Lionel Messi has been awarded the ‘Best Foreign Player’ in France’s Ligue 1 for the 2022-23 season with Paris Saint-Germain.

Ligue 1 announced on their social media channels that Messi had been voted as the league’s best foreign player for 2022/23 by supporters.

The 2022 World Cup winner amassed 32 goal contributions across the season, scoring 16 himself and setting up a further 16 for his teammates.

Although, the 36-year-old Argentine has already left the French club for a new stint in the USA with Inter Miami, his impacts at the club won’t go unrecognized.

The World Cup winner played for two seasons at PSG and managed to win the Ligue 1 title twice.

The seven-time ballon d’Or will now join Inter Miami, which is co-owned by former England football legend David Beckham.

The Federal Government has urged the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division to reverse the April 18 judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja ordering among others, the reinstatement of Ifeanyi Ararume as the Chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL).

The Federal Government also faulted the N5 billion damages awarded in Ararume’s favour in the judgment given by the trial court, arguing that he (Ararume) did not establish his entitlement to such a huge compensation.

The federal government’s position is contained in a notice of appeal hinged on eight grounds filed in the name of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by a team of lawyers from the Federal Ministry of Justice, led by Tijani Gazali (SAN).

Ararume sued the federal government on September 12, 2022, to challenge then-President Muhammadu Buhari’s reversal of his appointment as the Non-Executive Chairman of the NNPCL via a letter dated January 17, 2022.

In his April 18, 2023 judgment in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1621/2022, the trial Judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo faulted Buhari’s action, ordered Ararume’s reinstatement and awarded N5 billion damages in his favour.

The Federal Government, in its notice of appeal, challenged the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court to have heard the case and also queried the competence of the suit, arguing that it was statute barred.

In its first ground of appeal, the FG faulted the trial judge for assuming jurisdiction over the case which borders on the withdrawal of Ararume’s appointment as the Non-Executive Chairman of the NNPCL.

It argued that, under the provision of the National Industrial Court (NIC) Act and Section 254(c) of the Constitution, the NIC has exclusive jurisdiction in civil matters bordering on labour and employment.

“The provision of Section of Section 254(c) of the Constitution is made notwithstanding anything to the contrary provided in Section 251 of the Constitution (which dictates the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court). The provision takes precedence over Section 251 of the Constitution on the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court. The office of the Non-Executive Chairman was not contemplated under the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020.

“Hence, CAMA does not regulate the appointment and withdrawal from office, to vest the determination of such question on the Federal High Court. The Federal High Court lacks jurisdiction to hear and determine this matter.”

In ground two, the appellants faulted the trial judge for assuming jurisdiction over the suit “which was statute barred, having been filed more than three months after the accrual of the cause of action and in breach of Section of 2(a) of the Public Officers Protection Act.

It noted that, while Ararume’s cause of action arose as a result of the January 17, 2022 letter from the President, withdrawing his appointment, he filed his suit on September 12, 2022 “more than three months after the withdrawal of his appointment.”

In ground three, the appellant faulted the trial judge for interpreting the general provisions of Section 288 of CAMA “and placed it above the specific provisions of Section 63(3) of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 in relation to the withdrawal of the appointment of the 1st respondent (Ararume) by the appellant.”

It argued that the provision of Section 288 of CAMA “is silent on the withdrawal of appointment of a Non-Executive Chairman of the 2nd respondent company (NNPCL). The provisions of Section 288 of CAMA cannot be rightly applied in interpreting the powers of the President listed in Section 63(3) of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021.

“The office of a Non-Executive Chairman is only known to the
Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, which made provisions for the appointment and withdrawal of a person to that office.

“The Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, is the specific legislation on the subject of the governance of the Nigerian petroleum industry, hence it is more relevant than the provisions of tre Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020 on the subject.

“Section 63(3) of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 does not provide for giving an officer prior notification before removal from office.”

On the issue of damages, the appellant equally faulted the trial judge for awarding for awarding N5 billion in favour of Ararume as damages over his alleged wrongful removal from office.

It argued that damages are awarded premised on established actionable wrong or injury, contending that the award of N5 billion, “is unsupported by
the weight of evidence adduced before the trial court by the 1st respondent.

“The appellant withdrew the letter of appointment of the 1st respondent shortly after it was issued. The 1st respondent did not place any document before the court to show what he would have been entitled to, had his appointment not been withdrawn by the appellant.

“There was no basis for the quantum of damages awarded to the 1st respondent”. FG stated in its notice of appeal.

The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Hassan Abubakar, has authorized the reassignment of 98 officers of air rank following the recent change of command in the Nigerian Air Force (NAF).

Prominent among the new appointees are Branch Chiefs, Air Officers Commanding (AOCs), Commandants of Tri-Service Establishments, and NAF institutions.

The newly reappointed senior officers comprise 52 AVMs and 46 Air Commodores (Air Cdres), among whom are the former Commandant Air Force War College (AWC), AVM Abraham Adole now the Chief of Defence Policy and Plans (CDPP) at the Defence Headquarters (DHQ); while AVM Nkem Aguiyi takes over as the Chief of Defence Transformation and Innovation (CDTI) at the DHQ; and AVM Ahmed Shinkafi becomes the Chief of Defence Space Administration (CDSA).

At the Headquarters Nigerian Air Force (HQ NAF), former Air Officer Commanding Ground Training Command (AOC GTC), AVM Sayo Olatunde is now the Chief of Policy and Plans (COPP); AVM Ibikunle Daramola remains the Chief of Communications Information Systems (CCIS); AVM Pius Oahimire appointed the Chief of Aircraft Engineering (CAcE), HQ NAF; while AVM Uchechi Nwagwu takes over as the Chief of Accounts and Budget (CAB).

Others include former AOC Special Operations Command (SOC) Bauchi, AVM Abubakar Abdulkadir now the Chief of Training and Operations (CTOP); AVM Dominic Danat as the Chief of Logistics (CLOG); AVM Ahmed Bakari as Air Secretary; AVM Michael Onyebashi as Chief of Standards and Evaluation (COSE), HQ NAF; AVM Idi Sani as Chief of Administration (COA); AVM Anthony Ekpe retains his appointment as the Chief of Medical Services (CMS); while Air Cdre Friday Ogohi is now the Chief of Air Intelligence (CAI),HQ NAF.

The newly appointed commandants include AVM Adeniyi Amesinlola who now heads the Armed Forces Resettlement Centre (AFRC), Oshodi; AVM Hassan Alhaji takes charge of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Jaji; AVM Sani Rabe heads the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), Kaduna; AVM Adebayo Kehinde takes over command of the Air Force War College, Makurdi; while AVM Esen Efanga is Commandant Air Warfare Centre, Abuja.

Also affected by the latest redeployments are AVM Francis Edosa appointed the AOC Tactical Air Command (AOC TAC), Makurdi; AVM Tajudeen Yusuf as AOC Mobility Command (AOC MC), Yenagoa; AVM Eneobong Effiom as AOC SOC, Bauchi; AVM Nnamdi Ananaba as AOC Air Training Command (AOC ATC), Kaduna; AVM Usman Abdullahi as AOC GTC, Enugu; and AVM Abubakar Abdullahi as AOC Logistics Command (AOC LC).

In the same vein, AVM Kabir Umar is now the Group Managing Director of NAF Investments Limited Group of Companies; AVM Sunday Aneke as Deputy Commandant, Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna; AVM Titus Dauda as the College Secretary, National Defence College (NDC), Abuja; while Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet has been reappointed as the Director of Public Relations and Information. The newly appointed senior officers are expected to assume office not later than Monday, 3 July 2023.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, has advocated a review of salaries for workers in the country.

Abbas said this in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Musa Abdullahi Krishi, in Abuja on Monday.

He said it was imperative to take a look at what an average worker would need to be paid as salary in view of the current economic reality.

He said there was a need to come up with a living wage that would take care of the basics of a person such that he would not have to look outside his lawful income.

Abbas urged the government to take an example of the UK experiment and the Western world, adding that, “fundamentally, what they did was to sit down and look at what an average worker will need to be paid as salary.

“Today, if you are a labourer in London, you will be paid enough for you to go and pay your rent, take care of your basics and still be able to have a fairly good living.

“With that kind of incentive, you don’t need to go and borrow, you don’t need to go and beg, you don’t need to go and steal.”

He said the current Nigerian situation was such that an average worker earned less than what somebody could use to buy fuel to fill his car tank.

The speaker further said that such an individual with such a burden would not be honest and transparent.

“For us to wage a war on corruption, we need to create an enabling environment where each and every one of us will be able to operate transparently.

This, according to him, is without having to steal, intimidate and having to go and beg or borrow and that is the beginning of the reform.

“If we can get the rule of law working, we will be able to work on the reforms necessary for fighting corruption.

“In fighting corruption, we also need to create an enabling environment where an average worker should be able to earn enough to live with his family,” he said. (NAN)

Politicians, Others Are High Risks

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s reviewed guidelines mandating banks to monitor and restrict transactions by Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) will affect many Senators and House of Representatives members, especially those on first term.

The reviewed guidelines, released at the weekend, asked the banks to undertake a risk assessment of new political office holders to determine the level of risk posed by that customer and the proportionate levels of due diligence and monitoring required.

With this new policy, many of the 109 members of the Senate and a 360-member House of Representatives will have their accounts reclassified.

The circular, signed by CBN Director, Financial Policy and Regulations, Chibuzo Efobi, provided guidance to the banks on what to look out for.

He said: “When considering whether to establish or continue a business relationship with a PEP, the focus should be on the level of money laundering, financing of terrorism and proliferation financing (ML/FT/PF) risk posed by the PEP, and whether the FI has adequate controls in place to mitigate such risks. This is in order to prevent the FI from being used for illicit purposes should the PEP be involved in criminal activities.”

The apex bank explained that in view of the corruption levels in Nigeria, domestic Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) are rated highly vulnerable to financial risks, therefore, by default, most domestic PEPs are considered high risk.

It said foreign PEPs and PEPs with prominent functions in international organisations should be categorised based on the level of risk as assessed by financial institutions.

The banks are required to conduct customer due diligence (CDD) for the purpose of establishing that a customer is a PEP, as provided by the CBN regulations.

The banks are also expected to identify and verify the identities of PEPs before providing them with financial services, or as soon as possible afterwards. Identification should also cover legal persons and legal arrangements that have at least one beneficial owner who is a PEP.

Continuing, it said once it has been established that a new or existing customer is a PEP, the bank should undertake a risk assessment.

“Higher risk PEPs require enhanced ongoing monitoring of the business relationship. The financial institution should implement electronic and/or manual monitoring systems to constantly monitor the business relationship and detect unusual and potential suspicious transactions and activities,” it said.

The CBN said that financial institutions, in the ordinary course of their businesses, establish business relationships with PEPs whom may be vulnerable to corruption thus may portend reputational and financial crime risks to the banks.

According to the apex bank, PEPs pose a high risk of ML/FT/PF due to the possibility that individuals holding such positions may misuse their power and influence for personal gain or advantage to themselves, close family members and/or associates.

“Such individuals may also use their families or close associates to conceal illicit funds and assets. In addition, they may also seek to use their power and influence to gain representation and/or access to, or control of, legal entities for similar purposes,” it said.

The CBN has therefore mandated banks to comply with the provisions of the CBN Anti-Money Laundering, Combating Financing of Terrorism and Countering Financing of Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (AML/CFT/CPF) Regulations, 2022 to mitigate the potential risks posed by PEPs.

Amongst these obligations is the requirement to apply a risk-based approach to identifying Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and to apply appropriate Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) measures when dealing with those that pose higher AML/CFT/CPF risks.

The objective of this Guidance is to assist FIs in the identification and management of risks associated with PEPs in the course of business relationships.

According to the apex bank, “when the risk assessment established that the business relationship with a domestic/international organization PEP does not present a higher risk, the PEP in question can be treated like any other normal customer.”

The apex bank said even after a relationship has been established with a customer, constant vigilance must be the watchword to ensure that new information established are used to re-evaluate the status of such a customer and to determine if the customer should now be treated as a politically exposed person.

According to the CBN guidelines, “PEP accounts should be subject to periodic reviews as may be determined by the bank in line with risk assessment.”

Troops of 5 Battalion operating under 16 Brigade, Nigerian Army, in a raid operation on Sunday, June 25, 2023 at Azuzuama Community in Ijaw South Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, have captured an armoury located in a camp from where suspected unrepentant militants and illegal oil bunkerers carried out their nefarious activities.

During the operation, the highly motivated troops subdued the suspected militants with superior firepower, compelling them to abandon their camp in disarray.

A statement on Monday issued and signed by Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, Director of Army Public Relations, said the well-conducted raid operation led to the recovery of five AK47 Rifles, two Rocket Propelled Grenade Bombs, four Rocket Grenade Bomb Chargers, seven 7.62mm Special ammunition, 14 AK47 Rifle Magazines and one pumping machine.

“Other items recovered include two 16-inch anchored verve, one mallet hammer, one pipe range spinner and one axe. The illicit camp has been destroyed by the troops.

The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) has appealed to its customers to disregard the planned tariff increase as approval for such an increment had not been received.

AEDC management made the appeal in a statement on Monday in Abuja.

“Please disregard the circulating communication, regarding the review of electricity tariffs.

“Be informed that no approval for such increments has been received. We regret any inconvenience.”

However, AEDC had earlier in a statement, said there would be an upward review of electricity tariffs from July 1.

According to the statement, the tariff increase is influenced by the fluctuating exchange rate.

“Effective July 1, 2023, please be informed that there will be an upward review of the electricity tariff influenced by the fluctuating exchange rate.

“Under the MYTO 2022 guidelines, the previously set exchange rate of N441/1 dollar may now be revised to approximately N750/1 dollar which will have an impact on the tariffs associated with your electricity consumption.

“For customers within bands B and C, with supply hours ranging from 12 to 16 per day, the new base tariff is expected to be N100 per Kilowatts per hour (KWh).

“While Bands A with (20 hours and above) and B (16 to 20 hours) will experience comparatively higher tariffs,‘’ it said.

In the statement, AEDC encouraged customers with prepaid meters to consider purchasing bulk energy units before the end of June as this would allow them to take advantage of the current rates and make savings before the new tariffs came into effect.

AEDC said that for those on post-paid (estimated) billing, a significant increment is imminent in their monthly billing, starting from August.

The Mult Year Tariff Order (MYTO) is the methodology for regulating electricity prices.

It provided a 15-year tariff path for the Nigerian electricity industry with limited ‘minor’ reviews each year in the light of changes in a number of parameters.

These included inflation and gas prices and ‘major’ reviews every five years when all of the inputs were reviewed with stakeholders.

(NAN)

Two lawyers who unwittingly submitted fake cases generated by ChatGPT to support their claim have been fined by a New York court because they “abandoned their responsibilities”.

As well as being fined $5,000 each, the lawyers and their firm have been ordered to inform their client and the judges whose names were wrongfully invoked in the case of the sanctions imposed on them.

Peter LoDuca, Steven A Schwartz and the firm of Levidow Levidow & Oberman attracted international attention after the brief in a personal injury claim prepared by Mr Schwartz contained six cases that ChatGPT had simply made up – the system later insisted they were real when Mr Schwartz asked it.

US District Judge P Kevin Castell in the Southern District of New York said: “In researching and drafting court submissions, good lawyers appropriately obtain assistance from junior lawyers, law students, contract lawyers, legal encyclopedias and databases such as Westlaw and LexisNexis.

“Technological advances are commonplace and there is nothing inherently improper about using a reliable artificial intelligence tool for assistance. But existing rules impose a gatekeeping role on attorneys to ensure the accuracy of their filings.”

He continued that here the lawyers “abandoned their responsibilities when they submitted non-existent judicial opinions with fake quotes and citations created by the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT, then continued to stand by the fake opinions after judicial orders called their existence into question”.

Among the “many harms” that flowed from the submission of fake opinions was that it promoted “cynicism about the legal profession and the American judicial system”, while “a future litigant may be tempted to defy a judicial ruling by disingenuously claiming doubt about its authenticity”.

The law firm primarily practises in New York state courts. It uses a legal research service called Fastcase and does not have access to Westlaw or LexisNexis.

But the case involved the Montreal Convention and was in federal court, and the firm’s Fastcase account had limited access to federal cases. Mr Schwartz said this was why he turned to ChatGPT.

Judge Castell said the outcome of the matter would have been “quite different” had the lawyers come clean after the defendant first questioned the existence of the cases, or after the court had required them to produce them.

Instead, they “doubled down and did not begin to dribble out the truth” until the court issued an order to show cause why they ought not be sanctioned.

This was evidence of bad faith on their parts, as was Mr Schwartz’s statement to the court that ChatGPT had “supplemented” his research, when in fact it was the only source of his substantive arguments.

Mr Schwartz testified at the sanctions hearing that he was “operating under the false perception” that ChatGPT “could not possibly be fabricating cases on its own”.

He said: “My reaction was, ChatGPT is finding that case somewhere. Maybe it’s unpublished. Maybe it was appealed. Maybe access is difficult to get. I just never thought it could be made up.”

The law firm told the court that it has arranged for outside counsel to conduct mandatory training on technological competence and artificial intelligence.

Judge Castell credited “the sincerity of the respondents when they described their embarrassment and remorse”. The fines were “sufficient but not more than necessary to advance the goals of specific and general deterrence”.

Earlier this month, the Master of the Rolls, Sir Geoffrey Vos, cited the case as a reason why legal regulators and the courts may need to control “whether and in what circumstances and for what purposes” lawyers can use systems like ChatGPT in litigation.

There are indications that banks are ignoring the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, directive that they should grant their customers unfettered withdrawal of foreign currencies from domiciliary accounts, vanguardngr reports.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s foreign exchange market has recorded a drastic change following the market reforms introduced by the CBN, previous week.

Financial Vanguard findings show that the banks are still restricting the amount of foreign currency that customers can withdraw from their accounts saying the currencies are still scarce.

Dealers and the customers who spoke to Financial Vanguard lamented that the situation has impeded supply of foreign currency to the market.

But the drastic change in both structure and operations of the foreign exchange market, according to the Financial Vanguard findings has resulted in exchange rate convergence by default as the US dollar traded within narrow band across the three segments of the market, namely, the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, the Bureau De Changes (BDCs) and the black market.

However, for the first time, the exchange rate in the official market (I&E) surpassed what obtained in the black market.

Meanwhile, dealers across all the segments are facing acute scarcity of the US dollars while CBN resumed supply of the foreign currency last week, though at a very low volume.

Findings by Financial Vanguard show that Naira last week depreciated further to N770.17 per dollar in the I&E window, with currency dealers projecting further deterioration of the dollar scarcity, a situation which may propel further depreciation of the local currency this week.

According to data from FMDQ, the I&E window exchange rate closed at N770.17 per dollar on Friday. This represents 16.2 per cent week-on-week, WoW, depreciation of the Naira when compared with the closing rate of N663.04 per dollar the previous week.

The Naira also depreciated in the parallel market, where the dollar traded within the range of N765 and N770 per dollar, at the close of business, up from N759 per dollar the previous week.

The Naira has been on the downward trend in both the official market and parallel market, since the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN announced, “Operational Changes to the Foreign Exchange Market,” including elimination of multiple exchange rates/segments and re-introduction of willing seller, willing buyer model in the I&E window.

Since the changes were announced the previous week, the Naira has depreciated by 63 per cent in the I&E window, from N471.67 per dollar on Tuesday June 13th.

During the same period, the Naira also depreciated by 20 per cent in the parallel market from N755 per dollar.

Dollar scarcity

Findings from currency dealers showed that the depreciation is driven by acute dollar scarcity in both I&E and the parallel market.

A banker and forex market analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity told Financial Vanguard, “Though the CBN intervened in the I&E window on Thursday, the market is still very short, in terms of supply. The volume of sales by the CBN was not much. The highest volume sold per buyer was $5 million dollars. Some others got $2.5 million while others got between $250,000 and $1 million.

“They, however, sold only to people that bided at an exchange rate above $761 per dollar.

“After the CBN’s sales, some international organisations also sold but the volume was small compared to the demand, especially given the backlog of matured obligations. I will say the market is still evolving and going through a price discovery process. The volatility will continue with the Naira further depreciating, depending on dollar supply coming into the I&E window.

“The true exchange rate will only emerge when all the backlog of dollar demand has been satisfied.”

Operators react

Bureaux De Change, BDC, operators and parallel market operators who spoke to Financial Vanguard lamented the dollar scarcity in the market, noting that banks are yet to comply with the directive of the CBN that they should allow customers have unfettered access to funds in their domiciliary accounts.

Mallam Ahmed Yunusa, a black market trader in Lagos, said: “The market has been very busy since last week after the CBN eased its restrictions on forex trading in banks.

“A dollar was sold for N770 today (last Friday) because I bought a dollar for N765 making just N5 profit. However, over the week, the dollar has been traded at N745 to N770.

“The reason for this is because most of our customers who visited the banks complained the demand for dollars is higher than the supply and that the banks don’t have enough dollars to go round hence the rise in the price for the willing buyers.

“Most traders at the parallel market decided to sell a bit less or higher within the price range of banks to keep our customers as the competition becomes tougher.

“I see a continuous rise in the volume of demand for the dollar as we approach the end of the year and an appreciation of the Naira to N500 or N600 per dollar in the near term if dollar supply increases.”

On his part, Mallam Umoru Mohammed, another black market trader in Lagos, said: “The dollar has been trading since last week from N740 to N770. Today the dollar was traded at N750.

“Here in Ikorodu, businesses have been dull as not many sold dollars to us hence I was not able to get supply of dollars due to the higher demand of dollars than supply.

“I see the Naira depreciating to N800 per dollar due to the inability of traders to meet the demands of buyers as we approach the remaining half of the year but if there is more forex inflows the reverse will be the case.”

Similarly, Garuba Hassan, a parallel market operator also in Lagos, said: “Today (last Friday) we are buying at N750 per dollar, but yesterday the rate was between N760 and N770 per dollar. If you go to the banks, they will tell you no dollars. You will have to visit about three banks before you can get the dollars, and this is affecting the market and the rate.”

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Bureaux De Change, BDC, operator, and executive member of Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria, ABCON, said: “There is nothing like BDC exchange rate because the CBN is not selling dollars to BDCs. We all compete with the parallel market operators for dollars and as such we have to ensure our rates match theirs.

“The situation in the market now is that demand is high but dollars are still scarce because there is no supply.

“People that want to withdraw dollars from their domiciliary account are not able to do so. The banks keep telling them there are no dollars.

“But I believe the Naira will appreciate in the coming weeks. The sharp depreciation of the Naira in the I&E window, I believe, is to encourage investors and Nigerians in Diaspora to bring in their dollars.

“Once this happens, the exchange rate in both I&E and the parallel market will gradually go down.”

Vehicles Duties Up By 40%

The Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigeria Customs Service have taken the ongoing foreign exchange reforms to the maritime sector with a 40 per cent increase in the exchange rate used for calculating import duty.

The NCS on Saturday raised the exchange rate used for the calculation of import duty from N422.30/dollar to N589/dollar.

The development, which has led to a corresponding 40 per cent increase in import duty on imported cargoes including vehicles, has angered operators in the maritime sector with clearing agents, freight forwarders, and importers calling for an immediate reversal of the policy.

Stakeholders said the policy would lead to job losses in the maritime sector and a drastic fall in the number of imported vehicles.

This, they said, could affect business and economic growth. Economists also said the government was insensitive, saying the policy was capable of affecting Nigerians negatively.

The development came barely one month after the Federal Government removed fuel subsidy and floated the naira. It also came at a time Discos began a gradual increase of their tariff.

The National Public Relations Officer, NCS, Abdullahi Maiwada, who confirmed the new exchange rate on its portal, said the agency was only implementing a CBN policy.

He said, “Whatever you see in our system is what has been communicated to us. It is determined by the Central Bank of Nigeria. So whatever we are using is what is obtainable as communicated to us. It is a monetary policy, we only implement what is given to us. It is a monetary policy and anything monetary is not determined by us, it is determined by the CBN. We only use what is communicated to us.”

Also confirming the development, the Youth Leader of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, at Tin Can Island, Remilekun Sikiru, said that the new rate had been effected on the Customs portal.

Our correspondent also confirmed the new rate on the Customs portal on Sunday.

Sikiru, also the CEO of Siktemstar Logistics, said that the customs duty payable on vehicles had increased astronomically.

He said, “For instance, the total duty payable on a Toyota Camry was N901,000 before now; but it has been increased to N1,270m; duty payable on Venza was N1.632m before now, but it has been increased to N2.278m. In the same vein, Toyota Corolla was N786,000, but now it has been increased to N1.097m while Lexus Rx which used to cost N1,828,000 now costs N2,550,447.”

He added, “It’s pathetic. We woke up to see this in the early hour on Saturday 24th of June 2022. The Federal Government needs to reverse this.”

According to him, this development may lead to cargo including vehicles being trapped at the terminals.

“The customs duty has been increased and it will lead to a heavy increment in duty payment on general goods/cargo. This will bring hardship on importers”

Also speaking, a freight forwarder and Chief Executive Officer, 2B Frank Nigeria Limited, Nwegbe Frankypaul, said, “Freight forwarders woke up on Saturday to realise that dollar rate has been increased from about N423 per dollar to about N590 per dollar.”

Nwegbe pleaded with the President to ensure depreciation on the value of older vehicles.

Reacting to this, the Chief Executive Officer of the Center for the Promotion of Private Enterprises, Dr Muda Yusuf, said the government needed to reverse the policy due to its effect on Nigerians and the economy.

“This has nothing to with either supporting or negating the unification of the exchange rate. What I think is that this will translate to an additional burden on the citizens and businesses. The bottom line is that import duties have increased. The citizens have not recovered from the fuel subsidy removal, they are still expecting palliatives which have not come. Now, the Discos are talking about increasing the electricity tariff. How will the citizens feel? I don’t think the Federal Government is being sensitive to the plight of the people. Whoever gave the directive is not being sensitive; they should be talking about reducing some of these tariffs so that transportation costs can be reduced. The palliative is not only for salary earners, the government should do a palliative scheme that will affect everybody.

Also speaking, the Founder of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents, Mr Lucky Amiwero, said, “The moment you allow the naira to float freely in terms of exchange, that is what you get. And it is going to affect the prices of goods. It is going to take a lot of licensed Customs agents out of work because most of them are going to lose their customers.”

The Vice President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, Nnadi Ugochukwu, while remarking, said, “It will affect businesses, there is a container I have for someone, before now, we used to clear that container for N4.3m. With the new exchange rate, the clearing cost is now N6.5m.”

Also speaking, the Secretary General of NCMDLCA, Mr Festus Ugu, “Even if the Federal Government wants to do exchange rate harmonisation, they should know how to go about it. This increase is a very big one.”

However, an economist, Mr Ibrahim Tajudeen, said the policy “is in line with the overall reform of the foreign exchange market by the government. Also, it is not the first time that we are seeing such a thing. A few years ago when the currency was devalued, the exchange rate for clearing goods also increased. So it is consistent with the development or reforms going on in the foreign exchange market. Nevertheless, I recognise that Nigerians are going to feel the negative impact. And I think the government has to do something to help the masses at some point.”

Recall that CBN directed Deposit Money Banks to remove the rate cap on the naira at the official Investors’ and Exporters’ Windows of the foreign exchange market.

This came barely a few weeks after President Bola Tinubu promised to unify the nation’s multiple exchange rates and less than a week before the suspension and detention of CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele, whose unorthodox monetary policies had become a stumbling block to investors and the economy.

The CBN’s decision to float the currency was hailed by the organised private sector and economists who said the move would unify the country’s multiple exchange rates and bring sanitise the FX market

The development means buyers and sellers of foreign currency in the official FX markets are now allowed to quote rates they find comfortable in the FX market, as against the previous practice where rates were dictated by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Following the development, the naira has been on a free fall, weakening to 770.19/dollar at the close of trading at the I&E Window on Thursday, according to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange