Naira depreciates against dollar as speculators reportedly hoard

The naira fell in value against the US dollar to N1,234 in the official foreign exchange market on Monday, according to statistics from the FMDQ securities exchange.

The currency rate indicates that the naira decreased by N65, or 5.26 percent, from N1,169.99/$1 recorded on Friday.

The local currency had strengthened to about N1,072.74 on Wednesday, as traders expected the naira will trade below N1,000/$1 for the first time.

However, the latest drop appears to coincide with the remarks of the apex bank Governor, Yemi Cardoso, who stated that the intent of the bank was not to defend the Naira, when asked about the sudden drop in external reserves.

Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves have maintained a one-month dip streak. The latest figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria show the external reserves reached a new low of $32.1bn on April 18, 2024. The reserves dropped by $2.35bn in 31 days, from $34.45bn on March 18, 2024.

But the CBN governor at the International Monetary Fund/World Bank Spring Meetings stated that the bank would refrain from intervening in the exchange unless unusual circumstances arose, stressing that the recent slight shift in reserves was unrelated to defending the naira.

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He said, “I want to make this as clear as possible, it is not in our intention to defend the naira. and as much I have read in the recent few days, some opinions with respect to what is happening with our reserves and if the central bank is defending the naira.”

The national currency had slumped badly in the forex market in the weeks preceding the clampdown on Binance, exchanging for as much as N1,950 in mid-February.

Observers blamed its earlier misfortune on alleged manipulation of the market by Binance. However, some stakeholders have accused the new crypto exchange platforms BYBIT and BITGET for the latest slip.

Analysts suggested that the naira experienced a depreciation over the span of six months from July 2023 to January 2024, particularly evident in the black market following the disbursement of funds by the FAAC to federal, state, and local government authorities.

The summary of the forex transaction showed that the intra-day high depreciated, closing at N1,295 per dollar. The intra-day low also reduced to N1,051/$. While the total daily turnover dropped slightly to $110.17m on Monday.

At the parallel market, currency traders sold the dollar between the rate of N1,250 and N1,270 from N1,154 recorded last Friday.

Bureau de Change operators who spoke to our correspondent said the reason for the new increase in dollar rate was due to market forces, adding they were unsure if there would be more increase or reduction before the end of the week.

The naira’s surge since late March, which had made it the best-performing currency in the world, came to a stop on Sunday when it had its first weekly decline in several weeks on the parallel market.

A BDC operator, Abubakar Taura said, “We sold the dollar today between the rate of N1,50 and N1,270 and it is a bit surprising because we don’t even know the real reason but that is the market, one day there will be profit and another day we make losses.”

Naira depreciates against dollar as speculators reportedly hoard

Olusegun Alebiosu named acting Chief Executive of FBN

FBN Holdings Plc has named Mr Olusegun Alebiosu as acting Chief Executive of the First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FirstBank), its flagship subsidiary.

This is coming after the recent resignation of the bank’s Managing Director/Chief Executive, Dr Adesola Adeduntan.

This is contained in a statement to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, signed by the holdings’ acting Company Secretary, Adewale Arogundade.

It said the appointment taking immediate effect would be subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The statement added that the announcement was in accordance with the Rulebook of The Exchange (Issuers’ Rules), which required that the Nigerian Exchange Limited and the investing public be duly notified of such development.

Alebiosu was an Executive Director/Chief Risk Officer who jointly led the transformation of FirstBank over the past eight years, and was an integral member of the team under the previous CEO’s leadership.

He joined FirstBank in 2016 and has over three decades of banking experience.

“The Board of Directors expressed gratitude to Adeduntan for his exemplary leadership in the last nine years during which he superintended the transformation and growth of the bank and wish him well in his future endeavours,” the statement added.

The new acting First Bank CEO commenced his professional career in 1991 with Oceanic Bank Plc (now EcoBank Plc).

Prior to joining FirstBank in 2016, he had served as Chief Risk Officer at Coronation Merchant Bank Limited, Chief Credit Risk Officer at African Development Bank Group, and Group Head, Credit Policy and Deputy Chief Credit Risk Officer at United Bank for Africa Plc.

He is an alumnus of Harvard School of Government and holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management.

Alebiosu also obtained a master’s degree in International Law and Diplomacy from the University of Lagos and holds a master’s degree in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

FG to roll out 200 CNG buses, 2,500 tricycles next month

• Targets one million automobiles 

The Federal Government says it will unveil its first set of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles and tricycles for mass transit next month (May 2024), as part of activities to mark President Bola Tinubu’s one year in office.

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement on Sunday said 200 buses and 2,500 tricycles powered by CNG would be unveiled.

He said the buses and tricycles would be rolled out with a set target of one million CNG-powered automobiles by 2027.

He said the committee led by Michael Oluwagbemi was set to deliver cheaper, safer and more climate-friendly energy vehicles.

Onanuga said the committee had fulfilled some foundational reforms to enable the new CNG and electric vehicles to deliver the future Tinubu promised.

He added that all was ready for delivery of the first set of critical assets for deployment and launch of the vehicles ahead of the first anniversary of the Tinubu administration on May 29.

Onanuga also said, “In collaboration with the private sector, the PCNGI is set to deliver 100 conversion workshops and 60 refuelling sites spread across 18 states before the end of this year.”

The Federal Government provided N100 billion, as part of the N500 billion palliative budget, to purchase 5,500 CNG vehicles, being part of the many intervention programmes to cushion the effect of increase in petrol pump price on the masses.

This included buses and tricycles, 100 electric buses and over 20,000 CNG conversion kits, with the development of CNG refilling stations and electric charging stations.

Onanuga said with necessary tax and duty waivers approved by Tinubu in December 2023, the private sector partners in the Presidential CNG Initiative (PCNGI) had responded with over $50 million investments in refuelling stations and conversion centres

He stated, “Also, a safety policy document on 80 standards and regulations that must be strictly adhered to by operators has been developed and approved to ensure CNG conversions are done safely and reliably.

“The deployment of CNG buses and tricycles and the vision to get at least one million natural gas propelled vehicles on our roads by 2027 will mark a major energy transition in our country’s transportation industry.

Onanuga also said, “Four plants owned by JET, Mikano, Mojo, and Brilliant EV located in various parts of the country are involved in the assembly of the Semi Knocked Down (SKD) components of the CNG buses.

“JET, which has received the SKD parts, is coupling the buses in Lagos and is working towards delivering 200 units before the first anniversary of the Tinubu administration.

“Brilliant EV will assemble electric vehicles. It is awaiting the SKD parts, which will arrive in due course. The electric vehicles it will produce are meant for states, such as Kano and Borno, which do not have access to CNG for now.

“They will also be available in key Nigerian cities and university campuses.

“It must be noted that soon to be completed gas pipeline projects initiated by the Buhari administration and being completed by NNPCL (the AKK Pipeline) will take gas into the hinterlands of North-East and North-West where there is current paucity.”

He said over 600 buses were targeted for production in the first phase this year while a new plant on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway would assemble thousands of tricycles.

“The SKD parts manufactured by the Chinese company LUOJIA in partnership with its local partner to support the consortium of local suppliers of CNG tricycles are set for shipment to Nigeria and expected to arrive early in May. About 2,500 of the tricycles will be ready before May 29, 2024.

“Thousands of conversion kits for petrol powered buses and taxis that want to migrate to CNG are also ready with CNG cylinders.

“The Federal government intends to provide them at subsidised rates, especially to commercial vehicle drivers to bring down the cost of public transportation.”

As part of private sector collaboration, NIPCO and BOVAS are involved in offering refilling services for the CNG vehicles and also serving as conversion centres.

NIPCO is setting up 32 stations nationwide to offer the services. The company has completed the set-up of four of the CNG stations.

“Likewise, BOVAS is setting up eight stations in Ibadan, two each in Ekiti, Abuja and four in Ilorin.

“MRS is also involved. It is making efforts to announce where its refilling stations and conversion centres will be,” Onanuga added.

He also said NNPC Limited, which had launched an on-and-off CNG initiative in the past, was joining the new initiative and expected to announce the locations for CNG refilling and CNG conversion centres nationwide.

The statement said PCNGI was working with 22 other agency-partners, including the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and National Automotive Design and Development Council, to deliver 80 Natural Gas Vehicle Conversion and Associated Appliances Standards for the country.

He added that the vision of the President to deliver one million gas vehicles could not be possible without the private sector, including the RTEAN, NURTW and players in the downstream sector of the transportation chain and financiers.