Finance
Amaechi accuses Wike of diverting N45bn loan
LAGOS-THE immediate past governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has accused the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Nyesom Wike, of diverting N45bn loan taken by his administration.
Amaechi made this statement, on Sunday, at a special thanksgiving service organised to mark the October 25 ruling of the Supreme Court, which brought him into power as governor in 2007.
He said, “I borrowed N300bn and I paid N245bn back and I left about N15bn. But now, they are not borrowing to pay contractors. Rather they are borrowing for themselves.
“Borrow to pay contractors not for your purse. They have borrowed N45bn and nobody is seeing it. If you put N45bn in the state economy, the state will be bouncing. They will employ more workers, pay them and you will see things working.”
He said, “It is those roads that I have done that they are driving on. The stadium road was done by me and they are driving on it. I did underground gutter, but they are building gutter and covering it.
Reacting, the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the State Governor, Opunabo Inko-Tariah, described the allegation by Amaechi as malicious and spurious.
“On the malicious and spurious allegation by Rotimi Amaechi that Gov. Wike borrowed N45bn to line his pocket, it is laughable. Amaechi himself in one of his speeches said Governor Wike would inherit an empty treasury which was fleeced dry by him.
“Therefore, if Governor Wike, who inherited an empty treasury, could achieve the level of infrastructural development we are witnessing today and can also clear the unjustifiable liabilities he inherited from Amaechi as evidenced in his speech,where then did he get the money from to do all that that have put smiles on the faces of Rivers people who were despondent and frustrated under Amaechi if not with the loans he collected with the imprimatur of the House of Assembly?
“This obviates the need for any further evidence that the loans collected were judiciously applied and in tandem with the reasons for which they were collected. The allegation has no ounce of truth in it. Rivers people are quite intelligent to be deluded by such cheap lies,” Inko-Tariah said.
-THE immediate past governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has accused the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Nyesom Wike, of diverting N45bn loan taken by his administration.
Amaechi made this statement, on Sunday, at a special thanksgiving service organised to mark the October 25 ruling of the Supreme Court, which brought him into power as governor in 2007.
He said, “I borrowed N300bn and I paid N245bn back and I left about N15bn. But now, they are not borrowing to pay contractors. Rather they are borrowing for themselves.
“Borrow to pay contractors not for your purse. They have borrowed N45bn and nobody is seeing it. If you put N45bn in the state economy, the state will be bouncing. They will employ more workers, pay them and you will see things working.”
Amaechi lamented the situation of things in the state and maintained that projects embarked upon by his administration were valuable .
He said, “It is those roads that I have done that they are driving on. The stadium road was done by me and they are driving on it. I did underground gutter, but they are building gutter and covering it.
Reacting, the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the State Governor, Opunabo Inko-Tariah, described the allegation by Amaechi as malicious and spurious.
“On the malicious and spurious allegation by Rotimi Amaechi that Gov. Wike borrowed N45bn to line his pocket, it is laughable. Amaechi himself in one of his speeches said Governor Wike would inherit an empty treasury which was fleeced dry by him.
“Therefore, if Governor Wike, who inherited an empty treasury, could achieve the level of infrastructural development we are witnessing today and can also clear the unjustifiable liabilities he inherited from Amaechi as evidenced in his speech,where then did he get the money from to do all that that have put smiles on the faces of Rivers people who were despondent and frustrated under Amaechi if not with the loans he collected with the imprimatur of the House of Assembly?
“This obviates the need for any further evidence that the loans collected were judiciously applied and in tandem with the reasons for which they were collected. The allegation has no ounce of truth in it. Rivers people are quite intelligent to be deluded by such cheap lies,” Inko-Tariah said.
PUNCH-
Business
Nigeria pays US$4.9 billion on petrol subsidy in 2024- NNPCL
It was however noted by Biztellers.com.ng, that although subsidy is back in effect, the main reason for that is the increasingly weak state of the Naira and the country’s extreme dependence on products importation. Also unlike the previous subsidy era, where several oil marketers were getting free subsidy refunds for unverified product importation, this subsidy era is witnessing only one importer, the NNPCL, which in effect is the sole receiver of government subsidies.
Yemie ADEOYE
INSPITE of the official position of the Nigerian government that the controversial petrol subsidy is gone for good as announced by the President on assumption of office, the state owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL has disclosed that petrol subsidy is still fully operational in Nigeria, although, under a different identity.
Umar Ajiya, Chief Financial Officer at the NNPCL, disclosed that it cost the company a staggering N7.8 trillion (US$4.9) to cover this price gap in the first seven months of 2024.
Rather than simply referring to these claims as subsidies, he stated that the company is merely managing the price difference in petrol imports on behalf of the federation, stressing that this should not be misconstrued as a return to subsidy payments.
This revelation has reignited discussions on whether the NNPC is indirectly offering subsidies, a concept typically defined as selling a product below its cost price.
Documents reviewed by Biztellers.com.ng showed that the term “subsidy” was used extensively in official correspondence between the NNPCL and the presidency, particularly in reference to the “shortfall.”
Recall that President Bola Tinubu reportedly approved NNPC’s request to utilize the 2023 final dividends due to the federation to offset these costs.
However, during a media briefing on Monday about the company’s 2023 audited financial statements, Ajiya refuted claims that the NNPC is involved in any subsidy scheme.
Ajiya further disclosed that the Nigerian government owes the NNPC N7.8 trillion ($4.9 billion) in subsidy-related debts for the period from January to July 2024.
In furtherance of his clarification to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Ajiya insisted that no subsidy payments have been made to any marketer in the last nine years, citing the NNPC’s role as the sole importer of petrol under supply contracts.
He said, “In the last eight to nine years, NNPC Ltd. has not paid anyone a dime as a subsidy; no kobo has been disbursed by NNPC Ltd. in the name of subsidy. No marketer has received any payment from us for subsidy.”
“What has been happening is that we have been importing PMS, which has been landing at a specific cost price, and the government tells us to sell it at half price. So the difference between the landing price and that half price is a shortfall.
“And the deal is between the Federation and NNPC Ltd., to reconcile, sometimes they give us money, so there is no money exchanging hands with any marketer in the name of subsidy.”
Ajiya remained silent on how much of the $4.9 billion could have been remitted to the federation account if the NNPC had not been covering the “shortfall.”
It was however noted by Biztellers.com.ng, that although subsidy is back in effect, the main reason for that is the increasingly weak state of the Naira and the country’s extreme dependence on products importation. Also unlike the previous subsidy era, where several oil marketers were getting free subsidy refunds for unverified product importation, this subsidy era is witnessing only one importer, the NNPCL, which in effect is the sole receiver of government subsidies.
Banking
CBN Denies Currency Devaluation
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has refuted claims of devaluing the.
Earlier reports suggested that the CBN had devalued the Naira, lowering its exchange rate from N631 to the dollar, compared to the previous day’s rate of N461.60 at the Importers and Exporters (I&E) window.
However, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) released a statement on Thursday through its Acting Head of Corporate Communications, Dr. Isa Abdulmumin, categorizing the report as false information.
In the statement titled ‘CBN Has Not Devalued The Naira’, he said the attention of the apex bank was drawn to the news report by an Abuja based newspaper edition of June 1, 2023, titled “CB Devalues Naira To 630/51”.
However, the CBN stated categorically that the news report was replete with outright FALSEHOODS and destabilizing innuendos, ‘reflecting potentially willful ignorance of the said medium as to the workings of the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market.’
“For the avoidance of doubt, the exchange rate at the Investors’ & Exporters (I&E) window traded this morning (June 1, 2023) at N465/USS1 and has been stable around this rate for a while.
“The public is hereby advised to ignore the news report by Daily Trust in its entirety, as it is speculative and calculated at causing panic in the market,” the CBN spokesman added.
He, therefore, advised media practitioners to verify their facts from the Central Bank of Nigeria before publishing in order not to misinform the public.
Banking
BREAKING: CBN Increases Interest Rate By 0.5%
The interest rate in Nigeria has been raised to 18.5 percent, up by 0.5 percent, from 18 percent where it was pegged in March 2023.
The Central Banks of Nigeria’s (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) resolved to this effect at its third meeting of 2023 in Abuja, on Wednesday.
Governor, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, made the disclosure in the communiqué of the MPC’s meeting, thereafter.
While engaging the media at the end of the two-day meeting, Emefiele, said the committee voted to keep the asymmetric corridor at +100 and -700 basis points around the MPR.
In the view of the MPC, rising inflation rate is traceable to the high energy cost and challenges around the supply chain, among others, which lie outside the corridors of the CBN.
Emefiele said, “The current trend in price development would continue to be monitored by the bank with greater collaboration with fiscal authority to address the drivers of inflation.”
Biztellers reports that the CBN had effected six consecutive interest rate increases, which has seen the rate move from 11.5 percent in March 2022 to 18.5 percent in May 2023.