Fashola: Naira Notes Scarcity Hurting Nigerians, The Policy Must Be Reviewed

 Babatunde Fashola, minister of works and housing, says the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) “is hurting Nigerians” and needs to be reviewed.

The apex bank has fixed February 10 as the new deadline for the swap of old naira notes.

It initially fixed January 31 as the deadline but many Nigerians have not been able to get the new N200, N500, and N1000 notes, prompting a scarcity.

Speaking with Morayo Afolabi-Brown, a talk show moderator, on Wednesday on Instagram Live, Fashola said Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was fighting for Nigerians when he expressed concern about the scarcity of the new notes.



“I feel sympathy for the Nigerian people and what they have had to go through. Sometimes policies play out like this in the process of implementation, sometimes it all ends well and sometimes it calls for reconsideration and review,” Fashola said.

“In spite of the fact the CBN has acted within the spirit and letters of its independence by law, it is important to remember that we serve the public and the public says it is hurting, it is important to take a step back and ask where it is hurting and how we can make it better. It must not be a matter of ego.

“All the credit must go to our candidate being one of the first strong voices, first voice out of the candidates to speak out in Abeokuta.



“Though some were quick to say he was fighting Buhari or he was fighting his own party but it is his nature as a fighter for people. Our candidate hasn’t said don’t change the naira but it is hurting people.

“So the implementation needs a relook.”

‘I WAS NOT TINUBU’S PUPPET’

The minister said he was never a puppet to Tinubu while he was the governor of Lagos but he consulted with him because “of his experience”.

“When I was governor I realized that someone sat in my chair for eight years, that person is still alive, that person has had time to reflect, that person would have made mistakes and I told myself if I wanted to succeed I shouldn’t learn from my own mistakes I should learn from his experience,” he said.

Man Sacked After Being Caught On CCTV Masturbating In Office's Kitchen

 Man sacked after being caught in CCTV footage masturbating in his office's kitchen (video)

A Twitter user has taken to the platform to narrate how a man got sacked after he was caught in a CCTV footage masturbating in the kitchen of the company he works for. 

According to @Fagbohun_AB, the man was sacked two weeks after resuming his new job after being caught masturbating more than once. The tweet read; 

The way Village people dey worry some people ehnnn. U haven't seen a Job for Months, u eventually found one and they sacked u 2weeks later Reason; You were Captured on CCTV masturbating heavily in the Kitchen.... Not once, twice or thrice Within 2weeks oo

CBN Tells Banks To Issue New Notes Over The Counter - Chika Mbonu

 

rise Business Analyst Chika Mbonu spoke to the Global Business Report about the new directive from the CBN to Banks to issue new Naira notes over the counter in addition to Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).

Osun REC Admits Politicians, INEC Staff Bypassed BVAS

 The Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Osun State, Dr Mutiu Agboke, has said Bimodal Voter Accreditation System did not allow over-voting during the last governorship election in the state.

Agboke, who spoke at the palace of Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi, during a visit to the royal father on Tuesday, also said the judgment of the Election Petition Tribunal which annulled the outcome of the July 16 poll in the state, exposed how over voting can occur.

The REC, in a video clip of the speech he made at the palace of Oluwo, obtained in Osogbo on Wednesday also said some politicians in connivance with INEC staff members may have deliberately bypassed BVAS during the polls.

He said, “It was BVAS that helped INEC to expose those who carried out over-voting on election day. So it was not the BVAS that created the problem, that should be corrected. Based on that ruling, we have identified some inadequacies from the politicians, voters, our staff and our responsibility is to ensure that we cover all these gaps so that the votes of the Osun people can speak for themselves

“Politicians in connivance with our staff members deliberately bypassed the BVAS. It was this BVAS that exposed over-voting during the Osun election. So with this judgment of the tribunal, we have known how over-voting can happen. We are going to beam our searchlight on those staff members and I can assure you that all of us should own the process together. This is the way we can correct these anomalies.”

Speaking in a similar vein during a stakeholders’ meeting held with chairmen of political parties in Osun State at the INEC state office in Osogbo on Wednesday, Agboke said once BVAS was not used and a vote was cast, over-voting would occur.

“So I want to tell Osun people that the issue of over-voting was not orchestrated by BVAS. We did not use BVAS to vote or cast our ballot. Our ballot was manual voting; over-voting was caused by fraudulent people that came to vote on election day. They are criminally minded.


“Let us stop all these blame games on INEC, let us open our eyes very well on the election. Watch out for our staff who may want to connive with politicians. We must all own the process together.”

Balogun Bags Hat-Trick In Reims’ Comeback Win, Overtakes Mbappe In Goals

 Balogun Bags Hat-trick In Reims’ Comeback Win, Overtakes Mbappe As Ligue 1 Top Scorer

A hat-trick from Folarin Balogun saw Reims come from 2-0 down to beat FC Lorient 4-2 in the French Ligue 1 on Wednesday, Completesports.com reports.

Balogun, who is on loan to Reims from Arsenal, has now usurp Kylian Mbappe as top scorer in the league with 14 goals after 20 games.


The 21-year-old has now scored in three consecutive games and has netted five goals in his last three games.

Super Eagles midfielder Innocent Bonke featured for Lorient but was replaced on 52 minutes.

Lorient took the lead in the 10th minute through Enzo Le Fee before Ibrahima Kone made it 2-0 on 35 minutes.

Balogun pulled a goal back for Reims after converting a penalty to make it 2-1 on 44 minutes.

Kamory Doumbia leveled things up on 51 minutes before Balogun put Reims 3-2 ahead in the 61st minute.

And just three minutes after getting his side’s third, Balogun completed his hat-trick to end the tie 4-2.

Reims are in 11th place on 29 points in the league table after 21 games played.

BBTitans: Blue Aiva Shows Yemi Cregx That She's Not Wearing Pantie

 Big Brother Naija housemates, Blue Aiva (South African) and Yemi Cregx (Nigerian) had a romantic conversation that made Blue Aiva pull down her cloth for Yemi Cregx to see that she is not wearing pantie, IGBERETV reports.

Kwankwaso: Some Presidential Candidates, Party Members Have Banks

 The presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) Rabiu Kwankwaso has faulted the new naira swap deadline, claiming it only affects the masses and not the political elites who he said have banks. 

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had on Sunday extended the deadline for the swapping of the newly-designed naira notes, bowing to pressure from many quarters.

But Kwankwaso said the February 10th deadline given by the apex bank is not enough, arguing that if the move was meant to curb vote-buying as many believe, the aim would be defeated since major politicians have access to the banking system.

“I can tell you, from our investigation, what the government is saying has to do with people who would want to take too much money; lead us in politics. They don’t know that many of our colleagues, those who are contesting, especially presidential candidates, and by extension, all those in their parties, are owners of the banks,”he said Thursday when he featured on Channels Television’s breakfast show Sunrise Daily. 

“Not only that, people close to them are having banks everywhere. So, they would lose nothing. And they have governors -PDP has governors, APC has governors – and I am sure by now they would have collected so much money from the banks in their states.”

According to him, the timeframe for the swapping of the new currency is short, arguing that in many parts of the country, especially in the northern region, there are no banks.

“Up till now, there are many states, especially in northern Nigeria, where local governments have no single bank,” the former Kano governor said.

“And in some areas, even the local government headquarters is well over 100km away and it becomes extremely difficult for them to take their money.

“We are not talking about big businessmen. We are talking about petty traders with a capital of N5,000 and even less. Now, if you give them three months, it would be very difficult for the information to reach them.”

The former minister said even a six months period for the swapping of the currency is not even enough, calling on the government to give ample time for the new currency to circulate.