Nigeria’s upper house of parliament approved President Goodluck Jonathan’s nomination of Godwin Emefiele as the country’s next central bank governor.
The Senate confirmed Emefiele, the 52-year-old chief executive officer of Zenith Bank Plc, at a hearing today in the capital, Abuja. He will take up his post in June, replacing Lamido Sanusi, 52, who was suspended by Jonathan last month for “financial recklessness and misconduct.” Sanusi has denied the allegations.
Emefiele will have to steer Africa’s most populous nation through next year’s presidential election amid pressure to boost government spending, support a currency that has declined 2.5 percent versus the dollar this year and keep inflation under control. He also faces the task of convincing investors and the public of the independence of the central bank following Sanusi’s removal.
The Monetary Policy Committee, led by acting Governor Sarah Alade, held its key interest rate at a record 12 percent and increased the cash reserve requirements on private sector deposits to 15 percent from 12 percent yesterday, citing the continued need for a tight monetary stance. It was the first MPC meeting since Sanusi was dismissed.
Sanusi’s suspension came after he alleged that billions of dollars of government oil revenue were unaccounted for. Jonathan’s actions were criticized by investors concerned that the independence of the central bank may be compromised.
A banker with 26 years of experience, Emefiele became the managing director of Zenith Bank, Nigeria’s second-largest lender by assets, in August 2010 after serving as deputy managing director from 2001.
He has an MBA degree from the University of Nigeria in Nsukka and lectured at the University of Port Harcourt, the institution where Jonathan taught before he entered politics.
Bloomberg
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Fire at Central Bank of Nigeria office in Lagos
The Tinubu, Lagos office of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, went up in flames yesterday.
The cause of the fire said to have started from the third floor of the five storey building was yet to be ascertained as at time of writing this report.
But unconfirmed report said it was caused by electrical fault.
It was gathered that it started at about 5.10pm as workers were about moving documents and other sensitive items to the new building . Eye witnesses said an alarm was raised by a passer-by who noticed smoke billowing from the affected floor, causing staff of the apex bank who had closed for the day to scamper for safety.
The Lagos State Director of Fire Service, Mr. Rasaq Fadipe, when contacted, said two fire trucks from Onikan and Sari Iganmu stations with 10,000 litres of water each were drafted to the scene immediately information reached the service at about 5.45pm.
The fire fighters were still battling to contain the situation at about 6.50pm.
Fadipe could, however, not give the exact number of offices affected. He stated that it would be ascertained at the end of the operation, assuring that his men were on top of the situation.
The tragedy took a new turn when a state fire officer (names withheld) collapsed due to suffocation by the fumes he inhaled but he was later rescued and taken to a nearby hospital.
CBN reacts
While reacting to the fire incidence, the Director, Corporate Communications Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, in a statement said: "The CBN wishes to inform its stakeholders and the general public that a fire incident occurred at its Lagos Branch Office at about 5.30 this evening (Tuesday, March 25, 2014).
"The fire, which occurred on the first floor of the building, has been put out by a combined team of fire fighters from the CBN and other institutions. We wish to assure our numerous stakeholders that the records of the bank are intact, as the bank has an effective backup of all its records as part of our disaster recovery infrastructure."
Vanguard
The cause of the fire said to have started from the third floor of the five storey building was yet to be ascertained as at time of writing this report.
But unconfirmed report said it was caused by electrical fault.
It was gathered that it started at about 5.10pm as workers were about moving documents and other sensitive items to the new building . Eye witnesses said an alarm was raised by a passer-by who noticed smoke billowing from the affected floor, causing staff of the apex bank who had closed for the day to scamper for safety.
The Lagos State Director of Fire Service, Mr. Rasaq Fadipe, when contacted, said two fire trucks from Onikan and Sari Iganmu stations with 10,000 litres of water each were drafted to the scene immediately information reached the service at about 5.45pm.
The fire fighters were still battling to contain the situation at about 6.50pm.
Fadipe could, however, not give the exact number of offices affected. He stated that it would be ascertained at the end of the operation, assuring that his men were on top of the situation.
The tragedy took a new turn when a state fire officer (names withheld) collapsed due to suffocation by the fumes he inhaled but he was later rescued and taken to a nearby hospital.
CBN reacts
While reacting to the fire incidence, the Director, Corporate Communications Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, in a statement said: "The CBN wishes to inform its stakeholders and the general public that a fire incident occurred at its Lagos Branch Office at about 5.30 this evening (Tuesday, March 25, 2014).
"The fire, which occurred on the first floor of the building, has been put out by a combined team of fire fighters from the CBN and other institutions. We wish to assure our numerous stakeholders that the records of the bank are intact, as the bank has an effective backup of all its records as part of our disaster recovery infrastructure."
Vanguard
Monday, March 24, 2014
Video - Local govrnment fight to take youth off the streets in Kano, Nigeria
Northern Nigeria has some of the highest unemployment and school dropout in the world. Many of those jobless young people are exploited as foot soldiers for criminal gangs. Several programmes have started to try and nip trouble in the bud.
Video - Increase in child rape cases in Kano, Nigeria
Convicted child rapists could be jailed for life in Nigeria, as part of government efforts to stop the rising number of sexual assaults. A hundred rape cases were recorded in just two months in the northern state of Kano.
Boko Haram market bomb blast leaves 20 dead in
Suspected Islamist militants detonated a bomb in a crowded marketplace in northeastern Nigeria killing at least 20 people, witnesses said on Sunday.
Nigerian security officials said the attack late on Saturday in the town of Bama in Borno state bore the hallmarks of an attack by the al Qaeda-linked militant group Boko Haram, which is fighting to carve an Islamic state out of northeast Nigeria.
Security sources say Boko Haram has killed hundreds, possibly thousands, this year in a campaign of violence that is growing in intensity.
"I travelled to Bama ...to buy bags of beans. Suddenly, there was a deafening bang at the middle of the market. It was in the late afternoon and commercial activities were at their peak," said Shuaibu Abdulahi, a trader at the market. He estimated the death toll to be as high as 29.
Abba Tahir, a bus driver who was offloading passengers at the market, said he counted 20 bodies.
"People were helping in evacuating the corpses after the confusion had died down. Some people who were injured were taken to the general hospital," Tahir said.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack. The military spokesman for Borno state did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A military crackdown since last May has failed to quell the insurgency, which after four and a half years remains the leading security threat to Africa's top oil producer.
Borno state has ordered all of its schools to shut before the end of term to protect children after Islamists killed dozens of pupils in an attack last month, state officials said on Friday.
Security officials said Boko Haram had shot or burned to death at least 29 pupils in a boarding school in northeast Nigeria. A journalist who counted bodies in the morgue after the attack put the figure at 59.
The failure of the military to protect civilians is fuelling anger in the northeast, although state security officials have claimed some recent successes, including killing several militants as they tried to escape from a prison in Borno's state capital Maiduguri this month.
Reuters
Nigerian security officials said the attack late on Saturday in the town of Bama in Borno state bore the hallmarks of an attack by the al Qaeda-linked militant group Boko Haram, which is fighting to carve an Islamic state out of northeast Nigeria.
Security sources say Boko Haram has killed hundreds, possibly thousands, this year in a campaign of violence that is growing in intensity.
"I travelled to Bama ...to buy bags of beans. Suddenly, there was a deafening bang at the middle of the market. It was in the late afternoon and commercial activities were at their peak," said Shuaibu Abdulahi, a trader at the market. He estimated the death toll to be as high as 29.
Abba Tahir, a bus driver who was offloading passengers at the market, said he counted 20 bodies.
"People were helping in evacuating the corpses after the confusion had died down. Some people who were injured were taken to the general hospital," Tahir said.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack. The military spokesman for Borno state did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A military crackdown since last May has failed to quell the insurgency, which after four and a half years remains the leading security threat to Africa's top oil producer.
Borno state has ordered all of its schools to shut before the end of term to protect children after Islamists killed dozens of pupils in an attack last month, state officials said on Friday.
Security officials said Boko Haram had shot or burned to death at least 29 pupils in a boarding school in northeast Nigeria. A journalist who counted bodies in the morgue after the attack put the figure at 59.
The failure of the military to protect civilians is fuelling anger in the northeast, although state security officials have claimed some recent successes, including killing several militants as they tried to escape from a prison in Borno's state capital Maiduguri this month.
Reuters
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