Business
Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye fails to recall states benefitting from $500m World Bank project
Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, minister of women affairs, could not list the six pilot states where a $500 million World Bank project will be implemented.
Kennedy-Ohanenye was a guest on Arise TV on Monday, where she accused the past administration of mismanaging the first tranche of the loan.
The initiative dubbed Nigeria for Women Project (NFWP) is a strategic engagement between the World Bank and the Nigerian government to improve the livelihoods of the nation’s women.
NFWP was initially approved on June 27, 2018 with $100m financing. However, in June 2023, the World Bank approved a $500 million scale-up.
The bank said the scale-up will help to ensure better economic opportunities for women and guarantee better education, health, and nutrition outcomes for families; while building the resilience of women and communities to climate change.
Kennedy-Ohanenye said the previous administration “lavished” the fund on meetings, advocacies, and consultancies.
“Fortunately, President Tinubu quickly made me raise a new structure on how that money will be utilised,” she said.
The minister asked women to applaud Tinubu who was not satisfied because the previous outcomes did not align with his ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda.
“The first $100 million, when I came in, I was not satisfied. It didn’t augur well with the vision of the new president’s Renewed Hope agenda,” she said.
“It was mainly used for advocacy, meetings, consultancies and that was it. They shared it among the states.
“But remember the project is called ‘Nigeria for women project’ and to me, the way I understand it, it was supposed to be used for projects.”
The minister assured that on her watch, allocations would be equitable across states.
Asked to reel out the six states where the implementation of the project will kick off, she said: “I will mention few because I don’t really know all of it…
“The six states are Niger, Abia…,” she began, before she was interrupted by Reuben Abati, one of the hosts of the show.
“You don’t know the six states where you are having the programme?” Abati asked.
“I don’t know all,” the minister responded, before stuttering on.
“Listen to me, my dear brother, please…
“The six states is not the issue to me. All the states is what I am focusing on.”
The six pilot states for the project are Abia, Akwa Ibom, Kebbi, Niger, Ogun and Taraba — with one state representing a geopolitical zone.
Business
Naira depreciates to N1,700/$ at parallel market — lowest in seven months
The naira depreciated to N1,700 per dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday.
At the end of trading hours, the naira depreciated by 1.49 percent compared to the N1,675/$ traded on Thursday.
The N1,700 per dollar is the lowest the naira has depreciated since February 19, when the naira recorded a low of N1,730/$.
Currency traders, also known as street traders, in Lagos, quoted the buying rate of the local currency at N1,680/$ and the selling rate at N1,700/$ — leaving a profit margin of N20.
Currency traders, also known as street traders, in Lagos, quoted the buying rate of the local currency at N1,680/$ and the selling rate at N1,700/$ — leaving a profit margin of N20.
WEEK-LONG FLUCTUATIONS
At the parallel market on Monday, the naira depreciated to N1,665/$ from N1,663 on September 20.
Maintaining the depreciation streak, the local currency fell further to N1,670 and N1,680 on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
However, the naira rebounded to N1,675 on Thursday.
At the official FX market, the local currency depreciated to N1,562.66 on Monday — from N1,541.52 on September 20.
Subsequently, the naira further depreciated to N1,658.48 on Tuesday and N1,667.72 on Wednesday, before appreciating to N1,576.1 on Thursday.
On January 29, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it had begun implementing a comprehensive plan to improve liquidity in the Nigerian FX markets in the short, medium, and long term.
The apex bank said the FX reforms were designed to streamline and harmonise multiple exchange rates, promote transparency, and lessen the likelihood of arbitrage opportunities.
On September 25, Olayemi Cardoso, governor of CBN, said the multiple interest rate hikes have restored confidence in the naira.
Business
CBN extends suspension of processing fees on deposits to March 2025
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has extended the suspension of processing fees on cash deposits for six months.
The development comes six days before the suspension date initially fixed, expires.
On May 1, banks resumed the collection of processing fees on cash deposits.
Six days later, CBN suspended charges on the deposits until September 30.
However, in a circular directed to all banks, other financial institutions and non-financial institutions, dated September 24, 2024, and signed by Adetona Adedeji, CBN’s director of banking supervision, the apex bank extended the date to March 31, 2025.
“Further to our letter dated May 6, 2024, referenced BSD/DIR/PUB/LAB/016/023, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) hereby extends the suspension of processing charges on cash deposits above N500,000 for individuals and N3,000,000 for corporates,” the apex bank said.
“The previous suspension, set to expire on September 30, 2024, has now been extended until March 31, 2025.
“This suspension pertains to the 2% and 3% fees outlined in the ‘Guide to Charges by Banks, Other Financial Institutions and Non-Bank Financial Institutions, issued on December 20, 2019.”
CBN asked all financial institutions to continue accepting cash deposits from the public without any charges during the period.
Business
Meta unveils John Cena, others as new AI voice clones
Meta, the giant tech company, announced on Wednesday the integration of celebrity voices into its artificial intelligence chatbot, Meta AI, in an effort to compete with products like ChatGPT.
At the Meta Connect 2024 developer conference in Menlo Park, founder Mark Zuckerberg revealed that users of Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Facebook can now engage in real-time conversations using a variety of voices, including those of celebrities like Awkwafina, Dame Judi Dench, John Cena, Keegan-Michael Key, and Kristen Bell.
While this new voice feature aims to enhance user interaction, it differs from OpenAI’s Advanced Voice Mode for ChatGPT, which is celebrated for its expressive and emotive tones. In contrast, Meta’s offering resembles Google’s Gemini Live, which transcribes speech and reads responses aloud with synthetic voices.
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