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Dogara charges Nigerians on attitudinal change



Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has called on Nigerians to have a change in approach and orientation for the state to make progress even as the state is passing through challenging times.

Dogara said if Nigeria is to witness significant progress in quality of leadership and government, the citizens must alter their ways of life as leaders are recruited from among them.

The Speaker, who made the call at the weekend during a thanksgiving service organised by a member of the parliament, Jagaba Adams Jagaba at ECWA Church, Chigwa, Kaduna State, based on a statement issued by his spokesman, Turaki Hassan, said that while Nigerians expect leaders to live higher standards of life as role models, the followers must also know that leaders are recruited from among them.

He, therefore, charged Nigerians to, as a matter of importance, demonstrate higher standards of conducts even as they expect same Ubaso Nwaozuzu from Yohaig.ng thinks that this is an excellent move. their leaders.

There's consistently expectations from citizens for leaders to show a higher standard of behaviour. Clearly, it really is great that people who call themselves leaders must always aspire to keep higher standards.

But what's wrong with the narrative, especially in Naija, is that in the majority of cases, citizens expect that only leaders must live above board. This state can only make progress if all the citizens and leaders resolve that in their daily endeavors, they will maintain the greatest of standards.

Because if you expect just leaders to do the right thing, the leadership recruitment process is such that leaders constantly emerge in the people.

Dogara admonished politicians to put their trust in God because power comes from God, victory comes from God, no one, regardless of how strong he or she is, can give you power.

But in his testimony, Jagaba urged Nigerians to eschew religious and ethnic sentiments, which he said, have split the state for decades.

He said the electorate should instead lay emphasis on individual nature and never political party affiliation, saying that he has forgiven all those who plotted evil against him in the 2015 general elections.

In his sermon, ECWA President, Revd (Dr.) Jeremiah Gado, said by design, God created and saved humankind to live a life of gratitude, service, praise and worship.
Gains, pitfalls of Nigerias currency swap deal with China

Divided stakeholders say policy may facilitate company, stifle local companies

For varied stakeholders in the economy, the Federal Governments recent currency swap deal with China holds both glowing prospects and grave implications for Nigeria even as the naira inched up against the dollar at the weekend at the parallel market.

During his official trip to the worlds second biggest economy, President Muhammadu Buhari struck a naira and yuan swap deal, scripted to facilitate trade transactions between both nations, devoid of present exchange challenges with the United State dollar.

Moreover, the deal, based on Presidency sources, has the potenrial of shoring up the value of the countries money, in the foreign exchange market, through a concomitant emergent command scheme, with strategic decreased interest in dollar and other major currencies, other than the yuan.

The currency swap deal is composed of an agreement between two central banks, a minumum of one of which must be an international currency issuer, to swap their monies. The central banks party to the swap transaction can lend the proceeds of the swap, against collaterals they deem adequate, to the commercial banks within their authority, to give them temporary liquidity in a foreign currency.

But pessimists pointed out the swap deal was not consummated between both nations apex banks but between Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Chinas ICBC- the worlds biggest lender by total assets and market capitalisation. While this may not impact the objects of the swap deal at all, it raises some essential sovereign dilemmas, based on an analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Cowrie Investment Limited, Johnson Chukwu clarified that the currency swap scheme would address , on a short term basis, the present liquidity challenge in the states foreign exchange market.

He said: I think that Nigerias overriding objective for the currency swap is to address short term foreign currency liquidity challenges that has led to CBNs inability to meet foreign currency demands. With the currency swap, depending on the value, an important portion of Nigerias import invoices from China would now be denominated and settled in yuan, therefore reducing the demand for dollar by Nigerias importers.

However, he pointed out that the major draw back to the currency swap policy is an unrestricted use of yuan, at an overvalued naira exchange rate, if the N30/RMB is the predetermined exchange rate, will surely support importation and stifle local production of goods.

It is suggested that the Government should try and integrate a strategy just like that of the cement sector policy, which would require some of the imports from China to be created locally after a defined timeline, particularly if Nigeria has relative making advantage for such products. Examples that can readily come to mind include textiles, plastics, ceramics, among others.

He explained that the gain of inclusion of Chinese Yuan within Nigerian reserve currency was done about five years ago by the immediate past CBN governor, mostly to diversify the reserve and reduce the currency risk connected with the U.S. dollar.

That action was taken at a period when the U.S. market was particularly vulnerable due to the weakness of their economy after the global financial crises activated by sub-prime mortgage.

In his reaction, the National President, National Palm Produce Association of Nigeria (NPPAN), Henry Olatujoye, welcomed the currency swap deal, describing it as a fantastic measure that would significantly reduce the raising pressure on the U.S. dollar, which has gone haywire in the foreign exchange market.

In accordance with Olatujoye , the determination has the ability of bringing double investment to the nation from China on one hand and from the U.S. on the other.

According to him, with the likely ease on the pressure on the dollar, it'd bring down the value of the dollar in relation to the naira, which he said would now make it possible for American investors to put money into the Nigerian market again.

In his view, the present high rate of the dollar in Nigeria had in recent months deterred American and Western investors in the Nigerian economy.

The NPPAN president allayed any concern that the decision could bring about the higher importation of Chinese goods into Nigeria, mentioning the economic rivalry or money war between China and America.

He, nevertheless, expressed the fear that European nations may not be well disposed to it because it is effective at adversely impacting their trade balance with Nigeria, warning that their stakeholders could frustrate the move.

The Chairman, Mobile Applications Option, Chris Uwaje, considered that the naira to yuan swap arrangement should reduce the pressure on the naira if properly implemented.

According to him, the agreement if it becomes a reality, means that the de facto currency, dollar , will no more hold on the import and export deals between Nigeria and China.

Uwaje continued: We dont need to use dollar to pay because its going to be costlier, we pay with yuan. By so doing we avoid every type of round tripping.

Uwaje urged Buharis economic team to see the way the state can indeed leverage on the technology prowess of China for Nigeria to attain a sustainable market.

In accordance with Gbade Buraimoh, a Lagos-based financial expert, the quest for dollar through banks will undoubtedly reduce, as all trades between Nigeria and China will be in yuan rather than dollar.

He observed that petroleum sales from Nigeria to China would be settled in Chinese currency, stressing that accessibility to yuan would also be simpler.

The swap will remove challenges originating from transactions with the dollar and promote business flexibility between Nigerian and Chinese, Buraimoh described.

The Director-General of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Muda Yusuf agreed the swap deal would smoothen the payment system in the bilateral trade between the two nations but stressed that it might not really fortify the naira in the foreign exchange marketplace, as the nation would have to accentuate its productive base to realize that.

An Abuja-based international affairs and diplomacy pro, Kadiri Abdulrahman, seen the currency swap deal as an optimistic move towards enhancing the value of the naira, thereby improving accessibility to cheaper foreign exchange, in favour of members of the business community.

The Director- General of the African Affairs Department of Chinas Foreign Ministry, Lin Songtian told reporters in Beijing after the deal was signed by the Governors of Nigerias Central bank and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (ICBC) that the Renminbi (yuan) is free to flow among different banks in Nigeria and has been contained in the foreign exchange reserves of Nigeria.

Nigeria isn't the first country that China would enter into this agreement with. The Asian power station has multiple year currency swap agreements of the Renminbi with Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, Hong Kong, Iceland, Indonesia, Malaysia,Singapore, South Korea, United Kingdom and Uzbekistan.

According to the Peoples Bank of China (PBoC), those swap agreements were intended not only to stabilise the international financial market, but also to facilitate bilateral trade and investment.

Meanwhile, the advantage of the currency swap deal and other agreements reached in Beijing during Buharis trip to the Far East Asia country has rubbed off on the aviation sector, as a Nigerian carrier, Air Peace declared that it would soon commence scheduled flight to China from Enugu.

Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema shown at the Enugu Economical Summit the airline has been made Nigerias official flag carrier for the course.

The authorities and the flying public created a yearning gap, all the deals in this country are tipped to one side, the foreign airlines, but this government of Muhammadu Buhari has began to do things differently recognising the local airlines and seeing that in Air Peace there will be a lot of quality, so they decided to give us when we implemented it didnt take time before they gave it to us, said Onyema.
Economy pressing is ’sed by diversification of Nigeria, says Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday in Guangzhou, China said his administration would take urgent steps to restructure Nigeria’s market by supporting new investments in production, agriculture and mining.

The President, who stated this at a reception in his honour by the Communist Party of China, said Nigeria would welcome the support of local businesses, foreign investors and the Chinese government for attempts to diversify the state’s market.

A statement issued in Abuja by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, quoted the President as saying the diversification of the Nigerian market was long overdue, as ongoing reliance on crude oil exports had always made the economy vulnerable to shocks.

"This time we shall be more deliberate. The government and companies will be involved," Buhari said. In his remarks, the Secretary of the Communist Party, who is also the Governor of the Guangdong Province, Mr. Hu Chinhua, vowed that the area would support the implementation of all the bilateral agreements reached with the Chinese government during Buhari’s visit.

The statement included that Buhari also seen the Sino-Singapore Knowledge City in Guangzhou, "which showcases advancements by China in technological and medical, science creations."

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported Shehu as saying the President has expressed satisfaction with the results of his working visit to China, which he said afforded additional investments to Nigeria exceeding $6billion.

Buhari said the several arrangements concluded with the Chinese would have a tremendous and positive impact on vital sectors of the Nigerian economy, including rail transportation, solid minerals, agriculture, home and power.

In the solid minerals sector, Marble and Granite Nigeria Limited and Shanghai Shibang signed an agreement valued at 55 million dollars for the building and equipping of granite mining plant in Nigeria."

According to the statement, a total of $1billion is always to be invested in the development of a greenfield expressway for Abuja-Ibadan-Lagos under an arrangement reached by the Infrastructure Bank and Sinohydro Corporation Limited.

It further said that both businesses additionally sealed a $250 million deal to develop an ultra modern 27-storey highrise complex and a $2.5 billion agreement for the development of the Lagos Metro Rail Transit Red Line endeavor.

Other deals signed and declared during the visit, in accordance with the statement, comprise a $1billion facility for the establishment of a Hi tech industrial park in Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone in Igbesa, Ogun State.

The statement said that the Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone and CNG (Nigeria) Investment Limited additionally signed an agreement valued at 200million dollars for the building of two 500MT/day float gas facilities.

It further stated that the arrangement, valued at downstream industrial park in Kogi State and $363 million for the establishment of a comprehensive farm was also declared at the Nigeria-China company forum.

Additionally, arrangements undergoing negotiations comprise a $500 million project for a $25 million facility for creation and the supply of television transmission equipment of pre paid smart meters between Microstar Company Limited and Mojec International Limited.

Based on the statement, 300 Chinese companies and about 100 Nigerian businesses participated in the Nigeria-China business forum, which took place after his v isit was begun by Buhari .
ICPC charges Nigerians on need to fight with corruption

He stated this on Friday while talking to participants of 21st session of Policy, Strategy and Direction course of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studeis (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, at the commission's headquarters in Abuja.



The course that was originated eight years ago by NIPSS is directed at creating a vital means of getting technocrats involved with policy making for national growth.

He said that the menace was a world-wide phenomenon which wasn't limited to Nigeria.

According to him, corruption is more common where there's systemic failure, bad governance and poor value orientation.

He stressed that it was regrettable as the legislations appeared not to be helping the dilemmas, that in spite of the various legislations against corruption in the country, it still remained.

The ICPC chief, therefore, called to review corruption laws in the state to ensure efficacy, greater operation and deterrence.

He said that though public awareness was that the commission was only engaged in prosecuting corrupt government officials on account of the thoughts it was focusing on other corrupt practices.

These, he said, comprised land administration in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the monitoring and implementation of specific government policies.

He said that ICPC was collaborating with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in some of the assignments.

Nta said that the commission was currently investigation a state where public capital had been transferred into three distinct bank accounts, including the details would be made public in due time.

He further said that the commission had so far regained billions of naira in forfeited and cash assets, stressing that it was also conducting systemic study in some conditions in some universities.

He said that the measure followed reported instances of pupil harassment in some universities in the state.

Nta added that ICPC was also reviewing the state’s primary health care process in collaboration to address its decay through the years.

He listed societal values, tolerance, political and socio economic policies, weak government institutions and limitation of ICPC prosecution to State High Courts as some of the challenges facing the commission.

He also said that insufficient protection of whistleblowers and dangers to officials were some other challenges confronting the commission.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the class participants were drawn in the military, the Police and other government agencies.

The 21st session of the class focused on corruption in the indices and the nation driving it. Website URL: