Business

Why Governors Are Against New Naira —El-Rufai

Published

1 year ago

February 21, 2023

Editor

The Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has denied that governors are against the naira redesign because it would prevent them from inducing voters during the forthcoming elections.

According to El-Rufai, governors kicked against the policy as a result of the hardship it had brought upon the citizens, adding that the policy had pitched the All Progressives Congress against the citizens.

The governor, who spoke in an interview with BBC Hausa on Monday, stressed that the currency redesign was not enough to stop voter inducements.

He said, “We reviewed this policy and the hardship it put people into and the feeling of hatred Nigerians developed for the APC because Nigerians are putting the blame on the APC and the people who introduced the policy did it to make our party lose in the election.

“After we finished our review, we agreed that the judgment of the supreme court should be followed, which is that the old and new notes should be used until the case is over.

“Did vote-buying start today? Why was the money not redesigned before? Why now? Secondly, is vote-buying only done with naira? It can be bought using Dollar, Euro, CFA, and you can give the voters food.

“There are several ways through which you can buy votes. You cannot take money out of politics, but you can reduce it.”

He maintained that the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, in connivance with opposition party members sold the policy to the president.

El-Rufai said, “We are not against this policy because of vote buying. I swear to God, we are against it because of how we saw people suffering, not the elections.

“The people who pushed for the naira redesign are not members of the APC. You see Godwin Emefiele, it was the PDP that brought him. The others with whom the decision was taken with them know them and when the time comes, will expose them because they are not members of our party.

“God willing on Saturday the masses will retaliate against those who want to drag our party to the ground. whom the APC gave an opportunity to get money more than what will be sufficient for them to do the shopping because some of them knew that shopping in their homes was difficult for them eight years ago, but now, they have more money than you could imagine.”

El-Rufai said the president had refused to reverse the policy because he had been told governors are thieves.

He said, “Because a president is a person who believes in people, and we (governors), our image has been tarnished. He has been told that governors are thieves which is why we are against the naira redesign policy. Even if we go to him and say ‘our leader you have been lied to in this place’, and he says I understand and will take action on it, the moment we depart, he will be told not to take any action. Every person is a nine out of ten. In this regard, we believe the president made a mistake.”

Business

[ICYMI]FULL LIST: 16 Banking Transactions Exempted From CBN’s New

Published

1 day ago

May 7, 2024

Editor

The Central Bank of Nigeria on Monday directed all banks to commence charging a 0.5 per cent cybersecurity levy on all electronic transactions within the country.

The apex bank stated this in a circular signed by the Director, Payments System Management Department, Chibuzo Efobi; and the Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Haruna Mustafa; a copy of which was obtained by The PUNCH.

The circular, which was directed to all commercial, merchant, non-interest, and payment service banks, among others; noted that the implementation of the levy would start two weeks from Monday, May 6, 2024.

“The levy shall be applied at the point of electronic transfer origination, then deducted and remitted by the financial institution. The deducted amount shall be reflected in the customer’s account with the narration, ‘Cybersecurity Levy,’” the circular partly read.

In this piece, The PUNCH highlights all the 16 banking transactions that are exempted from the CBN’s new cybersecurity levy:

Loan disbursements and repayments
Salary payments
Intra-account transfers within the same bank or between different banks for the same customer
Intra-bank transfers between customers of the same bank
Other Financial Institutions instructions to their correspondent banks
Interbank placements,
Banks’ transfers to CBN and vice-versa
Inter-branch transfers within a bank
Cheque clearing and settlements
Letters of Credits

Banks’ recapitalisation-related funding – only bulk funds movement from collection accounts
Savings and deposits, including transactions involving long-term investments such as Treasury Bills, Bonds, and Commercial Papers.
Government Social Welfare Programmes transactions e.g. Pension payments
Non-profit and charitable transactions, including donations to registered non-profit organisations or charities
Educational institutions’ transactions, including tuition payments and other transactions involving schools, universities, or other educational institutions
Transactions involving bank’s internal accounts such as suspense accounts, clearing accounts, profit and loss accounts, inter-branch accounts, reserve accounts, nostro and vostro accounts, and escrow accounts.

Business

ICYMI: Five Things To Know About The New Cybersecurity Levy To Be Paid By Nigerians

Published

1 day ago

May 7, 2024

Editor

The Central Bank of Nigeria, on Monday, directed banks and other financial institutions to start charging a cybersecurity levy on all banking transactions.

According to the circular sighted by The PUNCH, the implementation of the levy would start in two weeks.

The circular read in part, “Following the enactment of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) (amendment) Act 2024 and pursuant to the provision of Section 44 (2)(a) of the Act, ‘a levy of 0.5% (0.005) equivalent to a half percent of all electronic transactions value by the business specified in the Second Schedule of the Act,’ is to be remitted to the National Cybersecurity Fund, which shall be administered by the Office of the National Security Adviser.”

Here are some things to know about the cybersecurity levy to be paid by Nigerians, according to the CBN circular:

1. A new levy of 0.5%, equivalent to half per cent, is applied to electronic transactions as mandated by the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) (amendment) Act 2024.

2. The levy is paid by the originator of the electronic transaction and deducted by the financial institution. The deducted amount shall be reflected in the customer’s account with the narration: “Cybersecurity Levy.”

3. Financial institutions will deduct the levy and remit it to the National Cybersecurity Fund administered by the Office of the National Security Adviser.

4. Deductions shall commence within two weeks from the date of the circular, May 6, and financial institutions must remit collected levies in bulk to the NCF account domiciled at the CBN monthly by the fifth business day of the following month.

5. Financial institutions have deadlines to update their systems to handle levy deduction and remittance. Failure to remit the levy can result in penalties, including a fine of up to 2% of a financial institution’s annual turnover.

Business

ICYMI: FG Gives Deadline To PoS Operators To Register With CAC

Published

1 day ago

May 7, 2024

Editor

The Corporate Affairs Commission has set a two-month deadline for Point of Sale operators in the country to register their agents, merchants and individuals, latest by July 7, 2024.

The Registrar-General/Chief Executive Officer, CAC, Hussaini Magaji, SAN, met with some fintech companies, also known as PoS, on Monday in Abuja, during which the agreement was reached.

Magaji said the measure aims at safeguarding the businesses of fintech customers and strengthening the economy, the commission stated via its X handle, tweeting as @cacnigeria1.

Magaji stated that the move complies with “Section 863, Subsection 1 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, CAMA 2020 as well as the 2013 Central Bank of Nigeria’s guidelines on agent banking.”

The tweet partly read, “Hussaini Magaji, therefore, said that the timeline for the registration, which will expire on July 7, 2024, was not targeted at any groups or individuals but genuinely aimed at protecting businesses.

“Several speakers from the fintech industry pledged to collaborate with the Commission to ensure hitch-free implementation of the directive.

“Some of them, however, stressed the need for adequate and collective sensitisation to ensure that the exercise achieved the desired results.”

In his remarks, Tokoni Peter, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on ICT Development and Innovation, “pledged to ensure the smooth facilitation of the process in line with the Renewed Hope Initiative of the present administration.”

Present at the meeting were representatives of fintech companies, including Opay, Momba, Palm Pay, Moniepoint, Paystack, among others.

Aside from being an avenue for job creation, PoS operators play a significant role in financial transactions nationwide.

The move to compel the registration of the fintech companies with the CAC has come at a much-needed time as the companies have also been a key part of fraudulent transactions.

In its Annual Fraud Landscape (January to December 2023) report, the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System has said that financial institutions lost about N17.67 billion to fraud in 2023.

It was also reported that the Web and PoS channels were the most exploited payment channels by fraudsters in 2023.

The count of Web Fraud decreased by 38 per cent and ATM fraud recorded a 64 per cent reduction from 2022 to 2023.