President Muhammadu Buhari declares assets in act of transperency

Nigeria's leader Muhammadu Buhari has declared he has $150,000 (£100,000) in his personal account, in a move aimed at promoting transparency.

The amount showed the ex-military ruler and minister of petroleum had been living a "Spartan lifestyle", his spokesman Garba Shehu said.

The BBC's Will Ross says the assets are loose change for Nigerian politicians but a fortune for most of the country.

Mr Buhari is the first opposition candidate to win a national election.

The former military ruler was elected in March largely on a promise to tackle corruption and insecurity.

Corruption is a major problem in Africa's biggest economy and last month, Mr Buhari said that $150bn (£100bn) was missing from state coffers.

Buhari's assets:
Five homes and two mud houses, as well as farms
An orchard and a ranch with 270 head of cattle,
25 sheep, five horses and a variety of birds
Shares in three firms
Two undeveloped plots of lands
Bought two cars from his savings

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, a successful lawyer and pastor at one of Nigeria's biggest churches, is considerably wealthier.

Mr Shehu said in a statement Mr Osinbajo had $1.4m (£900,000) in his bank accounts.

In his declaration of assets, Mr Osinbajo also revealed that he owned a four-bedroom residence, a three-bedroom flat, a two-bedroom flat and a two-bedroom mortgaged property in Bedford, UK.

His political career started when he was appointed commissioner of justice in Lagos state in 2007 - a position he held for eight years.

The statement did not give the value of all the assets held by the president and the vice-president, saying the documents submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau would be made public as soon as the verification process was completed.

The leaders are also required by law to declare their assets when they left office.

Late President Umaru Yar'Adua was the first Nigerian leader to declare his assets publicly.

He was reported to be worth $5m (£3.5m) when the declaration was made in 2007.


BBC

Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote to invest in Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe, Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, plans to set up the biggest cement plant in the country, but he is not stopping there. He plans to make investments in energy and mining too. The Nigerian businessman announced the plans after meetings with senior government officials in Harare, on August 31st.

Super Eagles goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama pulls out of Nigeria squad after mother passes away

Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama has pulled out of Saturday's 2017 Africa Cup of Nations tie against Tanzania following the death of his mother.

"He is completely devastated and coach Sunday Oliseh has excused him on compassionate grounds," a source close to the family told BBC Sport.

Enyeama was due to fly to Abuja on Monday but cancelled the trip.

Uncapped Wolves goalkeeper Carl Ikeme is set to step into the starting line-up for the Group G qualifier.

Enyeama, who plays for French club Lille and is the Super Eagles most capped player with 101 appearances, was in goal for Nigeria when they beat Chad 2-0 in their opener in Kaduna in June.

Egypt, who have missed the last three continental finals, beat Tanzania 3-0 in Alexandria to top the group on goal difference.

Even though they are among the best-known sides on the continent, neither Nigeria nor seven-time champions Egypt qualified for the Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has confirmed that the Super Eagles face the Mena of Niger Republic in an international friendly on 8 September in Port Harcourt.

BBC

Central Bank of Nigeria trying to regulate bitcoin

The Central Bank of Nigeria has called for the regulation of the cryptocurrency, bitcoin, in Nigeria. Businessday reports that CBN is making the call in a bid to stem money laundering and protect consumers.

The intention of the apex bank was disclosed at the second Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism stakeholders’ consultative workshop in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja. The workshop was seen as an occasion that “will further assist in laying a solid foundation for the much needed regulatory climate on the operations of virtual currency in Nigeria.”

“Virtual currency was dangerous because it was not a legal tender of any country hence it has a borderless nature without jurisdiction which makes it a channel for money laundering,” said Dr Okwu Nnanna, deputy governor of financial system stability at Nigeria’s Central Bank (CBN).

Obot Akpan’s, deputy director of Financial Policy and Regulation Department at CBN also touched on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FAFT) recommendation on closer monitoring of digital currency exchanges and gateways to counter money laundering and terrorism financing.

The central bank also expressed its fears over the currency’s volatility as it has increased in use for both payment transactions and investment purposes.

CBN is yet to outline the roadmap to executing this regulation, but it is hardly possible to regulate bitcoin as is.

The bank’s fears are accurate and may well be the foundation of a CBN study of the workings of bitcoin, but the call for bitcoin regulation seems more akin to CBN making a scripted call similar to what Nigerian regulators have been known to make when confronted with a development they do not understand.

TechCabal

Related story: Another Bitcoin service BitX launches in Nigeria

Nigeria to begin using drones to combat oil theft

Nigeria is to deploy drones to monitor the movement of ships in an effort to curb the rampant oil theft in the country, the state oil firm says.

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says it wants to end crude theft in the next eight months.

Nigeria is Africa's biggest crude producer but its revenue is severely reduced by theft and attacks on oil pipelines.

New President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed to clean up the industry.

Oil generates around 70% of government revenues in Africa's biggest economy.

But a 2013 report by think tank Chatham House said that 100,000 barrels per day were being stolen.

That was equivalent to 5% of Nigeria's daily production.

It said the theft was occurring on an "industrial scale", with small barges transferring stolen oil to tankers waiting offshore to take it to international markets.

Senior politicians and military officers are said to be involved in the illegal trade.

The new head of NNPC Ibe Kachikwu also said the company would work more closely with Nigeria's navy to tackle the problem.

BBC