Nigerian And World News

Thursday, January 14

Queen Rania Visited 10 Downing Street, London

Queen Rania of Jordan urged David Cameron to find a 'new approach' in dealing with refugees running for their lives from ISIS and Bashar al-Assad's forces on the 8th of January 2016. Jordan and the United Kingdom enjoy a close relationship with Jordan following a pro-Western foreign policy.

The Queen urged the Prime Minister and other leaders to take 'bolder measures' to deal with the crisis, which has seen displaced Syrians flee to neighbouring countries, including Jordan.

Ruth Kadiri on the cover of The Celebrity Shoot Magazine

The celebrity shoot magazine by celebrity fashion designer and stylist Abbyke Domina has released it's new edition, and it features actress Ruth Kadiri. See more photos below;

See the lady they say is the hottest video vixen in the world right now

Her name is Miracle Watts and is a popular Atlanta video vixen. She became more popular after dating R&B singer August Alsina last year. Many of her fans says she's currently the hottest video vixen in the world. She also owns false lashes line. See her picture below and tell us if you agree;

EFCC Boss Explains Why GEJ Hasn't Been Arrested

Ibrahim Magu
Ibrahim Magu, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has finally explained why former president Goodluck Jonathan has not been arrested over $2.1 billion arms deal.

Ibrahim Magu has explained why former president Goodluck Jonathan has not been arrested over $2.1 billion arms deal.
The fund, which was managed by the office of former national security adviser, Sambo Dasuki, has led to the questioning, arrest and detention of many prominent Nigerians. However, some people are still wondering why the ex-president, who is believed to be the principal actor in the unfolding scenario, has not been arrested or summoned for questioning.

The Eagle Online reports that Magu gave the explanation on Monday, January 11, speaking at a gathering of online news publishers under the aegis of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers in Lagos.

The EFCC boss said that no document has been traced to Jonathan giving any approval for the disbursement of the money for any other purpose than arms purchase.

He further noted that all those questioned so far in connection with the money were people who disbursed or collected it for reasons other than the purchase of arms and ammunition.

"All approvals by former president Jonathan did not mention that it was for political purposes.

"All the memos approved by him was for the purchase of arms," he said.

Magu said that Jafar Isa who was arrested for receiving N170 million from Dasuki has already refunded N100 million and signed an undertaking to refund the balance. However, he added that despite the refund, Isa would still be prosecuted.

Speaking about Olisa Metuh, the EFCC boss revealed that the national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party said he would rather go on hunger strike than refund the N400 million he allegedly collected from Dasuki.

Maga also said that Patrick Akpobolokemi, a former boss of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, was recently re-arrested after new evidences of alleged embezzlement of N34.5 billion and another N600 million were linked to him.

The EFCC chairman stressed that the war against graft was not selective and assured Nigerians that his agency is not teleguided in the ongoing anti-corruption fight.

He explained that the EFCC cases drag in court because of many court applications.

"When a politician steals N10 billion he keeps N5 billion for litigation. He hires Senior Advocates of Nigeria. Judges accuse us of not conducting thorough investigation in order to compromise," he added.

Magu called on the media to join the EFCC to win the anti-corruption war and noted that the victory would be for the benefit of the next generation.
Meanwhile, there are indications that some prominent Nigerians might soon be invited by the anti-graft agency.

According to sources close to the EFCC, the people on the list include ex-Board of Trustees (BOT) chairman of the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, Chief Olu Falae, the former Oyo state governor, Rasheed Ladoja, and a few others.

Central Bank Cuts Dollar Supplies As Currency Crisis Worsens

Nigeria's central bank has announced that it will halt all US dollar sales to bureau de change operators, as the country struggles to cope with a crippling shortage of hard currency. Under the new measures, Nigerian banks will also be able to accept dollar deposits.

The collapse in the oil price over the past year has gutted Nigeria's foreign exchange earnings. Oil typically accounts for around 70% of government revenues, while the country imports much of its food and refined fuel.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has already put in place a number of currency controls aimed at reducing the flow of hard currency out of the economy, including limiting the availability of dollars for importers of a range of goods from rice to private jets. Holders of naira bank accounts are only able to spend or withdraw $300 at a time overseas.

The CBN has so far resisted any devaluation of the naira, and has spent billions from the country's reserves maintaining the official exchange rate of between 197-199 naira to the dollar. On the black market the exchange rate is around 270 to the dollar.

Faced with the shortage of foreign exchange, traders say that they have fallen into arrears with their international suppliers. The new restrictions will make it even more difficult for importers to cover their dollar positions, which in turn will increase pressure on consumers.

"It isn't going to be pretty," says John Ashbourne, Africa economist at Capital Economics, who points out that the bureaux de change are the main channel for ordinary Nigerians to access foreign currency.

"It's important to remember that the [official]rate only exists if you can deal directly with the central bank. Any actual people who want to buy US dollars have to use the [bureaux de change]. Reducing the flow of US dollars to the money changers will create a shortage in the currency market that most people actually use. While this isn't, on paper, a devaluation, it has a similar effect on the purchasing power of the naira in your pocket."

CBN will no longer sell forex to BDCs – Emefiele

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it has discontinued the sale of foreign exchange (forex) to Bureau De Change (BDCs) operators in the country.
The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, announced this at a news conference on Monday in Abuja.

He said that the apex bank's decision was due to the dishonest activities of some of the operators of the BDC such activities as financing of unauthorised transactions with foreign exchange procured from the CBN.

"Whereas the bank has continued to sell U.S. Dollars at about N197 per dollar to these operators, they have in turn become greedy in their sales to ordinary Nigerians, with selling rates of as high as N250 per dollar.

"In view of the above, the Management of the CBN has reached the decision that the Bank will henceforth discontinue its sale of foreign exchange to BDCs.

"Operators in this segment of the market will now need to source their foreign exchange from autonomous sources.

"They must however note that the CBN would deploy more resources to monitor these sources to ensure that no operator is in violation of our anti-money laundering laws,'' he said.

Emefiele said that the decision was to reduce pressure on the country's foreign reserve.

He explained that making forex available for the BDCs, importation of petroleum products, critical raw materials and school fees, was taking its toll on the nation's reserve.

Emfiele said due to this, the Foreign Exchange Reserves had depleted to 28 billion dollars today from 37.3 billion dollars in June 2014.

"More disturbing, though, is the financial burden being placed on the bank and our limited foreign exchange.

"The CBN sells 60,000 dollars to each BDC per week; this amount translates to 167 million dollars per week and about 8.6 billion dollars per year.

"To curtail this reserve depletion, we have reduced the amount of weekly sales to 10,000 dollars per BDC.

"This translates to 28.4 million dollars depletion of the foreign reserve per week and 1.476 billion dollars per annum.

"This is a huge haemorrhage on our scarce foreign exchange reserves and cannot continue; we are also concerned that BDCs have become a conduit for illicit trade and financial flows,'' he said.

According to Emefiele, the new policy aims to ensure that the country's financial system remains stable and not intended to inconvenience ordinary Nigerians.

He announced that the apex Bank would now permit commercial banks in the country to begin accepting cash deposits of foreign exchange from their customers.

Check out these African illustration of Rihanna, Diddy, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Jay Z, others

Ghanaian illustrative artist Denny Owusu hand painted the illustrations using diverse African traditional attires. Cool stuff! See more photos below;

Another distasteful racist post from a white South African

Few days after Penny Sparrow referred to Black South Africans as 'monkeys, another white South African has written a racist post. Jeanine Soekoe Feirrera (pictured here with husband) in her post used words like "ugly face" "fraudulent" "lazy ass" to describe Blacks. Wait... did she say "match in here and take what is not yours?" If my history is correct, it was white people who matched in here and took what did not belong to them. See her post below;