Business

Entrepreneurship: Buhari Praises Dangote, Urges Nigerian Businessmen to Take Cue

Published

2 years ago

April 22, 2022

Eric

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday in Abuja lauded the entrepreneurial spirit and doggedness of the President of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Aliko Dangote and urged Nigerians in business to emulate this iconic figure, to enable the country witness real economic growth and development.

While receiving the President of DIL and Board members of Dangote Group at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, President Buhari thanked the Management and Board of Dangote Group for the courage and foresight in embarking on mega investment projects “…which will have enduring benefits to generations of Nigerians. I have no doubt that such bold decisions can only be conceived by a mindset which transcends conventional commercial viability considerations.

“Entrepreneurs such as Alhaji Aliko Dangote are unique gifts to their societies and the institutions they build, and they often become the pillars of stable enduring prosperous economies,” Buhari added.

To this end, the President said: “I therefore urge other Nigerians in the business sector to emulate this iconic entrepreneur by investing in such enterprises that will in time become worthy legacies as national assets, which will continue to benefit their people for generation after generation, creating firm anchors of enduring prosperity for their citizens.”

While further commending Aliko Dangote and his team for investing in areas that bring the highest benefits to Nigerians, the President said: “I recall, with great pleasure, my visit to the Dangote Free Zone just about four weeks ago, to commission the Group’s new 3 million metric tonnes fertiliser plant. Let me, once again, congratulate you and your Board for a very successful commissioning ceremony.

“As I said at that event, the coming on stream of this plant was a huge opportunity to ramp up the productivity of our agricultural sector. It is, therefore, a most welcome booster to our government’s strategy for achieving food security and reducing poverty. Given recent developments globally, especially the effect of the ongoing war in Europe on world-wide food supply chain, I must commend your foresight for bringing the plant into operation at the time you did.

“I note that market realities will bring pressure to bear on Dangote Fertiliser Limited in seeking to meet the demands of your export customers. However, given your group’s well known patriotic vision, I am confident that your Board will continue to accord priority to meeting local demands of our farmers,” the President noted.

President Buhari also commended the Dangote Group for extending investments to other African countries, while highlighting the vision behind the refinery. “Mr. Chairman, I must specially commend you and your Board for the development of the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical complex. I had a good view of this incredible city of steel and concrete when my helicopter circled over it during my visit for the commissioning of the Fertiliser plant”, he said.

In his remarks, the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote said the Board was at the State House to express profound appreciation to the President for the great honour to the Dangote Group when he commissioned the new 3m MTPD Fertiliser plant, which was the latest subsidiary company of the Dangote Industries Limited.

“We also seize the opportunity to reiterate our immense gratitude for the sustained effort of your administration through various policy initiatives aimed at progressively improving the business environment and investment climate, despite some unprecedented challenges our economy has been confronted with over the past decade.

“We are also deeply grateful for your direct interventions at various times when our operations were challenged by some unintended consequences of economic policy positions. Your interventions have not only helped to resolve business challenges, but have been a source of great encouragement in our determination to continue to invest in our economy for the benefit of our country and our people,” he noted.

Dangote said the Board looks forward to the return of President Buhari to commission the Oil Refineries and Petrochemicals project, which will transform the Nigerian economy. “Through the outputs of our various businesses, our Group is proud to be making significant contributions to the diversification and growth of our nation’s economy, which is second only to Federal Government in the size of our workforce,” he added.

The leader of the Dangote Group said with more investments in agriculture and Oil and Gas sectors, greater impact would be made on the economy. Dangote also submitted that the group of industries would always hold on to the President’s mantra on the economy to “produce what we consume and consume what we produce.”

Business

CBN Releases 16 Banking Transactions Not Affected by Cybersecurity Levy

Published

2 weeks ago

May 7, 2024

Eric

Following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive that all banks should commence charging a 0.5 per cent cybersecurity levy on all electronic transactions within the country, below are 16 banking transactions that are exempted from the CBN’s new cybersecurity levy:

Loan disbursements and repayments
Salary payments
Intra-account transfers within the same bank or between different banks for the same customer
Intra-bank transfers between customers of the same bank
Other Financial Institutions instructions to their correspondent banks
Interbank placements,
Banks’ transfers to CBN and vice-versa
Inter-branch transfers within a bank
Cheque clearing and settlements
Letters of Credits
Banks’ recapitalisation-related funding – only bulk funds movement from collection accounts
Savings and deposits, including transactions involving long-term investments such as Treasury Bills, Bonds, and Commercial Papers.
Government Social Welfare Programmes transactions e.g. Pension payments
Non-profit and charitable transactions, including donations to registered non-profit organisations or charities
Educational institutions’ transactions, including tuition payments and other transactions involving schools, universities, or other educational institutions
Transactions involving bank’s internal accounts such as suspense accounts, clearing accounts, profit and loss accounts, inter-branch accounts, reserve accounts, nostro and vostro accounts, and escrow accounts.

Business

CBN Directs Banks to Charge 0.5% Cybersecurity Levy on Electronic Transfer

Published

2 weeks ago

May 7, 2024

Eric

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed banks and other financial institutions to implement a 0.5 percent cybersecurity levy on electronic transfers.

This is contained in a circular signed by Chibuzor Efobi, Director of Payments System Management and Haruna Mustafa, Director of Financial Policy and Regulation on Monday.

The directive was issued to commercial, merchant, non-interest and payment service banks, as well as mobile money operators.

CBN said the policy would take effect in two weeks and charges would be described as ‘Cybersecurity Levy’.

According to the apex bank, the deduction and collection of the cybersecurity levy is a sequel to the enactment of the Cybercrime (prohibition, prevention etc) Amendment Act of 2024.

“Following the enactment of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) (amendment) Act 2024 and under the provision of Section 44 (2)(a) of the Act, “a levy of 0.5% (0.005) equivalent to a half percent of all electronic transactions value by the business specified in the second schedule of the Act, is to be remitted to the National Cybersecurity Fund (NCF), which shall be administered by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA),” CBN said.

CBN said the charges would be remitted to the national cyber security fund, which would be administered by the office of the NSA.

“Deductions shall commence within two (2) weeks from the date of this circular for all financial institutions and the monthly remittance of the levies collected in bulk to the NCF account domiciled at the CBN by the 5th business day of every subsequent month.”

CBN said failure to remit the levy is an offence which attracts a fine of not less than 2 percent of the annual turnover of the defaulting business, amongst others.

“Finally, all institutions under the regulatory purview of the CBN are hereby directed to note and comply with the provisions of the Act and this circular.”

Meanwhile, earlier, banks announced the reintroduction of 2 percent charge on deposits above N500,000.

Business

Naira Slumps to N1,399/$1 in Official Window, N1,430/$1 in Parallel Market

Published

3 weeks ago

April 27, 2024

Eric

The Naira continued its slump against the American dollar for the seventh consecutive day on Friday, in both the official and parallel windows.

The domestic currency traded at N1,399.23/$1 and N1,430/$1 respectively.

This is according to data sourced from the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) window.

At the end of trading on Friday, the Naira lost N89.35 against the dollar when compared to the previous exchange rate of N1,309.88/$1 on Thursday, April 26, 2024.

The intra-day high and low recorded during the day were N1,410/$1 and N1,05/$1 respectively, representing a wide spread of N359/$1.

Similarly, the Naira slumped against the dollar at the parallel section of the market for the seventh consecutive day to trade at N1,430/$1 representing a loss of N10 when compared to the N1,420/$1 it traded the previous day.

However, the Naira gained against the pound. The domestic currency appreciated by N50 against the British Pound to trade at N1,650/£1 as against the previous trading price of N1,700/£1 representing a gain of N50 for the local currency,

The Canadian dollar however closed flat against the Naira to trade at N1,000/CA$1 same as the previous trading day rate.

The Euro also slumped against the Naira to trade at N1,450/€1 as against the rate of N1,500/€1 the previous trading rate indicating a gain of N50 for the Nigerian currency.