New Investors: Diamond Bank Rubbishes Ex-Chairman’s Claim

By Adedapo Adesanya  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would likely direct banks to increase their capital base in the coming months as part of a new policy push towards a $1 trillion Nigerian economy. The Governor of the apex bank, Mr Olayemi Cardoso, said this while delivering his keynote address at the 58th Annual Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) dinner in Lagos on Friday. The new CBN chief used the event to unveil the bank’s monetary policy thrust and economic outlook for 2024, following the cancellation of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting for the quarter. “We

By Adedapo Adesanya The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed banks across the country to continue issuing and accepting old as well as the redesigned Naira banknotes following the order of the Supreme Court. Business Post reported on Wednesday morning that the apex court granted the prayer of the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation to extend the use of old Naira banknotes ad infinitum, scrapping a previous deadline of December 31. In a statement after the judgement, the central bank “directed all its branches to continue to issue and accept all denominations of Nigerian banknotes, old

By Adedapo Adesanya The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has alerted Nigerians of unauthorised bank withdrawals linked to Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card swap fraud. The commission issued the alert on Monday in a statement by the Head of Media and Publicity, Mr Dele Oyewale. According to the EFCC, fraudsters engaged in this activity typically keep a debit card from the same bank and, under the guise of assisting a confused bank customer at an ATM point, swiftly swap the card while memorising the PIN used with fake cards. “These cards get stuck in the machine due to a

By Adedapo Adesanya President Bola Tinubu has thrown his full weight behind the plan by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to increase the capital base of banks in the country. The President expressed his views on this move, which last occurred in 2005, through his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, in his message at the 40th anniversary of The Guardian Newspapers in Lagos on Tuesday. He said bank recapitalisation was crucial to Nigeria achieving a $1 trillion economy. “Amidst the general lull in a global economy, our ambition to attain a $1 trillion economy appears

By Adedapo Adesanya President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Mr Ola Olukayode as the new Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). According to Mr Ajuri Ngelale, the spokesman for President Bola Tinubu, Mr Olukayode, prior to the appointment, was the Secretary of the EFCC. This appointment confirms the resignation of the suspended Chairman of the commission, Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa. His appointment is for a renewable term of four years in the first instance, pending Senate confirmation. Mr Olukoyede is a lawyer with over 22 years of experience as a regulatory compliance consultant and specialist in

By Ahmed Rahma Business owners can leverage on e-commerce to increase their source of revenue in this festive season, a leading payments firm, Visa, has said. The restriction of movements in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has made most customers switch to online shopping, which allows for easy payment. According to Visa, small business owners can use the online platform to cut their cost and earn more as a report by the company showed that 81 per cent of customers are willing to pay more for a good customer experience. In the Visa Consulting & Analytics (VCA)

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Sokoto State Governor, Mr Aminu Tambuwal, has approved the release of N1.2 billion for the payment of accumulated gratuity from the year 2010 for staff of local government councils in the state. In addition, the Governor has released the sum of N662 million as outstanding allowances due to elected representatives for council chairmen and their councillors in the 23 local government areas as well as N346,747,891 as severance gratuities to former council officials. Commissioner for Local Government and Community Development, Mr Mannir Dan’Iya, who revealed this information in a statement, noted that all approved funds have been

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has reclaimed the title of the best-performing market in the world, after the All Share Index (ASI) appreciated by 4.92 per cent on Tuesday. The growth was the highest daily gain recorded by the exchange in more than five years. The benchmark index soared 13 per cent in the past month more than any of the other 93 major global gauges tracked by Bloomberg. The gain posted yesterday was the 12th in a row, the longest winning streak the Nigerian bourse has recorded since July 2017, and this has pushed the market

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The annual Lagos International Trade Fair has been declared open by the state Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode. Performing the opening ceremony on Friday at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Mr Ambode reiterated his commitment to continually improve the business climate towards attracting more local and foreign investments as well as create more job opportunities. The Governor, who was represented at the event by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Tunji Bello, said the state government would not relent in its efforts until it achieves an increase in productivity preparatory to achieving the dream of becoming Africa’s model

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Pan-African financial institution, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has updated its ‘terms and conditions’ clause for account opening packages. In an email sent to its customers last week, the lender explained that the update became necessary as a result of the recent announcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of a new regulatory framework for Bank Verification Number (BVN) and watch-list for the Nigerian financial system. The new framework would require banks to apply restrictions to accounts and BVN if fraudulent activity is associated with the operations of those accounts and BVNs, the bank said.

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The amount shared to the three tiers of government, the federal government, state governments, and local governments, by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), decreased in March 2023 from the money distributed in February. A communique issued on Wednesday after the FAAC meeting in Abuja disclosed that N722.7 billion was disbursed from the revenue generated by the country last month compared with the N750.2 billion shared in February. A breakdown showed that the total distributable revenue of N722.677 billion comprised distributable statutory revenue of N366.800 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N224.232 billion, Electronic Money

By Kester Kenn Klomegah With highly expected symbolism, Russia’s primary focus at the forthcoming November summit in St. Petersburg with African leaders, corporate business directors, representatives from the academic community, civil society organizations and media will largely be renewing most of its unfulfilled bilateral agreements and making new pledges that will, as usual, be incorporated into a second joint declaration. Brilliant speeches reminded of long-standing traditions of friendship and solidarity, how Soviets assisted African countries in their struggle to attain independence and established statehood, and further highlighted neo-colonialism tendencies wide spreading on the continent. That Russia stands with Africa on