The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has called on member states to pay their outstanding contributions, as the organisation faces such a “severe financial crisis” that staff salaries risk not being paid next month.
Guterres said this on Tuesday while addressing the UN General Assembly to introduce a proposed budget for 2020.
The UN might start November “without enough cash to cover payrolls,” Guterres warned. “Our work and our reforms are at risk.”
Some member states that have not paid their dues include- Nigeria, Israel, Brazil and Iran.
The United States, which is the biggest donor to the UN, has not also paid its dues in full following the decision of President Donald Trump to reduce America’s contribution to the UN.
President Muhammadu Buhari sent a multitude of delegates to this year’s UN General Assembly sessions, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Godfrey Onyeama, in SSeptember.
At least three governors and six ministers were on the trip accompanied by a retinue of aides and carry-ons racking up thousands of dollars in estacodes, according to Africa Report.
Two Nigerian nationals- Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed and current President of the UN General Assembly, Tijjani Bande – are also currently among the UN’s most high-ranking officials.
Nigeria had in 2017 resolved to withdraw from 90 out of the 310 international organisations to which it has financial commitments.
The then Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, had put Nigeria’s annual commitment to all the international organisations at $70m.
She had said the country owed all the organisations about $200m, adding that the decision to withdraw from 90 of such organisations was aimed at cutting cost.
Guterres called on UN member states to “recommit to paying your financial obligations on time and in full.”
Of 193 members, 129 had paid their contributions to the regular budget, according to Guterres’s spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric.
By the end of September, 70 per cent of the total amount needed for budget operations had been paid, Dujarric said. At the same point last year the UN had received 78 per cent of its budget.
“The secretariat could face a default on salaries and payments for goods and services by the end of November unless more Member States pay their budget dues in full,” Dujarric said.
The US is expected to cover 22 per cent of the UN’s regular budget, according to a Congressional Research Service report published in 2018.
According to CNN, the US is obligated to contribute $674m to the UN regular budget for 2018-2019.
However, it owes a total $1.055bn, according to the UN spokesman’s office, which is cumulative money owed from previous years.
Nine persons, including a 12-year-old boy have been abducted in Pegi community, a resettlement area in Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The victims were kidnapped last night around 8:00pm by gunmen who dressed in military camouflage. The gunmen shot at two vehicles, including one NISSAN Frontier and Toyota Solara.
The bullets deflated the tyres and created deep holes on the vehicles. One of the victims was said to be in critical condition. A victim who was released on health ground said the attackers could not be less than 20.
Daily Trust gathered that the kidnappers had called this morning demanding N10 million ransom from a relative of the abductees. This is the second time kidnapping incident would happen in the community.
Last year, four people were kidnapped along the same makeshift path to the community that housed naval quarters. A naval officer and one civilian were seriously injured at the scene which is less than 300 metres to the community in the December 6, 2018 incident.
Just like what happened yesterday, the victims were stopped while driving home around the same time in the night. The abductees trekked for eight hours through forest before finally reaching the kidnappers’ den in Nasarawa State.
The Akin Fadeyi Foundation, Conveners of the Corruption Not In My Country Project are set to launch a new mobile and web application device designed to empower Nigerians to report corruption on October 10, 2019 at the ShehuYar’Adua Centre, Abuja.
The Report-Corruption-App, called FLAG’IT, a project initiated by the Akin Fadeyi Foundation is funded by the John.D and Catharine. T. MacArthur Foundation to further promote anti-corruption fight in Nigeria by working with public institutions to open us their processes for transparency, accountability and excellent service delivery.
With FLAG’IT App, citizens shall be able to report and document their experiences around corruption and engage with government officials on issues bordering service delivery and corrupt practices across the country. The App also has a feature for documenting positive stories about credible and and outstanding public Officers.
Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Professor ItseSagay, will deliver the Keynote Address at the launch, while the Publisher of PREMIUM TIMES, Mr. DapoOlorunyomi, Dr. BoboyeOyeyemi Corp Marshal of Federal Roads Safety Corps, Dr. KoleShettima, Co-Director on Nigeria and Africa Director, MacAuthur Foundation, Oliver Stolpe, Country Representative, United Nations Office On Drugs and Crime and Simon Kolawole, Founder of The Cable Online Newspaper are also billed to speak at the event.
On the inherent benefits of institutional collaborations in fighting corruption, a panel of Discussants shall also rub minds in a technical session with the FRSC officials. They are, AjuriNgelale, Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Ramatu Umar Bako, Head of Public Engagement, OXFAM, Ademola Adigun, TEAM lead at Facility for Oil Sector Transformation (FOSTER), ChidoOnumah, PhD, Executive Director, AFRICMIL, and Auwal Rafsanjani, Executive Director, CISLAC and Board Chair, Transparency International, Nigeria.
Prof Itse Sagay
Last September, the Akin Fadeyi Foundation announced a strategic collaboration with the Federal Road Safety Corps on the Report-Corruption-App and expressed strong confidence that the birthing of this App is the beginning of a reawakening of the consciousness of Nigerian citizens to combat corruption. Akin Fadeyi Foundation is one of the Grantees in MacAuthur Foundation’s BET-ON-NIGERIA Project and has been in the vanguard of deploying Drama parodies to campaign against corruption in Nigeria.
Working with the cream of Nigerian thespians, the Drama project titled Corruption Not In My Country was conceptualized to trigger a soul search and self re-evaluation as part of the processes of nation building.
In announcing this forthcoming unveiling of the App, Founder and Executive Director, Akin Fadeyi Foundation, Mr. Akin Fadeyi said, “We are trying to explore a technology-driven approach and empower citizens’ to report corruption. Through this, we hope to stimulate accountability and inspire confidence in our public institutions. The FLAG’IT App is a valuable tool in our ambitious quest for a corrupt-free public service. We, therefore, implore Nigerians to download FLAG’IT after the launching from October 10 and work with us in demanding for transparent and accountable institutions in our anti-corruption fight”.
FIDELITY Bank Plc has announced the takeoff of its “Get Alert In Millions (GAIM) Season 4” promo during which N120 million will be won.
The GAIM promo is expected to run till April 2020, a duration of six months. Speaking at a press conference heralding the commencement of the promo in Lagos, the bank’s Managing Director/CEO, Nnamdi Okonkwo said the campaign is the ninth in the series of savings promos organised by the bank in last 12 years to reward its customers.
Okonkwo who was represented by the Executive Director, Shared Services & Products (EDSS&P), Chijioke Ugochukwu pointed out that the campaign seeks to reward customers for their loyalty and patronage. Whilst the savings promo is targeted at a cross section of customers, Chijioke noted that the Bank apart from using traditional channels will utilise digital platforms such as its Quick Response (QR) code and Virtual Assistant to reach unserved areas.
Giving insight into the rationale behind organising this initiative, Okonkwo noted that savings promo remained an integral part of the bank. He asserted that the promo was focused on reaching out to the unbanked population across the nation. “We embark on campaigns like this to drive financial inclusion in line with the financial inclusion strategy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN. This savings promo allows us to take banking the nooks and crannies of the work.n
“It also gives us an opportunity to promote a savings culture which is critical to building up investible funds for individuals and companies and a key component of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth”, she added. Stating that the lender remained on course to achieve its strategic objective of becoming a tier one Bank by 2022, the MD explained that building a robust and solid saving volumes for the institution was a critical pillar to attaining the aforementioned target.
It was a hot afternoon on Wednesday, June 5. The scorching sun bore no mercy on Haruna Dauda as he worked on hides in a micro industry located at Umar Babura road, Bompai, Kano.
While work was ongoing, Mr Dauda’s phone rang. He said he ignored the call first time, then later answered the call.
It was a distress call from his family.
“I relaxed, listening to her, she said you have to come back home. There’s a problem. Mustapha was brought back home, faeces is coming out from his anus uncontrollably; he was raped; his clothes were damaged by the faeces. We locked him inside a room because he is behaving abnormally and trying to flee,” Mr Dauda recounted the distress call to PREMIUM TIMES.
The 13-year-old Mustapha, a JSS 1 student, was the victim of the rape.
On getting home, Mr Dauda arranged for the teenager to be taken to the hospital. The hospital requested that the police must be involved before any treatment.
“I took the case to the police. The suspect identified as Aliyu Saminu lives in the same community. He was arrested and subsequently interrogated at the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) where he made a confessional statement on how he was lured into the nefarious activity by other members of the society,” Mr Dauda, a resident of Kwajalawa-Zango community in Ungogo Local Government Area of Kano, told PREMIUM TIMES .
Charging the Suspect
After the arrest and interrogation, the suspect was charged before a Magistrate Court at Audu Bako Secretariat Complex on August 13. But the case was not mentioned that day.
The case was first slated for hearing on August 20 but the session could not hold due to the absence of the judge. A new date, September 11, was then slated.
On September 11, the court session could also not hold due to the judge’s absence. The court registrar again slated October 7 for hearing.
“With this prolonging of such kind of offence I doubt if at the end, justice would be served,” a frustrated Mr Dauda said.
Mustapha, the rape Victim
He said his son has stopped going to school because of the trauma the incident caused him.
Rape Case
Mustapha’s case is not isolated. Recent statistics from the police have shown a growing trend of rape in Kano, a densely populated state in Nigeria’s North West.
The police in Kano said it recorded 80 cases of rape from January to August in 2019. In 2018, the figure was 105 and 334 in 2017. Rape victims are mostly young girls and women but also include boys like Mustapha.
The Sexual Assault Referral Centre in the state recorded a much higher figure than the police. The centre admits rape victims on self-referral, as well as from the police and other government agencies. The centre treats and counsels a minimum of 50 cases of rape and sexual assault monthly, an official told this reporter.
The head of Transparency and Development Information Initiative, a civic group, Ibrahim Garba-Maryam, faulted police investigation on rape cases in Kano. He said the process eventually leads to denial of justice for both suspects and victims.
Mr Garba-Maryam said rape cases are usually scuttled during police investigation. He added that the police deliberately waste time during investigation and sometimes try cases in wrong courts.
Mr Garba-Maryam, whose organisation works on justice for both the suspects and the victims, bemoaned the police’s attitude towards investigating rape cases. He said some of the police stations don’t go to the Sexual Assault Referral Centre for proper investigation before prosecuting the suspect, hence, rendering the evidences before the court incomplete.
“By remanding rape suspects for years without trial, they are also denied access to justice. Justice is for all. The government should also, consider compensating rape victims even when the suspect was convicted. This would reduce their trauma, because some of the victims became easy prey for rapists due to poverty or lack of education and other societal norms,” Mr Garba-Maryam said.
He said his organisation has taken up Mustapha’s case to give him support and ensure that justice is served.
Police Deny Wrongdoing
In his reaction, the police spokesperson in Kano, Abdullahi Haruna, denied any wrong doing in the handling of rape cases.
“Rape case is a criminal offence. The police station admits the case and must transfer it to Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for discreet investigation. The CID presides over the case and must not hold suspect within certain period of time, which we have to charge suspect to magistrate court for holding brief,” Mr Haruna said.
Mr Haruna also spoke on Mustapha’s case, suggesting that charging the accused to magistrate court, though improper, was only a first step.
“While we charged Mr Saminu (the suspect in Mustapha’s case) to magistrate court, the police legal department would later prepare a case diary and send to high court. Afterwards, the high court would take over the case from the magistrate court for proper hearing,” he said.
The case is, however, still at the magistrate court where the judge is yet to sit, indicating justice may still take a long time for Mr Dauda and his family.
The police spokesperson then explained how the police handle rape cases.
Mr Haruna said whenever a rape case is reported at a police division or post, the investigation commences immediately. While the victim is rushed to the hospital, he said, the police also launch a manhunt for the suspect.
“That’s how Mustapha’s case was treated,” he said.
“However, in a situation where the suspect is at hand, we obtain his statement at the division for preliminary investigation at the station.”
Mr Haruna said the case is then often transferred to the CID where it is handled by trained investigators.
He said this procedure was followed in Mustapha’s case.
“We’ve arrested the suspect, investigated the claims and charged the suspect to court, what more do you think we can do,” he asked rhetorically.
Trial in a wrong court
Section 14 of the Criminal Procedure Court (CPC) empowers the high court of a state to try and pass sentence on any offence authorised by law. Appendix A, Column six of the CPC provides that the high court of a state is the least court empowered to try rape cases.
As it is, Mustapha’s case is dragging in a court that lacks jurisdiction to preside over rape cases.
Worse still, the teenager’s family could not afford the services of a lawyer. The case is currently being handled by police prosecutor.
A Kano-based lawyer, Rabiu Rijiyar-Lemu, argued that the case should be charged to the right court to access justice.
“Court jurisdiction is paramount in accessing justice. The jurisdiction of court in any criminal case is fundamental.
“Without the jurisdiction, the proceedings of the court no matter how beautiful is tantamount to nullity,” Mr Rijiyar-Lemu said.
“Basically, rape is a capital offence, and it’s categorically and unambiguously stated that capital offences are the jurisdiction of the High Court,” he said.
He said both Mustapha and Mr Saminu (the suspect) may be denied access to justice.
“The accused person may suffer indefinitely in prison custody, while the victim becomes frustrated with adjournments.”
The legal practitioner mentioned Section 283 of the penal code as the main law under which Mr Saminu would be tried.
The section reads, “Whoever has canal intercourse against the order nature with Man, Woman or Animal shall be punish(ed) with imprisonment of term which may extend to fourteen years and shall also be liable to fine.”
Why rape victims are denied justice – Centre
The Head of Counselling Unit, Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), Kano, Halima BB-Farouk, said rape suspects get off the hook easily because of lack of proper investigation and medical confirmation.
Absence of these, she said, makes it difficult to prove the suspects’ guilt.
She said the reason some of the rape cases are still being delayed in court is probably because they did not pass through counselling and medical examination by the sexual assault centre domiciled at Emergency Section of the Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital Kano.
She also said the centre established in 2016 was meant to checkmate the rampant cases of rape in the state and assist victims to access justice in a court by using the medical reports issued by the centre. She said the centre has treated and counselled over 4,000 rape victims,
Mrs BB-Farouk added that the high rate of rape cases recorded in the state is alarming with 102 cases recorded in July. She said the least number of rape cases recorded in any month is 53.
“The statistics available with us indicate that 80 per cent of the rape suspect were house helps and the victims are foreign neighbouring nationals working in the state.
“Other suspects are members of the victims’ relatives who were trusted, as well as male parents who also rape their children,” Mrs BB-Farouk said.
She noted that their services are free and can be accessed at the centre.
“Preferably, male rape victims are advised to report the issue within four days, if not the penetrated area would return to its normal position which makes it difficult for medical examination to ascertain the truth about the claim. As for female, medical examination proves penetration even after a long time,” she said.
Investigation process denying victims justice – Chief Registrar
The Chief Registrar, High Court of Justice, Kano, Jamilu Suleiman, explained impediments that lead to delay in prosecution of rape cases.
He mentioned “the investigation by the police which requires medical confirmation, filling a case diary for upward transmission to the office of the Attorney General and obtaining original copy of the case diary from the police” as activities that “consume a lot of time” during rape trial.
“What judges need, is to have a medical report confirming penetration. The courts are ready to take evidences,” he said.
He also faulted the police for filing rape cases at the magistrate court.
He said rape cases, like armed robbery and murder, are to be tried at the high court because they are capital offences that cannot be entertained in a magistrate court.
Justice for Mustapha
It is not only Mustapha’s parents that are disturbed about the situation, his teacher at Government Day Junior Secondary School, Bara’atu Aliyu, said she is disturbed that the incident has compelled the teenager to stop coming to school.
“Definitely, as I speak to you he has to repeat class because there’s no way he can meet up with his mates in the school. The boy need to be compensated,” she said.
Mrs Aliyu also decried the high rate of unreported rape cases in the state.
She called on parents to report rape cases so as to expose the perpetrators.
For Mustapha’s father, the long road to get justice is wearing him down.
“I’m a labourer, living from hand to mouth. I don’t have the financial capability to withstand the shuttling around court and my working place,” he said.
“I suspected a suspicious movement from the officials, because the suspected rapist is a son of retired prisons official. I need the intervention of concerned citizens to help my son get access to justice,” a frustrated Mr Dauda said.
With a view to enhance financial inclusion across the country, First Bank of Nigeria Limited has announced its drive to get up to 500,000 operators on board its agent banking platform. This was disclosed at the opening ceremony of the 12th Annual Conference of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) by FirstBank’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, who also served as the Chairman of the CIBN 2019 Conference Consultative Committee. The event was held in Abuja on 24 – 25 September 2019.
The CIBN conference themed: “the future of the Nigerian banking industry – 360o” had Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria as the Special Guest of Honour.
In his remarks, the Bank’s CEO said FirstBank would support all efforts to ensure effective financial inclusion in Nigeria.
According to Adeduntan “we have a very ambitious plan to appoint about 500,000 agents across the nook and cranny of our country and to ensure that banking facilities and services are made available to all Nigerians.”
He noted that the banking sector in Nigeria remained the primary partner to the government with regards to economic growth and development in the country. “If we do not utilise those opportunities and mainstream them properly, the country and the entire economy will be left behind,” Adeduntan stated.
In 2017, FirstBank launched its agent banking network; ‘Firstmonie Agent’, described as its ‘Human ATM’. The Firstmonie Agents are empowered to extend access to finance to all Nigerians, regardless of where they may be across the country. The Firstmonie Agents complement the Bank’s effort at reducing the unbanked in the country, whilst providing a handful of the Bank’s bespoke financial services, including; account opening; cash deposit; airtime purchase; bills payment; withdrawals and money transfer.
According to the Bank, FirstMonie Agents are usually owners of small businesses within communities with limited or no banking penetration. The Bank has an Agent Banking strength of over 31,000 Agents, spread across 98% of the country’s 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs).
Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria (middle); Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, Chief Executive Officer, First Bank of Nigeria Limited (right); Dr Uche Olowu, President, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (second right); Otunba Debola Osibogun, Non-Executive Director, FBN Holdings Plc and former President, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (third left); Mr. Abdullahi Ibrahim, Executive Director, Public Sector, First Bank of Nigeria Limited (second left); and Folake Ani-Mumuney, Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, First Bank of Nigeria Limited (left) at the CIBN 12th Annual Banking and Finance Conference held in Abuja
The police in Kaduna on Thursday raided a home with over 300 people in Rigasa in the Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
The cops freed about 300 people who were chained in the house, including children.
They were said to be from Burkina Faso, Mali and other African countries, according to the force.
The children were said to have confessed to being abused homosexually.
Some of the others were said to have been subjected to daily recitation of the Holy Quran and prayers with torture.
According to Bello Hamza, a 42-year-old inmate, he was tricked to the centre by his family who are interested in taking “over my share of our inheritance.”
“I have spent three months here. I am supposed to be pursuing my Masters at the University of Pretoria in South Africa.
“This is supposed to be an Islamic centre, but trying to run away from here attracts severe punishment; they tie people and hang them to the ceiling. However, engaging in homosexuality attracts no punishment.”
The Kaduna State Commissioner for Police, Ali Janga, said, “We received information that something is going on in this rehabilitation centre or Islamic centre. On getting here, we discovered that this is neither a rehabilitation centre nor Islamic school.
“The man who is operating this home claimed that parents brought their children here for rehabilitation. But, from the look of things, this is not a rehabilitation centre. No reasonable parent will bring their children to this place.
The proprietor of the centre called Malam said all they did in the centre was the teaching of Islam.
He stated, “All those allegations of torture, degumanisation and homosexuality are false and mere allegations. We do nothing here other than teaching people Islam.”
About one-third of African students studying in the U.S. are Nigerians, an official said on Wednesday.
The Cultural Affairs Officer of the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, Malia Heroux, made this known during an education fair for Nigerian students seeking admission into American universities for undergraduate and graduate studies.
The fair, organised by the EducationUSA Advising Center, is to familiarise Nigerian students with scholarships in U.S. universities.
The event was attended by students from over 20 public and private schools in Abuja.
Some of the American institutions present were Millersville University, Columbia College Chicago, Calvin University, University of Illinois, University of Chicago, and Webster University.
According to Ms Heroux, about 13,000 Nigerians go to study in the USA yearly. She said about 39,000 African students study in the USA indicating Nigeria makes up about a third.
Also speaking, the Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy, Kathleen FitzGibbon, said the embassy assists the students in securing admission in universities in the United State.
She said the embassy helped to secure about $9 million worth of scholarship from colleges and universities last year.
“Individual universities in the USA gives scholarship, it is not us giving out the money as the government. In Abuja last year, the students got scholarship worth of $9 million and that is for Abuja alone,” she said.
She said there is a wide variety of programmes being offered in the U.S. and Nigeria universities.
“We also have people who come from the USA to study the Yoruba and Hausa language,” she said.
Students speak
Some of the students who interacted with PREMIUM TIMES said they attended with the hope of eventually security scholarships to study in the U.S.
A 16-year-old, Rhibetnan Plang, from Olumawu college said she hopes to go study in the U.S.
“I am here to look for schools that will have my course. I want to study public health. I grew up in Nigeria, I will like to move somewhere else,” she said.
Dudu Oluwapelumi, a 15-year-old from Government Science Secondary School Pyakasa-Maitama, said he wants to find a school that will have merit scholarship to study animal science.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc and the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry(LCCI), have assured small medium enterprises (SMEs) that the 2019 Lagos International Trade Fair will bring far reaching benefits that will help transform their businesses and take it to the next level.
UBA’s Head Group Consumer Retail Business, Mr. Jude Anele, who gave this assurance on Tuesday at a press conference to officially herald the 2019 Lagos international Trade Fair as well as unveil sponsors of the trade fair, said that Africa’s global bank has put in place various service offerings to guarantee that this year’s fair provides a veritable platform targeted at catalysing businesses to new highs.
He explained that the 33rd edition of Lagos International Trade Fair scheduled to commence on November 1st, 2019 is expected to provide an avenue for networking, trade and investment bound to boost business activities in Africa’s largest economy and by extension, Africa.
While ensuring that SMEs maximise their presence at the fair, Anele explained that UBA would provide uninterrupted banking services during the two-week event, and also provide advisory services to the small and medium entrepreneurs, which the bank realises is fundamental to achieving their business goals.
He said, “Worthy of mention is that merchants and entrepreneurs from other African countries and abroad would be able to conduct their transactions seamlessly without currency exchange hassles, using the extensive reach of UBA as a pan African bank with presence in key commercial capitals in the world,”
“We have realised that critical to the success of SMEs in Africa is not necessarily access to finance, but their understanding of business and accounting mechanisms, process and procedures critical to their growth and existence especially on e-commerce, tax management, and bookkeeping and access to funding, and these are issues which we are trying to address,” he said.
Speaking on the ease of payment during the event, especially with African companies from outside Nigeria, Anele disclosed that UBA has successfully put in place solutions that would see ease of payment within Africa. “UBA will be deploying state-of-art Point of Terminals(POS) configured towards ensuring merchants receive immediate values in currencies of their choice,” Anele assured.
The Bank further said that in line with its unflinching support to the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), it has reached an agreement with the organisers of the fair to give 20% discount to its small and medium business customers who register to showcase their products and services at the fair.
A key activity at this year’s fair is the Africa Special Day, to be organised by UBA to promote Intra-African Trade. “At UBA, we believe that Africans must grow trade and investment amongst themselves. In pursuits of that goal, Africa Special Day will seek for the promotion of trade and investment among African countries.”
Also speaking, the Chairman, Trade Promotion Board, Mr. Gabriel Idahosa promised that the 33rd edition of West Africa’s flagship fair would bring utmost value to entrepreneurs and businesses in Nigeria and beyond as he acknowledged the massive support being provided by corporate organisations such as UBA
“At UBA, we have chosen a suitable partner with extensive reach on the continent with capacity to engineer a seamless financial transaction expected of international trade fair of this magnitude,” he said.
Speaking further on the partnership with UBA, he said: “The LCCI and UBA has partnered to give exciting services to visitors and exhibitors at the fair. UBA is a foremost Pan African financial institution operating in 20 African countries, the United Kingdom and the USA and France, thus offering unique services to the delight of visitors and exhibitors during the fair.”
According to Idahosa, 40,000 square metres of exhibition spaces are available with over 2,000 exhibitors from 16 African countries and 200 foreign exhibitors expected in Lagos.
l-r: Chairman, Operations Committee, Trade Commission Board, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry(LCCI) Engr. Ojo Banjoko; Head, SME Sales, Airtel Nigeria, Toyin Seriki; Chairman, Trade Promotion Board and Vice-President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry(LCCI), Mr Gabriel Idahosa; and Group Head, Consumer and Retail Banking, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Mr. Jude Anele; at the Press Conference organised by LCCI, the headline partner, UBA Plc with other partners, on the upcoming Lagos International Trade Fair 2019 in Lagos on Tuesdayr-l: Group Head, Consumer and Retail Banking, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Mr. Jude Anele; Chairman, Trade Promotion Board and Vice-President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry(LCCI), Mr Gabriel Idahosa; and Head, SME Sales, Airtel Nigeria, Toyin Seriki, at the Press Conference organised by LCCI, the headline partner, UBA Plc with other partners, on the upcoming Lagos International Trade Fair 2019 in Lagos on TuesdayChairman, Trade Promotion Board and Vice-President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry(LCCI), Mr Gabriel Idahosa and Group Head, Consumer and Retail Banking, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Mr. Jude Anele, at the Press Conference organised by LCCI and the headline partner, UBA Plc, on the upcoming Lagos International Trade Fair 2019 in Lagos on Tuesday
The house of representatives has asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to hit the brakes on the implementation of the cashless policy it recently re-introduced.
At the plenary session on Thursday, the lower legislative chamber said the policy will lead to a significant decrease in credit extension by Nigerian money deposit banks.
The lawmakers also said the policy will have negative impacts on small and medium enterprises “which are clearly the engine room for growth of the economy”.
In a circular released on Tuesday, the CBN had directed all deposit money banks in the country to charge 3% processing fees for withdrawals and 2% for deposits of amounts above N500,000 for individual accounts.
Corporate account holders will be charged 5% processing fees for withdrawals and 3% for deposits of amounts above N3 million.
The directive was, however, criticised by some Nigerians for various reasons.
In a motion introduced during the plenary session, Benjamin Kalu from Abia state and spokesman of the green chambers urged the lawmakers to call for the suspension of the policy pending further consultations on it.
He said while the policy is expected to reduce risk of cash-related crimes among other benefits, its implementation would have negative impacts on micro, small, and medium enterprises “thereby throwing many of them out of business and sending more Nigerians into poverty”.
Kalu said while Nigerians are still battling with the burden of the numerous bank charges introduced by commercial banks, the CBN deemed it necessary to “impose the implementation of cashless policy on deposits, without due consultations with all shades of stakeholder who will be impacted by the policy”.
“This overbearing burden is aimed at closing down majority of micro, mini, small and medium businesses in Nigeria while enriching Nigerian money deposit banks owned by a privileged few, without any known financial contribution to the consolidated revenue fund of the federation.”
The lower legislative chamber subsequently adopted the notion and urged the CBN to suspend the implementation of the policy “until the appropriate and extensive consultative process is concluded”.
It also directed its committee on banking and currency to meet with the apex bank to ascertain the relevance and need for such measure considering the prevailing economic situation of the country.
