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Buhari nominates Arase to head Police Service Commission

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[Briefing]

President Muhammadu Buhari has written the Senate seeking the confirmation of the appointment of former police inspector-general Solomon Arase as the next chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC).

The request was in a letter addressed to the President of the Senate Ahmad Lawan and read during plenary on Tuesday.

The letter is, titled: Confirmation of Appointment of Chairman of Police Service Commission, said: “In accordance with the provision of Section 154(1) of 1999. Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), I write to forward for confirmation by the Senate, the appointment of Solomon Arase (retd) Inspector-General of Police, as Chairman, Police Service Commission.

“It is my hope that the Senate will consider and confirm the appointment in the usual expeditious manner”.

Mr Arase, 66, was the police chief from April 2015 to June 2016 when he proceeded on retirement. He was popular among civil society players during his decades-long career as a senior police officer.

Senate asks CBN to extend deadline for phasing out of old naira notes

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[Headlines]

The Senate has asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to extend the deadline for the deposit of old notes from January 31 to July 31.

The upper chamber also urged the CBN to open an exchange window where people who do not have bank accounts deposit their old notes.

The Senate’s resolutions were sequel to a motion by Sadiq Suleiman (APC-Kwara) during Tuesday’s plenary.

Moving the motion, Mr Suleiman recalled that the Senate, in its resolution on December 28, 2022, urged the CBN to extend the use of the old notes from January 31 to June 30.

He said the bank had insisted on terminating the old naira notes by the end of January despite not having enough new naira notes in circulation.

“Experiences around the world have shown that such abrupt decisions, if not controlled, usually created chaos,” he said. “The Senate should extend the use of the old notes to July 31.”

Supporting the motion, Ibrahim Hadejia (APC-Jigawa) said the call for extension was for their constituents and not their (lawmakers’) personal benefits.

“In my constituency, no Automated Teller Machine (ATM) is dispensing the new notes.”.

Similarly, Adamu Aliero (PDP-Kebbi) said the policy would inflict untold hardship on people living in rural areas.

“The CBN governor should be invited,” he said.

Adamu Bulkachuwa (PDP-Bauchi) said the extension was necessary otherwise, there would be chaos.

Biodun Olujimi (PDP-Ekiti), who decried that in her local government area, about 90 per cent of the people have not seen a glimpse of the new naira notes, called on the apex bank to “look away from the elections”.

She said that if the date was not extended, it would lead to collateral damage which would not augur well for the economy.

Mohammed Ndume (APC-Borno) called on the Senate to use its oversight responsibility on the CBN to “order the CBN governor to extend the date”.

He said that the power of the Senate should not be played down, calling on the senators to stand firm on the call for an extension.

For Sam Egwu (PDP-Ebonyi), who was the only senator who opposed the motion, “Nigerians do not have the culture of keeping their money in the bank.

“It is in Nigeria where cash is used arbitrarily; other countries use electronic means. Nigerians are just averse to change,” Egwu said.

In his remarks, Senate President Ahmad Lawan said most of the senatorial districts did not have banks.

“There is no doubt that we must have a window for exchange. We must have policies by the CBN to have bank branches established in rural areas.

“We need this extension for the most ordinary Nigerians,” Mr Lawan said.

CBN had, on October 26, announced plans to redesign the 200, 500, and 1,000 naira notes.

CBN Governor Emefiele insists on Naira swap deadline

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The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has insisted that there will be no extension of the deadline for the deposit of old versions of the redesigned Naira notes after January 31, 2023.

Emefiele in a video posted by Channels TV on Tuesday said that 90 days given to Nigerians were more than enough to return all their old N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes to their banks.

The CBN governor said that the CBN in a bid to ensure that there will be no reason to extend the deadline, directed commercial banks not only to extend their daily working hours but to also work on Saturdays. He, however, noted that Nigerians did not turn up as expected, hence, demanding a deadline extension at this point cannot be granted.

He said, "I must say here that unfortunately that I don’t have good news for those who feel that we should shift the deadline. My apologies.

"The reason is because just as the President has said on more than two occasions and even to people privately, that for us, 90 days, in fact, we feel that 100 days is enough for anybody who has the money or the old currency to deposit it in the banks.

"And we took every measure to ensure that all the banks were open or remain still open till they receive all the old currencies. 100 days, we believe, is more than adequate.

"We called on the banks, we said, not only are we requesting you to extend your banking hours so that you can receive old currencies, we are also asking you to keep your doors open on Saturdays.

"The banks did not even have any reason to keep their banks open on Saturdays, neither did they see the kind of rush that they anticipated.

"There were normal people who came in to deposit money into the bank and maybe in the course of time, I will also give details about how much that had come in.

"So, we do not see any reason to begin to talk about a shift because people could not deposit their old monies into their banks."

Ohanaeze praises Ekwo for vacating EFCC’s orders against Ekweremadu

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Igbo cultural group Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Monday has praised the Federal High Court, Abuja, for vacating the interim order which sanctioned the forfeiture of 40 properties belonging to the former deputy Senate president, Senator Professor Ike Ekweremadu, to the federal government.

Ohanaeze said this in a statement by its national publicity secretary, Dr Alex Ogbonnia.

The trial judge Inyang Ekwo, in vacating the interim order, upbraided the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for the role it played in the continued detention of Ekweremadu in the United Kingdom, saying ‘no Nigerian should be made to pass through such ordeal whether at home or abroad’.

Justice Ekwo had, in November 2022, given the interim order based on the facts brought before it by the EFCC.

In the current ruling, Justice Ekwo accused the EFCC of suppressing material facts before the court, and thus misdirecting the court.

Dr Ogbonnia said, “The Ohanaeze Ndigbo salutes the courage of Justice Ekwo in reversing himself based on clear facts adduced by Ekweremadu’s lawyers before the court.

“It beats imagination that EFCC would desperately rush to court with false and distorted facts to secure a ruling against Ekweremadu who is being unjustly held in the UK prison when it (EFCC) knew he was not in a position to defend himself.”

Ohanaeze, in the statement, condemned ‘the action of the EFCC which portrays it as a partisan tool in the hands of some highly placed people to fight imaginary or real enemies’.

The statement added, “Ohanaeze stands on a firm wicket to state that it will not augur well for our country if the state institutions like the EFCC are being wilfully deployed to serve narrow and partisan interests.

“We counsel the EFCC to ensure that at all times its actions are guided by time-honoured principles of equity and fairness.

“Ohanaeze Ndigbo is vindicated on its earlier position that there are several corruption cases in the EFCC but the haste, indiscretion, bias, media trial and callousness with which the agency of the federal government has chosen to backstab a Nigerian citizen is counter-intuitive and an indelible adverse image on the country.”

Vantage exits Petro Ivoire

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Vantage Capital has announced that in December 2022 it fully exited its investment in Pétro Ivoire, the most established locally-owned distributor of petroleum and gas products in Côte d’Ivoire.

The company has a leading position in the gas-to-consumer segment as well as about eighty service stations around the country.

Luc Albinski, Executive Chairman at Vantage Capital, added “Pétro Ivoire is a flagship transaction for us. It was Vantage’s first investment in Francophone Africa, and it also marked the first-ever leveraged management buy-out structured in Francophone West Africa. In addition to funding, we provided the Kadio-Morokro family with the strategic support that we believe helped propel the company forward. Our successful partnership opens doors for more transactions of this kind in the region.”

Vantage provided €19m of mezzanine funding in December 2018 to enable the founding family to regain a controlling stake in the company from two exiting private equity investors. With this new ownership structure, supported by Vantage’s investment, the company continued to invest in additional service stations and increased gas bottling capacity.

At the time of investment, Vantage recognized Pétro Ivoire as a market-leading local player, operating in a resilient, growing sector, and led by a talented family who has managed the business successfully for more than 25 years.

Driss Benabdeslam, Associate Partner at Vantage Capital, said, “Pétro Ivoire is the perfect example of the value that can be added by mezzanine funding. After being backed by several private equity funds in its earlier stages of growth, our funding brought the founding family a solution that allowed them to exit these private equity investors and regain control of their business without having to write out a big equity cheque. Thanks to the steady growth that followed, Pétro Ivoire scaled up to a size where it became capable of unlocking additional institutional capital for its next phase of development. We are proud to have assisted the company in delivering on this business expansion and are confident that management will continue to grow the company into a regional leader in the years to come.”

Sébastien Kadio-Morokro, the CEO of Pétro Ivoire, concluded that “the funding provided by Vantage was extremely ‘family-friendly’ giving us a controlling position in our business and allowing us to move to the next stage of our development. Vantage’s continuous support and involvement made us feel that we had selected not only a lender, but a true partner that contributed to the governance of the company.”