he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed banks reduced loans to the private sector to N71.21 trillion in March.

Credit to the private sector describes monetary resources given to the private sector, such as advances and loans, purchases of non-equity securities, trade credits, and other accounts receivable, which create a claim for repayment.

According to the CBN’s money and credit data, the current figure represents a month-on-month decline of 11.93 percent or N9.65 trillion drop, compared to N80.86 trillion recorded in February.

However, on a year-on-year basis, credit to the private sector rose by 65.57 percent compared to N43.01 trillion recorded in the corresponding period in March 2023.

In January, credit to investors was N76.29 trillion.

Also, data obtained from the CBN showed credit to the government decreased to N19.59 trillion in March from N33.93 trillion in February — representing a month-on-month decline of 42 percent.

On a year-on-year basis, CBN reported that credit to the government rose by 28.8 percent against N27.52 trillion in March last year.

Credit to the government stood at N36.18 trillion in January.

The decline in credit to the private sector and government follows CBN’s monetary tightening.

CBN has raised interest rates 10 consecutive times since May 2022 — a move that has increased the cost of borrowing — to tame inflation.

Also, in line with its monetary tightening, CBN announced a downward review of the loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) from 65 percent to 50 percent on April 17.

LDR is used to assess a bank’s liquidity by comparing its total loans to its total deposits.

An increase in the loan-to-deposit ratio allows banks to expand their credits to businesses and individuals, however, a decline in LDR reduces their ability to loan customers from depositors’ funds.

Veteran journalist, Dele Momodu has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of “misfiring” in the ongoing case against former Kogi governor, Yahaya Bello.

Momodu said the EFCC failed to do due diligence during their investigation against Bello.

Speaking during an Instagram Live, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain faulted EFCC’s claims of Bello using government funds to pay his children school fees upfront before the expiration of his tenure.

He faulted EFCC’s conduct in its attempt to prosecute Bello, stressing that the commission’s Chairman, Ola Olukoyede should have learnt from the cases of his predecessors, who he said were “booted out ignominiously”.

According to Momodu: “When they brought in the new chairman, I thought oh, you will have the benefit of learning from your predecessors.

“All of them were booted out ignominiously and if I were in the shoes of the current chairman, what I will simply do is make sure I do my job as meticulously, as professionally, as efficiently as possible. And, you will never go wrong if you obey the rule of law.

“I watched the EFCC chairman, I think either last week or the week before the last, I was almost crying because the way he went on and on..if I don’t do this… spitting fire and all.. you don’t have to do media trial.”

Asked if the EFCC was lying about Bello, Momodu said: “I have no idea, I don’t work for EFCC but from all the things that I have read, a lot of them, they misfired. That is the honest truth. They misfired. They didn’t do their due diligence.

“When you said a man took out money and paid for his children’s school fees, just as he was about to leave power, and you go and check the documents and you see that these things started happening from 2021, 2022 (laughs); I am not an illiterate.”

The EFCC had accused Bello and three others of alleged money laundering to the tune of N80.2 billion while he was governor.

Olukoyede also accused Bello of withdrawing $720,000 to pay for his children’s school fees before leaving office.

This, the former governor denied.

The impeached deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, has expressed plans to reunite with the former Governor of the state, Adams Oshiomhole.

Naija News reports that Shaibu made this known in an interview with PUNCH, stating that he is not ready to support the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial candidate, Asue Ighodalo.

The former deputy governor said he would not support Ighodalo because, despite several attempts to know his plans, the latter failed to open up to him about his governorship ambition.

Shaibu noted that he has consistently apologised to Oshiomhole. However, he does not regret his past actions because the former Governor led them to fight against godfathers.

He said, “First, I am not ready to support the governorship candidate of the party, Asue Ighodalo, and until the PDP does the needful, I may not be able to answer the question. I cannot support him because he didn’t open up to me about his ambition despite asking him several times, including at my house. The last time I asked was in November. So, I was taken aback when he spoke on TV that he was being pushed to run.

“I called him and asked who was pushing him to run, but he told me to ignore the report and that it was a social media thing. But his younger brother, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, said that the move to make his elder brother the governor of Edo State started two years ago. Edo State needs a “homeboy” to govern them, not people who will rent houses during their tenure and leave as soon as it ends. We need people who we can relate to and understand the challenges of the people. The PDP governorship candidate is more of an Ibadan man than an Edo man.

“I am ready. I have also consistently apologised to Comrade, and I am using this avenue to do so again over what happened in 2020, especially the language I used during that period. I look at some of the videos and the only thing I can do is apologise. However, I don’t regret the action I took because Oshiomhole is the one who led us to fight against godfathers. I felt what he was trying to do at that time was wrong. Reuniting with him will be interesting. Even amid the fight, I have maintained that he is my father. I will reunite with him sooner or later. He is also my mentor. So, a lot of things that I do, I learnt from him.”

Warns them to work with FG tripartite c’ttee

‘We are generous with N615, 000 demand’

Organised Labour, at the weekend, fires back at state governors, warning them against inflammatory utterances that could set the nation’s industrial space on fire over the new national minimum wage, NNMW.

It faulted the statement credited to the governors through the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, that they were working on what individual states could sustainably pay.

Labour contended that the governors must work within the 37-member committee saddled with the responsibility of fashioning out a new national minimum wage for the country.

According to the Organised Labour, it is being magnanimous with N615,000 new minimum wage’ demand because, based on the socioeconomic indices on the ground, it would have demanded much higher which the governors “are more than able to pay”.

Recall that in a statement, last Thursday, by the NGF Chairman and Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, at the end of NGF’s virtual meeting held Wednesday night, the governors said, among others, “As members of the committee, we are reviewing our individual fiscal space as State Governments and the consequential impact of various recommendations, to arrive at an improved minimum wage we can pay sustainably.

“We remain committed to the process and promise that better wages will be the invariable outcome of ongoing negotiations.”

Misquoted

Reacting to the statement, Deputy President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, and President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, Dr Tommy Okon, told Sunday Vanguard, yesterday, that Organised Labour believed the governors were misquoted.

“They can’t say that they are working on what individual states can pay. I think the governors may be talking about what they can add to the minimum wage at the end of the day because what will be agreed upon is the baseline which nobody should pay less than”, Okon said.

“But they can pay higher than that. I think that is what they are saying. 

“They cannot be telling us that they are reviewing or setting up a committee to work on what they can pay individually. Two committees cannot be working on the same issue.

“The governors are members of the tripartite committee on the New National Minimum Wage, so they cannot set up another committee or work independently from the tripartite committee set up by the Federal Government.

“Maybe the governors are talking about implementation. It is right for the governors to set up an implementation committee. They need to know their staff’s strengths and sources of funds to implement the new wage
“But to say that they are working on what individual states can pay outside the committee that the Federal Government has set up cannot be correct.

“Do not forget that the governors are members of the tripartite committee set up by the Federal Government. So, they cannot do anything outside the committee.

“If what is reported is correct or if the governors own up to the statement as reported, it is a recipe for serious industrial unrest.

“And no nation can accept that because any nation that works like will face unprecedented industrial unrest and can never grow. No nation grows amid industrial chaos.

“We think the governors will tread with caution and avoid inflammatory utterances. We still believe the statement was not from them.”

Negotiation table

On its part, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, declined a response, saying it has made a demand before the tripartite committee on the minimum wage and whatever the governors want to say should be brought to the negotiation table since they are members of the committee on the new minimum wage.

However, an official of NLC, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Sunday Vanguard that the governors are treading on dangerous ground that could set the nation’s industrial space on fire.

“You cannot be talking about reviewing what individual state can pay sustainably outside the committee set up to look out will be the baseline or minimum”, he said. “Whatever opinion you have is what you should bring to the negotiation table. You come to the negotiation table and argue your opinion.

“We do not want to trade words with the governors because they are members.

“(But) they are treading on a dangerous ground that can set the nation’s industrial space on fire.

“We have made our demand which is a very generous one from the breakdown we released on Thursday on the N615,000 demand.
“You can see that we have been very magnanimous. Several expenses, including basic things like recharge cards, entertainment, extended family and others, are missing.

“Don’t forget that this demand was a product of questionnaires we sent out to states and local governments. We did not manufacture it.

“Again, take the issue of electricity which we allocated N20,000 a month. At the time we did it, the electricity tariff had not been adjusted by about 300 per cent. With the adjustment, it has affected nearly every other thing in terms of inflation.

“We know the governors can do much more than what we are demanding. We have passed through this road before.
“The problem with the governors is that they place their aggrandizement far above public good and workers’ welfare.

“That many former governors are facing prosecution by the nation’s anti-graft agencies, especially the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is a pointer to the fact that governors have the resources to pay much higher than our demand.”

‘How we arrived at N615, 000’

NLC had, on Thursday, given the breakdown on how Organised Labour arrived at its demand of N615,000 as the new minimum wage, and also countered the government on the commencement date for the proposed new minimum wage.

The Minister for State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, had, on Wednesday, while addressing workers at the May Day celebration in Abuja, said the new minimum wage would take effect from May 1, 2024.

But the NLC is arguing that it will take effect from April 19, 2024. 

In a statement, NLC President, Joe Ajaero, said: “It has become imperative at this point that we inform Nigerians who may not have known already the foundations upon which our initial demand for a N615, 000 new National Minimum Wage is based.

“The figure was a product of a painstaking effort through which we captured the cost of living of Nigerian workers and masses in all parts of the country.

“It was essentially an outcome of independent research conducted by the NLC and TUC on the cost of meeting the primary needs of an average family around the country.

“Our research was based on a family with both parents alive and four children without the burden of having other dependents with them.

“A questionnaire was designed and sent to all the State Councils of NLC and TUC from where these questionnaires were sent to our members in all the local government areas in the country to gather the monthly cost of living for the average family as described above. 

“Below is a summary of our findings and we hope that this will enable Nigerians understand what propels our demand so that better clarity is made to create better engagement around the ongoing National Minimum Wage Negotiation process.

“A cursory look at the table above shows that we have deliberately removed certain elements from the basket used in calculations of this nature.

“However, it should also be noted that we have not included things like expenditure on calls and data, offerings in churches and Mosques, community dues, entertainment, savings and security etc.

“These are therefore just for the bare necessities.

”It should be noted that we arrived at this figure before the increase in electricity tariff and the recent scarcity of petrol across the nation leading to the appearance of long queues with attendant increased transport fares. 

“Any figure below this amount becomes a starvation wage and condemns Nigerian workers and their families to perpetual poverty.

Commencement date

”We have to remember that the old one has expired on the 18th day of April 2024, and a new one is expected to have come into effect on the 19th day of April 2024. “However, because of the government’s inability to comply with the law that demanded negotiations for a new national minimum wage to have begun six months before the expiration of the existing one, concluding the new one has become unfortunately delayed.

”We are sure that our social partners would see our demonstration of understanding, sacrifice and reasonableness in our demands and thus accept this figure without much delay.

“We also enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to implore the government and employers to meet our demands for the sake of justice, equity and national development.”

Cristiano Ronaldo has said that he was not bothered about scoring another hat-trick but cares more about his team.

The veteran Portuguese forward scored his 66th hat-trick of his career and it’s 52 goals in 52 games this season.

Ronaldo reduced his tally to just 10 goal to reach 900 career goals as Al-Nassr beat Al-Wehda 6-0 in the Saudi Pro League on Saturday at Al-Awwal Stadium. 

The Portuguese icon scored his 50th goal of the season with his first one in the match along with netting his 66th career hat-trick.

He, however, said his priorities lie with the team rather than individual achievements.

“I don’t care about scoring a hat-trick as much as I care about the team,” the 39-year-old said after the game.

Ronaldo is just 10 goals away from 900 career goals and when asked about that post-match, he said:

“I always say, numbers come naturally, so I don’t attach numbers, they come.”

Super Eagles head coach, Finidi George has said it is important for the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Finidi insisted that he will do his best to ensure the Super Eagles didn’t miss out on a place at the mundial for the second consecutive edition.

Recall that the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the last edition of the global soccer fiesta hosted by Qatar.

The three-time African champions face a tough task of making it to the 2026 World Cup finals after drawing their opening two matches against Lesotho and Zimbabwe.

The Super Eagles will face South Africa and Benin in their next two games in the qualifiers.

Finidi said he would need the prayer and support of all Nigerians to succeed on the job.

“The World Cup qualification matches against South Africa and Benin Republic is a collective responsibility for all Nigerians.

“I know I am in charge now and the heavy responsibility is on me to win the two world cup matches,” Finidi told reporters during his visit to Nigeria Football Federation’s office in Abuja.

“I will do my best to ensure success and qualify for the World Cup. I am also in touch with the players and they are ready and willing to give their all having missed out in the last edition held in Qatar.

“In terms of having knowledge of our opponents, I have been following them.

“The world today is a global village, one can monitor anything in the comfort of his/ her sitting room.

“We need prayers and support from everybody, this is our own, we can do it and do it well. I watch our players weekly as they play in their various clubs.

“Honestly my target is to win the two matches and not to be judged with the two international friendly games played.”

Finidi’s appointment as Super Eagles head coach was confirmed by the NFF last week.

The President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, has said that the Igbos will not apologise for the murder of Sir Ahmadu Bello and Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa during the 1966 coup.

He dismissed claims by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) that he plans on apologising to the Fulani ethnic groups.

He declared that Ohanaeze Ndigbo would never apologise for something they did not do.

Iwuanyanwu stated this in Owerri, Imo state, last weekend.

He said, “I was shocked to read a voice mail message which was circulating all over the country and all over the world alleging that we held a meeting in Enugu and that the meeting was poorly attended where the decision was taken that we are going to Sokoto to apologise to the Fulanis over the death of Ahmadu Bello and Tafawa Balewa and other Northerners. They abused me and insulted me. I read it and I was sad. I don’t expect that somebody or a Christian will come out and tell a completely false story against me. I never said anything like that.”

He explained that the recent retreat in Enugu was a meeting of committees established for the development of Igboland, and the issue of apologising to the Fulanis was never discussed.

“Igbos didn’t kill anybody or leader but the Igbos were killed. So, as far as Ohaneze Ndigbo is concerned, Igbo did not have any business with that coup, that coup was purely a military affair like other coups that occurred in the country,” he added.

Petroleum marketers have said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, has opened its reserves across the federation to end the lingering fuel scarcity.

The National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Hammed Fashola and Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, Billy Hilly-Harry, disclosed this in a separate statement after meeting with NNPCL on Saturday.

Fashola said his members will meet on Monday to join NNPLC to end the fuel scarcity.

He further urged Nigerians not to engage in panic buying of fuel as the product will be available nationwide.

“We are officially meeting with other marketers on Monday. We are working closely with NNPC.

“The Monday meeting is for our National Executive Council. After the meeting, we will reach out to the NNPC. We talk with them every day.

“The meetings we have been having with the NNPC are in collaboration, which we have been doing.

“If you notice, yesterday (Friday), NNPC opened up their reserves in all the depots throughout the federation. We are working with them to ensure that everywhere is wet so this thing (scarcity) can disappear,” he said.

On his part, Hilly-Harry said the meeting between NNPLC and marketers had helped present a solution to the fuel scarcity.

According to him, queues have started easing off in Abuja during the weekend.

“The good news is that this is a new reality. It will bring better solutions because the result will be fantastic when you have NNPCL doing what they must do, and we also do what we must do.

“If you go to Abuja today (Saturday), you will see that the queues have eased off”, he stated.

DAILY POST recalls that for weeks, Nigerians had continued to battle fuel scarcity despite NNPCL’s assurance of the product availability.

Katsina State Governor, Dikko Radda, has alleged that some security personnel and government officials have exploited the insecurity situation in Nigeria for personal gain, turning it into a lucrative business venture.

He made this revelation during an appearance on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Friday, citing this as a major obstacle to ending the scourge of banditry and insecurity in the country.”

He said, “Now it has turned out to be a business venture. A business venture for the criminals, some people who are in government; and some people who are in security outfits, and some people who are responsible for the day-to-day activities of their people.

“These are so many reasons why we are unable to bring banditry to an end.”

Many people relate the insecurity to politics. But Governor Radda claims that poverty and injustice are important motivators.

The governor continued: ”The issue of the hypothesis behind political motive as responsible for banditry is not true.”

According to him, many youths in the north are recruited into banditry with mere N500.

As part of moves to tackle the region’s insecurity, some northern governors were on a trip to the US. Though they came under heavy criticism for the meeting with many wondering why it was not held in Nigeria, Radda has said they were only invited to the parley.

“The meeting was not at the instance of the selected governors of northern states but it was at the instance of the United States Institute of Peace. They were the people who invited us; they hosted us for the meeting. We were invited to sit with them so that we could bring about lasting solutions to the problems that are affecting our people,” he said.

Governor Radda said the trip gave the governors fresh insights into insecurity in the region.

The appointment of Finidi George as the new head coach of the Super Eagles was a huge surprise in some quarters.

Of course, it was apparent that the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, was leaning towards an indigenous coach for the national team.

It is almost a pendulum with these appointments. When a local coach is not performing well with the Eagles, there will be calls for a foreigner. A yearning for a more tactically savvy handler.

When the foreigner fails – like Jose Peseiro did – the argument flips. You begin to hear talk of us encouraging Nigerian coaches, how they know these players more than anyone else and of course, the chance of harvesting talents from the Nigerian Premier Football League, NPFL.

The two names that were expected to be picked from this time around were Finidi and Emmanuel Amuneke.

A lot of observers expected the NFF to appoint Amuneke.

He won the hearts of the nation as coach of Nigeria’s U17 team, leading them to glory at the FIFA U17 World Cup.

On the continent, he qualified Tanzania for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations – their first in nearly 40 years.

However, Amuneke’s record with Egypt’s Misr Lel Makkasa and Zambia’s Zanaco left much to be desired.

The 53-year-old also failed to help the Nigeria U20 team qualify for the AFCON in 2017.

But Ayodeji Adegbenro, a Sports Administrator, insists the NFF has made the right choice.

“Finidi is miles ahead of Amuneke. He has won the league with Enyimba, has two seasons CAF Champions League experience. He also assisted Peseiro for 20 months,” Adegbenro tells DAILY POST.

“Amuneke has failed at every coaching position since he won the U17 in 2015. He’s one of the major reasons we didn’t qualify for Qatar. He shouldn’t be anywhere near the Super Eagles job,” he added.

Many have argued that Finidi represents the debris of Peseiro’s time in charge.

Adegbenro explained, “If we wanted Peseiro’s shadow looming over us in the shape of Finidi, why didn’t we just keep the Portuguese?

“He wanted more money to stay. We couldn’t afford it.

“However, my point is that, given a choice between Finidi and Amuneke, Finidi is way better.”

It could also be that Amuneke did not have enough backers in the room where the decision was made.

An insider tells DAILY POST the story of how Amuneke seemingly bungled the Eagles’ chances of playing at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The source said: “He was drafted in by the Minister. On the morning of the second leg (against Ghana) in Abuja, he convinced Eguavoen to switch formation and play Osimhen as lone striker.

“Even though they trained with two strikers, Osimhen and Ighalo all week.”

All that is in the past. Looking to the future, Finidi has been saddled with the task of ensuring Nigeria qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

Already, the three-time African champions find themselves in third place in Group C of the qualifying series, behind Rwanda and South Africa.

Their next fixture will be at home against Bafana Bafana.

“I think the expectation is for him to navigate the World Cup qualifying group. That is his immediate assignment.

“Having said that, I expect the NFF to give him the same support they would have given a foreigner. Allow him to pick the assistants he will work with.

“You might not pay him as much as you’re paying the expatriates. But pay him well. And pay him when due.

“And do not undermine his position before the players he is supposed to manage. Very important,” Adegbenro added.