The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Sarah Alade

  • Presidency urges Senate to lift embargo on confirmation of nominees

    Presidency urges Senate to lift embargo on confirmation of nominees

    The Presidency has urged the Senate to lift the embargo on confirmation of nominees sent to it by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    It would be recalled that Senate on July 4, 2017 resolved to suspend all issues relating to confirmation of nominees submitted by the executive over what it termed as a move to reduce its legislative powers.

    The senators had said the decision would remain until the issues of confirmation as contained in the Constitution and the laws of the federation were adhered to.

    All the same, the presidency had in October 2017 nominated Mrs. Aisha Ahmad as a Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN ) to replace Dr. Sarah Alade, who retired from the bank in June.

    Speaking to newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday, Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate) Mr Ita Enang said “the president had submitted as required by law and the confirmations are pending before the legislature.

    “We are engaging with the legislature within the law.

    “Therefore we are conscious that the legislature, in particular the Senate, is very responsive and very concerned about the economy.

    “And the Senate is also conscious that nothing should be done that will be detrimental to the international image of Nigeria and perception of Nigeria.

    “So we are engaging with the legislature particularly the Senate on this and the Senate is very sensitive to the public to what is likely to happen.’’

    He said the senate must have been engaged  with a number of bills  last year and were prioritising issues.

    “They are going to attend to it. Any matter that is standing as an issue between the executive and the legislature which may be the reason for the embargo, we are going to address it and make sure it is surmounted.

    “Therefore, Nigerians should be comfortable that the Senate will answer questions within the law,” Enang said.

    NAN

  • 750 delegates expected at World Conference of Banking Institutes in Lagos

    The President, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Mr Olusegun Ajibola said more than 750  delegates would participate at the World Conference of Banking Institutes (WCBI) from April 24 to  April 28 in Lagos.

    Ajibola told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos  on Sunday that the conference has the theme ‘’Rethink the future of Banking and Finance and Life Long Learning’’.

    According to CIBN President , the participants are expected from  the U. S., Germany, Brazil, Italy, Kenya, Gambia, Togo, Mali, Kuwait, Ghana and South Africa among others.

    He said that CIBN, which is the host of the conference, has received the assurance of Lagos State Government to provide adequate security for local and international participants.

    He said the institute had engaged the services of over 100 security experts inaddition to the regular security personnel to ensure incident free meeting

    “We are assuring participants that there will not be any security incidence.

    Ajibola said the theme of the conference was chosen to enable participants to brainstorm om where banks should be by 2020 and the future of  banking and finance.

    “The WCBI will teach Nigeria what it should start doing to secure the future.

    “This is the time for the presidency to get on round tables to research the countries to invest in and the countries that would invest in Nigeria.

    “Forty-nine facilitators are expected to speak at the conference. Twenty-five are renowned international financial experts, while 24 would be from Nigeria,’’ he said.

    He urged the Federal Government to make good use of the conference to boost the economy and attract direct investments into the country.

    “The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osibajo, is expected to be the distinguished Guest of Honour at the opening ceremony of the conference.

    “Gov. Ambode has also magnanimously adopted the conference as part of the state’s activities to celebrate the 50 years anniversary of the creation of Lagos.

    “The speakers include Mr Collin Morrison, President European Banking and Financial Services Training, Mr Adedeji Bakas, Founder Trend office BAKAS and Mr Lee Arthur, Managing Director, New York Institute of Finance.

    “Others are Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, the Managing Director, Nigeria Deposit  Insurance Organisation (NDIC), Mr Ari Levahi, the Executive Director, Moody’s Analytics, New York and Dr Sarah Alade, Deputy Governor, CBN Director of Economic Policy, among others,“ he said

  • Money laundering

    Money laundering

    We need new initiatives to catch up with the criminals

    Mr. Sarah Alade, acting Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said the obvious at a regional course on Combating Money Laundering and other Financial Crimes organised by the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management(WAIFEM), held in Abuja. She accused banks of complicity in money laundering when she said: “bank facilities are used knowingly and unknowingly to further the act of money laundering, and in most cases to retain the proceeds of such crime.” Her speech that was read at the event by Charles Mordi, director of research of the apex bank is an indictment of banks generally, in the perpetuation of this criminality.

    The enormity of this crime globally could be gleaned where the apex bank’s top woman stated that “over 80 percent of the proceeds of money laundering are associated with banks, one way or the other, all over the world.” We recollect that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in its survey conducted as far back as 2009 to determine the magnitude of illicit funds and to investigate to what extent the funds are laundered declared that criminal proceeds amounting to 3.6 percent of global GDP was reportedly laundered. We wonder what the actual percentage could be in 2014.

    Some of the vicious money laundering activities include proceeds of computer fraud, bribery, round-tripping, drug trafficking, prostitution rings, embezzlement, financial fraud, capital flight, fake cheques, fake currency minting, advanced fee fraud and insiders abuse. These illegal acts, on several occasions, have put banks’ professional integrity and ethical standards on the line. Yet, the destabilising acts have inexorably been on the increase, especially in the country where corrupt public officials launder public funds in collaboration with bank officials.

    Over time, money laundering has become an avenue through which perpetrators try to legitimise ill-gotten gains. It provides a means for controlling such criminal proceeds without attracting attention to the underlying activity or the persons/groups involved. However, such initiative is particularly detrimental to developing economies, including that of Nigeria, with its potential capability for perilous distortions on financial markets and its dampening effects on foreign direct investment (FDI). The act necessitated global scrutiny of all financial transactions, including embarrassingly, the legal ones, because it has become a ruinous catalyst for cross-border illicit asset transfers.

    We recollect that the G-7 summit which held in Paris in 1989 beamed its klieg light on the cankerworm. The summit established the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on money laundering to co-ordinate international response through the development of 40 recommendations targeted at guiding national governments in their implementation of effective anti-money laundering programmes.

    Nigeria subscribed to those recommendations and we demand to know how far the country has gone in obliterating money laundering in our clime. We know that the act has been criminalised through the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011. But how far has the nation gone in the enforcement of her money laundering law through prosecution of infractions and subsequent convictions in courts? More importantly, how effective are the investigative agencies saddled with the responsibility of tracking the crime and to what extent have the agencies been collaborating with their foreign counterparts?

    Nigeria needs a renewed money laundering initiative that would bring law enforcement agencies and financial regulatory authorities and other stakeholders not only in the country but within the West African sub-region together, to discuss and come up with initiatives that would stem the tide. The time to do that is now!

     

  • CBN retains interest rate at 12%

    CBN retains interest rate at 12%

    The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has unanimously voted to retain the current stance of the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 12 per cent.

    The body also opted to keep the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) on public sector deposits at 75 per cent and CRR on private sector deposits at 15 per cent; while also retaining the MPR corridor at +/-200 basis points.

    This disclosure was made on Tuesday by the Acting Governor of the CBN, Dr. Sarah Alade, at the end of the 95th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the apex bank in Abuja.

    Alade also revealed that Nigeria’s gross official external reserves has grown to US$38.30 billion as at May 15 compared to US$37.40 billion at end of March and US$42.85 billion as at  December 2013.

    She noted that the current level of the country’s external reserves could provide approximately nine months of imports cover.

    On the 12 per cent interest rate, the Acting CBN Governor said, “the committee noted with satisfaction Nigeria’s overall domestic economic environment which has remained stable with inflation contained within the target range, the recent stability in the foreign exchange market, stable interbank rates and strong growth outlook.”

    The key challenge for the policy, in the Committee’s view, she added “was that of sustaining and deepening the outcomes of existing policies.

    The key risk factors, according to Dr. Alade, include the high systemic banking system liquidity, elevated security concerns and anticipated high election-related spending in the run-up to the 2015 general elections.

     

     

  • CBN insists on OMO for liquidity management

    CBN insists on OMO for liquidity management

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)  has said it will continue to rely on Open Market Operations (OMO) auctions as the major tool to control liquidity in the system.

    The OMO entails the buying and selling of government’s securities in the open market to expand or contract the amount of money in  circulation.

    In a circular, the CBN said the OMO will be discretionary and will involve the sale or purchase of Treasury Bills and CBN Bills through the market that would include auctions and two-way quote trading, adding that the securities will be of specified tenor and volume, linked to assessed liquidity conditions in the banking system.

    Participants at OMO auctions would be the authorised Money Market Dealers (MMDs) comprising commercial and merchant banks, non-interest financial institutions and discount houses.

    Also, based on market liquidity conditions and the subsisting Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), OMO will be complemented by repurchase agreements (repo/reverse repo), at the applicable rates.

    The CBN said commercial and merchant banks will continue to maintain a minimum Liquidity Ratio (LR) of between 20 and 30 per cent. Discount houses will continue to invest at least 60 per cent of their total borrowings in government securities while the ratio of individual bank loans to deposits was retained at 80 per cent.

    It said the discount window at the CBN would remain available to give authorised dealers access to effective management of their temporary liquidity shortages or surpluses. Thus, standing facilities would continue to be open to them on overnight basis in line with subsisting guidelines. The facilities would be in the form of Standing Lending Facility (SLF) to address temporary shortfalls in liquidity, and Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) to aid effective management of short-term liquidity surpluses.

    The CBN said it will determine the applicable interest rates on the facilities and allow rediscounting of eligible securities at the discount window at its rates.

    The CBN said it would continue to adopt the risk-based supervision (RBS) approach in the supervision of institutions under its regulatory purview.

    “The objective of the RBS approach is to provide an effective process to assess the safety and soundness of banks and other financial institutions.This is achieved by evaluating their risk profile, financial condition, risk management practices and compliance with applicable laws and regulations,” it explained.

    It enjoined banks to pursue profitability in their business models through efficient operations, adding that they should charge competitive rather than excessive rates of interest in the course of their transactions. The lenders are also expected to disclose their prime and maximum lending rates as fixed spreads over the MPR.

  • CBN seeks backing for SWF

    CBN seeks backing for SWF

    The Central Bank of Nigeria on Tuesday asked the National Conference to provide constitutional backing for the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF).
    The apex bank highlighted the necessity for the country to save for the rainy day.
    The bank also said that there was need for the creation of the office of Accountant-General for Federal Government which would be separate from the existing office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF).
    The Acting Governor of CBN, Dr. Serah Alade, who made the demands while the National Conference Committee on Public Finance invited her for a chat noted that it was necessary to invest for the future.
    Alade was represented at the briefing by the bank’s Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Alhaji Suleiman Barau.
    Alade said: “Nigeria’s Sovereign Wealth Fund was intended to replace the Excess Crude Account (ECA) in order to provide long term savings for economic stabilization, infrastructural development and generational equity.
    The ECA has been criticized as a mere arrangement based on a memorandum of understanding among the three tiers of government, thus necessitating the need for a constitutional backing for the SWF to provide for a stable long term saving to address the country’s infrastructural challenges, provide stabilization fund against the volatilities in oil prices/revenues and ensure generational equity.
    “This has been the basis of continuous demand to draw to meet budget shortfalls in the form of argumentation. It is thus, imperative to give constitutional impetus to the SWF established by the Federal Government.
    “We can no longer afford to continue to live from hand to mouth. Public sector savings have become the norm for resource-rich, resource-dependent economies and Nigeria should not be an exception. We must save for today and for future generations.”

     

  • Financial council to quiz Sanusi, Alade, Lemo, Moghalu, Akingbola, 10 others

    Financial council to quiz Sanusi, Alade, Lemo, Moghalu, Akingbola, 10 others

    The Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC) will tomorrow and Thursday question the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi; CBN Acting Governor, Dr. Sarah Alade; former CBN Deputy Governor, Operations, Tunde Lemo; CBN Deputy Governor, Operations, Dr. Kingsley Moghalu; and former Managing Director/CEO of the defunct Intercontinental Bank Plc, Mr. Erastus Akingbola.

    Also to be questioned are the Managing Director of the Bank of Industry (BoI), Ms Evelyn Oputu; CBN Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Alhaji Suleiman Barau; Mr. Babatunde Dayo; Mr. Gabriel Okpeh and Mr. Ezekiel Ejedele.

    Also to appear before the FRC hearing panel are the former Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Security, Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC), Mr. Ehi’ E Okoyomon; Alhaji Ahmed Barmali; Mr. Igho Dafinone; the immediate past Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imokhuede; and his successor, Mr. Herbert Wigwe.

    While Sanusi, Aalde, Lemo and six others are expected to appear at the interrogation to be held at the FRC head office in Lagos on Thursday at 11 am, Akingbola, Aig-Imoukuede, Wigwe and three others are to appear at the same time tomorrow.

    The FRC said in a newspaper advert published yesterday that it is investigating the activities of the CBN for financial years ended December 31, 2011 and 2012. The investigation, the council said, includes related matters arising from transactions and events, which impacted on the 2011 and 2012 from earlier years and have implications for later periods.

    “We wish to inform the under-listed persons that the FRC is investigating the activities of the CBN for financial years ended December 31, 2011 and 2012. This investigation includes related matters arising from transactions and events, which impacted on 2011 and 2012 from earlier years and have implications for later periods,” the report said.

    The FRC management said letters had been sent to the concerned persons before the current invitation to hearing.

    Sanusi was suspended on February 20 by President Goodluck Jonathan for alleged financial recklessness. That was after he said the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had failed to remit $20 billion oil revenue to the Federation Account. He has denied any wrongdoing.

     

  • NNPC denies receipt of N59.7b from Service Wide Vote

    NNPC denies receipt of N59.7b from Service Wide Vote

    •Reps summon CBN, AGF, Budget Office over ‘missing’ fund

    The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts is seeking answers to what became of the N59.7billon given to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) from the Service Wide Vote.

    According to the Solomon Adeola-Olamilekan-led committee, the fund was paid from the Service Wide Vote in 2006.

    The committee said there was need to have wider deliberations on the issue and summoned the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr. Jonah Otunla, the acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Sarah Alade and the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Bright Okogu.

    But the NNPC management yesterday denied receipt of the N59.7 billion allegedly approved from the Service Wide Vote for the payment of oil subsidy.

    According to Timothy Okor, NNPC’s GMD, (Strategy), the N59.6 billion was not remitted to the corporation as alleged.

    He said efforts to get the requisite documents from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and Budget Office on the payment of the N59.7 billion proved abortive.

    NNPC said attempt to make the Budget Office and the Accountant-General of the Federation Office to write a formal letter that the N59.6 billion was not cash backed was not heeded.

    The committee chairman said there was need to summon the parties to explain why the subsidy money, removed from the Service Wide Vote and meant for NNPC could not be traced.

    Olamilekan said the NNPC should write a formal letter explaining the non-receipt of the N59.6 billion from the Service Wide Vote.

    He said: “NNPC for now cannot be indicted until otherwise proven when AGF and Budget Office come out with evidence that the money was disbursed and cash backed.

    “This committee hereby summons the CBN, AGF and Budget Office to explain why such sum of money was disbursed without any documentary evidence.”

  • Financial council to quiz Sanusi, Alade, Lemo, Moghalu, Akingbola, 10 others

    Financial council to quiz Sanusi, Alade, Lemo, Moghalu, Akingbola, 10 others

    The Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC) will tomorrow and Thursday question the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi; CBN Acting Governor, Dr. Sarah Alade; former CBN Deputy Governor, Operations, Tunde Lemo; CBN Deputy Governor, Operations, Dr. Kingsley Moghalu; and former Managing Director/CEO of the defunct Intercontinental Bank Plc, Mr. Erastus Akingbola.

    Also to be questioned are the Managing Director of the Bank of Industry (BoI), Ms Evelyn Oputu; CBN Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Alhaji Suleiman Barau; Mr. Babatunde Dayo; Mr. Gabriel Okpeh and Mr. Ezekiel Ejedele.

    Also to appear before the FRC hearing panel are the former Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Security, Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC), Mr. Ehi’ E Okoyomon; Alhaji Ahmed Barmali; Mr. Igho Dafinone; the immediate past Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imokhuede; and his successor, Mr. Herbert Wigwe.

    While Sanusi, Aalde, Lemo and six others are expected to appear at the interrogation to be held at the FRC head office in Lagos on Thursday at 11 am, Akingbola, Aig-Imoukuede, Wigwe and three others are to appear at the same time tomorrow.

    The FRC said in a newspaper advert published yesterday that it is investigating the activities of the CBN for financial years ended December 31, 2011 and 2012. The investigation, the council said, includes related matters arising from transactions and events, which impacted on the 2011 and 2012 from earlier years and have implications for later periods.

    “We wish to inform the under-listed persons that the FRC is investigating the activities of the CBN for financial years ended December 31, 2011 and 2012. This investigation includes related matters arising from transactions and events, which impacted on 2011 and 2012 from earlier years and have implications for later periods,” the report said.

    The FRC management said letters had been sent to the concerned persons before the current invitation to hearing.

    Sanusi was suspended on February 20 by President Goodluck Jonathan for alleged financial recklessness. That was after he said the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had failed to remit $20 billion oil revenue to the Federation Account. He has denied any wrongdoing.