Sports Kit manufacturing giant, Nike, has revealed Nigeria’s new 2024 home and away kits.

The design of the jersey will be the first time in three years that the Super Eagles use white as a main colour.

The Nike Nigeria 2024 home football shirt is predominantly white with green and red detailing.

The most unusual feature of the Nike Nigeria 2024 home shirt is that Nike have used the words ‘NAIJA’ on the front of the shirt instead of the Nigerian football crest.

This design is reminiscent of the Puma third shirt from the 21-22 season.

Nike combines the Nigeria 2024 home football shirt with white shorts and socks.

The Nike Nigeria 2024 away football shirt has a first in the country’s history.

The Nike Nigeria 2024 away kit is mainly black, combined with a green graphic design.

The green pattern of the Nigeria 2024 away jersey is inspired by the famous Nigerian rainforest.

Violence broke out between supporters of Trabzonspor and players from Fenerbahce after a match on Sunday in the Turkish top flight, which has been plagued by trouble this season.

A crowd of home supporters invaded the pitch at Trabzonspor’s stadium after the final whistle of an encounter that Fenerbahce won 3-2.

Images show a Trabzonspor fan enter the pitch and begin running towards the celebrating Fenerbahce players, some of whom reacted by running towards him to try and strike him.

Other fans then invaded the pitch as stewards tried to restore order.

Videos showed Belgian international Michy Batshuayi kicking a fan who had entered the pitch and Nigerian international Bright Osayi-Samuel punching another supporter.

In other images on social media, a fan can be seen to threaten a visiting player with a corner flag and Fenerbahce’s goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic receives a punch to the face.

Following the violent scenes, Turkey’s interior minister Ali Yerlikaya announced the opening of an investigation into the incident.

“After the Trabzonspor-Fenerbahce football match played this evening, an investigation has been initiated immediately to identify the spectators who entered the pitch and to investigate the incidents that took place at the end of the match,” he wrote on X.

“Incidents of violence on football pitches are never acceptable.”

The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) called the events “unacceptable” and said in a statement that “the necessary criminal sanctions will be imposed on those responsible for these incidents”.

It is not the first time violence has been seen in the Turkish Super Lig this season.

The league was suspended for a week in December after a referee was attacked during a match between Ankaragucu and Rizespor.

Ankaragucu president Faruk Koca, alongside other men, attacked referee Halil Umut Meler on the pitch after the match, injuring the official.

A number of Fenerbahce trips to Trabzon in recent times have also been marred by violence.

A 2016 game against Trabzonspor was abandoned in the closing minutes after an assistant referee was attacked by a home supporter.

The year before that the Fenerbahce team bus came under attack from a gunman en route to the airport on the way back from the neighbouring Black Sea city of Rize, leaving the driver seriously injured.

In 2014 a match between Trabzonspor and Fenerbahce was called off at half-time after the Istanbul club’s players were pelted with objects thrown onto the pitch by home fans.

Trabzonspor, who won the Turkish title two years ago, also found themselves in the spotlight in 2015 when the club president locked the referee and his assistants inside the stadium overnight in protest at the decision not to award his team a penalty.

They were eventually released in the early hours of the following morning after a phone call from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

A Federal High Court, Abuja has ordered Binance Holdings Limited to provide the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with comprehensive data or information on all persons from Nigeria trading on its platform.

Justice Emeka Nwite granted the interim order after ruling on the ex-parte motion moved by the EFCC’s lawyer, Ekele Iheanacho.

“The applicant’s application dated and filed 29th February, 2024, is hereby granted as prayed.

“That an order of this honourable court is hereby made directing the operators of Binance to provide the commission with comprehensive data/information relating to all persons from Nigeria trading on its platform,” the judge ordered.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the interim order was granted to enable the anti-graft agency to unravel the alleged money laundering and terrorism financing on Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange platform.

A certified true copy of the ruling, which was delivered on Feb. 29, was sighted by NAN on Monday.

The ex-parte motion, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/259/2024, was brought pursuant to Sections 6(b), (h), (I), 7(1), (a)(2), and 38 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Establishment Act, 2004 and Section 15 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 (as amended) and the inherent powers of the court.

In the affidavit in support of the motion deposed to by Hamma Bello, an operative of the EFCC, he said he was attached to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the commission domiciled in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).

Bello averred that, following the inauguration of the Technical Committee on Currency Stability and Forex Manipulation by the ONSA, the SIT “received an intelligence report stating the nefarious activities (money laundering and terrorism financing) on Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange platform.

“That on receipt of the intelligence, the team began investigation by conducting surveillance of the activities of the platform.

“That the team uncovered users who have been using the platform for price discovery, confirmation, and market manipulation, which has caused tremendous distortions in the market, resulting in the Naira losing its value against other currencies.

“That the damage the platform has caused was clearly explained to the operators of the platform, and they were requested to delist the Naira and avail the ONSA of the activities of the Nigerians on their platform.

“That, from the information afforded to the team by Binance, shows that the total trading volume from Nigeria in 2023 alone stood at $21.6 (twenty-one billion, six hundred million dollars).

“Attached and marked as Exhibit EFCC 1 is a copy of the document from Binance to the ONSA stating this fact, amongst others.

“That the commission will ensure that investigation is conducted within such reasonable time.”

Bello, who said that the matter was of utmost urgent public interest, said the data provided would enable the commission to accomplish its investigation activities.

He said it was in the interest of justice to grant the application, as refusal of the request would largely hamper the commission’s investigation.

NAN reports that Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange that lists more than 350 cryptocurrencies globally.

In addition to cryptocurrency trading, it offers several services that enhance the experience for users and blockchain developers. (NAN)

The Labour Party (LP) House of Representatives caucus has rejected the March 27th proposed date for the opposition party’s National Convention, calling for a postponement.

Naija News reports that the LP leadership had initially fixed the convention to take place on March 29 but later changed it to March 27. The party’s leadership said the date was changed because the initial day falls on Good Friday, a significant date for the Christian faith worldwide.

But in a statement to journalists, the leader of the LP caucus in the lower legislative chambers, Afam Ogene, called for the postponement of the national convention for proper planning.

He stated that the party needs to make proper and more comprehensive consultations and make efforts to bring every stakeholder on board.

According to him, the party should have started with ward congresses before jumping to a national convention.

The statement read: “The national convention of any national political party is such an important event that ought not to be conducted without proper planning or in a hurry.

“While we acknowledge that the various challenges currently being thrown at the national leadership may have been responsible for the seemingly sloppy organization of the proposed convention, we hasten to add that the fact that many stakeholders, including my colleagues in parliament, were not carried along in the whole process leaves resentment trailing the process.

“While we agree that the 29th, as earlier scheduled, is not appropriate for the reasons given, we also note that the 27th is not any better. Indeed, many have wondered why a national convention would seem more preferable, as against the bottom-up approach of beginning congresses from the wards.

“In fact, even more fundamental is the health and sustainability of our dear party. The party has, for some time now, witnessed internal friction and glitches, just like every other political party in the nation. So, we in the House of Representatives, as the direct representatives of the people, are of the view that the party needs some more time to smooth the rough edges in the party leadership system and operational mechanism before the next convention.

“So, for these reasons, we respectfully call for the postponement of the national convention and the immediate activation of a consultation mechanism that would inject a healing and reinvigorating tonic in the party for a more successful and sustainable future, for the overall good of our teeming supporters and Nigeria in general.”

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Yemi Cardoso, is reportedly set to retire eight directors of the apex bank, barring any last-minute change.

Naija News gathered that the directors, who were employed by the former governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, would be served early retirement letters this week.

According to Daily Trust, some directors were initially redeployed to an arm of the bank, FSS 2020, under the Governor’s Directorate, which worked closely with Emefiele.

The newspaper reported that the directors have worked from the Directorate’s office located in the Maitama District of Abuja since 24the November 2023, and are kept in a sort of pool to await “further directives.”

The newspaper said sources within the bank revealed that some had already been served the disengagement letters since Friday, 15th March 2024, but could not state clearly under what terms those affected were disengaged.

One of the sources said: “We don’t know whether they were given early retirement or their appointments were terminated outright.”

The sources could not confirm if those being served early retirement letters have been found guilty of any offences, adding that the news of the planned sack has been widespread since Thursday last week.

One of the sources said the main reason for the sack of the affected officials was “because they had worked very closely with the immediate past governor of the bank, Mr. Godwin Emefiele”.

It was learned that the decision has raised great concern amongst staff of the CBN, who fear that it could be a prelude to more layoffs by the current management of the banking regulator.

Recall that the apex bank had relocated no fewer than 150 staff of the Banking Supervision Department (BSD), which is one of the 29 departments of the bank, to Lagos. The BSD is under the Financial System Stability Directorate of the CBN.

The relocation saga, it would be recalled, had generated heated controversy across the country, with many people of northern extraction alleging that it was an attempt to dislodge staff who are northerners from the institution.

But the CBN rebuffed those insinuations, insisting that it was part of a proper reorganisation of the bank, to ensure that the regular onsite examination of the 24 banks in the country was diligently carried out since most of those national and regional banks are headquartered in Lagos.

It also adduced that part of the reason for the relocation was the desire to de-congest the corporate headquarters of the bank.

The Labour Party, LP, 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi has cried out over the hardship Nigerians are passing through.

Speaking on Monday, Obi lamented the kidnapping in the country.

According to him, about 7,000 Nigerians have been kidnapped in the past one year with several cases of killings and clashes recorded across the country.

This was as he described Nigeria as one of the hungriest nations and most difficult countries to live in the North.

Posting on X, Obi called on the Federal Government to take urgent steps towards improving the situation in the country.

“In the past 1 year, about 7000 Nigerians have been kidnapped, with about 700 kidnapped in the last 3 weeks, notwithstanding the violent crimes and killings that occur in every part of the nation, which must have included us in one of the world’s riskiest countries to live in.

“A report by the globally respected publication, Financial Times, on March 12, 2024, described Nigeria’s kidnapping racket as a sign of a failed state. With all of these happening in our nation, how then can we attract foreign investors, & retain the confidence of local investors?

“We have become one of the hungriest nations in the world and one of the most difficult nations in the world to live in, with food prices constantly going out of the reach of most Nigerians. Power supply is abysmally poor and Nigerians are now mostly in total darkness,as over 60% are without power supply. Even those in perceived privileged areas now go for days without power supply.

“A 2022 Energy Progress Report designated Nigeria as the country with the largest number of people lacking access to electricity with 92 million of its over 200 million population living without electricity. About 80 percent of our primary healthcare centres are not functional. The cost of medical treatments and medicines have gone beyond the reach of most Nigerians.

“We now hold the enviable position of having the highest number of out of school children, with about 20 million out-of-school children. We need to take our children off the streets and give them access to basic education.

“I, therefore, urge our executive and legislative arms to consider the many challenges facing our nation and re-allocate resources to these very critical areas. This is the time for complete sacrifice. A New Nigeria is still very POssible,” he wrote.

That Nigeria’s economy is in bad shape, is no longer news. Food and other necessities are hard to come by.

However, no matter what turn the economy takes, Nigerians, by their unique nature, will always find survival alternatives.

That is why although it sounds unthinkable to see, anywhere in the world, where bamboos are used in place of irons to cast pillars and decking of building constructions, Nigeria has found in convenient.

The high cost of building materials is making many homeowners go for cheap alternatives for construction.

While many Nigerians whose buildings are under construction are abandoning them, waiting for when prices of materials will go down, most frustrated ones are selling off their uncompleted properties to interested buyers.
But others have decided to invent conventional means by replacing iron rods with bamboo.

Economy&Lifestyle discovered that home construction engineers now use bamboo, laced with construction wires to cast decking and pillars of buildings.

Usually, for such buildings, Iron rods are used in these areas to create rigidity and firmness.
Bamboo, a woody plant with hollow stems is in the grass family. It is always used for scaffolding in tall buildings replacing steel irons merged together with screws.

According to Mr. Andrew Asaga, a building engineer, 12mm, 16mm, 20mm, 25mm, 10mm, or 8mm iron rods are recommended for building apartments depending on the strength of the material and the designs specified.

He added: “Bamboo can also do the job of an iron rods to an extent.
“Some persons now use only bamboo for the pillars.
“Some mix bamboo with iron rods for the decking to save cost.
“Others now use only bamboo for decking.

“An iron rod costs between N10,000 to N30,000 depending on the size.
“This was twice the price it was sold for last year.

Few weeks ago, a client who wanted to build a bungalow asked that I use bamboo mixed with iron rods to build the pillars because the cost of iron rods has increased.

“He wanted me to construct 8 pillars for the building and would need four 12 mm iron rods for a pillar.
“A ton of 12mm (93 pieces) is now over N1.3 million .

“I don’t know where this country is heading to.”

Mr. Atanaza Godbless, an engineer said: ” Building developers are no longer making profits in the business.
” This is because the cost of building materials are increasing daily.

“When you make a quotation for clients today and they respond next week, you get to the market and discover that the prices of the materials you quoted have increased tremendously.

“You are left with nothing to settle with your workers.
“At the end you see engineers running away leaving workers unpaid.
“And such a person is being labelled bad.
“People are now settling for less alternatives of building materials.
“The cost of iron rods for instance, is making people use bamboo.

“The government is seeing all these and nothing is being done to reduce the cost of building materials.
“The result of these alternatives is having inferior buildings and increased building collapse.”

The strong bonds between concrete and the iron rods ensure stronger constructions as external forces cannot easily break these bonds and the concrete will not slip away from these rods as they are tied together during construction.

Mrs. Fatimetu Momoh, a bamboo seller said the price of a piece of bamboo has also increased from N400 per bamboo to N1500.

She added: “Even used ones now go for N900 which was sold for N200.

“Those supplying the bamboo are complaining of logistics and levies paid on the road.

“This is not something we import. Or do we start importing bamboo? Something we have in our country.
“There is no business that is not frustrated in today’s economy. I pray God will save us from this horrible situation.”

Governor Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno State supervised the distribution of food aid to over 52,000 families in seven local government areas of Southern Borno to alleviate the hardship caused by inflation and the current economic problems bedeviling the country.

The distribution took place on Sunday at the Biu township stadium. 

The benefiting local governments include Biu, Shani, Chibok, Askira-Uba, Kwaya Kusar, Bayo and Hawul.

This is as Senator representing Southern Borno, Mohammed Ali Ndume also urged people in the constituency not to sell the food and non -food items donated to them by Governor Zulum, but to use it in cushioning the current economic hardships.

The governor said, “This morning, we are in Biu to provide palliatives to 52,000 vulnerable families in southern Borno. This is in continuation of our efforts to provide food and non-food items to the less privileged in society.

“We have not consistently given food items to people in southern Borno because they are not deeply affected by the insurgency. However, due to the current hike in food prices, the government has decided to come in and support the people with food aid”, the governor added.

“Each beneficiary will collect 25kg bag of rice and 25kg bag of maize,” Governor Zulum stated.

In Biu local government area, 17,000 families each got a bag of rice and a bag of maize grain. 5,000 families benefited from Shani, Bayo, Kwaya Kusar, Chibok and Hawul local government areas, while in Askira-Uba, 10,000 bags of rice and maize were given to Uba and Askira- Emirates.

Distributes N100m to 2,000 youth, women farmers

Meanwhile, Governor Babagana Umara Zulum distributed over N100m to 2,000 youth and women to support them in cultivating their farmlands

Zulum said, “In addition to the food distribution, we are giving out N100m grant to 2,000 beneficiaries, each receiving N50,000. This grant is for them to use in cultivating their farmlands.

“We hope the money will help them in their farming activities”, he stated.

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Governor of Borno, Umar Usman Kadafur, who hails from Biu, urged beneficiaries to make good use of the food gesture and grant provided by the governor.

Dont sell palliatives given to you by government – Ndume urges constituents

Senator representing Southern Borno, Mohammed Ali Ndume has urged people in his constituency not to sale food and non -food items donated to them by Governor Babagana Zulum, but to use it in cushioning the current economic hardships.

Ndume who is the Chief Whip at the national assembly commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for given approval of palliatives worth N200 million to each Senator for onward distribution to people in their respective communities.

He noted he has since embarked on distribution of such palliatives to his constituents in order to complement good efforts of Borno State Government under the leadership of Governor Zulum.

His words, ” I want to use this opportunity to thank our Governor for considering the people of Southern Borno under this very difficult and expensive situation. This palliatives is coming at a right time because we are in person of Ramadan Kareem.

“At least, each of the 52,000 beneficiaries will go home with 25kg bags of rice and maize, while 2,000 youths including women were given N50,000 each as empowerment grants by the state government. This is highly commendable.

“Likewise, I thank President Bola Tinubu for supporting each Senator with grains and rice worth N200 million. As you can see Borno has taken the lead in distribution of palliatives more than any state in the whole of the federation, and I want to urge our people to maintain law and order throughout the distribution exercise,” Ndume stated.

In a related development, Governor Zulum unveiled Water projects in Azare, the headquarters of Hawul local government area.

According to the Commissioner Ministry of Water Resources, Engr Tijjani Goni, the Water tank is about 965 liters which would be powered by solar borehole that will distribute water to Azare town and it’s environs

The Federal Government has reacted to the uproar and castigation that greeted the Memorandum of Understand, MoU, it signed with Messrs MPH Rail Development Limited, a United Kingdom, UK, firm.

The MoU which was signed by the Ministry of Transport on March 13, 2024, was for the building of the Port Harcourt–Enugu–Calabar–Abuja Standard Gauge Rail Line.

The announcement of the MoU, has sparked widespread controversy and condemnation by Nigerians on social media, especially X.

They expressed concern over the decision of the government to sign such MoU with a company without palpable rail construction history.

Responding to the controversy, Minister of Transportation, Sa’idu Ahmed Alkali, disclosed that the project was still at its preliminary stage.

In a statement issued on Sunday by Olujimi Oyetomi, Director, Press and Public Relations of the Ministry, the minister noted that the documents that were signed are not legally binding.

Parts of the statement read, “For clarity, a Memorandum of Understanding or MoU is a non-binding agreement that states each party’s intentions to take actions, conduct a business transaction or form a new relationship.

“It is not a legal binding agreement.

“It provides only a platform for further agreement, discussion, scrutiny and the provisions of required guarantees by the parties to reach agreement if the parties are satisfied.

“The MoU in question arose from an unsolicited proposal presented by the British African Business Alliance, BABA, an association based in the United Kingdom with interest in businesses in Africa. It’s proposal was initially submitted to the ministry on 27th August 2019.

“As required, the business, Outline Business Case was submitted to the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission, ICRC, on 8th December 2023. The major attraction of the proposal is BABA/MPH’s initiative to achieve 100% private sector funding for the project with no loans or debt to the Nigerian government or any of its agencies as captured in the Article 3.3 of the MoU.

“The regulatory Commission on 27 December 2023 granted approval and issued a conditional OBC Certification. It is pertinent to note at this juncture that COVID-19 was a major contributor to the time lag between the initial proposal and the ICRC OBC Certification

The Senate has warned the executive against increasing the budget size through a supplementary budget, advising the government to use the excess savings that are expected to be made from the recent depreciation of the naira to fund deficit.

This came against the backdrop of the depreciation of the local currency against the United States dollar from N900/$r to over 1,500/$, following a series of moves by the Central Bank of Nigeria to unify the parallel and official market exchange rates of the naira.

The National Assembly had in December moved the 2024 budget benchmark exchange rate from N750/dollar sent by President Bola Tinubu to N800/dollar.

Giving reasons at that time, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Solomon Adeola, explained, “The current price of the dollar at the black market is between N1200 and N1300 and in the Central Bank of Nigeria, it is between N950 and N1000 and we have a budget which was pegged at N750, if you look at the gap, you’d realise that has covered a lot of gaps already.”

“Again, we did some external consultations, most especially in the area of oil benchmark and petroleum resources, if we had gone in that line, we’d have pegged it at N850/N900 to a dollar and we agree that we want to be conservative in our approach, so that nobody will think that we want to increase the budget for any ulterior motive, that was why we left it at N490bn out of which N44bn is for statutory transfer, so effectively, the increment is about N446bn that is going into the Federal Government pocket as consolidated revenue.”

“So, you can see that what necessitated our action is the economic reality and what is obtainable in both the black and open markets.”

However, following the depreciation of the naira from N900/dollar to over N1,500/dollar, the Senate has advised the Federal Government against increasing the budget size, saying the move could worsen the country’s already high inflation rate.

Rather, the Senate said the executive should use the excess savings to cut down on loans it would seek to fund the deficit in the budget.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Tokunbo Abiru, in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH, advised the Federal government to avoid increasing the budget size.

He also advised that gains from the budget should be spent on reducing the budget deficit.

He said, “My position will be to advise that the Federal Government not to expand the size of the budget, rather use whatever gains that come to moderate inflation excess; and even the appetite for contracting loans for deficit should be moderated.”

He also explained that it was too early to determine the workability of the budget despite the volatility of the naira.

He explained, “What you use in budgeting is average rate not spot rate. What you are seeing today in the forex market is still looking like a spot rate.

“And you can see all attempts, all efforts from the end of Central Bank of Nigeria and the federal government is to find a way to stabilize. I can’t tell what the stabilized number would be.”

Abiru added, “So it will be too hasty to begin to judge from the current spot performance, not until when we have something close to our average or stable position. That’s when you should not be thinking about any revision of the budget.”

Also speaking in the same vein, the Deputy Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Ali Ndume, said the country would be saving over N600 on every dollar in the 2024 budget.

According to him, Nigeria earns over 60 per cent of its revenue in dollars and, as such, the fall of the naira against the dollar has created huge savings for the country.

Explaining he said, “We should be talking about budget excess not deficit. We spend naira, our budget is in Naira and we are spending in naira.

“The crude oil is our major source of income and it is being sold in dollars. So, if we are to analyze things, then we are making more money than losing money. The Federal Government pegged it first at N750 but at the National Assembly we jerked it up to N800.”

Ndume added, “So, we are selling our crude at about N1400 instead of N800, so we are making about N600 budget excesses. So, we have more money to spend.

“The budget is a dolarised budget so to say, such that our income is in dollars and expenditure is in naira. We are spending naira and earning dollars.”

On the increment in the prices of foodstuff, the lawmaker said that the hike in the prices was caused by Nigerians who were taking advantage of the volatility of the foreign exchange.

Ndume added, “The problem we have is in foreign exchange, but most of our foods are produced locally. So, the increment is on people who decide to take advantage of the foreign exchange.

“For instance, we don’t import corn, beans and other foodstuff, so why are the prices of foodstuff going up?”

Economists react

A professor of Economics at Babcock University, Ilisan, Ogun State, Segun Ajibola, said the rise in dollar would affect both the budget revenue and expenditure.

“You know budget is both sides – revenue and expenditure. The first thing we should realise is that if government earns dollar, the government will monetise that dollar at the exchange rate, then expenses will be incurred at that same exchange rate, so it will affect both the revenue and the expenditure,” Ajibola said.

He noted that foreign exchange accounts for about 60 per cent of total government revenue, stating, however, that there might still be a shortfall because this year’s budget is a deficit budgeting.

“So, the onus is on the government to drive supply. If the government can drive the supply of foreign exchange earnings, not just from the monolithic earning that we have, where we earn most substantially from crude oil; If we can drive non-oil foreign exchange earnings, then it will help. However, the important thing is to stabilise the economy.

“The Federal Government should see what could be done quickly, what we call quick wins. How can we redirect our exposure in the foreign exchange market? If our local refineries work, we can cut off importation of fuel. There are some items we need not spend foreign exchange on, like toothpicks,” the don said.

He, however, observed that there might be the need to review the budget later in the year.

Speaking, the Managing Director/Chief Economist of Analysts’ Data Services and Resources, Dr Afolabi Olowookere, said that the gap between the projected benchmark of the dollar in the 2024 budget and the current rate of the dollar had multiple effects on the government and the economy.

“Devaluation will help their budget in terms of revenue because money coming from abroad will now be changed at the rate of N1,400/dollar or N1,500/dollar.

“It is also possible that the FG may also lose. There are two ways that they can lose. The first way is, if they need to import or travel, they have to look for N1,400, N1,500 to pay and most contractors, I know would have gone back to the government to say that they cannot execute their contracts at the previous rate.

“So, on one hand, the government will be making more money from the conversion, and on the other hand, the government will be paying more for everything it has to import,” he stressed.

Touching on the third impact, Olowookere said that the exchange rate was already affecting the local economy,

“Look at cement, which is largely produced here, has gone up. So, effectively, the government will benefit but not as much as it would have benefited,” he reiterated.

Similarly, the Managing Director at Afrinvest Securities, Ayodeji Ebo, told one of our correspondents that the devaluation of the naira was positive for the government, doubling revenue when converted to naira.

“However, in terms of capital expenditure or spending, it will affect the Nigerian government because the cost of those projects would have doubled. So, in that case, the government would have to channel more funds to achieve the targeted projects. For example, if they have budgeted N3tn for capital expenditure, it now means you would spend close to N6tn or more.

“Given the current situation, we need to focus on reducing oil theft. When we export oil, we earn in dollars. When you convert it to naira, it becomes a significant amount of money,” Ebo noted.

In the same vein, an economist, Dr Elias Aliyu, maintained that the government pegging the exchange rate at N750 to $1, and later adjusting it to N800 by the National Assembly, appeared to be an overly ambitious move.

Meanwhile, a professor of Economics at the University of Uyo, Akpan Ekpo, said the devaluation of the naira had rendered the government’s exchange rate peg in the 2024 budget infeasible.

According to him, the government would either have to readjust its spending or float a supplementary budget to cushion the damage the current exchange rate has done to its budget.

“The oil we are exporting now, we already got the money a long time ago through the future market. Knowing the government, they would have to borrow to implement the budget.

“The budget already had a deficit. We will now have a higher deficit. They will now have to go for a supplementary budget or adjust expenditure through what we call expenditure switching. But knowing the government. They will want to borrow,” he said.

Speaking further, Ekpo urged the government to consider reviewing some of its policies to attenuate the severe impact the economic reforms have had on the populace.