Okonkwo laments: Multiple taxation, forex pushing air tickets up – ITREALMS

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The chairman of the United Nigeria Airlines, Professor Obiora Okonkwo, has lamented that multiple taxation coupled with rising foreign exchange regime are some factors pushing up the cost of air tickets in the country, reports ITREALMS.

Stressing that for Nigerians to enjoy lower air travel tickets, the Federal Government must step in to save the aviation sector by moderating the over 20 taxes paid on every ticket purchased by travelers as well as reign in the astronomical rise in the foreign exchange regime.

S&P: Dangote Refinery capable of solving Nigeria’s forex problems - ITREALMS

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The international financial analytics corporation, S&P Global, has described the 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) Dangote Oil Refinery and Petrochemicals company as capable of resolving Nigeria’s foreign exchange (forex) issue and its huge pressure on the local Naira currency, while also catalysing the country’s economic development.

S&P Global, headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, disclosed this during an onsite visit to the Dangote Refinery at Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos as part of its sovereign credit ratings assessment of Nigeria. The team from the international rating agency were accompanied by officials from the Federal Ministry of Finance.

ICTLOCA: Championing Local Content and Supporting CBN's Forex Policy - ITREALMS

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The Association for Information and Communication Technology on Local Content (ICTLOCA) has emerged as a prominent voice in Nigeria's digital landscape, advocating for the promotion and development of indigenous ICT solutions and supporting the Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) recent forex policies. This article delves into ICTLOCA's mission, its initiatives in line with the CBN's forex policy, and its potential impact on the Nigerian economy.

Understanding ICTLOCA's Mission:

FOREX Market: CBN restates commitment to boost liquidity - ITREALMS

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reiterated commitment to boost liquidity for the Foreign Exchange Market, reports ITREALMS.

Director, Corporate Communications, Dr. Isa AbdulMumin gave this assurances on Thursday in a press statement available to 
ITREALMS, saying they will continue to promote orderliness and professional conduct by all participants in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market.

FOREX: CBN introduces new measures for operations - ITREALMS

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has formally put an end to the practice segmentation of the foreign exchange market, stating that “All segments are now collapsed into the Investors and Exporters, I&E, window,” reports ITREALMS.

CBN, has abolished segmentation of the foreign exchange market, stating that “All segments are now collapsed into the Investors and Exporters, I&E, window.

FoI: CBN must disclose Forex subsidy information says court - ITREALMS

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The Federal High Court in Abuja has ruled in favor of the Incorporated Trustees of Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) in a case against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), reports ITREALMS.

The court's decision, based on suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1622/2020, comes after the CBN denied HEDA Resource Centre's Freedom of Information (FoI) request.

Forex scheme 1month after: CBN’s rakes $60m - ITREALMS

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The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) through its forex programme has raked in some $60 million after one month of active implementation, ITREALMS has gathered.

The Managing Director, Fidelity Bank, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, disclosed this while briefing the media at the end of the Bankers Committee meeting in Abuja.

CBN bans sales of forex to BDCs - ITREALMS

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has banned the sales of Foreign Exchange (FX) to Bureau De Change (BDCs) operators in the country, reports ITREALMS.

The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, proclaimed this at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held in Abuja, the nation's capital on Tuesday.

CBN infuses $195 into Forex

ITREALMS:

The apex financial regulator, Central Bank ofNigeria (CBN), has infused the sum of $195 million, about N70,395,000,000 trillion, into the inter-bank Foreign Exchange Market, reports ITRealms.

CBN on Monday, said its offering $100 million to authorized dealers in the wholesale sector of the market; the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sector got the sum of $50 million. Those requiring foreign exchange for invisibles such as tuition fees, medical payments and Basic Travel Allowance, BTA, among others, were allocated the sum of $45 million.

Confirming this, the acting director, Corporate Communications, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, expressed confident that the level of transparency CBN has entrenched in the market, stressing it would help the Naira to sustain its steady run against the dollar and other major currencies around the world.

“The market will remain very stable as long as every player sticks to the forex guidelines,” he said.

ITRealms recollects that the CBN last week also intervened in the various sectors of the Forex market with the sum of $195 million.

Ayo Midele/GEE

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CBN to monitor sale of Forex by banks, sets rate @N360

ITRealms:

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed all banks in the country to immediately begin sale of forex for BTA, PTA, Tuition and Medical fees to customers at not more than N360 per dollar, reports ITRealms.

The Acting Director, Corporate Communications at CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, disclosed this in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja on Monday.

Also, CBN has directed all banks to ensure immediate posting of this changes in their banking halls nationwide.

“CBN will sell to banks at 357 naira per dollar. Banks are to post the new rates in the banking halls of their branches immediately,” he said.

According to him, CBN would be monitoring this directive by sending examiners to banks to ensure the new rates are implemented and directive complied with.

“Banks are prohibited from selling FX funds meant for invisibles to Bureau De Changes (BDCs),” he said.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

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NCC's riot act on Quality of Service, writes CBN on forex

ITRealms:

Concerned by the degenerating Quality of Service (QoS) provided by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and other service providers, lately in the country, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has read a riot act on QoS, reports ITRealms.

This, ITRealms gathered was largely as part of measures to cushion the situation and ameliorate the recurrent inaccessibility to foreign exchange (forex) by operators.

The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta made this disclosure in audience with the MNOs, on Monday, that the Commission had written to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele and he was favourably disposed to addressing the forex needs of the operators.

As a follow up to the letter, the Executive Commissioner (Stakeholders Management), NCC, Mr. Sunday Dare had a meeting with Mr. Emefiele and extracted a commitment from him on how he hoped to address the forex needs of the operators.

Danbatta spoke in Abuja during an interactive session on Quality of Service delivery which NCC management had with operators, stressing that since the NCC had declared 2017 as the year of the consumer, all hands should be on deck for telecom consumers to have a fresh lease to high Quality of Service.

“The consumer has to be treated with dignity. The 8-point agenda drives this point home” he declared.

The NCC, he explained, has put measures in place to check and monitor Quality of Service (QoS) on various networks “and we have sent this report to our task force on QoS and have been interacting with governments at different levels as part of the measures to deal with the poor QoS”.

Danbatta admonished the operators and co-location service operators to provide suggestions on how to address the situation.

Earlier, NCC’s Executive Commissioner (Technical Services), Mr. Ubale Maska said, QoS has been a great concern as consumers inundate the Commission with complaints.

“It requires everybody’s input if the situation has to be redressed, hence 2017 has been declared the year of the Consumer”.

NCC Director, Technical Standards and Network Integrity (DTSNI), Dr. Fidelis Ona, explained that the Commission is aware of some of the challenges which include Right of Way (RoW), Force Majeure, Difficulty in acquiring new cell sites, multiple taxation and regulation, vandalism, power supply among others.

“We are engaging stakeholders, including Industry Working Group on Quality of Service, special committee on Counter Harmonization to address this”.

NCC’s Head, Quality of Service Unit, Engr. Edoyemi Ogoh in his presentation traced poor quality of service to fibre cuts, community issues, among others.

He said in October 2016, operators experienced 175 cuts across the nation while they recorded 180 cuts in November and 103 in December, 2016.

There were 113 community issues in October 2016, 74 in November and 133 in December, adding that fibre cuts and community issues remain major drawbacks for QoS.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Zinox decries forex difficulties, partners Chevron to deploy high-end PCs,

ITRealms:

Leading integrated-energy multinational corporation with headquarters in the United States, Chevron Nigeria, is partnering a local technology company, Zinox Technologies Limited, for the deployment of high-end Personal Computers (PCs) in the country, reports ITRealms.

The implementation, ITRealms gathered, would see a massive roll-out of thousands of high-end personal computers (PCs), desktop units, monitors and other accessories to equip its offices and other affiliate establishments nationwide.  

ITRealms also gathered that Chevron is the third-largest oil producer and one of the biggest investors in Nigeria where it operates under a joint-venture arrangement with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for the onshore and offshore assets in the Niger Delta region.

ITRealms further gathered that Zinox has already commenced the delivery and installation of the first units of the orders; a development confirmed by a senior management staff of Chevron Nigeria.

“We’re doing business with local Nigerian companies such as Zinox Technologies, among others. We have ordered thousands of high-end servers and laptops from Zinox.  We encourage other Nigerian entrepreneurs and companies to take this as a sign of confidence.  A lot of multinationals are ready to patronize made-in-Nigeria products, provided they meet international standards,” Chevron source declared.

The source added that with respect to the on-going roll-out of PCs and other computer accessories, it is worth emphasizing that this is not the first time Chevron is doing business with Zinox, which has been a trusted business partner for many years.

“We have not been disappointed by the level of products and services received from Zinox over the years,” our source asserted.

Equally confirming the development, Head, Corporate Communications at Zinox, Gideon Ayogu affirmed to ITRealms, they have commenced the delivery and deployment of the Chevron orders through one of its partners.  

“Apart from the major infrastructural change and the roll-out of high-end computers, servers and other accessories to Chevron Nigeria who remain one of our most regular customers, we have also enjoyed consistent patronage from other multinationals such as Total and Shell as well as a few government agencies and parastatals,” he said.

Pointing out that as a global company, Zinox moves with the forces of demand, stressing that companies like Chevron, Shell, Total have been patronizing Zinox for over 14 years, based purely on service quality and high standards these companies aspire to.

“These local commitments have also gone a long way to helping the management refrain from staff retrenchment or sack in this period of recession, even when the company is facing tough foreign exchange challenges to meet up with orders,” Ayogu said.

He explained that Zinox has received orders for the deployment of over 65,000 tablet PCs, among other devices, although he lamented the difficulties in obtain forex which has delayed the delivery of some of the orders.

“Sadly, access to forex for companies operating in the ICT sector remains a major challenge. We are not getting enough foreign exchange to meet up with customer’s demands. Nevertheless, we will continue to push. Government’s intervention in this regard will go a long way in helping the ICT sector contribute more to the nation’s GDP,” he submitted.

ITRealms recalls that as a major player in the Nigerian ICT sector, Zinox enjoys the status of manufacturing Nigeria’s first indigenous and internationally certified computer brand – Zinox Computers. With advanced competencies in a suite of integrated ICT solutions including System integration, Unified Communication, Advanced Biometrics deployment, Smart Power solutions, Network Operations and Data Centre management, Fibre deployment and connectivity, E-Health and E-Learning, among many others, the company has also deployed some of the biggest projects seen in the country including its sterling work with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the deployment of card readers and biometric registration of voters which has contributed to the conduct of successive general elections in Nigeria.

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