Business

CBN’s Naira Re-design Rendered Farmers Empty Financially – FG

Published

2 years ago

December 11, 2023

The Federal Government on Monday said the naira redesign policy carried out by the Central Bank of Nigeria from December 15, 2022, to early February this year when the Supreme Court ruled against it, ran farmers bankrupt.

In a similar lamentation, federal lawmakers declared that the rate of hunger and famine in the land is resulting in the deaths of the poor in rural areas.

Lamentations on the effects of the controversial naira re-design and hunger arising from insecurity came to the fore during the budget defence session the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, had before the National Assembly Joint Committee on Agriculture.

In his presentation before the joint committee chaired by Senator Saliu Mustapha ( APC Kwara Central), the minister said the focus of the 2024 budgetary proposals for the sector is to achieve food security in the country.

According to him, several factors like insecurity and the naira re-design policy carried out about a year ago, impoverished the farmers and severely threatened food security in the country.

“The cash crunch caused by the naira re-design made most of the farmers sold their farm produce at giveaway prices for survival since buyers couldn’t access cash to buy the produce from them.

“The policy which coincided with harvest season, ended rendering the farmers empty financially,” he said.

In their separate remarks at the session, Dahiru Haruna from Toro Federal Constituency in Bauchi State and Ademorin Kuye from Shomolu Federal Constituency, Lagos State, raised the alarm on urgent need by the Federal Government to address the high rate of hunger in the country largely caused by insecurity.

Haruna, in his remarks, said ” Minister, being from the North East, the picture I am about to paint shouldn’t be strange to you at all.

“The pathetic picture of people dying of hunger daily while majority of those surviving, feed once a day.

“Making it worrisome is the fact that even people from neighbouring countries like Chad, Niger, Benin Republic and Central Aftrica, are trooping in to mop up the little food, signalling total famine in the area if not urgently addressed by stockpiling the silos “.

But Ademorin, in his remarks, wrote off the silos by putting it to the minister that most of the silos built by President Jonathan’s administration are alleged to be concessions for N20 million each.

The minister, however, in his response, assured the lawmakers that all issues raised would be decisively addressed in the 2024 fiscal year.

Kyari said food security is the number one out of the 8- 8-point agenda of President Bola Tinubu’s administration and that the ministry has repositioned itself for actualisation of the agenda.

According to him, some of the action plans already being implemented to ensure food security in the country aside from securing the farmlands by security agencies are “certification of available planting materials for some food security crops in readiness for dry season farming.

“Reviewing the mechanisms and processes for delivering fertilizers and agro-pesticides input to farmers under a transparent and accountable regime.

“Fast-tract the take off and operations of the National Agricultural Development fund.

“Implement a joint action plan with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to unlock the huge irrigation potentials of the River Basin Development Authorities and other flood plains in the country to guarantee all-year-round food production etc.”

Earlier in his submission, he told the committee members that for the 2024 fiscal year, a total of N362.940 billion was earmarked for the sector out of which N124.1 billion is for the Ministry.

The breakdown of the N124.1billion according to him, shows that N10.6billion is for personnel cost, N1.34 billion for overhead and N112.497 billion for capital expenditure.

Business

Report Any MRS Filling Stations Selling Fuel Above N739 Per Liter — Dangote Refinery To Nigerians

Published

1 day ago

December 23, 2025

Editor

Dangote Refinery has urged Nigerians to report any MRS filling station outlets nationwide selling fuel above the N739 per liter announced price.

The company disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.

The refinery insisted that its petrol being at retail outlets remain N739 per liter while the gantry price is N699.

It further called on other filling station owners to patronize its refined petroleum products at the N699 rate.

“We also call on other petrol station operators to patronize our products so that the benefits of this price reduction can be passed on to Nigerians across all outlets, ensuring broad-based relief and a more stable downstream market.”

Recall that Aliko Dangote, the president of Dangote Refinery, had pegged the retail price of his petrol at a maximum of N740.

DAILY POST reports that MRS filling and other filling stations had reduced fuel prices to between N739 and N912 per liter in Abuja.

However, reports emerged that some MRS filling stations were selling above the N739 per liter announced price benchmark.

Business

Naira Records Significant Appreciation Against US Dollar

Published

1 day ago

December 23, 2025

Editor

The Naira recorded significant appreciation against the United States dollar on Monday at the official foreign exchange market to begin the week ahead of Yuletide on a good note.

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s data showed that the Naira strengthened to N1,456.56 per dollar on Monday, up from N1,464.49 traded on Friday last week, 19th December 2025.

This means that the Naira gained N7.93 against the dollar when compared with the N1,464.49 was exchanged as of Friday, December 19, 2025. DAILY POST reports that Monday’s gain at the official FX market is the first since December 15th.

Business

CBN Revokes Licences Of Aso Savings, Union Homes As NDIC Begins Deposit Payments

Published

1 week ago

December 16, 2025

Editor

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revoked the operating licences of Aso Savings and Loans Plc and Union Homes Savings and Loans Plc, citing persistent regulatory infractions and deepening financial distress in the two primary mortgage banks.

The revocation, which took effect on December 15, 2025, was carried out under Section 12 of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020 and Section 7.3 of the Revised Guidelines for Mortgage Banks in Nigeria, the CBN said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

According to the apex bank, the affected institutions failed to meet minimum paid-up share capital requirements, had insufficient assets to cover their liabilities, recorded capital adequacy ratios below prudential thresholds, and consistently breached regulatory directives.

“The CBN remains committed to its core mandate of ensuring financial system stability,” a statement, signed by the apex bank’s Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Mrs Hakama Sidi Ali said.

Following the licence revocation, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) was appointed liquidator of the defunct banks in line with the law.

The Corporation said it has commenced the liquidation process and begun verification and payment of insured deposits to customers.

Under the deposit insurance framework, depositors are entitled to receive up to two million naira per depositor, with payments made through BVN-linked alternate bank accounts.

Depositors with balances above the insured limit will receive the initial two million naira while the remaining sums will be paid as liquidation dividends after the realisation of the banks’ assets and recovery of outstanding loans.

The NDIC said depositors may submit claims either online or physically at designated branches of the closed banks, while creditors will be paid after all depositors have been fully settled, in accordance with statutory provisions.

The two mortgage banks have faced prolonged operational challenges, including depositor complaints, governance concerns, and delisting from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) in 2024 for failure to submit audited financial statements for more than six years.

The CBN assured the public that the action was taken to strengthen the mortgage banking sub-sector and protect depositors, adding that banks whose licences have not been revoked remain safe and sound.

This means the two financial institutions can no longer operate as licensed financial institutions.