Business

Finance Minister Clears Air On N424bn Budget Padding

Published

3 years ago

December 5, 2022

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, has cleared the air over the N424bn that was said to have been padded by the minister into the 2023 Appropriation Bill.

Ahmed has been accused by the Humanitarian, Health, Power and Education to have inserted, N206bn, N8.6bn, N195.468bn, and N2.250bn respectively.

The Finance Minister, however, got a clean slate before the senate when she appeared to defend herself over cases of puddings in the proposed N20.51 trillion 2023 budget from the Senate Committee on Appropriation when she made clarifications on them.

She explained to the committee that the various sums were sent to the ministries for perusal before approval by the Federal Executive Council, before the budget presentation itself by the President, Major General, Muhammadu Buhari, ( Retd.) on Friday, October 7, 2022.

She stated, “This project in question under the Humanitarian Affairs ministry is a project that was called National Social Safety Net project.

“This is a total sum of $473.5m which translates to N296bn. This project was correctly described by the IR departments that collated the report but in the –process of collating the at the budget office, the wrong code was selected. This code that was selected resulted in the description showing as purchase and security weapons.

“The same project was correctly captured in the MTEF because it was also presented in the MTEF.

“She noted that the amount was correct and “it is correctly provided for in the ministry of Humanitarian Affairs disaster management, and social development because they are the agency implementing this national social safety net scale-up the programme.”

She added, “This project is also described as refurbishment and procurement of Harris RF 578 100 military communications equipment in the sum of N8.6 billion.

“The Honourable Minister of Defence wrote to his Excellency Mr President, requesting the immediate release of $1.36 3m, and N158.92 8m for the implementation of phase one of this project.

“The Honourable Minister of Defence also requested the sum of $2.27 8m and N11.9 4 billion to implement phases two and three of the project, all of which Mr President graciously approved and was conveyed to us.”

Ahmed added, “All the proposed budgetary sums like the N206 billion in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, the N8.6billion in the Ministry of Defence, N195.468 billion in the estimates for the Ministry of Power, etc, were all captured before the presentation by Mr President.

“Most of these sums are bilateral or multilateral loans captured in the budget of agencies selected for project execution for the sole purpose of transparency.

“The totality of such loans captured in the proposed budget of the relevant agencies is N1.771 trillion.

“Had heads of the affected MDAs carried out thorough scrutinisation of their approved budgetary proposals, the issue of insertion or budget padding wouldn’t have arisen at all, a realisation of which made the Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi apologise after feigning ignorance of N8.6 billion in his Ministry’s budget during an interface with Senate Committee on Defence,” she said.

Ahmed noted that it was evident that there were internal coordination issues between the project of implementation units in some ministries, departments and agencies, with their CEOs and their accounting officers of the implementing ministry.

She stressed, “And also there’s also a gap of coordination even with the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning. We will be taking necessary measures to make sure that going forward these gaps are addressed on our site and also work with the ministers to make sure that the gaps that they have between the Project Implementation units on the CEOs are also bridged.

“Specifically for multilateral bilateral funded projects, the PIUs are domiciled in the designated implementing MDS and the lenders will not deal with any other agency but that beneficiary agency including the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning on procurements and as well as on several other aspects of the project implementation.”

Satisfied by her submission, the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Jibrin Barau (APC Kano North), said the clarifications made by the Minister were well understood by all the committee members and commended her for ensuring transparency with capturing of such loans or grants in the budget.

Earlier at an interface with the Senate Ad-hoc committee on uneven disbursement of a N500 billion Development fund by the Development Bank of Nigeria, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, failed to supply the committee with verifiable evidence of beneficiaries.

She said about 9.8 million pupils nationwide are already benefiting from the school feeding programme at the rate of N100 per meal, aside from beneficiaries of other clusters of the programme.

But the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Sani Musa and other members like Ayo Akinyekure, Uche Ekwunife, Mathew Urhoghide, etc, told the Minister that her presentation and that of the Coordinator of the program, Dr Umar Bindir, were beautiful on paper but lacked substance.

The implementation of the program according to them is a nullity.

Consequently, the Committee directed her to furnish it with the names of beneficiaries of different clusters of the program, their contact address, and telephone numbers on the basis of states, local governments and wards within the week.
PUNCH

Business

CBN Directs Banks To Refund Failed ATM Transactions Within 48hrs

Published

2 hours ago

October 11, 2025

Editor

The Central Bank of Nigeria has directed Deposit Money Banks and other financial institutions to refund customers for failed Automated Teller Machine transactions within 48 hours, in a sweeping reform aimed at protecting consumers and restoring confidence in the banking system.

The directive is contained in a draft guideline released by the apex bank on Saturday, titled “Exposure of the Draft Guidelines on the Operations of Automated Teller Machines in Nigeria.”

The document, signed by Musa I. Jimoh, Director of Payments System Policy Department, was circulated to banks, payment service providers, card schemes, and independent ATM deployers, with a call for stakeholder feedback by October 31, 2025.

Under the draft, failed “on-us” transactions, where customers use their own bank’s ATM, must be reversed instantly. If technical glitches prevent immediate reversal, the bank is required to manually refund the customer within 24 hours.

For “not-on-us” transactions, involving other banks’ ATMs, refunds must be processed within 48 hours.

“Customers must not be made to suffer for failed transactions caused by system errors or network failures,” the circular stressed.

In a significant shift, the CBN mandated banks and ATM acquirers to deploy technology that automatically reverses failed or partial transactions, removing the need for customers to lodge complaints.

Institutions holding customer funds due to failed disbursements must reconcile and return balances immediately.

According to the apex bank, these measures respond to widespread frustration over delayed refunds and poor customer service and form part of a broader effort to enhance consumer protection, improve reliability, and modernise Nigeria’s payment infrastructure in line with global standards.

The guidelines will also overhaul ATM operations nationwide. Banks and card issuers are now required to deploy at least one ATM for every 5,000 active cards, with phased targets of 30% compliance in 2026, 60% in 2027, and full compliance by 2028. Any future deployment, relocation, or decommissioning of ATMs must receive prior approval from the CBN.

To ensure safety, ATMs must be fitted with anti-skimming devices, CCTV cameras, and placed in enclosed or well-lit areas.

Machines are expected to comply with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards, maintain audit logs, and display functional helpdesk contacts. At least 2% of all ATMs must feature tactile symbols for visually impaired customers.

ATMs are also required to dispense cash before returning cards, allow free PIN changes, issue receipts for all transactions except balance inquiries, display clear transaction fees, dispense only clean banknotes, and provide backup power to reduce downtime.

Downtime must not exceed 72 consecutive hours, after which operators must inform the public of the cause and expected restoration time.

The CBN will enforce compliance through regular audits, on-site inspections, and monthly reports from ATM operators detailing deployments and locations. Defaulting institutions risk sanctions, though fines were not specified.

The apex bank explained that the overhaul was necessary due to rising complaints about failed transactions, cyber fraud, and declining service quality, noting that “the goal is to build a payments system that works seamlessly for everyone, urban and rural users alike.”

Nigeria’s electronic payments landscape has grown rapidly in recent years, with 200 million cardholders and rising reliance on digital banking, but network failures, poor infrastructure, and delayed reversals have continued to undermine confidence.

The fresh guidelines, coming eight months after a revision of ATM fees, are expected to streamline service delivery, enhance transaction security, and hold banks accountable. Stakeholders are invited to submit feedback ahead of the final policy adoption, which could take effect before the end of the year.

Business

Nigerian Stock Market Hits 10th Consecutive Uptrend As investors Gain N308bn

Published

1 day ago

October 10, 2025

Editor

The Nigerian Stock Market recorded its 10th consecutive uptrend as investors raked in N308 billion gain on Thursday.

This comes as the Nigerian Exchange Limited, NGX, market capitalisation, which opened at N92.490 trillion, appreciated by 0.33 per cent to close at N92.798 trillion on Thursday.

Also, the All-Share Index added 0.33 per cent, or 485.25 points, to close at 146,204.34, compared with 145,719.09 recorded on Wednesday.

Increased trading in Eunisell Interlinked, Caverton Offshore Support Group, Sunu Assurances, Industrial and Medical Gases, Mecure, and 27 other advancing stocks boosted market performance on Thursday.

To this end, the market breadth also closed positive with 32 gainers and 21 losers.

Further analysis showed that Eunisell Interlinked and Caverton Offshore Support Group led the gainers’ chart by 10 per cent each, closing at N44 and N6.93 per share, respectively, while FTN Cocoa Processors led the losers’ table by 6.67 per cent, closing at N5.60 per share.

Market activity showed a decline in the number of deals and volume traded but an improvement in trade value.

Accordingly, a total of 346.99 million shares worth N27.43 billion were traded in 24,691 deals, compared with 525.72 million shares worth N13.61 billion exchanged in 25,597 deals on Wednesday.

Fidelity Bank topped the activity chart with 42.01 million shares valued at N861.54 million.

According to DAILY POST, NGX has continued its bullish run from last month’s end to date.

Business

CBN Sets POS Maximum Transactions In Fresh Guidelines

Published

3 days ago

October 8, 2025

Editor

The Central Bank of Nigeria has rolled out fresh guidelines for agent banking, known as Point of Sales, across the country.

The apex also in the guidelines pegged daily POS transactions at N1.2 million per agent and N100,000 per individual.

CBN disclosed this in a circular signed by its Director of the Payments System Management Department, Musa Jimoh.

The guidelines further mandate all financial institutions to publish the list of all their POS agents on their website and to display it in their branches.

CBN noted that the guidelines would take effect from April 1, 2026.

“The Guidelines aim to establish minimum standards for operating agent banking in Nigeria, enhancing agent banking to provide financial services and promoting financial inclusion, encouraging responsible market conduct and improving service quality in agent banking operations.

“This circular takes effect from the date of release, while the implementation of agent location and agent exclusivity shall be in effect from April 1, 2026.

“POS agents are restricted to a maximum of N1.2 million per day. Individual customers are limited to N100,000 in daily transactions.

“These limits are intended to curb misuse, enhance financial integrity, and protect consumers within the agent banking framework,” it stated.