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Nobody Is Licensed To Build Bank Vaults At Home, Emefiele Warns

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The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele has said that no Nigerian is licensed to build bank vaults at home.

The CBN governor, who spoke after the apex bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, also said there is no going back on its January 31, 2023 deadline for the validity of the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes.

He said there is no reason for the nation’s currency in circulation to rise from N1.4 trillion to N3.2 trillion in seven years, saying that some persons are hoarding the naira and embracing currency speculation.

“There is no reason why currency in circulation will grow from N1.4 trillion to N3.2 trillion in seven years,” the CBN governor said.

“People are hoarding it, people are keeping vaults in their homes. We cannot allow them to be banks in their homes; they don’t have the license to build bank vaults in their homes.

“They should release that money back to CBN because what they are doing is that they are undermining monetary policy. They are keeping it and speculating against our currency and it is making our work difficult in CBN.”

Emefiele also said the recent release of three redesigned naira notes has somehow reduced kidnapping and ransom-taking by armed men.

“Truly speaking, at the margin, I may be wrong, I think kidnapping and ransom-taking have somehow reduced. Security agents are doing a fantastic job.

“I think it (naira redesign) has slowed those people down because they know that if they collect old notes, nobody is going to collect it from them. So, it might as well as think of other ways.”

Emefiele noted that the CBN remained focus on the weak and the vulnerable in the society and would attend to them even after the deadline to ensure they have the new notes.

Emefiele also said he recently met with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Governors Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe) and Mai Mala Buni (Yobe) and he told them that there is no going back on the January 31 deadline.

He said the CBN has 1.4 million super agents nationwide to collect old naira notes in exchange for new notes in riverine and upland areas, saying “money is going down and is circulating to the lower rung of the community”.

“We have 1.4 million points of our super agents; those agents are going to be available to conduct cash exchanges. The super agents are like kiosks, shops in your community, whether it is a riverine or upland area, they are there, selling sweets, selling kola nuts but they have been appointed as agents that will do cash exchange and cash swap for you. This, we have put in place,” he said.

‘CBN Agents In Areas Around Sambisa’
The bank chief further stressed that CBN agents are all over the country including areas around Sambisa in Borno State.

“I’ll give a few examples: we have some information and videos about our staff and agents how they are doing cash swaps in our communities. In areas like Baga, Monguno, Rann on the Lake Chad Basin, in Banki, Kirawa, Gwoza on the borders of Cameroon, Ngoshe, Bama, Chibok, Damboa, Ngala, Izge…all these are areas around the Sambisa. Our agents and our staff are all there conducting cash swap and exchanges of old to new currencies,” he said.

Emefiele also expressed hope that before the deadline, all the “noise” about scarcity of new notes would have subsided.

The CBN on October 26, 2022 had announced its plan to redesign the three banknotes. President Muhammadu Buhari subsequently unveiled the redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000 notes on November 23, 2022, while the apex bank fixed January 31 deadline for the validity of the old notes.

The CBN also pegged its weekly cash withdrawal limits to N500,000 for individuals and N5m for corporate firms.

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“I Am Getting Better And I Feel Better” Jayboogie Gives Update On Health Post BBL surgery

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Popular Nigerian personality Jayboogie has recently addressed the serious accusations of scamming Nigerians.

These allegations centered around Jayboogie’s health issues and the supposed need for a kidney transplant following complications from a BBL surgery.

In a candid statement on social media, Jayboogie set the record straight. He explained that he never claimed he needed a kidney transplant. The rumors, he says, were not started by him. His real ordeal began with an injury to his kidney, which was a consequence of the BVL surgery. To lend credence to his story, he shared images of himself both in the surgical room and during his painful recovery.


Jayboogie recounted the harrowing experience of not being able to urinate for 12 hours post-surgery, which led to panic and an urgent referral to Lagoon Hospital on October 31, 2023. Despite undergoing a plasma exchange in an attempt to resolve the issue, his condition did not improve.

The situation was further aggravated by intense media scrutiny, prompting Zenith Hospital, where he was admitted, to discharge him and advise dialysis from home. Jayboogie highlighted the mental toll the controversy and public backlash took on him, including receiving death threats. This led him to take a break from social media and limit communication for his mental health, supported by his family’s decision to ensure his privacy.

In his statement, Jayboogie categorically denied allegations of scamming the public. He affirmed that he did suffer from sepsis and acute kidney injury, which necessitated a period of dialysis. However, he joyfully shared that as of November 28, he was discharged and is currently recuperating. He is still under medication but is optimistic about his recovery.

Jayboogie concluded his statement by expressing his sincere gratitude to everyone who supported him financially and emotionally during this difficult time. His response to these allegations sheds light on the complexities faced by public figures when their personal struggles become intertwined with public perception and misinformation.

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‘Waste Of Resources Amid Hardship’, Peter Obi Faults Number Of Nigerian Delegates At COP28

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The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, on Sunday, faulted the number of Nigeria’s delegation at the COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

President Bola Tinubu had on November 29, 2023 departed Abuja for Dubai for the summit expected to end December 12, 2023.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the ex-governor of Anambra State, described sending over 1,000 persons to the summit as a waste of scarce resources by the Tinubu administration.

Obi lamented the “huge contingent” in Dubai at public expense at a time when most Nigerians can hardly afford food and basic needs.

“Nigeria’s contingent to COP28 totaled 1411, the same number as the Chinese contingents. While China’s budget for 2024 is about $4 trillion, about $2,860 per head; Nigeria’s budget is about $33 billion, about $165 per head,” Obi said.

“Nigeria has more people living in ‘Multi-Dimensional’ poverty than China, despite China having seven times our population.”

Obi said majority of those in the Nigerian delegation to COP28 are either non-relevant civil servants or relations of high government officials.

“This huge contingent is out at public expense at a time when most Nigerians can hardly afford food and basic needs as a result of economic hardship.

“As we have kept emphasizing, we must stop waste as a a tradition of our government and nation. We urgently need to cut the cost of governance and invest in production.

“We need to de-emphasize unnecessary ceremony and showmanship as a mode of government behaviour. We need to tie spending to necessity and national Priority. A New Nigeria is possible. We only need to do the reasonable and the necessary.”

Meanwhile, a presidential aide, Temitope Ajayi, in a comment on Sunday, defended the delegation of the President to the summit, saying that “President Tinubu and other officials on the Federal government delegation are in Dubai for serious business not jamboree”.

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COP28 Delegates: Analyst Doubts FG’s ‘Compassion’ For Suffering Masses

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A Professor of Political Science, Jideofor Adibe, has knocked the Federal Government over its “bloated” number of delegates at the COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Adibe, who spoke on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, said, with about 1,000 delegates sponsored by the government to the two-week summit, the compassion of the President Bola Tinubu administration to the hardship faced by Nigerians was doubtful.

The President had on November 29, 2023 departed Abuja for Dubai for the summit expected to end on December 12, 2023.

Controversy has since surrounded the number of Nigerian delegates at the summit which ranked that of China, with many Nigerians on social media berating the government for being “insensitive” to their economic sufferings occasioned by the removal of petrol subsidy mid-2023.

Adibe lamented that with the harsh economy, the Tinubu administration should lead by example and cut cost of governance.

He said, “Amid the binge on loans and borrowings, and the increasing hardship and increasing emigration of Nigerians, these things happening, is not just that it raises the question about fidelity to cutting down the cost of governance, but also the question of whether there is even compassion for suffering Nigerians because if there is compassion for what is going on in the country at the moment, people (government officials) should also be sensitive to the optics about the whole thing.”

The analyst said not just costs of flights of the officials in Dubai were funded by the government but their “Estacodes of about $900” daily and hotel costs for about two weeks of the summit.

The professor said the size of the President’s delegation should be on specific roles and it should not be more than three ministers.

He urged the President to set the tone that his administration abhors waste by sanctioning officials responsible for the large delegation in Dubai.

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