The House of Representatives has approved the federal government’s request for $6.183 billion (N2.343 trillion) as external borrowing in 2021 Appropriation Act. The approval followed the consideration and adoption of clauses in the report presented by the committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management, chaired by Hon. Ahmed Dayyabu Safana. The House also gave approval for the bill seeking to establish a Defence Research and Development Bureau (DRDB) to conduct and coordinate robust research and development in the Armed Forces of Nigeria. The approval was sequel to the consideration and adoption of the 5 parts and 34 Sections of the Bill’s report, presented by Chairman House Committee on Defence, Hon. Babajimi Benson. Presenting the report, Benson said the objective of the Bureau was to condu...
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has accused Nigerian leaders and top government officials of aiding the Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) activities in the country. The EFCC also revealed that corrupt government officials and their private sector collaborators used fronts and ownership structures that do not provide sufficient information about the true identities of the natural persons behind the title to hide illicit money and transferred same to safe havens abroad. The Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Abduralsheed Bawa, disclosed this during a one-day conference that was organised by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CSLAC) on IFF on Corruption in Arbitration in Abuja Bawa, who was represented by the Head of Research Unit, Department of Policy Research a...
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), has expressed concerns over $2.18 billion foreign loan request to the Nigerian Senate to fund the 2021 Appropriations Act, by President Muhammadu Buhari. It has therefore urged the National Assembly to insist on an analysis of debt repayment strategy to be in place as its key priority to approvals. In a statement by Executive Director, CISLAC and Head of Transparency International – Nigeria, Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani, he said national public finance management regime is meant to save the nation’s economic system from collapse: rescuing jobs, supporting livelihoods and bailing out many businesses on the brink. He warned the government to avoid the catastrophe that the international finance institutions forced on Greece: destroying ...
Barely five days to the end of the year 2020, the Central Bank of Nigeria has disclosed that a survey carried out by its Statistics Department revealed that the naira is expected to depreciate further in January 2021. The report, titled, ‘December 2020 Business Expectations Survey Report’ added that there might also be a steady rise in interest rate from December till the next six months. The naira witnessed a sharp fall in recent weeks, reaching its lowest on November 30, 2020, when it exchanged for N500/$1. Since then, the dollar has been hovering between N460 and N470. As of Friday, however, one dollar exchanged for 465 in the parallel market. Also, the Nigerian economy had on November 21 slid into its second recession in five years when the economy shrank again in the third quarter. Th...