Business

Despite Emefiele’s claim of N1tn in circulation, Nigerians continue experiencing scarcity

Published

2 years ago

March 22, 2023

DESPITE a claim by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele that the apex bank has pushed nearly N1 trillion into circulation, Nigerians continue experience scarcity.

Many branches of the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) complain of inadequate allocation of cash from the CBN on daily basis.

Emefiele told reporters after the end of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting at the CBN headquarters in Abuja yesterday that the apex bank has pumped more cash into circulation.

Fielding questions on the outcome of the MPC meeting, Emefiele said on the Naira redesign policy and where things stand now, the “currency in circulation is roughly close to a N1 trillion and the CBN continues to pump the newly designed currency into the market.”

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Speaking on cash flow since the March 3 Supreme Court judgment, Emefiele said: The CBN will need to re-access again to know whether the currency in circulation has attained an optimal level so as to be able to put in place measures that will ensure that we don’t go back to what we had before, where people were keeping a lot of money outside the banking system for their own benefit.

“The MPC has noted that the naira redesign and cash withdrawal limit policies have resulted in a sizeable reduction in Currency-Outside-Banks, indicating an expected improvement in the potency of monetary policy tools.”

The CBN governor praised Fintech operators, whom he said “used their idle capacity to boost their online payment,” adding “they have made a lot of money from that.”

He said the “online payment on the Intech sector has actually improved quite a lot and we are happy that rather than relying on just only the banks, we have many other channels through which online payment services can be done so that Nigerians don’t suffer because we are in insisting that we have to go cashless.”

He apologised to Nigerians for the pains they go through while trying to carry out electronic transactions across several bank channels.

But notwithstanding Emefiele’s claim that more cash had been pumped into circulation, businesses, consumers and banks customers have demanded immediate end to the ongoing naira scarcity.

As far as they are concerned, the impact of the cash injected by the CBN is yet to be felt in the banking system.

According to small business operators, the cash crunch has limited their transaction volume and ability to meet the financial needs both to their customers and families.

Mary Okon, a Lagos-based entrepreneur said the cash crunch has reduced her volume of sales.

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She said: “Before now, I made at least N35, 000 daily sales. Today, recording N10, 000 daily sales has become a big challenge. I plead with the CBN to release more cash to the economy.”

Although banks continued the payment of both old and new naira notes to customers, the volume of the notes in circulation has not met the demand for cash.

Many banks within the Lagos metropolis did not dispense cash to their customers either over the counter (OTC) or through the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).

“There were long queues of bank customers at most ATM points that had some cash to dispense. One bank branch in Marina Lagos, could only dispense N10,000 to customers with the bank’s ATM card. Customers of other banks got N5,000,” a customer narrated.

In Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, agonies of residents arising from the persisting cash crunch worsened yesterday.

Banks in the Gateway City ran out of cash – both the new and old naira notes of 200, 500 and 1,000 denominations.

At Omida, Lalulu Street (Okelewo), Panseke, Jide Jones, Sapon, Ita – Eko, Kuto and the Old Secretariat area, investigation showed that they only opened to their surging customers to lodge complaints over truncated transactions and debit issues that occurred since the redesigned new naira notes policy took effect.

Those who came for cash withdrawals returned home with disappointments. There were neither OTC payments, nor from the ATMs.

The few ATM points that were dispensing cash stopped at 11am. A security guard in one of the banks cited mechanical faults and cash shortage as reasons.

Related Topics:Emefiele Featured Naira Nigerians

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Aviation

Disaster averted as bird strike hits Abuja-Lagos Air Peace flight

Published

8 hours ago

November 14, 2024

Trends Admin

Disaster averted as bird strike hits Abuja-Lagos Air Peace flight

An Abuja-Lagos flight was on Thursday aborted following a bird strike on the airplane belonging to Air Peace, forcing the authorities to ground the aircraft.

The bird strike experienced in the early hours reportedly prompted a ramp return to ensure the safety of passengers onboard.

All the passengers quickly disembarked and were calmed down before they were moved into another plane for the one-hour journey.

A bird strike is a collision between a bird and an aircraft, or other airborne animal, while the aircraft is in flight, taking off, or landing. And it can be a significant threat to aircraft safety.

Air Peace in a statement by its Head of Corporate Communications, Ejike Ndiulo, said the bird strike occurred at 6:30am, and all passengers disembarked normally.

The statement read, “We wish to inform our esteemed passengers that our Abuja- Lagos 06:30 flight experienced a bird strike before take-off, prompting a ramp return as a safety measure. All passengers disembarked normally.

“We have deployed a replacement aircraft for the affected flight in order to minimize disruptions, thus ensuring that passengers continue their journeys promptly.

“We appeal for the understanding of our valued passengers impacted by this development, as well as those on other flights that may experience delays.

“At Air Peace, we are committed to providing safe, comfortable, and reliable air travel for all our passengers.”

Business

NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production

Published

9 hours ago

November 14, 2024

Trends Admin

NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) and its partners have revved up crude oil and gas production to 1.8million barrels per day (mbpd) and 7.4standard cubic feet per day (scfd).

The company which announced this at a press briefing said the feat was achieved in compliance with the mandate of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Speaking on the development, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Mele Kyari, congratulated the Production War Room Team that anchored the production recovery process.

“The team has done a great job in driving this project of not just production recovery but also escalating production to expected levels that are in the short and long terms acceptable to our shareholders based on the mandates that we
have from the President, the Honourable Minister, and the Board,” Kyari explained.

Giving details of the efforts of the Production War Room, the Chief War Room Coordinator and Senior Business Adviser to the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Lawal Musa, disclosed that the feat was achieved through the collaborative efforts of Joint Venture and Production Sharing Contract partners, the Office of the National Security Adviser, as well as government and private security agencies.

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He said the interventions that led to the recovery of production cut across every segment of the production chain with security agencies closely monitoring the pipelines.
He stressed that when the Production War Room team was inaugurated on 25th June 2024, production was at 1.430mbpd, but the team swung into action, culminating into sustaining the production recovery to 1.7mbpd in August and hitting the current 1.808mbpd in November.
“We are confident that with this same momentum and with the active collaboration of all stakeholders, especially on the security front, we can see the possibility of getting to 2mbpd by the end of the year,” he stated.
Also speaking on the development, Chairman of the NNPC Ltd Board of Directors, Chief Pius Akinyelure, who also congratulated the team, said he was happy to be part of the production recovery process, adding: “today, I will leave this place with my heart full of joy”.

He charged the Company’s Management to come up with a cashflow projection based on the new production figures to facilitate planning, stressing that he was looking forward to further production increase to 3mbpd.

On his part, the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, expressed satisfaction with the performance of the team and pledged the Federal Government’s support for the company to do more.

NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production

Business

FG gets fresh $134m loan from AfDB for agric projects

Published

9 hours ago

November 14, 2024

Trends Admin

FG gets fresh $134m loan from AfDB for agric projects

The Federal Government has secured a loan facility of $134million from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to help farmers boost seeds and grain production in the country.

This is contained in a statement issued by Anthonia Eremah, Chief Information Officer, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, on Thursday, in Abuja.

Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, made his know at the unveiling of the 2024/2025 National Dry Season Farming in Calabar, Cross River State capital.

Kyari explained that with the re-introduction of the national dry season farming to boost year-round agricultural production, the loan would be handy and guarantee national food security in the country.

The minister said the initiative is under the National Agricultural Growth Support Scheme-Agro Pocket (NAGS-AP) Project.

He said the federal government had declared an emergency on food production to enable all Nigerians to get easy access to quality and nutritional food at affordable rates.

Kyari also said government wants to use the agricultural sector for national economic revival through increase in production of some staple food crops such as wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, soybean, and cassava during both dry and wet season farming.

He added that 107,429 wheat farmers were supported under phase 1 of the 2023/2024 dry season, and 43,997 rice farmers under the second phase of the 2023/2024 dry season.

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The minister said recently, government supported 192,095 rice, maize, sorghum/millet, soyabean and cassava farmers under the 2024 wet season across the 37 States including the FCT.

He said Cross River was leading 16 other states in wheat production, adding that over 3000 wheat farmers have been listed to benefit from the support to grow the grain.

Kyari noted the Cross River government’s commitment to wheat production.

He said it informed why the federal government is partnering with the state to kick start the maiden wheat production and enlisting them among states commencing the current 2024/2025 dry season farming.

“The 2024/2025 dry season farming, the project is targeted to support 250,000 wheat farmers across the wheat-producing states with subsidised agricultural inputs.

“This is to cultivate about 250,000 hectares with an expected output of about 750,000 metric tonnes of wheat to be added to the food reserve to reduce dependence on importation of the product and also increase domestic consumption.

“Equally the programme will provide support to 150,000 rice farmers under the second phase to cover all the 37 states, including FCT, with an expected output of about 450,000 metric tonnes,” he said.