President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, are scheduled to speak on the economy at the forthcoming Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria’s  annual Banking and Finance conference.

According to a statement by the institute, the conference will focus on the challenges facing the economy including the banking sector and how they could be addressed.

The conference, which has the theme: ‘Innovation in the financial services industry: Driving Nigeria’s new economy’, will in Abuja hold next.

Barcelona's director of sporting relations Albert Soler has revealed the club passed up the chance to sign Paul Pogba this summer, despite having first option on the midfielder.

The France international left Juventus this summer after four years in Turin and completed his return to Manchester United - the club he left in 2012 on a free transfer - for a world record £93.25 fee.

According to Soler, Barcelona had first refusal on a deal to sign Pogba after securing an agreement with Juventus last summer which would give them priority on 23-year-old if the Serie A champions decided to sell him.

Aguero was charged retrospectively by the Football Association after appearing to elbow West Ham's Winston Reid in the second half of Sunday's Premier League game at the Etihad Stadium.

The incident, after which Reid was substituted through injury, was missed by referee Andre Marriner and his fellow officials during the match.

The France midfielder received a personal phone call from the United boss just weeks after helping Leicester claim their first Premier League title.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Wednesday interrogated a former Minister of Works and current Pro-Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe.

It was learnt that Ogunlewe was invited to the Ibadan office of the EFCC sequel to a petition written to the EFCC by a group known as Concerned Stakeholders of FUNAAB in which Ogunlewe and the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olusola Oyewole, and other members of the university’s governing council were accused of mismanaging N250m.

According to sources at the university, Oyewole and Ogunlewe allegedly spent N250m for allowances in four years thereby plunging the university into financial crisis.

The anti-graft agency said in a Facebook post that Ogunlewe was still being interrogated as of 4pm on Wednesday.

It said, “Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, the Pro-Chancellor, FUNAAB, is being quizzed at the Iyaganku office of the EFCC, Ibadan today, August 31, 2016 in respect of an alleged case of abuse of office and misappropriation of funds reported against the university Pro-Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olusola Oyewole, management and some members of the governing council.

“According to a petition submitted to the EFCC by the Concerned Stakeholders of the Federal University of Agriculture, it was alleged that the pro-chancellor and the vice-chancellor engaged in an ‘unbridled corruption and betrayal of public trust.’ Ogunlewe is still being interrogated by the EFCC operatives of the commission.”

The EFCC had on August 17 quizzed Oyewole and the university Bursar, Mr. Moses Ilesanmi, for their alleged roles in the case.

When contacted on the telephone, Ogunlewe confirmed that he was quizzed by the commission but added that he was only asked to offer explanations and he left the anti-graft agency at 10am.

The former minister said the petition was initiated by the bursar who was aggrieved because the governing council refused to extend his tenure.

Ogunlewe added that the council had no access to N250m and therefore dismissed the allegation.

He said, “All our allowances are prescribed under the rules and regulations. The governing council sits only four times a year and our allowances cannot be altered. So, the allegations are false. In government you must sign whenever you receive money. So, how could we have signed off on that amount of money?

“The council is not involved in the day-to-day running of the school. We don’t approve money or contracts. What we do is policy-making. So, we have no access to such funds. The registrar is the secretary to the council and he has all the relevant documents.”

When asked to explain what he told detectives, Ogunlewe said, “I told them four things. First, the bursar asked for extension by one year and the council refused his application and that is why he is against the council. So, his petition is in bad faith.

“Secondly, the bursar was involved in N27m missing funds and so it is him that the EFCC should be investigating. Thirdly, we are about to appoint a new VC so there is a lot of fighting and politics going on.”

The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities had on August 24, this year, staged a demonstration at the Ibadan office of the EFCC where they called on the Federal Government to investigate financial and other administrative activities of the vice-chancellor of the university.

During the protest, the Chairman of SSANU of the University of Ibadan, Wale Akinremi, who spoke on behalf of the leaders of the union, said the group staged the protest to condemn and reject the recent suspension of members of the union by the embattled VC.

He said the suspended members were targeted because they wrote a petition against the VC to the EFCC.

He said, “Our position is that as from this moment, SSANU as a union, ceases to recognise Prof. Oyewole as the VC of FUNAAB. We are saying that the Federal Government should beam its searchlight on the university system in Nigeria, especially on the pro-chancellors, the vice-chancellors and the bursars.”

Indonesian police said Thursday they have arrested three suspects in connection with an online prostitution ring that allegedly linked adult men to about 100 mostly teenage boys.

Officers caught the first suspect, a man in his 40s accused of pimping out boys on his Facebook page, on Tuesday in a hotel room in Cisarua on Java island.

The man, whose identity was not disclosed, was with seven boys and an 18-year-old when he was arrested, said senior police officer Agung Setya.

Two more suspects were detained on Wednesday, one who allegedly also offered boys over social media, and another accused of using the service which involved boys between 12 and 18 years of age.

“They all know each other, they’re a syndicate,” said Setya.

Investigators found 99 boys offered online at prices ranging from 1.2 million rupiah to 10 million rupiah ($90 to $750).

The police began monitoring the first suspect in August, when they came across his Facebook account during a regular online check.

He had been released from jail in March after serving a sentence for prostitution involving girls, Setya added.

Asrorun Niam Sholeh, head of the government-backed rights group the National Commission for Child Protection, urged the state to swiftly issue new laws to combat sexual crimes against children.

“We have to use this as momentum to really wage a war against sexual crime,” he said, adding that children were being “physically and psychologically damaged”.

resident Joko Widodo in May introduced tough new punishments for child sex offenders, including a maximum penalty of death and chemical castration, after the brutal gang-rape and murder of a schoolgirl sparked nationwide outrage.

AFP

The continued scarcity of foreign exchange on Wednesday pushed the naira to an all-time-low of 420 against the United States dollar at the parallel market.

The currency hit its record low the same day that data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the economy was in recession.

The naira has continued to weaken in the parallel market, defying attempts by monetary authorities to reverse its slide.

For instance, the CBN had on June 20 lifted its 16-month-old currency controls and auctioned about $4bn on the spot and futures market to clear a backlog of dollar demand, to help boost interbank market trading.

On Tuesday, the naira had dipped to 418 against the dollar at the parallel market, a day it closed at 414.

Some analysts expressed concern about the likely impact of the NBS report, which painted a negative picture of the economy, on the currency and investment.

The NBS report showed that the GDP growth rate slid further from -0.36 per cent in the first quarter to -2.06 per cent with inflation rising to 17.1 per cent from 16.5 per cent.

It also showed that unemployment rate had increased to 13.3 per cent from 12.1 per cent and that the investment inflows had dropped to the lowest levels at $647.1m from $710m.

The country’s foreign reserves have also witnessed a decline, further threatening the naira.

Bureaux de Change operators have, however, raised the hope of a gradual appreciation of the local currency in the near term as the CBN licensed 11 new international money transfer operators to address the dollar supply side.

“Depending on the effective implementation of the central bank’s policy, the appointment of new international money transfer operators will ensure that banks will have more dollars to sell to bureaux de change and provide the needed liquidity in the market,” the President, National Association of Bureaux de Change Operators of Nigeria, Aminu Gwadabe, told Reuters on Wednesday.

The Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Dr. Adeyemi Dipeolu, said the NBS report had also indicated that the second half of the year would be better.

“Besides the growth recorded in the agriculture and solid mineral sectors, the Nigerian economy in response to the policies of the Buhari presidency is also doing better than what the IMF had estimated with clear indications that the second half of the year would be even much better,” he said.

Financial analysts have called on the Federal Government to declare a national emergency on the economy to avoid a situation where the current recession will result in a full-blown depression.

(PUNCH)

At N21.425trillion, banking system’s credit to the private sector grew by 13.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2016, compared the previous quarter.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disclosed this in its second quarter 2016 economic report.

The development was due to the growth in claims on the core private sector. Over the level at end December 2015, banking system’s credit to the private sector grew by 14.5 per cent, compared with the growth of 0.9 per cent and 4.3 per cent recorded at the end of the preceding quarter and the corresponding period of 2015, respectively

Also, at N24.318 trillion, aggregate domestic credit (net) to the economy, on quarter-on-quarter basis, grew by 7.3 per cent, compared with the growth of 4.9 per cent and 3.8 per cent at the end of the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2015, respectively.

The development, relative to the preceding quarter was attributed to the 13.5 per cent growth in claims on the private sector. Over the level at end of December 2015, net domestic credit rose by 12.5 per cent, compared with the growth of 4.9 per cent at the end of the preceding quarter. The development reflected the growth in claims on the private sector.

Similarly, the report showed that banking system’s credit (net) to the federal government fell by 23.5 per cent to N2.893 trillion, in contrast to the growth of 30.7 and 26.5 per cent at the end of the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2015, respectively. The development was due to the fall in banks’ holding of government securities.

Relative to the level at the end of the preceding quarter, foreign assets (net) of the banking system, rose by 2.8 per cent to N7.105 trillion at end-June 2016, in contrast to the decline of 1.8 per cent at the end of the preceding quarter. Furthermore, the development was attributed, largely, to the increase in foreign asset holdings of the banks, following the adoption of a flexible exchange rate regime.

“Over the level at end December 2015, foreign assets (net) rose by 25.7 per cent at end-June 2016, in contrast to the decline of 1.8 and 14.4 per cent at the end of the preceding quarter and the corresponding period of 2015, respectively,” it added.
At N1.685 trillion, currency-in-circulation declined by seven per cent in the review quarter, compared with the decline of 2.5 per cent at the end of the preceding quarter. The development was due, largely, to the decline in vault cash.

Total deposits at the CBN amounted to N10.502 trillion, indicating an increase of 8.1 per cent relative to the level at the end of the preceding quarter. The development reflected the significant increase in federal government deposits.
Of the total deposits at CBN, the shares of the federal government, banks and ‘Others’ were N5.021 trillion (47.8 per cent), N3,687 trillion (35.1per cent) and N1.794.trillion (17.1 per cent), respectively.

Reserve money (RM) fell by 6.4 per cent to N5.372 trillion at the end of the second quarter, reflecting the decline in both banks’ reserves with the CBN and currency in circulation.

“Commercial Paper (CP) outstanding held by banks, rose to N0.53 billion in the second quarter of 2016, compared with N0.45 billion in the preceding quarter. The development reflected increased investment in CPs by the commercial banks, during the review quarter. As a ratio of total assets outstanding, CPs constituted 0.01 per cent, same as in the preceding quarter.

“Bankers’ Acceptances (BAs) outstanding rose by 141.75 per cent to N29.76 billion, compared with N12.31billion at the end of the preceding quarter. The development was attributed to the increase in investment in BAs by the banks, during the quarter.

“Consequently, BAs accounted for 0.28 per cent of the total value of money market assets outstanding, at the end of the second quarter of 2016, compared with 0.13 per cent, at the end of the preceding quarter,” it added.

[ThisDay]