After eight years, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has officially lifted the foreign exchange restrictions on 43 previously banned items.

This decision marks a significant development in Nigeria’s economic policy and has garnered considerable attention. Here is a breakdown of the 43 items that are no longer subject to foreign exchange restrictions:

1. Rice
2. Cement
3. Margarine
4. Palm kernel
5. Palm oil products
6. Vegetable oils
7. Meat and processed meat products
8. Vegetables and processed vegetable products
9. Poultry and processed poultry products
10. Tinned fish in sauce (Geisha)/sardine
11. Cold rolled steel sheets
12. Galvanized steel sheets
13. Roofing sheets
14. Wheelbarrows
15. Head pans
16. Metal boxes and containers
17. Enamelware
18. Steel drums
19. Steel pipes
20. Wire rods (deformed and not deformed)
21. Iron rods
22. Reinforcing bars
23. Wire mesh
24. Steel nails
25. Security and razor fencing and poles
26. Wood particle boards and panels
27. Wood fiberboards and panels
28. Plywood boards and panels
29. Wooden doors
30. Toothpicks
31. Glass and glassware
32. Kitchen utensils
33. Tableware
34. Tiles-vitrified and ceramic
35. Gas cylinders
36. Woven fabrics
37. Clothes
38. Plastic and rubber products
39. Polypropylene granules
40. Cellophane wrappers and bags
41. Soap and cosmetics
42. Tomatoes/tomato pastes
43. Eurobond/foreign currency bond/share purchases

This development is expected to have far-reaching implications for Nigeria’s economy and international trade. The decision to lift the foreign exchange restrictions is seen as a major step towards opening up Nigeria’s trade policies and facilitating a more liberalized economic environment. It will be interesting to observe how this decision impacts various sectors and industries in the coming months. Stay tuned for more updates and analysis on this significant policy change.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the appointment of Ola Olukoyede as the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, made this known in a statement issued on Thursday in Abuja, Naija News reports.

Ngelale said the president appointed Olukoyede for a renewable term of four years in the first instance, pending his confirmation by the Senate.

He added that the appointment is in line with the powers vested in President Tinubu as established in Section 2 (3) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2004.

Ngelale said Olukoyede is a lawyer with over 22 years of experience as a regulatory compliance consultant and specialist in fraud management and corporate intelligence.

He said Olukoyede had previously served as the Chief of Staff to the Executive Chairman between 2016 to 2018, and the Secretary to the Commission between 2018 to 2023.

He said, “By the powers vested in President Bola Tinubu as established in section 2 (3) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2004, that “the Chairman and members of the Commission, other than ex-officio members, shall be appointed by the President,” President Tinubu has approved the appointment of Mr. Ola Olukoyede to serve as the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for a renewable term of four years in the first instance, pending Senate confirmation.

“Mr. Ola Olukoyede is a lawyer with over twenty-two (22) years of experience as a regulatory compliance consultant and specialist in fraud management and corporate intelligence. He has extensive experience in the operations of the EFCC, having previously served as the Chief of Staff to the Executive Chairman (2016-2018) and Secretary to the Commission (2018-2023). As such, he fulfils the statutory requirement for appointment as Chairman of the EFCC.

“Mr Olukoyede’s appointment follows the resignation of the suspended Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa.”

Ngelale also stated that President Tinubu had approved the appointment of Muhammad Hassan Hammajoda to serve as the EFCC Secretary, adding that the appointment is for a renewable term of five years in the first instance, pending Senate confirmation.

He said Tinubu tasks the new EFCC leadership to justify the confidence given to them in this important national assignment as a newly invigorated war on corruption.

He added: “Furthermore, President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Mr. Muhammad Hassan Hammajoda to serve as the Secretary of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for a renewable term of five years in the first instance, pending Senate confirmation.

“Mr. Muhammad Hassan Hammajoda is a public administrator with extensive experience in public finance management who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Maiduguri and a Masters in Business Administration from the same university. He began his career as a lecturer at the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi. From there, he went into banking, including successful stints at the defunct Allied Bank and Standard Trust Bank.

“President Bola Tinubu tasks the new leadership of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to justify the confidence given to them in this important national assignment as a newly invigorated war on corruption undertaken through a reformed institutional architecture in the anti-corruption sector remains a central pillar of the President’s Renewed Hope agenda.”

President Bola Tinubu has asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the appeal filed by the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and the opposition party.

Tinubu, who was the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 election, said this in a response filed by his lawyers on Saturday to Atiku’s notice of appeal.

Recall that the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, in its judgment on September 6, dismissed the petition filed by Atiku challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.

According to the tribunal, the former Vice President failed to prove all the averments in his petition, stressing that his petitions lacked merit and was dismissed.

However, Atiku filed 35 grounds notice of appeal before the Supreme Court on September 18 and asked the apex court to set aside the entire findings and conclusions of the tribunal.

In the appeal, the PDP candidate submitted that the tribunal’s findings were done with “grave errors and gross misrepresentation”, which resulted in a miscarriage of justice.

In response to the appeal filed by Atiku, President Tinubu stated that the presidential election petition tribunal was correct in arriving at its verdict and affirming his election.

The president insisted that the appellants failed to prove all their allegations and submissions at the tribunal, adding that they have demonstrated any reason why the apex court should disturb any of the findings of the lower court.

Tinubu, however, described the appeal filed by the PDP candidate as “abusive in nature” and prayed for its dismissal.

He said: “Neither the appellants have demonstrated any reason why this honourable court should disturb any of the findings of the lower court, which, with all modesty, are rooted in law and a perfect demonstration of scholarship.

“We accordingly urge this honourable court to affirm the decision of the lower court, while dismissing this appeal in its entirety, as same is lacking in merit and bona fide.

“Everything put together or summarized, this appeal is a further demonstration of the abusive nature to which the appellants have subjected court processes. The supreme court is urged to dismiss it.”

The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate for the November 11 polls in Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva has described the court order which sacked him as the party’s candidate as ‘jankara judgement.’

According to Sylva, the judgment can not stand because it is against natural justice.

He further claimed some people who are afraid of his rising profile and have started panicking ahead of the polls are behind the court order.

Naija News recalls that an Abuja High Court on Monday disqualified Sylva from contesting the November governorship election.

Justice Donatus Okorowo who gave the order held that allowing Sylva to contest the November 11 governorship polls would be against the constitution of the country which states that no person should be voted for as a governor more than twice.

The Judge explained that Sylva having been sworn in twice and ruled for five years as governor of Bayelsa would breach the 1999 constitution as amended if allowed to contest again.

Reacting personally to the court order, Sylva, who spoke for the first time after the court ruling while campaigning in Agoro in the Ekeremor local government area of Bayelsa on Thursday, told the people and his supporters not to be dismayed.

He urged them to come out in large numbers on election day and vote for APC.

Sylva said: “Some people are afraid of the election, they are panicking, so they went and procure some jankara judgement. We want to assure you that that judgment will not stand because it is against natural justice. So just carry on, no worries at all just come out and vote for us and I assure you that the lives of the people of this community will never be the same again.

“I know the problem of non-recognition of the traditional ruler of Agoro, that is the problem I almost resolved before I left office, this time I am coming back to resolve it permanently.

“I have also promised that since the Senatorial road has gotten to Ekeremor Town, we will continue that road from where it has stopped and take it to Agge. Every government will do something, I did that road and stopped somewhere, Seriake Dickson took it to Ekeremor and now I am going to take it to Agge Community.

“The combination of myself and Joshua Maciver is what is good for you, so on November 11, make sure that you vote for me and the APC.”

The Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris has urged Nigerians to have hope in the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

He lamented that Nigerians no longer believe in the promises of their leaders.

Idris called on the citizenry to imbibe value reorientation and patriotism to enhance the unity and progress of the country.

He stated this when he visited Voice of Nigeria’s headquarters on a working visit on Wednesday in Abuja.

According to him, “We have reached a level where Nigerians don’t believe in what their leaders tell them.

“So, the starting point for me is to restore that confidence, especially in government communication. And that can be achieved once you are honest, truthful, and patriotic in the cause for a better Nigeria.”

“It was not for nothing that President Bola Tinubu renamed the Ministry to Information and National Orientation.

“With that, the ministry has a new mandate, which is to tell Nigerians that we need to now recover and dedicate ourselves to a nation that we all desire. You will agree with me that value orientation and patriotism among Nigerians is at its lowest.”

The Senator representing Anambra South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Ifeanyi Ubah, has defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Young Progressives Party (YPP).

According to a letter read by Senate President Godswill Akpabio during a brief plenary session on Thursday,  Ubah said his defection was due to irreconcilable differences in the YPP.

The letter further explained that Ubah’s decision is in the interest of his constituents.

Born on the 3rd of September, 1971, Ubah is a Nigerian business mogul, politician and philanthropist. He was also the Vice Chairman of the Petroleum Upstream Senate Committee from June 2019 to June 2023.

World Athletics (WA), yesterday, unveiled the names of nominees for Women’s Athlete of the Year 2023, but the name of 100m hurdles record holder, Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan, is missing from the lot.

Amusan, who is Nigeria, Africa and Commonwealth champion in the 100m hurdles, made history last year when she became the first Nigerian athlete to be nominated for the honour.

She eventually made it to the final five, before losing out to then World 400m hurdles champion and record holder, Sydeny McLaughlin.

With Amusan’s failure to successfully defend her world title at Budapest 2023 World Championships, following the emotional trauma she went through over her provisional suspension for three Whereabouts Failures, it was glaring her successful Diamond League defence would not be enough to get into the list unveiled by World Athletics.

The 11 nominees are headlined by five world record breakers, led by Kenya’s World 1500m and 5000m champion, Faith Kipyegon, who set three world records in 2023 in the 1500m, one mile and 5000m.

Others are Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa, who set a world marathon record and won the Berlin Marathon, flying Dutchwoman, Femke Bol, who set a world indoor record in the 400m flat and won the world title in the 400m hurdles and Maria Perez, 20km and 35km race walk world champion, who set a world record in 35km race
walk.

Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay completes the list of world record holders among the nominees. The world 10,000m champion broke Kipyegon’s 5000m world record on her way to winning the event at the Diamond League final in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

Others listed are Shericka Jackson, the Jamaican world 200m champion and double sprint Diamond League winner; Japan’s world and Diamond League javelin champion, Haruka Kitaguchi, Yaroslava Mahuchikh who won the high jump title in Budapest and Eugene.

Also listed are world and Diamond League triple champion, Yulimar Rojas; Sha’Carri Richardson, the American who won the 100m title at the Worlds and Bahama’s Winfed Yavi, who won the 3000m steeplechase title in Budapest and Eugene.

[Guardian]

The National Universities Commission (NUC) has granted permission for the London Academy of Business School (LABS) in partnership with University of Sunderland, United Kingdom, to operate in Nigeria.

To that effect, their first academic session is expected to commence in January 2024 at the Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN) in Abuja.

Already, a delegation from University of Sunderland led by Dr. Derek Watson, an Associate Professor from the Faculty of Business Law and Tourism, has assured that students in Nigeria will have the same academic standards with their counterparts in UK, while the management at the same time promised to respect the environment and guidelines from the NUC.

Speaking to journalists after meeting with the Executive Secretary of NUC, Dr. Watson said, “The meeting with the Executive Secretary was very productive, the University of Sunderland has over 30 years of experience.

“What we have agreed on today is the criticality in following the compliance procedures. In addition to that, we would source credible academics to deliver our programmes from LABs who are qualified teachers and also practising consultants. The students will get the same experience as those students studying in England.”

Also speaking, the President/Director of Studies, London Academy of Business School (LABS), Dr. Larry Jones-Esan, explained that the visit to NUC was to get the operational licence to operate in Nigeria.

According to him, “The meeting with the NUC today is for us to get the recognition that we are allowed to run the Sunderland courses in Nigeria. So, we do not need the NUC accreditation, what we need is recognition, that is very important because if we run any course in Nigeria without them recognising it, that degree is useless and they cannot do NYSC, so we do not want that to be the case.

“So for us to do that, we have to get their permission first before we go out their and start recruiting students, otherwise, we will be shooting ourselves in the foot. If they come here and say you are doing something illegal, you will pay fine and before you get out of that, it will be too much.

“So what we have done is that we bring those people in and come in myself as the CEO of the London Academy Business School, make sure that we have them aware of what we are doing.

“Today is a very important day for the London Business School in partnership with the University of Sunderland. We met with the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission discussions went as planned, making sure that we do things right.

“One thing that came out very clear is that they want people to work with them but work in a way that they respect the authorities and respect the system and the environment.

“So we are going to make sure that everything we do follows the guidelines. We have a very beautiful guideline but if you fail to follow them, you might run into trouble. If two million people apply for university admissions every year in Nigeria and only 700,000 are getting a place, that is a problem and that is a challenge and they want to solve that problem and we think we have came at the right time.

“We thank the delegates from the University of Sunderland working with the London Academy of Business School in making sure that this gives result as quickly as possible.”

Asked whether the NUC granted licence to them, he said, “This is the reason why we are here, we have gotten the license, that is recognition to run this process, that will be done within a week, and we are hopeful this will be done shortly.
We will start running the university from January 2024.”

Earlier, the team visited the Public Service Institute of Nigeria along the Kubwa Expressway in Abuja, which is going to serve as the study center and they were received by the Administrator and CEO of the Institute, Abdul-Ganiyu Obatayinbo.

The PSIN Administrator said the environment was far better than what the University of Sunderland has in the UK, adding that the institute is saddled with the responsibility of building the capacity of public/civil servants in Nigeria.

He said said that the institute has 500-seat auditorium, 12 different halls of 30-seater capacity each, hostels with 202 bedrooms, hospital, security quarters, sports complex, entrepreneurship center, among other facilities, that would make teaching and learning conducive.

Some of the courses to be offered at the undergraduate level include, computer science, business and management, network system engineering, among others, while business administration, international business management, education leadership, among others, will be offered at the master’s level.

[Leadership]

The Senator representing Anambra South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Ifeanyi Ubah, has defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Young Progressive Party (YPP).

Born on the 3rd of September, 1971, Ubah is a Nigerian business mogul, politician and philanthropist. He was also the Vice Chairman of the Petroleum Upstream Senate Committee from June 2019 to June 2023.

Recall that Ubah had said he supports the Anambra Government in the fight against sit-at-home and insecurity in the South-East state.

Ubah, in an interview with Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on July 13, 2023, said his initiative was intended to augment the existing mechanisms of the Anambra state government to curb the insecurity crisis in the state and the Southeast region at large.

He said, “For me, in Anambra State, my coming on board is to add to what the governor or the government of Anambra is doing. We’re working in partnership with the governor; he’s the chief security officer.

“I felt that there are some missing links; he has the state apparatus and security network in the state. I wanted to complement it by giving a little support to already existing vigilante groups in my constituency.

“We’re working with a vigilante group from just one local government, so that we can test the pilot scheme, which the governor kindly approved, and he came to uphold the launch of it.

“We’re using it as a template that if it works well, we can now move to other local governments with the permission of the governor.”

[NaijaNews]

The wife of Gabon’s deposed President Ali Bongo Ondimba under house arrest since the coup in the Central African country in late August, has been jailed.

Francois Zimeray, her lawyer, disclosed this on Thursday.

Sylvia Bongo Ondimba Valentin, suspected of embezzling public funds, was jailed late on Wednesday, Zimeray told AFP, denouncing the “arbitrary… illegal procedure”.

Bongo’s wife was charged on September 28 with money laundering, forgery and falsification of records.

She has been under house arrest in Libreville, following the August 30 military coup that ousted her husband as president.

Their eldest son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, has already been charged with corruption and embezzling public funds with several former cabinet members and two ex-ministers.

Bongo, 64, who had ruled the central African country since 2009, was overthrown by military leaders moments after being proclaimed the winner in a presidential election.

Ali Bongo was elected after his father Omar died in 2009 after nearly 42 years in power. Gabon is Africa’s third-richest nation in terms of per-capita GDP but one in three people lives below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.

[DailyTrust]