Illeila land border still shut despite FG reopening order – Newstrends
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Illeila land border still shut despite FG reopening order

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Five days after the Federal Government announced the immediate reopening of four land borders across the country, authorities of the Illeila border have failed to comply with such order as they continue to differ on when the border will be reopened.

The two major agents of government whose duties include the monitoring of the border, Customs and Immigration, cannot exactly say when the border will be reopened for use.

Our correspondent who went to the border post on Sunday confirmed that human and vehicular activities were yet resume fully at the border.

The visit was a follow up to the earlier visit of last Thursday. The visit was to confirm the level of activities both at the border and the International Cattle Market in Illeila.

A senior Custom official who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity said the command iwa yet to receive a signal on when the border post should reopen.

He reaffirmed that officers of Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Illeila Border Command were ready to comply with the directive of its parent command in Sokoto.

He said any further arrangement or time of the border reopening should be directed to the state command for proper confirmation.

The Public Relations Officer of Customs, Sokoto State Command, Balarabe, was not available for comments as of the time of filing this report.

The Nigerian Immigration Service at the Illeila border command confirmed its readiness to resume work.

One of its officils who spoke with Nigerian Tribune on Sunday confirmed that a circular had been sent to them from their state headquarters in Sokoto to reopen the border.

He said the officers and men of Nigerian Immigration had resumed their duties in compliance with the circular.

The officer who did not want his name mentioned as he was not authorised to speak with the journalists said the command had started attending to travellers with valid documents.

“Our men have started attending to people with genuine documents to move in and out of the country in accordance with the directive.

The only issue we have now is we cannot attend to people with luggage or goods as that is not part of our responsibility.

“The reason why this place looks quiet is because as a result of no vehicular movement which is not part of our duty but that of customs,” he added

But traders in the town have commended the government for listening to the cries of ordinary citizens by reopening the border.

Speaking with Nigerian Tribune, Mallam Zubairu, the chairman of cattle sellers at the Illeila International Market commended the decision of the federal executive council.

He said the reopening of the border would no doubt contribute to the economic advancement of not only the residents of the state but also that of the country.

While assuring the federal and the state government that his men would continue to cooperate with relevant security agencies in the area to avoid the breach of security.

The chairman called on Sokoto State government to come to the aid of the traders by fencing the environment where the market is located.

He said if well fenced, the security situation in the area would improve and more revenue would be generated by the state government.

-Tribune

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CBN raises commercial banks’ capital base to N500bn

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CBN raises commercial banks’ capital base to N500bn

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has increased the minimum capital requirements for commercial, merchant and non-interest banks.

The CBN increased the capital base for commercial banks with international licences to N500 billion, while national and regional financial institutions’ capital bases were fixed at N200 billion and N50 billion, respectively.

This was announced in a statement on Thursday, noting that the increase was due to prevailing macroeconomic challenges and headwinds.

The statement signed by Haruna Mustafa, director, financial policy and regulation department at the CBN.

It said the upward review would enhance the banks’ resilience, solvency and capacity to continue to support the growth of the Nigerian economy.

Also, the CBN raised the merchant bank minimum capital requirement to N50 billion for national licence holders.

The financial regulator said the capital base for national and regional non-interest banks is N20 billion and N10 billion, respectively.

To meet the minimum capital requirements, the CBN advised banks to consider the injection of “fresh equity capital through private placements, rights issue and/or offer for subscription”.

The CBN also suggested merger and acquisition (M&A), as well as upgrade or downgrade of licences.

“The minimum capital specified above shall comprise paid-up capital and share premium only. For the avoidance of doubt, the new capital requirement shall not be based on shareholders’ funds,” it stated

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Tinubu orders creation of single-digit tax system

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Tinubu orders creation of single-digit tax system

President Bola Tinubu has directed a creation of a single-digit tax system with a maximum of nine taxes for a company or an individual.

Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji, disclosed this in Abuja while speaking with the management team of Guinness Nigeria who paid him a visit.

A statement on Wednesday by Dare Adekanmbi, Special Adviser on Media to the FIRS chairman, quoted Adedeji as saying, “The President gave a directive that he wants a single-digit tax in the country, meaning that the maximum number of taxes we will have after the work of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms will be nine taxes.”

The statement added that the plan was aimed at having a conducive environment “created for businesses to flourish and grow the economy.”

 

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Naira gains further against dollar

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Naira gains further against dollar

The Naira rose further in the official market on Tuesday, trading at N1,382.95 to the dollar.

According to data from the FMDQ’s official trading portal, the Naira rose by N25.09, or 1.78 percent, from the previous day’s rate of N1,408 versus the dollar.

On Tuesday, total turnover was $245.58 million, up from $222.15 million on Monday.

Meanwhile, at the Investor’s and Exporters (I&E) window, the Naira traded between N1,486 and N1,300 against the dollar.

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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had, earlier on Tuesday at its 294th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), raised Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 200 basis points from 22.75 per cent to 24.75 per cent.

CBN governor Yemi Cardoso said that was meant to tackle the nation’s rising inflation.

Naira gains further against dollar

(NAN)

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