At $47.3bn, Nigeria’s Foreign Reserves Hit Five-year High Ndubuisi Francis, Obinna Chima and Nume Ekeghe in Uyo Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele yesterday said the country’s foreign exchange (FX) reserves had risen to
$47.3 billion as of April 5. The last time the country recorded FX reserves at this level was in July 2013. Speaking at a seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Emefiele, who was represented by the new
Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Mr. Edward Adamu, was also upbeat that the reserves would continue rise to about $50 billion “sometime later this year”. At $47.3 billion, the country’s reserves are still below that of South Africa’s
whose gross reserves currently stand at $50 billion. Accretion of the country’s reserves in recent months have been driven by its successful Eurobond offerings, coupled with higher oil production and prices. At the two-day seminar,
Emefiele was also optimistic that inflationary pressure would continue to ease, anticipating that it may return to very low double digit or high single digit levels during the year. He, however, called for more vigilance by policy makers to
ensure that the country does not slip again into a recession. The CBN governor said: “We expect a re-doubling of strong policy coordination, collaboration and cooperation which flourished during the Continued on page 6
Shell Paid $4.32bn to Nigerian Government in 2017, Says Oil Giant… Page 10 Tuesday 10 April, 2018 Vol 23. No 8391. Price: N250
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Taraba Killings: Army Sets up Panel to Probe Allegation by Danjuma on Soldiers’ Collusion. … Page 42
In a Surprise Announcement, Buhari Says He’ll Seek Re-election in 2019 Kano residents jubilant, stocks drop to three-month low APC reverses tenure extension, grants waivers to Exco members to re-contest He has not secured party’s ticket yet, says PDP Omololu Ogunmade, Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja, Victor Ogunje in Ado-Ekiti and Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano
re-election in the 2019 polls. Buhari, who made the declaration at the resumed meeting of the National
After months of speculation about his real intention, President Muhammadu Buhari surprised the leadership and stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the party’s secretariat in Abuja yesterday when he informed them of his intention to seek
See more reactions on page 43 Executive Committee (NEC) of the APC, took party members completely unawares as they were not expecting him to Continued on page 6
After Senate Rumble, Presidency Says Buhari Yet to Authorise $1bn Withdrawal from ECA
Says president is ready to present request for N’Assembly approval Omololu Ogunmade and Damilola Oyedele in Abuja Following the confirmation by the Senate yesterday that it was going to debate the approval given by President Muhammadu Buhari to withdraw $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) for arms procurement to combat the insurgency and insecurity in the North-east
and other parts of the country, the presidency rushed to clarify that the president had not yet authorised the disbursement of the sum. The President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, at the weekend, had also revealed that his colleagues were angry that Buhari had given the green light on the Continued on page 6
BUHARI WANTS A SECOND CHANCE... President Muhammadu Buhari, announcing his re-election bid during the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC), held in Abuja… yesterday godwin omoigui