesses. This is collaboration between NIRSAL, bankers Committee and NIPOST and I want to say that we really need to set up Microfinance Bank that will reach out to the unbanked.”

    The CBN Governor lamented the lack of access to cheap finance by small businesses but noted that with the presence of a Microfinance bank branch in each local government across the country, the problem would be tackled.

    Emefiele told journalists that “the biggest problem small businesses always have, is access to credit; and I am happy that with the establishment of this microfinance bank which would be in at least one local government and we are talking about the 774 locations in all the country, we would be able to have a financial institution that will help deepen financial inclusion to make it easy for people to access credit particularly the small and unbanked people because we have always said that these are the very weak”.

    The creation of NIRSAL Microfinance Banks across the country he said “is to improve access to credit and the technology that would be used will be a fintech technology. We have already set a target for ourselves that by 2020, the rate of financial inclusion must increase to 80 percent from about 48 percent a year and a half ago. So this is just part of our initiative to deepen financial inclusion in Nigeria.”

    Mr. Emefiele said the hurdles of collateral for loans and interest rate, have been removed as the asset being financed will serve as collateral.

    According to him, “we know that those who are weak in terms of those who are unable to access credit, the big issue for them is inability to provide collateral. So they will be able to access credit without providing collateral. The asset that we are financing for them will act as the collateral which will be registered in our national collateral registry as something that is eligible to serve as collateral for loan”

    He added that “the loan is going to be disbursed from our AGMEIS scheme which is five per cent of profit after tax that is being set aside by the banks to support the small and medium enterprises that will be in agriculture or those that are into different type of small businesses that badly need to raise finance to be able to set up and earn livelihood. Interest rate for this will be at five percent and the loan will be for tenure of seven years with two years moratorium.”

    Reacting to concerns raised in some quarters that the creation of NIRSAL Microfinance Bank across the country will crowd out other Microfinance Banks, the CBN Governor assured that the fear of crowding out is unfounded stating that “the existing microfinance banks are doing their best. I have heard this is an attempt to crowd them out. This is not an attempt to crowd them out, but to complement their services and see to it that whatever service is being provided by these microfinance banks should be seen to be fair to their customers.”

    Emefiele also said he has heard about “the rural communities where the microfinance banks charge very prohibitive interest rate. But here, we are talking about making funds available to these people. This will help to create some form of competitive landscape so that those kinds of practices will no longer arise.”

  • Don’t abandon farms for politics, Umahi advises

    Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi has advised the people not to abandon their farm work and other agricultural ventures because of the general elections.

    Umahi gave the advice on Thursday in Abakiliki, at the launch of the 2019 farming season in the state.

    The event was attended by rice and cassava farmers, traditional rulers and beneficiaries of government’s empowerment schemes, among other stakeholders.

    He said that government had enough funds to assist farmers during the farming season.

    He said: “We have funds from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Federal Government so farmers should register with the state ministry of agriculture and natural resources to be able to access the loans.

    “You only need to tell us how much fund, fertilizer and herbicides you want and how you intend to pay back because we will not profile farmers this farming season.”

    He said that government would only verify the farmlands to be used for cultivation but will not provide rice seedlings to farmers this year.

    Read Also : Ebonyi APC candidates: we will challenge results

    “Our own people, including workers and government officials, dealt with us last farming season and when we are eating our future, we do not know.

    “You pay high amount of money for rice seedlings and they (officials) would get the seedlings through the farmers and supply them to us.

    “We are therefore not procuring rice seedlings for anybody again,” the governor said, adding that farmers should produce their own seedling or go to Benue to buy.

    “My father was a farmer all through his life, trained all his children to the university level but never sought for government’s rice seedlings,” he said.

    He further advised civil servants, who had yet to access the N4 billion agricultural loan for farmers, to register.

    He, however, warned that the facility would not be treated like the issue of gratuity.

    “The records of the gratuities paid by the past administrations in the state were burnt. “Otherwise, the 40 per cent payment we made could have been used to pay all the civil servants,” Umahi said.

    The governor, who is seeking re-election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, appealed to the traditional rulers to persuade their subjects to vote for him on March 9.

    He said that voting massively for him in the election would demonstrate the people’s appreciation of all that God had used him to do for the state.

    “The turnout of voters on February 23 was poor. You should persuade our people to vote for us instead of voting on the basis of clanishness,” he said.

    Speaking on behalf of the traditional rulers, Eze Charles Mkpuma, the Chairman of the state Traditional Rulers Council, admitted that votes were cast on clanish consideration.

    “We shall, however, guard against such attitude on March 9. We shall use the election to reward you for the rapid transformation witnessed in the state under your watch,” Mkpuma said.

    News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that representatives of the farmers and town unions and beneficiaries of the governor’s empowerment schemes took turn to assure him of their unflinching support.

  • Let peace reign

    It is no longer news that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the early hours of Saturday unexpectedly announced a shift in the 2019 Presidential election which was slated for the day, and March 2, 2019.

    But the postponement no doubt left many Nigerians surprised as they had already prepared themselves to vote for candidates of their choice in the first sets of the election.

    Their plans for the following day before they slept last Friday night changed when they woke up on Saturday morning. They were faced with the realities on the ground: no election.

    Announcing the postponement, the INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu had attributed his action to challenges including logistics, poor weather, fire incidents and overwhelmed Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the last-minute rush.

    He said: “Following a careful review of the implementation of its logistics and operational plan and the determination to conduct free, fair and credible elections, the Commission came to the conclusion that proceeding with the elections as scheduled is no longer feasible.

    “Consequently, the Commission has decided to reschedule the Presidential and National Assembly Elections to Saturday, 23rd February 2019. Furthermore, the governorship, state House of Assembly and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) area council elections is rescheduled to Saturday, March 9, 2019.

    “This will afford the Commission the opportunity to address identified challenges in order to maintain the quality of our elections. This was a difficult decision for the Commission to take, but necessary for the successful delivery of the elections and the consolidation of our democracy,” he said.

    It should also not be lost on Nigerians that the former INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega, who conducted the 2015 general elections, described as the freest in Nigeria, at some point had to shift the election due to some challenges, just like he did during the 2011 general elections.

    But reactions to the latest postponement appeared to be dividing the political parties more.

    In their first reactions after the announcement, none of the major political parties publicly identified with or supported INEC in its latest decision. The electoral umpire appeared to be standing alone.

    Also before last Saturday, there have been accusations and counter-accusations, especially between the two major parties claiming that the other party has bought over the INEC.

    This trend continued during the reactions to the postponement of the elections on Saturday.

    The main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) immediately rejected the postponement.

    PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, maintained that the postponement was a deliberate pre-determined agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari to cling on to power and a grand design by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to thwart the will of Nigerians at all cost.

    “The party will not accept anything short of a well-organised electoral process devoid of manipulation, harassment and intimidation of voters and the opposition particularly members of the PDP.

    “Having failed in all their nefarious options to enable them cling on to power, the APC and the INEC came up with the idea of shifting election an action that is dangerous to our democracy and unacceptable.”

    In the same vain, the PDP Presidential candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, said “This postponement is obviously a case of the hand of Esau but the voice of Jacob. By instigating this postponement, the Buhari administration hopes to disenfranchise the Nigerian electorate in order to ensure that turn out is low on the rescheduled date.

    “Nigerians must frustrate their plans by coming out in even greater numbers on Saturday, 23 February and Saturday, March 9, respectively.

    “Knowing that the Nigerian people are determined to reject them, they are desperate and will do anything in their power to avoid their rejection by the Nigerian people.

    “Their plan is to provoke the public, hoping for a negative reaction, and then use that as an excuse for further anti-democratic acts.

    “As such, I call on all Nigerians to be patient. We have tolerated the maladministration of this government for four years. We can extend our tolerance a few more days and give them our verdict via our votes,” he stated.

    The ruling party, APC, apart from adding its voice to the condemnation of the postponement, also expressed surprise at the development.

    A statement by APC Presidential Campaign Council (Official Spokesperson) and Director of Strategic Communications,

    Festus Keyamo said “We have just received with great disappointment and disillusionment the announcement by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of its decision to postpone the Presidential/National Assembly and Gubernatorial/House of Assembly Elections to Saturday, February 23, 2019 and Saturday, March 9, 2019, respectively.

    “We condemn and deprecate this tardiness of the electoral umpire in the strongest terms possible. President Muhammadu Buhari had since cooperated fully with INEC by ensuring everything it demanded to conduct free and fair elections were promptly made available to it.

    “This news is therefore a huge disappointment to us and to our teeming supporters nationwide and around the world, many of whom have come into the country to exercise their franchise.

    “We do hope that INEC will remain neutral and impartial in this process as the rumor mill is agog with the suggestion that this postponement has been orchestrated in collusion with the main opposition, the PDP that was NEVER ready for this election.

    “We note that all the major credible demographic projections have predicted a defeat of the PDP and it seriously needed this breather to orchestrate more devious strategies to try and halt President Buhari’s momentum. It did the same as the ruling Party in 2015, when it realized the game was up, by orchestrating the postponement of the 2015 elections by six weeks. Now, it may be up to its old trick again.

    “We have earlier raised the alarm that the PDP is bent on discrediting this process the moment it realized it cannot make up the numbers to win this election. We are only urging INEC not collude with the PDP on this.

    “We are truly worried because as early as Friday morning, some known PDP Social Media influencers unwittingly announced this postponement, but quickly deleted the message and apologized to the public that it was fake news. We do not want to be forced to a situation of announcing our  total loss of confidence in INEC, because we know where that would leave our democracy,” he stated.

    Buhari, who had to cut short his trip to his home state, Katsina State on Saturday, said “I am deeply disappointed that despite the long notice given and our preparations both locally and internationally, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) postponed the Presidential and National Assembly elections within hours of its commencement.

    “Many Nigerians have traveled to various locations to exercise their right to vote, and international observers are gathered.

    “INEC themselves have given assurances, day after day and almost hour after hour that they are in complete readiness for the elections.  We and all our citizens believed them.

    “This administration has ensured that we do not interfere in any way with the work of INEC except to ensure that all funds were released to the commission.

    “We now urge INEC to ensure not only that materials already distributed are safe and do not get into wrong hands, but that everything is done to avoid the lapses that resulted in this unfortunate postponement, and ensure a free and fair election on the rescheduled dates.

    “While I reaffirm my strong commitment to the independence, neutrality of the electoral umpire and the sanctity of the electoral process and ballot, I urge all political stakeholders and Nigerians to continue to rally round INEC at this trying national moment in our democratic journey.

    “I, therefore, appeal to all Nigerians to refrain from all civil disorder and remain peaceful, patriotic and united to ensure that no force or conspiracy derail our democratic development,” he said.

    It’s very important for the stakeholders, even after the postponement announcement, to continue to respect the first and second National Peace Accord signed by the candidates of the various political parties.

    Noting that millions of people across the world were praying for Nigeria and its people, the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Patricia Scotland had said during the second peace accord signing ceremony last Wednesday: ”It is a burden that Nigerian leaders gathered here today carry. We call on their party, supporters and public to follow their lead. Elections will come and go, but this great Nigeria will remain.”

    Peace should be maintained at all costs, and just like President Buhari noted during the peace accord signing, Nigeria is the real party, and must be protected.

  • Sensitive election materials arrive Nasarawa

    Preparatory to the February 16th presidential and National Assembly election, sensitive materials have arrived Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, amidst tight security.

    The materials were taken to Lafia branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) in an articulated vehicle

    Police barricaded the road that passing around the bank to avoid security breach, the blockade forced the convoy of Governor Umaru Almakura to make a detour.

    Read Also: INEC begins distribution of sensitive materials in Imo

    The Nation observed that European Union observers were seen monitoring the offloading of the election materials.

    The items arrived CBN by 12 noon and as at the time of writing this story, the items were being offloaded.