Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, has promised that the Rivers State Government will give needed support to the Wigwe Foundation to ensure that the dreams of the late Herbert Wigwe and founder of the Wigwe University live on.

He made the promise at the weekend at Isiokpo, Ikwerre Local Government Area, Rivers State- home town of late Wigwe during the funeral service for the CEO of Access Bank Holdings, Herbert Wigwe, his wife and son at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Lion of Judah Parish, Isiokpo.

Addressing the mammoth crowd of dignitaries cutting across the various sectors and strata of the society, local and international, Governor Fubara noted; “I want to say that our brother has finished his work, though shortly.

“We as a government will do everything with the Wigwe Foundation to immortalise him. We will do everything in our power to make sure that the dream of Wigwe University will continue to live, just as he planned it. It is a difficult situation for us all.

“Yesterday night (Night of Tribute) we sang a hymn and I came to the conclusion that life is not the one million years that we live but even if we spent an hour, let it be impactful.

“Here lie our brother, his wife and son. Everyone has come to celebrate them. It means even in the short period that he lived, he lived an impactful life. He made a great contribution to humanity.

“He took the political class to task asking ‘What are all these struggles all about? You want to kill, you want to do all sorts, what are they all about?”

In his address, Senate President, Godswill Akpabio described the death of the Wigwes as a painful and abnormal type of situation and has many reasons to keep Nigerians mourning for a long time.

He said; “The death is very painful and very painful indeed. But we are not going to cry in one day alone. We will cry for so many days. It’s not a normal occasion. Normally the wife would have been around as the widow. If not the wife, the first son.

“This is a very abnormal occasion. We will continue to grieve after this. When you look at his university, you will cry, when you look at his personal house, an edifice, you will cry, when you pass through any of the Access Bank branches worldwide, you will cry. When you come across children that he touched, those that he sent to school and the lives that he touched, when they mention him, you will cry.

“When you even remember that his heir Chizi was already an iconic figure, a talented young man, highly educated, prepared to take over from his father and yet he’s no more.

“When you think of the fact that the wife would have been here to also mourn with us but she joined him, then you will cry.”

He conveyed the condolences of President Bola Tinubu, his government, the NASS and all members of the legislature to the bereaved family, Access Bank and the remaining members of the family.

He said there was nothing to be done than to continue express sadness over the demise of the family describing the late Herbert Wigwe as an iconic figure, the people’s person, a friend and a brother to all that came across him.

Akpabio prayed; “Let me also extend the condolences of the federal government to the father and mother of the late Herbert Wigwe. May Almighty God console them and for those of you who are here may you never have to bury your child.”

Some of the dignitaries sighted at the funeral service include Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, Babjide Sanwolu, Governor of Lagos State, Pastor Eno Umo, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Presidential candidate of the Labour Party at the 2023 election, Peter Obi, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, immediate past Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, alongside other distinguished guests.

Bandits have reportedly kidnapped no fewer than 15 Tsangaya students at Gidan Bakuso area of Gada Local Government Area in Sokoto State.

The incident, according to findings by our correspondent, took place about 1am on Saturday at the school premises.

Confirming the incident, the proprietor of the school, Liman Abubakar, said, “So far, 15 students were unaccounted for, but we are still counting”

“They invaded the town around 1am, shot one person and abducted a woman in the process.

“As they were leaving the town, they sighted our students rushing into their rooms and they kidnapped many of them.

“We have so far counted 15 who are missing and we are still searching for more.”

Abubakar added that this was not the first time the village was attacked by bandits but had never kidnapped any of their students until now.

Also speaking, Mansur Ahmadu, a resident of the affected community, said the bandits invaded the community in the middle of the night.

“It was a serious situation when the incident happened, they killed a woman in the process before they abduct those students,” he said.

Also confirming the incident, a member, representing Gada-East constituency at the state House of Assembly, Kabiru Dauda, said he received a call from the village around 2am that they were invaded by bandits.

“I reached out to the local government authorities and security agencies and I am sure they are doing something about it,” he said.

When contacted, the spokesman for the Sokoto State Police Command, ASP Ahmad Rufa’i, said the command has deployed team to ascertain the real situation.

He said, “Most of your colleagues has been calling me on this but honestly I just spoke with the Divisional Police Officer of the affected community.

“We have mobilised our men to ascertain what actually happened, I can assure you that we are on top of the situation. I will brief you on it” he added.

Efforts to speak with the state governor’s Special Adviser on Security Matters, Col Ahmed Usman (retd.), was not successful as his line was not reachable as of the time of filling this report.

A top government official who spoke on condition of anonymity however confirmed the attack while assuring all that the government will do everything possible in ensuring the safety returns of the abducted students.

On Thursday, over 280 pupils and teachers of Government Secondary School and LEA primary school at Kuriga, Kaduna State were abducted by bandits, triggering national outrage.

Twenty-six-year-old Benue man, Tersugh Aondona, has disclosed the reason behind his decision to marry three wives on the same day.

Aondona set social media agog and got tongues wagging after his marriage to three woman on January 31, 2024, came to public knowledge.

Speaking on his matrimonial decision, Aondona stated that his ownership of large farmland played a role in his decision to marry three wives at once.

Speaking during an interview with Punch, he also revealed that his father motivated him to have many wives.

Aondona, who is from Jato-Aka, Kwande Local Government Area of the middle belt State and focuses mainly on rice, yam, and cassava cultivation, said marrying three women simultaneously was to remove the acrimony and impasse that would arise if he were to marry them separately.

He said “It has always been in my plan to have multiple wives, stemming from my desire for many children and the need for help on my expansive farm. Before marrying them, I explained to each of the women that I needed their assistance on my farm, which is too large for me to manage alone.

“I chose to marry them on the same day because I noticed that it was challenging to marry another woman after being married to one already. It often leads to conflicts. My brother has been facing the issue of not being able to marry another woman after marrying his wife, who always opposes the idea. I noticed that if I married them one after the other, there would be conflicts among them, which might result in enmity, and there wouldn’t be peace at home and they would hardly have cordial relationships. Therefore, I decided to marry the three of them at once to maintain peace and they agreed to have the wedding on the same day.

“However, if I notice that they want to misbehave, I will remind them of the promise they made when we met, and I will ask them why they agreed to be in such a relationship from the beginning if they knew they couldn’t maintain the peace”

Goldman Sachs analysts Andrew Matheny and Bojosi Morule have projected a significant appreciation of the exchange rate to N1,200/$ in 12 months.

This amounts to a massive recovery from its perceived undervalued state. 

This forecast hinges on Nigeria’s transition away from unstable monetary policies and significantly negative real interest rates, leading to a significant naira depreciation. 

• The report by the analysts outlines that over the past nine months, the naira has experienced a cumulative weakening of 60-70%. 
• However, the tide is expected to turn due to the advent of positive real rates and a pivot towards more orthodox policy frameworks, marking the beginning of Nigeria’s recovery from its currency crisis.
• The analysts noted that for lasting macroeconomic stabilization, continued and sustained efforts are required.

A looming risk to this forecast is the potential faltering by Nigerian authorities in maintaining the orthodox monetary pathway and tightening policy adequately to draw in the needed capital inflows. 

Policy Shifts and Economic Implications 

The Goldman Sachs analysts commended the recent monetary policy transitions under President Bola Tinubu, noting the significant shift towards inflation targeting and a more flexible exchange rate as positive developments. 

• Despite these forward-looking reforms, the initial implementation phase was criticized for its lack of depth until recent times.
• The absence of a clear policy anchor and a defined strategy previously left the naira vulnerable, leading to escalating inflation and currency depreciation.
• Highlighting the necessity for positive real interest rates and external financing to mitigate Nigeria’s currency and liquidity crisis, the analysts’ report sees recent policy adjustments and bill issuances by the central bank as steps in the right direction.
• Nevertheless, they emphasize the need for more decisive rate increases and a firm confirmation of policy shifts to attract meaningful foreign inflows. 

Excerpts from the report 

• “We argued that addressing Nigeria’s currency and external liquidity crisis required positive real interest rates and capital inflows, conditions that were both present – at least in a limited form – for the first time last week on the back of the central bank’s monetary policy adjustments and bill issuance. 
• “In our view, this is the cue to turn constructive on the FX outlook, even if more decisive rate increases and confirmation of the policy shift are likely required to attract meaningful foreign inflows. This is especially the case given that, in the near term, inflation on our estimates is likely to rise further on the back of lagged currency depreciation, and given that real interest rates are still comparatively low relative to elsewhere (most notably Egypt, which is likely to be a beneficiary of large inflows on the back of recent policy adjustments). 
• “We think the Naira looks cheap on a REER basis in a historical context. Added to this, the current account surplus was +3.5% of GDP in 2023Q3, and we expect it to increase above +5.0% on the recent FX moves and associated import compression. We thus see reason for the Naira to be undervalued, and we see it appreciating to 1200 within the next 12 months.” 

More Insights 

• Nairametric earlier reported that the Naira lost about 68% of its value, marking a profound downturn since the implementation of the foreign exchange unification policy. 
• The weakening Naira has inflicted broad economic repercussions, including heightened import costs, surging inflation rates, diminishing purchasing power, and a deterrent effect on investment inflows.  
• However, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Yemi Cardoso said that the naira is undervalued. He added that the apex bank will work towards real price discovery in the foreign exchange market in 2024. Cardoso recently blamed the undervalued state of the naira on market distortions and FX spectators. 
• The central bank has been actively addressing the FX issue in the country with some reforms, such as clearing the backlog of forex obligations which the CBN noted would be fully cleared in a few days.  
• Also, the apex bank plans to establish a singular foreign currency (FCY) gateway bank that will centralise all correspondent banking activities and provide incentives to individuals who hold foreign currencies outside the formal banking system.  
• Other measures include investigating and resolving FX backlogs, restricting forex allocation for overseas education and medical trips, augmenting the minimum share capital for BDCs, and targeting FX market speculators. 

[Nairametrics]