NAIJAFEED

Friday, January 6, 2023

Cash Withdrawals from Government Accounts to be banned in Nigeria

Nigeria will ban cash withdrawals from government accounts from March 1.

Modibbo Tukur, the chief executive of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) said the move was part of efforts to tackle money laundering, according to a Thursday (Jan. 5) Bloomberg report.

“On March 1, if there is a cash withdrawal from a government account, even if it is one naira, we are going to trigger off money laundering and corruption investigations,” he told reporters in Abuja.

In recent months, Nigeria has been taking a hard line on cash transactions as it attempts to digitize its economy.

The government has imposed strict limits on cash withdrawals at ATMs, which will come into effect on Monday (Jan. 9). From then, individuals will be limited to withdrawing 20,000 naira ($44.49) daily, down from the current limit of 150,000 naira ($333.68).

The country is also in the process of removing old banknotes from circulation by the end of the month.

Championed by the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, the Naira redesign has been proposed as a way to prevent people from hoarding cash for illicit purposes and as a means of controlling inflation. However, the policy has divided opinion.

Two days after the CBN announced the redesign in October, the naira suffered a historic crash, following what has already been a turbulent year for the currency. Shortly after that, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged caution as the central bank implements the policy.

With nearly every political party taking a stance on the issue and Nigeria about to kick off its election season, the role of cash in the economy has become a hot political topic.

Proponents of the central bank’s efforts to reduce the weight of the cash economy say it is necessary to tackle corruption and stabilize the naira’s value on foreign exchange markets.

Critics, on the other hand, argue that the current approach is too aggressive and disproportionately affects small businesses and society’s poorest, who are most reliant on a functioning cash system and don’t necessarily have access to alternative means of payment.

PYMNTS

Video - New currency in Nigeria to affect small businesses according to World Bank

Thursday, January 5, 2023

Video - Oil production to rise to 1.6 mln barrels per day according to Nigerian authorities

Authorities in Nigeria are forecasting oil production will rise to 1.6 million barrels per day by the first quarter of this year. Crude output fell to less than 1 million in mid-2022, the lowest in years due to increased crude oil theft and vandalism of pipelines, forcing some companies to reduce or stop production.

CGTN

WURA - First Telenovela from Nigeria to premiere in January

With an early new year gift unveiling, the African streaming platform Showmax, which has given a lot of originals since the beginning of 2022, announced that Nigerians are in for a new ride in 2023.

The streaming platform is set to launch a new original telenovela titled ‘Wura’ in January 2023.

According to them, the new series is a Nigerian adaptation of the hit South African 1Magic telenovela, ‘The River’.

With over 200 episodes, Wura is billed to be the platform’s first and longest-running Nigerian telenovela.

The series will debut on Showmax on the 26th of January, with four episodes, weekly adding to Showmax’s library of local content and investment in Nigeria’s film industry, Nollywood.

In a constructed spotlight, the story, which is set against the backdrop of the gold mining industry in the Iperindo community of Osun state, tells the story of Wura-Amoo Adeleke, a perfect wife, a loving mother of two and, in a twist, the ruthless Chief Executive Officer of the fictional Frontline Gold Mine.

In the eyes of her family, Wura is faultless and a saint, but when it comes to running her business empire, she is the ultimate iron lady who doesn’t care whose ox is gored in her path to get what she wants.

This series stars Nollywood veterans and fast-rising new stars, including Scarlett Gomez, who is cast as the lead Wura Amoo-Adeleke.

Famous Nollywood Yoruba actor Yomi Fash-Lanso plays Anthony Amoo-Adeleke, and Nollywood veteran Carol King stars as Grace Adeleke in the series.

Other cast members are Ray Adeka as Jejeloye “Jeje” Amoo, Iremide Adeoye as Lolu Adeleke, Ego Iheanacho as Iyabo Kuti, Martha Ehinome as Tumininu “Tumi” Kuti, and Lanre Adediwura as Olumide Kuti.

Storyline

In Iperindo, where the show is set, although the story is fictional, the place is a natural, small community in Osun state in the South-Western part of Nigeria. It is one of the clusters of seven gold deposits around Ilesha town.

But, despite the promise that the presence of the precious metal holds for Iperindo and surrounding communities, residents are still plagued by poverty and exposed to environmental disasters due to mining activities. Wura, though fictional, will throw some light on this.

Speaking ahead of the show’s launch, Executive Head: content and West Africa Channels, MultiChoice Nigeria, Busola Tejumola, said: ‘Wura: explores the untold story of gold mining in Nigeria. Each scene is carefully crafted thoroughly,

Also, multiple award-winning makers of Wura, Rogers Ofime, said, “Wura gives all the emotions that a well-rounded series should; it will pull you into its world of intricacies, whodunit, deceit, triumph, and suspense from the very first frame to the last”.

By Solution Emmanuel, Premium Times

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$7.5 bln to be spent on petrol subsidy by Nigeria

Nigeria will keep its costly but popular petrol subsidy until mid-2023 and has set aside 3.36 trillion naira ($7.5 bln) to spend on it, Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said on Wednesday.

Africa's biggest economy spent 2.91 trillion naira ($7 billion) towards a petrol subsidy between January and September 2022, state-owned firm NNPC said, a cost the government has blamed for dwindling public finances.

President Muhammadu Buhari signed the 2023 budget of 21.83 trillion naira ($49 billion) into law on Tuesday after lawmakers increased the size by 6.4% and raised the oil price assumption.

"Petrol subsidy will remain up to mid-2023 based on the 18-month extension announced early 2022," Ahmed said.

Buhari said in October that the country would stop the petrol subsidy in 2023, when he steps down after Nigerians vote for a new leader in February.

Successive governments in Nigeria have tried and failed to remove or cut the subsidy, a politically sensitive issue in the country of 200 million people.

Inefficient use of resources is constraining Nigeria's development goals, the World Bank has said, urging the country to remove subsidies on petrol, electricity and foreign exchange that mostly benefit wealthy households.

By Chijioke Ohuocha, Reuters

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Nigeria seeks to extend fuel subsidy program

Wednesday, January 4, 2023

Video - Unprecedented levels of oil theft in Nigeria cost millions

Nigeria is facing unprecedented levels of theft of its main export. The theft of oil is costing the country an estimated $700m a month. And the losses are forcing the government to borrow more to fund a growing budget deficit. Al Jazeera's @AhmedIdris reports from the Niger Delta, Nigeria.