Witty Global blog

  The Nigerian Immigration Service and a firm contracted by the Federal Government to produce Nigerian passports, Iris Smart Technologies Limited, have blamed the Central Bank of Nigeria’s foreign exchange policy for the scarcity of booklets. The firm also accused the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Company Plc of sabotaging its efforts after failing to secure the contract to produce the passports. The Managing Director of Iris Smart Technologies Limited, Yinka Fisher, made the allegation in Abuja on Tuesday when he appeared before the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee to Investigate the Proposed Domestication and Processing of Nigerian International Passports. The committee also grilled the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service, Idris Jere, at its investigative hearing. Fisher told the committee that e country had a shabby passport administration.  Before their FG engagement said, “Today, we have a system where we have a central processing centre with a

  Nigeria will spend about $1.2 million (about N550 million) on hiring luxury buses that will transport its stranded citizens from Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, to Egypt. An official said the citizens would then be airlifted from Egypt to Nigeria. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama , said this while addressing journalists at the State House, Abuja, at the end of Wednesday’s meeting of the Federal Executive Council, chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari. PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that Nigeria has commenced the evacuation of its citizens from Sudan following the recent fighting between security agencies in the North African country. “Just to provide an update on what is happening about the evacuation of Nigerians in Sudan,” Mr Onyeama said. “You recall that the main challenge we had was, first of all, securing the authorization of the Sudanese government and then security support for the convoy.“We have decided to transport or convey Nigerian to the Egyptian border

  President-elect Bola Tinubu appointed 13 Nigerians to the Presidential Inauguration Committee before the May 29 ceremony. Tinubu listed the names in a letter to the Secretary to the Government of Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, Chairman of the Presidential Transition Council (PTC). Abdulazeez Yar’Adua, a younger brother of the late President Umar Yar’Adua, will serve as the Head of Security and Ceremonial Parade.  President of Aspire Women Forum (AWF), Zainab Marwa-Abubakar, daughter of ex-Lagos Military Administrator Gen Buba Marwa (retd), will coordinate Pre-Inauguration Dinner and Gala Night. Director of Media and Publicity at the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, will hold the same position on the committee. Former Borno North Senator and All Progressives Congress (APC) National Deputy Chairman Abubakar Kyari is the Director of Finance and Budget. The Executive Director (Business Development) at the Nigeria Export-Import (NEXIM) Bank, Stella Okotete, is the Head o

  The Nigerian Exchange Limited rebounded on Tuesday, recording an N2bn gain for investors. The All-Share Index also appreciated by 11.54 base points to 51, 138.92, pushing the year-to-date returns marginally to 0.22 per cent at the end of trading. Market activities showed trade turnover strengthened relative to the previous session, as the volume and value of transactions surged by 703.18 per cent and 220.17 per cent, respectively. Similarly, investors’ sentiment as measured by market breadth improved, leading to 21 gainers against 21 decliners. A total of 1.82bn units of shares valued at N5.02bn were exchanged in 4,669 deals on the NGX. Indigenous conglomerate Transcorp led the volume and value chart with 1.60bn units traded in deals worth N3.09bn. Buying interests were also recorded in the shares of Nigerian Breweries (+1.10 per cent) and GTCO (+0.60 per cent). Performance across indices was largely bearish as the insurance, banking and industrial goods indices declined by 1.43 per

 The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has increased the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) to 18 per cent from 17.5 per cent. T he CBN governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele said this on Tuesday when he read the communique issued at the end of the 290th meeting of the MPC. At the last MPC meeting in January, it was increased by 100 basis points, from 16.5 per cent to 17.5 per cent. According to Emefiele, 10 out of the 12 committee members present at the meeting voted for a moderate rise in the MPR. He, however, said that all other parameters remained constant. The Asymmetric Corridor of +100/-500 basis points around the MPR, the Liquidity Ratio of 30 per cent and Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) of 32.5 per cent were thus retained. According to Emefiele, the committee debated whether to continue the rate hike to further check inflation. He said that the MPC also considered whether to hold the rate to observe emerging developments and allow for the impact of the last five rate