Finance
Nigerian officials signed loan documents in Chinese language-Ben Ibakpa, Reps member.

Nigerian officials signed loan documents in Chinese language-Ben Ibakpa, Reps member.
Ben Ibakpa, a member of the house of reps, said Nigerian officials signed loan documents in the Chinese language without looking at the terms properly.
He added that the National Assembly is not being carried along by the federal government when taking loans from China.
The lawmaker who represents Ethiope Federal Constituency said the national assembly will start playing more active roles in the loan procurement process.
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On Tuesday, May 14, Ben Ibakpa, a member of the house of reps made the allegation while appearing as a guest on Channels Television.
The member of the house of reps, Ibakpa said that the loans are obtained via the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC). According to him, the loans are overpriced.
His words: “The National Assembly is kept in the dark in all these loans. The National Assembly is not part of it.”
President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration which campaigned with an anti-corruption mantra to do better, saying corruption is fueled by awarding of contracts. The lawmaker said.
The Senate had resolved to give approval to President Buhari’s request to raise a fresh loan of N850 billion from the domestic capital market to fund projects in the 2020 budget.
On Tuesday, April 28, the request made by President Buhari was read by Ahmad Lawan, the president of the Senate, on the floor of the Senate.
Which after the letter was read, the Senate approved the request made by the President.
The Senate also made mandated its finance and Appropriation Committees to liaise with Zainab Ahmed, the minister of finance, budget and national planning to obtain more information on the loan request.
Finance
Nigeria’s Misery Index Rises as Inflation Reaches 15.75%

The misery index, otherwise known as the economic discomfort index, is used to measure overall hardship in an economy.
During rare instances unemployment and inflation increase together. In fact, it is no coincidence that the misery index came into popular use during the 1970s, an era of high unemployment and inflation known as “stagflation.”
Nigeria’s inflation rate increased by 15.75% (year-on-year) in December 2020, the highest rate recorded in 3 years.
This was the highest inflation rate since November of 2017, based on increasing prices in food (19.56 percent vs 18.3 percent), despite President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent order to reopen the country’s borders to trade.
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According to the latest consumer price index report, released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria Consumer Price Index (CPI) growth was measured at 15.8% YoY in Dec 2020, compared with a rate of 14.9 % in the previous month.
The rise in the consumer price index indicates that consumers spent more in the month of December compared to the previous month.
This recorded high inflation rate could be attributed to:
Dollar shortages
Surging unknown gunmen attacks in farming areas.
Lingering disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Finance
Finance Act 2020: Unclaimed Dividends & Dormant Bank Accounts

According to the Finance Act 2020 recently signed into law by President Buhari, the unclaimed dividends and deposits in dormant bank accounts will be available as special credit to the Nigerian government through the Unclaimed Funds Trust Fund
The trust fund will be a sub-fund of the Crisis Intervention Fund.
The trust fund will be managed by the Debt Management Office (DMO).
The DMO’s responsibility also includes payment of claims for such dividend and the accompanying compensation for accrued interest.
The Act states that the monies transferred to the trust fund will be a “special debt owed by the Federal Government to shareholders and dormant bank account holders”.
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It also said that the original owners of the money can claim it at any time.
Major Reason for FG’s decision:
To mitigate Nigeria’s fiscal frailties (weakness) and the economic crunch caused by the emergence of Covid-19.
In 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a rule which stated that:
“Companies and Registrars in custody of dividends which remain unclaimed by shareholders 12 years after the date of declaration or subsequently attain the 12 years threshold shall upon the coming into effect of this Rule transfer such monies into the Nigerian Capital Market Development Fund (NCMDF)”.
As at the end of 2019 from 2002, the total value of unclaimed dividends stood at 158.44bn.
What this means that,
• Importantly, with these funds, it is expected that the government would have more financial capacity to handle cost-intensive projects and infrastructural developments that would directly impact the well beings of Nigerians if the funds are well utilized.
• The era of unclaimed dividends and dormant bank account balances is over.
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Finance
Elon Musk Becomes Richest Person in the World

Elon Musk just became the richest person in the world, with a net worth of more than $185 billion.
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On Thursday, Tesla’s share price increased and it pushed Musk past former richest person, Jeff Bezos.
Musk started 2020 worth about $27 billion.
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