Nigeria's naira touched a new record low of 183.05 against the dollar on Monday, driven by concerns over a sustained low oil price and expectations foreign investors would demand more dollars to pull out of local assets, dealers said.
The currency was trading down 2.4 per cent from Friday's closing level.
The central bank has struggled to keep the naira within its preferred band even after devaluing the currency by 8 per cent last Tuesday in a bid to halt a decline in the foreign reserves of Africa's biggest economy. Oil sales provide around 95 per cent of those reserves.
The bank's target band after devaluation is 5 per cent plus or minus 168 to the dollar, but doubts remain about whether it went far enough given the likelihood of continuing low oil prices and the fact that Nigeria's oil savings were being depleted even during a period of record high crude prices.
The coming weeks will test the bank's ability to maintain that level -- the naira is trading well below it and forex reserves are running out.
Pressure on the currency from lower oil prices risks reigniting inflation, which has stabilised in single digits for the past two years, the first time it has been this low.
Nigeria's economic troubles come at a bad time for President Goodluck Jonathan, who will seek re-election in polls scheduled for February 2015.
Barclays on Monday lowered its expected average Brent crude price to $72 (Sh6,480) a barrel for 2015, down from $93 (Sh8,370) a barrel previously, in a sign analysts have become more bearish following last week's OPec meeting, which left supply targets unchanged.
The Star
Related story: Central Bank of Nigeria issues new 100 Naira digital note
Monday, December 1, 2014
Boko Haram attack in Damaturu, Nigeria
Explosions and gunfire have rocked the north Nigerian city of Damaturu, in a suspected Boko Haram attack that targeted police officers.
A local source confirmed to Al Jazeera that gunmen believed to be Boko Haram fighters attacked the Yobe state University in Damaturu and other targets Damaturu early on Monday morning.
The fighters came from the bush and opened fire, according the witnesses.
The military has engaged them and gunshots were being heard by 08:00 GMT around Damaturu, though the gunfire later moved away from the university and into the bush as Nigerian troops chased the fighters.
Some students and university staff fled to the bush and were holed up there. Residents of the city were largely remaining indoors as the gunfire continued while the military deployed around the area.
It was not immediately clear if there were casualties.
"We have left our homes. We are now in the bush. We don't know what's going to happen," local man Umar Sada, who said a police barracks had been destroyed, told the AFP news agency.
In a separate development, at least five people were killed in two explosions at a marketplace in Maidugari, our correspondent Rawya Rageh, reporting from Abuja, said.
Monday's attacks come a day after scores of people were reportedly killed after suspected Boko Haram fighters, who arrived on motorcycles throwing bombs, raided Shani town in Nigeria's northeast Borno state.
Shani is located in Nigeria's Borno state, the heartland of Boko Haram's five-year insurgency, which has displaced more than one million people.
The raid also comes after a suicide bomb and gun attack on the central mosque in the northern city of Kano on Friday which bore all the hallmarks of Boko Haram and left at least 120 people dead.
The armed group is fighting to revive an Islamic caliphate in Nigeria's north. It is suspected to be behind Friday's attack on the central mosque in the second city of Kano, where at least 100 people died.
Aljazeera
A local source confirmed to Al Jazeera that gunmen believed to be Boko Haram fighters attacked the Yobe state University in Damaturu and other targets Damaturu early on Monday morning.
The fighters came from the bush and opened fire, according the witnesses.
The military has engaged them and gunshots were being heard by 08:00 GMT around Damaturu, though the gunfire later moved away from the university and into the bush as Nigerian troops chased the fighters.
Some students and university staff fled to the bush and were holed up there. Residents of the city were largely remaining indoors as the gunfire continued while the military deployed around the area.
It was not immediately clear if there were casualties.
"We have left our homes. We are now in the bush. We don't know what's going to happen," local man Umar Sada, who said a police barracks had been destroyed, told the AFP news agency.
In a separate development, at least five people were killed in two explosions at a marketplace in Maidugari, our correspondent Rawya Rageh, reporting from Abuja, said.
Monday's attacks come a day after scores of people were reportedly killed after suspected Boko Haram fighters, who arrived on motorcycles throwing bombs, raided Shani town in Nigeria's northeast Borno state.
Shani is located in Nigeria's Borno state, the heartland of Boko Haram's five-year insurgency, which has displaced more than one million people.
The raid also comes after a suicide bomb and gun attack on the central mosque in the northern city of Kano on Friday which bore all the hallmarks of Boko Haram and left at least 120 people dead.
The armed group is fighting to revive an Islamic caliphate in Nigeria's north. It is suspected to be behind Friday's attack on the central mosque in the second city of Kano, where at least 100 people died.
Aljazeera
Friday, November 28, 2014
Mosque attack in Kano, Nigeria leaves dozens dead
Dozens have been killed in a gun and bomb attack during prayers at one of the biggest mosques in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, officials say.
Many more people have been hurt, with one rescue official putting casualty figures at almost 400.
The Central Mosque is where the influential Muslim leader, the Emir of Kano, usually leads prayers.
The emir recently called for people to arm themselves against Islamist militant group Boko Haram.
No group said it had carried out the attack, but the assumption is that Boko Haram was behind it.
The group has been waging an insurgency in Nigeria since 2009 and has killed more than 2,000 people this year, rights groups say.
President Goodluck Jonathan condemned the attack, calling on all Nigerians "to remain united to confront the common enemy".
He said the government would "continue to take every step to put an end to the reprehensible acts of all groups and persons involved in acts of terrorism". 'Helter-skelter'
Nigerian police said 35 people were killed in the attack, but some eyewitnesses said far more people lost their lives.
The rescue official, speaking to Agence France-Presse, put the casualty toll at 120 dead and 270 hurt, although this has not been independently confirmed.
Three bomb explosions were reported in and around the mosque. The attackers also turned gunfire on worshippers.
Some reports say the first bomb was hidden in a car which was driven straight into the worshippers.
One eyewitness told the BBC's Focus on Africa: "The imam was about to start prayer when he saw somebody in a car trying to force himself into the mosque. But when people stopped him, he detonated the explosions. People started running helter-skelter."
There was pandemonium as people ran for their lives.
But then several men then opened fire on the crowd killing more people. Three of the gunmen were caught, and - as the terror turned to rage - they were killed on the spot, the BBC's Will Ross in Abuja reports.
BBC Hausa editor Mansur Liman said one witness at a local hospital had described the scenes there as being the most horrible he had ever seen.
It is clear it is not only Christians who face the threat of violence in northern Nigeria. This is a major mosque, frequented by one of the country's most influential Muslim leaders, Kano's emir.
Emir Muhammad Sanusi II has criticised Boko Haram and only last week urged civilians to take up arms against the group. This has raised questions as to whether he was the target of today's attack - although he was out of the country at the time.
While violence in remote rural areas is no longer news for many Nigerians, the increasing attacks in larger cities are sending shockwaves across the country. The military's ongoing counter-terrorism efforts will need more concrete results to boost public confidence.
Our correspondent says Boko Haram will be the main suspects, as the attack bore all the hallmarks of the group.
No-one from the group has yet commented.
Boko Haram has stepped up attacks against civilian targets since the Nigerian military launched an offensive last year.
Boko Haram was also behind the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno state this year, an act that sparked international outrage.
BBC
Related stories: Emir of Kano former central bank governor Lamido Sanusi calls Nigerians to arms over Boko Haram
Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
Many more people have been hurt, with one rescue official putting casualty figures at almost 400.
The Central Mosque is where the influential Muslim leader, the Emir of Kano, usually leads prayers.
The emir recently called for people to arm themselves against Islamist militant group Boko Haram.
No group said it had carried out the attack, but the assumption is that Boko Haram was behind it.
The group has been waging an insurgency in Nigeria since 2009 and has killed more than 2,000 people this year, rights groups say.
President Goodluck Jonathan condemned the attack, calling on all Nigerians "to remain united to confront the common enemy".
He said the government would "continue to take every step to put an end to the reprehensible acts of all groups and persons involved in acts of terrorism". 'Helter-skelter'
Nigerian police said 35 people were killed in the attack, but some eyewitnesses said far more people lost their lives.
The rescue official, speaking to Agence France-Presse, put the casualty toll at 120 dead and 270 hurt, although this has not been independently confirmed.
Three bomb explosions were reported in and around the mosque. The attackers also turned gunfire on worshippers.
Some reports say the first bomb was hidden in a car which was driven straight into the worshippers.
One eyewitness told the BBC's Focus on Africa: "The imam was about to start prayer when he saw somebody in a car trying to force himself into the mosque. But when people stopped him, he detonated the explosions. People started running helter-skelter."
There was pandemonium as people ran for their lives.
But then several men then opened fire on the crowd killing more people. Three of the gunmen were caught, and - as the terror turned to rage - they were killed on the spot, the BBC's Will Ross in Abuja reports.
BBC Hausa editor Mansur Liman said one witness at a local hospital had described the scenes there as being the most horrible he had ever seen.
It is clear it is not only Christians who face the threat of violence in northern Nigeria. This is a major mosque, frequented by one of the country's most influential Muslim leaders, Kano's emir.
Emir Muhammad Sanusi II has criticised Boko Haram and only last week urged civilians to take up arms against the group. This has raised questions as to whether he was the target of today's attack - although he was out of the country at the time.
While violence in remote rural areas is no longer news for many Nigerians, the increasing attacks in larger cities are sending shockwaves across the country. The military's ongoing counter-terrorism efforts will need more concrete results to boost public confidence.
Our correspondent says Boko Haram will be the main suspects, as the attack bore all the hallmarks of the group.
No-one from the group has yet commented.
Boko Haram has stepped up attacks against civilian targets since the Nigerian military launched an offensive last year.
Boko Haram was also behind the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno state this year, an act that sparked international outrage.
BBC
Related stories: Emir of Kano former central bank governor Lamido Sanusi calls Nigerians to arms over Boko Haram
Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
Bomb blast kills dozens in Adamawa, Nigeria
At least 25 people are reported to have been killed in an explosion in north-eastern Nigeria's Adamawa state.
Some reports said the blast was caused by a roadside bomb and occurred near the town of Mubi, close to the Cameroonian border.
This week Mubi was recaptured from Islamist group Boko Haram, which controls many towns in the region.
In April, the group kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in the town of Chibok, causing international outrage.
Curfew
A spokesman for the governor of Adamawa state told the BBC that most of the victims of the bomb attack in Marabar-Mubi, about 30km (18 miles) west of Mubi, were civilians, although five of the dead were said to be soldiers.
Earlier reports put the death toll as high as 35.
A witness told the Reuters news agency that several buses caught fire in the roadside explosion.
BBC
Some reports said the blast was caused by a roadside bomb and occurred near the town of Mubi, close to the Cameroonian border.
This week Mubi was recaptured from Islamist group Boko Haram, which controls many towns in the region.
In April, the group kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in the town of Chibok, causing international outrage.
Curfew
A spokesman for the governor of Adamawa state told the BBC that most of the victims of the bomb attack in Marabar-Mubi, about 30km (18 miles) west of Mubi, were civilians, although five of the dead were said to be soldiers.
Earlier reports put the death toll as high as 35.
A witness told the Reuters news agency that several buses caught fire in the roadside explosion.
BBC
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Nigeria petroleum Minister appointed OPEC President
Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has appointed Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison- Madueke, as newest president. Diezani was elected at the 166th General Meeting of the organization held on Thursday in Vienna Austria, making her the first female president of the organization.Before her election, Diezani was the Alternate President of OPEC, a position she has held since January 1. She replaces Abdourhman Atahar Al- Ahirish, Libya’s vice Prime Minister for Corporation.
OPEC, an association of 12 oil producing countries, has 81 percent of the world’s proven crude oil reserves. The bloc, which works to maintain a stable and favourable oil price among its members, have been under pressure from the collapsing global crude oil prices.
It is expected to make decisions on how to tackle the price decline, though a sense of division surrounds measures to take. While the body’s poorer members want a cut in production to stem the price slide, the richer ones are thought to be not so enthusiastic, fearing it will affect their market share.
Diezani, born 1960, the same year OPEC was established, was formerly Nigeria’s Minister of Transport from 2007 to 2008. She was subsequently appointed Minister of Mines and Steel from 2008 to 2010 before accepting the position of Minister of Petroleum Resources 2010. Her appointment made her the country’s first female Petroleum Minister.
Ventures
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