Gunmen on Thursday night invaded the palace of Olukoro of Koro in Ekiti local government area of Kwara State and killed the traditional ruler of the community, Segun Aremu, a retired army general.

The gunmen also whisked away the wife of the monarch and two others.

Koro in Kwara is the neighbouring town of Irele/Oke Ako/Ipao/Oke Aiyedun and Ikole and shares boundaries with Ekiti State where two monarchs were recently killed.

Spokeswoman of the Kwara State Police command, Toun Ejire-Adeyemi, confirmed the incident in a statement issued in the wee hours of Friday.

According to her, “immediate and intensive investigations are underway to apprehend those criminals for this reprehensible act.

“We assure the public that no stone will be left unturned in ensuring that the perpetrators are brought to justice swiftly.

“Security measures in the koro community have been intensified, tactical teams are being mobilised to beef up security to ensure the safety and well-being of residents”.

Toun added that the CP, Victor Olaiya, “urged the public to remain calm, vigilant, and cooperative as we work tirelessly to unravel this matter; arrest and charge the culprits to court.

Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq described the incident as “reckless, shocking, and abominable”.

AbdulRazaq charged the security agencies not to spare any resources to track down the perpetrators, free the spouse and others taken away, and bring them to book.

“We will certainly get the perpetrators and ensure that this is their last crime against humanity.

“My profound condolences go to the people of Koro. Our hearts are broken, and we stand by them at this time and always” the governor added in the statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye.

Daily Trust

The family of Aondoove Gwaza, a director at the Federal Housing Authority Mortgage Bank in the Federal Capital Territory, who was abducted from his home, during an attack about 200 metres close to a military base in Pwanbara in the Bwari Area Council of Abuja, have been devastated, as the bandits are yet to contact his relatives as of Thursday night.

The bandits, who struck at about 12:30 am on Thursday, shot indiscriminately, causing panic in the area, before escaping through the bushes with the abductee.

Residents who confirmed the development to our correspondent on Thursday revealed that soldiers were stationed at a military base popularly known as ‘Camp,’ which is about 200 metres away from where the director was abducted in Pambara Extension.

They further noted that residents of the area that was attacked by bandits, include military personnel, both serving and retired, and civilians.

He said, “Bandits attacked Pambara Extension over the night, at about 12:30 am today (Thursday), and they abducted one of our neighbours, Aondoove Gwaza, who is a Director in Federal Housing Authority, FCT.

“The attack happened very close to a ‘Camp,’ the military base at the entrance of Bwari, very close to Pambara Extension. The part of Pambara Extension where Gwaza was kidnapped is just about 200 metres away from the military base. But the kidnappers escaped through the bushes with the victim.”

Another resident added, “The attack is still shocking to us. Our estate is very close to the military base here known as Camp, at the entrance of Bwari, and there are also serving and retired military personnel living with us here. Yet, these bandits were bold enough to attack this place and kidnap Gwaza.”

Meanwhile, a relative who spoke with our correspondent on Thursday, lamented that the bandits had yet to contact the relatives of Gwaza as of Thursday night.

He noted, “Aondoove Gwaza is my kinsman. He was kidnapped in Bwari over the night (Thursday). Up till now, the kidnappers have not called to ask for ransom. We are very worried, but we are trusting God for his safe release.”

The FCT is facing alarming surge in insecurity, prompting growing concerns among residents and authorities. The capital city, once considered relatively immune to the prevalent security challenges in other parts of the country, is now grappling with an escalating wave of criminal activities, particularly kidnappings.

Our correspondent could not reach the spokesperson for the Nigerian Army, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, as text messages and phone calls to his line were not answered.

Also, the spokesperson for the FCT Police Command, Josephine Adeh, could not be reached for comments as of press time.

Punch

Israel turns focus of Gaza attack to Rafah as Hamas weighs ceasefire proposal

Israel prepared to advance its war on Gaza farther south, close to the Egyptian border, after claiming to have dismantled Hamas in Khan Younis, as diplomatic efforts in pursuit of a ceasefire accelerated.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Thursday that success in the fight against the Palestinian militants in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, where Israel launched a major ground attack last week, meant its forces could advance to Rafah on the enclave's southern border.

More than half of Gaza's 2.3 million people are sheltering in this area, mainly cold and hungry in makeshift tents and public buildings.

"We are achieving our missions in Khan Younis, and we will also reach Rafah and eliminate terror elements that threaten us," Gallant said in a statement.

At the same time, Qatari and Egyptian mediators hoped for a positive response from Hamas, which runs Gaza, to the first concrete proposal for an extended halt to fighting, agreed with Israel and the U.S. at talks in Paris last week.

A Palestinian official close to the negotiations told Reuters the text envisages a first phase of 40 days, during which fighting would cease while Hamas freed remaining civilians among the more than 100 hostages it still holds. Further phases would see the handover of Israeli soldiers and bodies of dead hostages.

Such a long pause would be a first since Oct. 7, when Hamas fighters attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and capturing 253 hostages, precipitating an Israeli offensive that has laid waste to much of Gaza.

Health officials in the enclave said on Thursday the confirmed Palestinian death toll had risen above 27,000, with thousands more dead still lying under the rubble.

NO RESPONSE FROM HAMAS YET TO PROPOSAL

A Palestinian official said Hamas was unlikely to reject the proposal outright, but would demand guarantees that fighting would not resume, something Israel has not agreed to.

There was brief elation in Gaza on Thursday after remarks by a Qatari spokesman at Johns Hopkins University in Washington sparked ceasefire hopes - and a drop in the price of crude oil.

But Qatari officials in the capital Doha and Taher Al-Nono, media adviser to Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, said the group had not responded yet.

Gaza residents said Israeli forces pounded areas around hospitals in Khan Younis, and stepped up attacks close to Rafah. Combat has also surged in recent days in northern areas around Gaza City that Israel claimed to have subdued weeks ago.

Osama Ahmed, 49, a father of five from Gaza City now sheltering in western Khan Younis, said there had been fierce resistance in the city, and relentless bombardment from air, ground and sea as Israeli tanks advanced.

"All we want is a ceasefire now," he told Reuters by phone.

An air strike on a house in Khan Younis wounded 13 people on Thursday, according to hospital officials.

Appeals to Israel from its main ally, the United States, show little sign of having succeeded in easing the plight of Gaza's civilians.

Washington is stepping up indirect pressure, however.

U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order that aims to punish Jewish settlers who attack Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in an surge of violence triggered by the war in Gaza.

Biden is also under pressure to respond to the killing of three U.S. soldiers by a drone in Jordan last week, the first U.S. deaths in an escalation of violence across the Middle East since Israel's war in Gaza began in October.

The United States, which has said it does not want to ignite a wider war, believes the drone, which also wounded more than 40 people, was made by Iran, four U.S. officials told Reuters.

CBS News reported on Thursday that targets for U.S. strikes in Iraq and Syria in response to the killings include "Iranian personnel and facilities", citing American officials.

The U.S. is continuing its strikes with allies against the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen, which has attacked shipping in the Red Sea in what it says is solidarity with Gaza.

The U.S. military said it had hit up to 10 drones in Yemen being prepared for launch, while a U.S. Navy ship downed three Iranian-made drones and a Houthi anti-ship missile.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

EU agrees $54 billion in new aid for Ukraine as Hungary falls in line

European Union leaders unanimously agreed on Thursday to extend 50 billion euros ($54 billion) in new aid to Ukraine, sending a message to the United States split on whether to keep backing Kyiv in its fight against Russia's invasion.

The agreement overcomes weeks of resistance from Hungary and comes amid uncertainty over the future of U.S. aid. Kyiv relies heavily on Western support as the war, the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two, nears its third year.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he hoped the EU decision would help U.S. President Joe Biden convince Congress to follow suit.

"This ... is also a good signal towards the U.S. The American president is a good friend and ally who is working hard to win support for his demands from the Congress," Scholz said, his comments echoed by EU chiefs in Brussels.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised the EU agreement, saying the aid would strengthen his country's long-term economic and financial stability.

Ukraine's dollar bonds gained on the news and Kyiv said it expected to receive the first tranche of 4.5 billion euros from the EU in March from a total of 50 billion euros to come from the bloc's shared budget through 2027.

"The message is clear: Russia can't count on any fatigue from the Europeans in their support to Ukraine," said French President Emmanuel Macron.

The agreement comes after weeks of wrangling with Orban, who vetoed the aid last December.

On Thursday, he said he gave the green light after receiving assurances the aid would be used sensibly and would not come from EU funds that had been earmarked for Budapest from the bloc's joint coffers.

The EU executive is withholding some 20 billion euros from Hungary over widespread accusations that Orban has damaged democracy at home during his 13 years in power.

'IN OR OUT?'

Diplomats told Reuters that, in exchange for Hungary's nod, the bloc did not commit to releasing any of the billions of euros of EU funds until Budapest meets conditions.

They said the deal includes a yearly discussion of the package and the option to review it in two years "if needed", but no outright veto for Budapest.

In recent days, the EU has piled pressure on Orban to fall into line. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told Orban on Thursday time was up for "games" and that Budapest needed to pick sides in the existential challenge posed by Russia's war.

"He has to consider if he is in, or out," Tusk said.

Orban has had many bitter run-ins with the EU over the rule of law in Hungary, and has increasingly criticised Western sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine. He has also cultivated closer ties with the Kremlin than EU peers.

A German diplomat said Orban felt at the summit that his increasing isolation in the bloc was "not comfortable".

"The Hungarian economy is under pressure, that might have helped as well," said the diplomat, who spoke under condition of anonymity. "Orban knows that he needs the EU."

The EU leaders also agreed at their summit in Brussels on Thursday on an "urgent need" to accelerate the delivery of ammunition and missiles to Ukraine.

A day earlier, the EU executive said the bloc would fall far short of its target of sending Ukraine one million rounds of artillery shells by March.

The summit also stopped short of endorsing a call by some countries to inject 5 billion euros for Ukraine - on top of the 50 billion euros already agreed - into a broader military assistance fund, the European Peace Facility (EPF).

Germany has been calling for major reform of the system to take account of EU members' bilateral military aid to Ukraine and Scholz said after the summit that Germany - the EU's paymaster - cannot manage military support alone.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia says its forces repel seven Ukrainian attacks in Kupyansk area

Russian forces repelled seven Ukrainian attacks in the Kupyansk area, eliminating more than 125 enemy troops, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a daily bulletin of the special military operation.

Here are the details of this and other combat actions that happened over the past day, according to the bulletin.

Kupyansk area

"Through active operations in the Kupyansk area, units of Battlegroup West, supported by aviation, repelled seven attacks by assault teams of Ukraine’s 30th and 44th mechanized brigades near Sinkovka in the Kharkov Region and Terny in the Donetsk People’s Republic. The enemy lost more than 125 troops, three armored fighting vehicles and two cars," the ministry said.

Also, a Polish-made Krab self-propelled artillery mount and two Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers were hit in counter-battery fire.

Krasny Liman area

"Coordinating their actions, units of the battlegroup Center improved positions along the frontline and inflicted losses on the Ukrainian armed forces and National Guard in the area of Serebryansky Forestry," the ministry said.

The enemy’s losses amounted to more than 290 servicemen, one tank, two armored fighting vehicles, six motor vehicles and one US-made Paladin self-propelled artillery unit.

Also, Russian forces repelled three attacks by assault groups of the Ukrainian 60th and 63rd mechanized brigades near the settlements of Yampolovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Chervonaya Dibrova in the Lugansk People’s Republic.

Donetsk area

"In the Donetsk area, Russia’s battlegroup South occupied more favorable lines and positions. <…> Four attacks by assault groups of the Ukrainian 22nd mechanized, 46th airmobile, 79th airborne assault brigades near Georgiyevka, Novomikhailovka and Krasnoye of the Donetsk People’s Republic were repelled. The enemy lost over 210 servicemen, three armored combat vehicles and six vehicles," the ministry said.

Russian forces hit the enemy’s manpower and equipment near Belogorovka, Kleshcheyevka and Kurdyumovka in the DPR and destroyed a Grad MLRS, a UK-made AS-90 self-propelled howitzer, three US-made M777 artillery systems, two Msta-B howitzers, an Akatsiya self-propelled hoqitzer, a Hyacinth-B gun, five Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers, a Bukovel electronic warfare station, and an ammunition depot.

South Donetsk area

"Russia’s battlegroup East repelled two attacks and defeated units of the Ukrainian 127th and 128th territorial defense brigades near Staromayorskoye, Urozhaynoye of the Donetsk People’s Republic and Priyutnoye of the Zaporozhye Region," the ministry said.

The enemy lost up to 80 servicemen, a tank, two armored personnel carriers and two vehicles, as well as a Grad multiple launch rocket system, two UK-made FH-70 howitzers, a US-made M777 artillery system, and a D-30 howitzer.

Zaporozhye area

"Units of a Russian battlegroup, acting in conjunction with aviation, repelled an attack and delivered a strike to personnel and hardware from the Ukrainian 128th mountain assault brigade, 33rd and 65th mechanized brigades in the vicinity of the villages of Lugovskoye, Rabotino, Zherebyanki and Malaya Tokmachka. The Ukrainian armed forces lost up to 50 troops and three pickup trucks," the statement said.

During counterbattery operations, a combat vehicle of a Grad multiple launch rocket system, two D-20 howitzers and two D-30 howitzers were damaged.

Kherson area

"As a result of competent actions of units from the battlegroup Dnepr and a comprehensive firepower assault, the enemy's losses reached up to 50 soldiers, three tanks, two armored personnel carriers, two motor vehicles, and two US-made AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radar stations," the ministry said.

Air Force and air defenses

"Operational-tactical aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, rocket forces and artillery of Russian battlegroups destroyed a radar station of the Norwegian-made NASAMS anti-aircraft missile system, a 35D6M radar for detecting air targets, two Ukrainian fuel depots, as well as military personnel and equipment in 137 areas," the ministry said.

Air defense capabilities intercepted 20 air-launched rockets and 17 rockets fired from US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems.

Russian air defense systems also destroyed 68 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in areas near the settlements of Olshana, Berestovoye in the Kharkov Region; Zhitlovka, Krivosheyevka in the Lugansk People’s Republic; Yasinovataya, Makeyevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic; Pologi, Gulyaipole, Tokmak in the Zaporozhye Region; and Novaya Kakhovka in the Kherson Region.

Tally of destroyed equipment

Since the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed a total of 568 Ukrainian warplanes, 265 helicopters, 11,580 unmanned aerial vehicles, 457 surface-to-air missile systems, 14,877 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,214 multiple launch rocket systems, 7,931 field artillery guns and mortars and 18,124 special military motor vehicles.

Reuters/Tass

Mali and Burkina Faso obviously have a lot more in common than squaring off in a game of football like they just did in the Round of 16 knockout stage of the African Nations Cup (AFCON), in Cote d’Ivoire.

Along with Niger, these countries have been a great source of misery for the continent in the last four years, with rogue military leaders there playing a game far more deadly with the lives of their countries than anything football can ever hope to imitate.

They announced to the continent’s shock and surprise last week, that they were pulling out of the 15-member regional trading block, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

There are rules for entry and exit. But the military governments that seized power in these countries are invoking the name of citizens whose mandate they trampled upon in the first place, to break the rules. They don’t care.

Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are neighbours with artificial borders created for the convenience of the colonial powers. They occupy nearly half of West Africa’s landmass. They are also landlocked and among the poorest countries by many global indexes. They have other sociological similarities besides.

Burkina Faso has a GDP per capita of $1,510 (2020); Mali, $2,640 (2023); and Niger, ranked by worldatlas.com as the second poorest country in Africa, has a GDP of $1,410 (2020).

With their humongous acreage straddling the Sahara Desert and its southern fringes, these countries manage an estimated 72 million population combined. As though in agreement, the three have had a checkered history of military coups and are currently under military rule against the prevailing tide of multiparty democracy: Mali since 2021; Burkina Faso in 2022; and Niger, 2023.

Alliance of delinquents

The trio are members of a new “Alliance of Sahel States”, a mutual defence pact they entered into in September 2023. Like delinquents plotting to evade the consequence of mischief, they formed this alliance to ward off possible military invasion by the regional intervention force following the coup in Niger.

Their latest bluff to quit ECOWAS has elevated their plight to Siamese status. Trapped as they are in the Sahel, they may now need lifesaving surgery should ECOWAS decide to squeeze in a bit more than sanctions.

Who will bell the cat? The region is a different place today than it was in the mid-1990s when the Commonwealth punished Nigeria for the bad behaviour of the military government of General Sani Abacha that executed Ken Saro-Wiwa in defiance of global appeals. Or even under the more recent example of The Gambia’s Yahaya Jammeh who was forced to back down in 2017, after Nigeria rallied regional leaders to chase him out of office.

Root of the matter

At least three events have shaped the intransigence of the so-called “Alliance of Sahel States.” The first is the significant infiltration of the region by ISIS and ISWAP elements after the US-led military action in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan and the killing of Muammar Ghaddafi in Libya.

Arms from Syria, Iraq and Libya have flooded the Sahel, destablising the region and emboldening insurgency. Mali and Niger in particular have never quite overcome the impact of that destabilisation. Even countries farther South, like Nigeria, are still grappling with the fallout of the proliferation of light weapons, mostly through the Sahel.

The complicity of France is the second reason. It’s not just complicity in the sense of meddling, which most states do routinely. It’s the more egregious kind – pregnant complicity that straps a child on its back.

A number of Francophone countries in West and Central Africa, at least 14 of them, that are part of the rigged CFA franc zone still maintain 50 per cent of their reserves in the French treasury in Paris. Also, the profit of French state-owned atomic energy group and uranium monopoly, Areva, based in Niger, is twice the GDP of that country.

The story of ruthless exploitation, often in connivance with the elite, is pretty much the same in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and other Francophone countries. Citizens have, of course, borne the brunt and the political elite who are complicit and have used the exploitation as excuse for coups and counter-coups.

The third reason for the stubbornness of the military regimes in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger is the expansionist ambitions of China, but more importantly, Russia, under its current President Vladimir Putin. In other to spite the West, especially since the war in Ukraine, Putin sets up a play station wherever the enemies of the West can be found, with the deadly private army, Wagner Group, as his avatar.

The Russian president has made no pretence of his support for the rogue military governments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Apart from military and strategic support, he has also offered free grains to six African countries, including Mali and Burkina Faso, to hedge supply shortfalls caused by the war with Ukraine. The new military leaders in these countries believe that trading off membership of ECOWAS for the Trojan horses of Beijing and Moscow is a better bargain.

How far is too far?

But how far can they go? As far as they believe they can continue to exploit the obvious indecision of regional leaders, the most distracted of which is Nigeria. The last time a member country – Mauritania – left (although for different reasons), the regional group ECOWAS was in a much stronger, more united place.

It’s now a shambles of its old self. Members already weakened by internal crisis and political wranglings are not sure whether to use force or not even though they can see clearly that negotiations are heading nowhere.

Unfortunately, Nigeria, the regional powerhouse which should have provided leadership as it did in the past in Sao Tome, Benin, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire, is facing its own Gulliver moment. It has been pinned to the ground by a string of Lilliputian problems ranging from internal insecurity to the relatively new and fragile mandate of its president and ECOWAS leader Bola Tinubu, who faces the unpleasant task of being the leader on whose watch the community could fall apart.

Other ECOWAS countries beset by serious economic and political problems, including flawed elections which have also significantly limited the legitimacy of many current civilian leaders, are not faring better. Yet, even in the best of times, Nigeria picks about 70 percent of the community’s bills.

The rogue military leaders in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger know that the community is in a difficult place, compounded by the decline in the influence of France, elections this year in the US and the UK, and the wars in Europe and the Middle East. They will milk these distractions.

They are betting big on Russian support and also stirring up nationalistic fervour among the local populations. It remains to be seen, however, if rhetoric will prevail over geography. Being landlocked is problematic and is a major reason 16 out of 31 landlocked developing countries, including Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, are among the world’s poorest.

Catch-22

For ECOWAS it is a catch-22 situation. While it is hoping that existing sanctions on the rogue governments, which range from the freezing of assets to the suspension of trade and the cut off of electricity supply would force the leaders to negotiate more sensibly and prevent a further contagion of coups, the community is also mindful that informal cross-border trade, largely in food, make up about 30 percent of regional trade.

To kill the precariously perched tsetse fly without hurting its own scrotum, ECOWAS needs to strengthen citizens’ voices in these countries. It needs to cut through the posturing and partisan noise and engage citizens through more trusted, independent channels. The community could also use the experience of eminent persons, led by former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Thabo Mbeki, and possibly joined by George Uppong Weah, to reset negotiations.

The longer the process takes the greater the risk of normalisation – and even worse, the danger of contagion.

** Ishiekwene is Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP

Lenny Rachitsky has started some successful ventures in his life.

The 42-year-old founded his newsletter, Lenny’s Newsletter, about product management in 2019. It now boasts more than 570,000 subscribers and brings in more than $500,000 per year. He writes one post a week and works on each for 10 to 20 hours.

In 2022, Rachitsky started Lenny’s Podcast. He releases two episodes per week and interviews leaders in the product management space to get concrete, actionable advice about their work. He’s hired a producer to help with components like audio engineering and puts in just four to five hours per week on it altogether.

Lenny’s Podcast now brings in more than $500,000 per year as well.  

For anyone keen to find success with their own personal ventures, especially if they’re based on helping people grow and develop in a given field, Rachitsky has one piece of advice: Gain some experience in that field first.

“A lot of people start tweeting all this advice before they’ve actually done anything and have any advice to share,” he says. Without that experience and deep know-how on the subject, your advice could end up superficial at best and wrong and even harmful at worst.

“Nobody needs that,” he says.

Rachitsky worked in product management and software engineering for more than a decade before he started writing about it. He accrued years of knowledge and started his newsletter with dozens of ideas about how to help people. It tackles problems like planning projects, meetings, organizational design and so on.

You have to “do the work for a long time first” before you can start giving advice about it, he says, “at least five years of doing the job, ideally 10 years, ideally longer to actually build real experience and have something new to contribute.”

“My advice is just stop tweeting and do the work.”

CNBC

The naira, on Wednesday, crossed the N1,500 mark at the parallel section of the foreign exchange (FX) market.

The value of the naira fell to N1,530 against the dollar — an all-time low in the parallel market.

This is a 4.08 percent decline compared to the N1,470/$ reported the previous trading day. 

Currency traders, also known as Bureau De Change operators, quoted the buying price of the currency at N1,510 and the selling price at N1,530.

“One thing affecting the price of dollar is that there is a lot of demand,” an FX trader at the black market, known as Aliyu, said.

This expanded the gap between the black market and the official window, also known as the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), to N74.41 from N12.7.

On Tuesday, the official window rate had surpassed the parallel market price, however, on Wednesday, it was reversed as the naira gained at the close of trading in NAFEM.

The local currency appreciated by 1.82 percent in the official window to N1,455.59 — from N1,482.7 traded on Tuesday.

According to details on FMDQ Exchange — a platform where FX is officially traded — forex worth $72.33 million was transacted among market dealers.

The development comes after the senate committee on banking, insurance and other financial institutions summoned Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), over the “free fall of the naira”.

Speaking with journalists after a committee meeting on Wednesday, Adetokunbo Abiru, chairman of the panel, said the nation’s inflation rate has reached concerning levels and that Cardoso is scheduled to testify before the committee next Tuesday at 3 pm. 

The apex bank also released new measures for banks to manage foreign exchange (FX) risks and prevent losses.

The Cable

The Central Bank of Nigeria ordered banks to limit their foreign exchange exposure to curb risks to the financial system, in the latest move to improve liquidity in the country’s volatile currency market.

The net open position limit of foreign currency assets and liabilities “should not exceed 20% short or 0% long of shareholders’ funds unimpeded by losses,” the regulator said in statement on Wednesday, asking lenders to meet the limits by Feb. 1. The move could push banks to cut speculative bets against the naira, according to Ronak Gadhia, director of sub-Saharan banks research at EFG Hermes.

The central bank’s directive comes amid a steep drop this week in the official rate of the naira against the dollar, which has moved it closer to where the Nigerian currency trades on the street. The 31% slide in value was triggered by a change in the method for setting its rate, and is part of larger push by the government since June to stop managing the exchange rate and unify the two markets.

“A dramatic decline in the value of the FX position held by a bank due to a sudden movement in the exchange rate could have an impact on the capital adequacy and solvency of the bank,” said Gadhia. “Reducing the net open position limit also reduces banks’ ability to speculate against the naira and thus makes the currency more stable, which must also be a secondary aim of the regulation.”

Large depreciations in the past created incentives for Nigerian banks to lift dollar holdings to guard against the risk of further naira losses.

The central bank said that it had “noted with concern the growth in foreign currency exposures,” which it said made banks potentially vulnerable to foreign exchange rate and other risks. It said lenders with excess dollars will have to sell them before the deadline or face sanction.

The central bank also directed lenders with an early redemption clause on their eurobonds to seek approval before exercising the option.

In addition, banks are to have an “adequate stock” of liquid assets to cover maturing foreign currency obligations and also put in place a “contingency funding arrangement” with other financial institutions, it said.

Bloomberg

International Air Transport Association (IATA), a top global trade association of airlines, has said approximately $700 million still remains blocked with Nigeria’s commercial banks.

IATA spoke in reaction to a statement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that it had cleared all verified backlogs to foreign airlines operating in the country.

In a statement published on its website on Monday, IATA acknowledged the CBN’s release of an additional $64.44 million in blocked airline funds.

However, it noted that it is consulting with airline members to verify the release of outstanding revenues.

“While this development is encouraging, it’s crucial to recognise that approximately $700 million remains blocked with Nigeria’s commercial banks. As such there’s a considerable journey ahead in fully addressing the issue,” the statement said.

This, IATA said, is exacerbated by the devaluation of the Nigerian Naira, which has dropped significantly against the United States dollar.

“Airlines should not be unfairly penalised by the lower exchange rate,” IATA said.

“We will continue to monitor the situation closely and work with the government to ensure that the environment remains conducive to ensuring Nigeria’s connectivity to international markets.”

Background

Last November, IATA criticised Nigeria and other African countries for not allowing international airlines to repatriate their profits.

The group said trapped funds in African countries is currently estimated at $1.68 billion, noting that the perennial challenge is impeding the growth and development of air transportation on the continent.

As of August 2022, reports indicated that foreign airlines’ funds trapped in Nigeria stood at $793 million amidst lingering forex scarcity.

Of this figure, $300 million is said to be legacy debt, which the CBN has taken, but yet to be remitted to IATA on behalf of the airlines.

However, on Tuesday, Nigeria’s apex bank said it had completed the payment of all verified claims owed to foreign airlines by injecting an additional $64.44 million into the sector after the initial disbursement of about $61.64 million to the airlines through various banks on 8 January.

The bank said the latest payment brought the total amount disbursed to the aviation sector to $136.7 million.

PT

First Bank of Nigeria Holdings has appointed Nigerian billionaire and businessman, Femi Otedola, as the new chairman of its board of directors.

Otedola, who recently expressed his excitement about his return to the Forbes African Billionaires list after a seven-year hiatus, takes over from the outgoing Chairman of the board, Ahmad Abdullahi.

Sharing a picture of the announcement on his Instagram page, he wrote, “Interesting”, and added smiley and dollar emojis.”

The 61-year-old entrepreneur currently sits at number 20 on the list with a net worth of $1.1bn.

According to Forbes, the wealth of the 2024 list of 20 billionaires rose to $82.4bn from last year’s $81.5bn, partly as a result of Otedola’s return. Before then, the last time the business mogul appeared on the Forbes Africa list was in 2017. This year, he took the 20th spot on the list.

The decision of the financial institution followed a recent meeting of the board held on Wednesday.

The bank disclosed this in a corporate filing on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), notifying investors of the new development.

This appointment, according to the bank, took effect yesterday, January 31, 2024.

Punch