Economy
CBN Clears Air on N89trn Stamp Duty Controversy
By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Central Bank of Nigeria CBN has reacted to allegations that the Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele misappropriated N89 trillion from stamp duty sales.
The Secretary of the dissolved Presidential Committee on Reconciliation and Recovery of Stamp Duties Revenue, Kazaure Gudaji made the allegations last week.
However reacting to the allegations in Abuja at the weekend, CBN Director of Corporate Communications Department, Mr Osita Nwanisobi said the total assets of all the banks in Nigeria is not up to that amount.
He said, “We have been hearing these allegations, but they said N89trn stamp duty accumulated and the total assets for Nigerian banks is about N63trn and someone is claiming that fifty kobo accumulated to N89trn, how possible is it?
“If there is any committee in charge, that has nothing to do with us.
The committee can do their work, but has nothing to do with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Our most concern is the N89trn because the total assets of all the banks in Nigeria is not up to that amount.“The publication which claimed that transactions by CBN on the I & E window hit $171bn is false. The I & E window is a platform where people trade in FX, it is not an account, so banks come there to trade, CBN comes in also as an observer, we either buy or sell there because it is a platform.
“When amounts like these are heard off, I think it’s a little bit of a misunderstanding of what I & E window stands for because it’s a platform for trading and people come in there to buy, sell and stock.
“The 40:60 (N100) ratio stamp duty is obedience to the law, because issues around stamp duty is obedience to the law, this is not about CBN, but obeying what the law says. CBN is the creation of the law, and that is why we say, CBN is an institution with statutory flavor.
“Our responsibility is to keep up with the law. The law states that the act on stamp duty must be obeyed, and that is what it does. We keep record of all transactions, that is why whenever we hear such allegations, we are shocked.
“The committee is not approved by CBN, CBN doesn’t set up a committee despite it being set up by President Muhammadu Buhari. And the issue of the committee has been addressed by the committee also”.
The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) continued its bullish trend on Wednesday, gaining N183 billion.
Accordingly, the market capitalisation, which opened at N59.532 trillion, gained N184 billion or 0.31 per cent to close at N59.715 trillion.
The All-Share Index also added 0.31 per cent or 303 points, to settle at 98,509.
68, against 98,206. 97 recorded on Tuesday.Consequently, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return increased to 31.
74 per cent.Gains in Aradel Holdings, Zenith Bank, United Bank For Africa(UBA), Oando Plc, Nigerian Breweries among other advanced equities drove the market performance up.
Market breadth closed positive with 34 gainers and 17 losers.
On the gainers’ chart, Africa Prudential, Conoil and RT Briscoe led by 10 per cent each to close at N14.30, N352 and N2.42 per share, respectively.
Golden Guinea Breweries followed by 9.95 per cent to close at N7.18, while NEM Insurance rose by 9.74 per cent to close at N10.70 per share.
On the other hand, Julius Berger led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N155.25, Secure Electronic Technology Plc trailed by 9.52 per cent to close at 57k per share.
Multiverse lost 7.63 per cent to close at N5.45, Haldane McCall dropped 6.07 per cent to close at N4.95 and Honeywell Flour shed 5.62 per cent to close at N4.70 per share.
Analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 49.44 per cent.
A total of 320.10 million shares valued at N6.48 billion were exchanged in 7,943 deals, compared with 939.41 million shares valued at N12.81billion traded in 9,098 deals posted in the previous session.
Meanwhile, ETranzact led the activity chart in volume with 70.27 million shares, while Aradel led in value of deals worth N1.22 billion.(NAN)
The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the Yuan, weakened 22 pips to 7.1870 against the dollar on Monday.This is according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.In China’s spot foreign exchange market, the Yuan is allowed to rise or fall by two per cent from the central parity rate each trading day.
The central parity rate of the Yuan against the dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day. (Xinhua/NAN)
Arewa Youths Initiative for Energy Reforms (AYIFER), has urged Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) to do everything possible to bring Kaduna Refinery back into operation.
National Coordinator of the group, Mr Bashir Al’Amin, stated this in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja.
Al’Amin specifically called on the Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mallam Mele Kyari, to do all within his powers to rejuvenate the refinery and bring it up to global standard.
He said that having delivered the Port Harcourt refinery, coupled with the establishment of Dangote Refinery in Lagos, attention should be shifted to Kaduna refinery for easy spread of petroleum products.
“We are calling on Malam Mele Kyari to expedite action on Kaduna refinery so we can be at par with other regions in the country.
“We equally beg the NNPCL to do professional work in rehabilitating the old refinery and deliver a standard and functional petrochemical refinery and not a blending plant.
“Kyari should resist any temptation that could make him do something that can jeopardise his good image,” he said.
Al’Amin said that since the extinction of groundnut pyramid and textiles in Kano State as well as PAN in Kaduna State and with the Kaduna refinery getting moribund, a lot of youths had lost their jobs.
According to him, all their hopes in the north are tied to the legacy refinery, expressing the hope that God would use Kyari to deliver it well and on time.
He said that the group was solidly behind NNPCL in prayer and would be ready to celebrate the company if its expectations were met. (NAN)
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