NAIJAFEED

Monday, March 25, 2024

Video - Car dealers in Nigeria say country's economic woes hurt their business

According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria registered a significant increase in used-vehicle imports last year. However, dealers say the growth could be even stronger if not for a crippling cost-of-living crisis and falling local currency.

CGTN

Protests in Nigeria over skyrocketing inflation as local currency hits record low value

Video - Why Are Multinationals Like P&G, GSK and Sanofi Leaving Nigeria?

Video - Soaring fuel prices in Nigeria threaten agricultural prosperity

One dry-season farmer says his crops are withering away because of soaring fuel prices. He and other farmers need gasoline to fuel their irrigation systems. But fuel costs have tripled since the removal of a fuel subsidy. Farm productivity is down as a result.

CGTN

Video - Nigeria secures $134 million to tackle food crisis

Video - Rising Food Prices spark protests and smuggling in Nigeria

Detained Binance executive escapes detention in Nigeria amidst probe

Nadeem Anjarwalla, one of the two Binance executives detained in Nigeria has reportedly escaped from lawful custody, according to sources.

These sources revealed that Anjarwalla, aged 38, escaped on Friday, March 22nd, from the Abuja guest house where he and his colleague were being detained, Premium Times reported.

Guards on duty escorted him to a nearby mosque for prayers as part of the ongoing Ramadan fast.

The British national, who also holds Kenyan citizenship, is believed to have departed Abuja via a Middle Eastern airline.

The circumstances surrounding how Anjarwalla managed to board an international flight despite being in custody and his British passport being held by Nigerian authorities remain unclear.

Authorities are reportedly working to uncover Anjarwalla's intended destination to apprehend him and return him to custody.

According to an Immigration official, the Binance executive fled Nigeria using a Kenyan passport. However, authorities are trying to ascertain how he acquired this passport, as he did not possess any other travel documents apart from his British passport when he was detained.

Before now, WIRED reported that Anjarwalla fell ill while in custody, possibly due to malaria, although the precise nature of his symptoms was unclear.

Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance's regional manager for Africa, along with Tigran Gambaryan, Binance's head of financial crime compliance and a U.S. citizen had travelled to Nigeria after the country banned several cryptocurrency trading websites to halt what the CBN described as continuous manipulation of the forex market and illicit movement of funds.

Upon their arrival on February 26, they were arrested by the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), and criminal charges were filed against the two executives.

Binance was instructed to provide the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with detailed data and information regarding all Nigerian traders on its platform.

According to Yemi Cardoso, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), over $26 billion passed through Binance Nigeria from unknown sources. The government even hit the exchange with a $10 billion fine amidst a crypto exchange probe.

On February 28, 2024, the court granted the EFCC an order to remand the duo for 14 days. Due to Binance’s refusal to comply with the order, the court extended the remand of the officials for an additional 14 days to prevent them from tampering with evidence. The court then adjourned the case till 4 April 2024.

By Adekunle Agbetiloye, Business Insider Africa

Court in Nigeria Orders Binance to Relinquish Data of All Nigerians Trading on its Platform

Video - Nigeria detains Binance executives

Nigeria files tax evasion charges against Binance

Nigeria's tax agency has filed tax evasion charges against crypto platform Binance, it said in a statement on Monday.

The cased filed by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in Abuja accuses Binance of four counts of tax evasion.

Binance was not immediately available to comment.

The charges include non-payment of value-added tax (VAT), company income tax, failure to file tax returns, and complicity in aiding customers to evade taxes through its platform, the FIRS said.

By Camillus Eboh, Reuters

Video - Nigeria detains Binance executives

Nigerian army rescues kidnapped Kaduna students

The Nigerian army on Sunday rescued students and staff who were abducted by gunmen from a school in the country's north earlier this month, the military said, days before the deadline for a ransom payment.

School officials and residents had said 287 students were taken on March 7 in the town of Kuriga in the northwestern state of Kaduna. A military spokesperson said 137 hostages - 76 of them female and 61 male - were rescued in the early hours of Sunday in neighbouring state of Zamfara.

"In the early hours of 24 March 2024, the military working with local authorities and government agencies across the country in a coordinated search and rescue operation rescued the hostages," Major General Edward Buba said in a statement.

A security source said the students had been freed in a forest and were being escorted to Kaduna's capital for medical tests before being reunited with their families.

Kaduna Governor Uba Sani earlier put the number of kidnapped at over 200. Given the discrepancies in numbers reported, it was unclear if any hostages remained captured. Some Kuriga elders said Sani had told them all hostages had been freed.

Jibrin Aminu, a spokesperson for the Kuriga parents, said he would clarify numbers on Monday when families had been given the chance to "take account of their kidnapped children."

The rescue took place just days before a deadline to pay a 1 billion naira ($690,000) ransom for their release.

Abductions at Nigerian schools were first carried out by jihadist group Boko Haram, which seized 276 students from a girls' school in Chibok in northeastern Borno State a decade ago. Some of the girls have never been released.

But since then the tactic has been adopted by criminal gangs without ideological affiliation.
Kidnappings by criminal gangs demanding ransoms have become an almost daily occurrence, especially in northern Nigeria, tearing apart families and communities that must pool savings to pay ransoms, often forcing them to sell land, cattle and grain to secure the release of their loved ones.