We are powerless over Imported goods “Forex”

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday said, it does not have the power to ban any imported product but do not have sufficient foreign exchange to finance goods that can be produced locally.

Shobizz Blog - CBN

Disclosing this at the interactive forum on CBN Forex policy, organized by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the Director Monetary Policy; CBN, Mr. Moses Tule, said the CBN new policy is not made to ban any product but that it does not have sufficient funds to finance any product that can be produced locally here in Nigeria
.
Nigeria is a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and we signed a treaty to it.
“The policy is aimed at building our local industries, creating jobs, reducing the pressure and demand for the foreign exchange,” he stated.

He said clarification of the perceived ambiguity of some of the products restricted from accessing foreign exchange would be given by banks and that   the CBN is not earning much foreign exchange from crude oil thus the need to manage the little that was available.

Tule said in the first five months of this year the sum of 575 million dollars was spent on the importation of wheat, while 374 million dollars was spent on fish and 349 million dollars on electrical and electronic appliances into the country.
“It would be wrong to continue with a policy that will keep impoverishing our farmers, local industries and growth of our economy, why will somebody be importing toothpicks or eggs, when we have it in abundance in Nigeria” Tule said.

Emmanuel Eminike Joins Al Ain in UAE

UAE side Al Ain have completed the loan signing of Nigeria striker Emmanuel Emenike from Turkish
giants Fenerbahce.
Emenike replaces Ghana striker
Asamoah Gyan who has joined Chinese Super League side
Shanghai SIPG on a two-year deal.

Shobizz Blog - Emmanuel Emunike

The deal includes an option for Al Ain to buy Emenike at the end of the loan. The 28-year-old, who scored 4 league goals in 27 matches last
season, knows he has much to live up to after Gyan’s 128 goals
in four years in the UAE.

“This is a big club with high expectations and I promise to give my best,” he told BBC Sport.
“It is true that [Asamoah] Gyan has done a remarkable job here so I understand there will be expectations.
“But I also want to succeed alongside the fantastic players here and win trophies because that is what the club is all about.
“On a personal note this is a fresh challenge that I need in my career and I hope to make a great contribution at Al Ain.
“I’ve been given an amazing welcome by the club and my focus now is to deliver on the pitch.”

Emenike endured a turbulent period at Fenerbahce having
initially transferred to the Turkish side in 2011. However, a match-fixing scandal,
for which he was later cleared, prompted the Istanbul club to sell him to Russian side Spartak
Moscow less than two months later.
He re-joined Fenerbahce in 2013
and helped propel them to the 2013/14 Super Lig title and the
2014 Turkish Cup crown.

But Emenike, who made his Nigeria debut in 2011 and was top scorer at the 2013 African Cup of Nations, suffered a
dramatic dip in form last season which attracted negative
reactions from Fenerbahce fans.
He demanded to be substituted after he was booed by his own fans during their 1-0 home win over rivals Besiktas in March.
A Nations Cup winner with Nigeria in 2013, Emenike started all four of the Super Eagles’ matches at last summer’s World
Cup in Brazil.

Mali to build first West Africa solar plant

Shobizz Blog - Mali Solar Energy

Mali has signed an agreement with a Norwegian renewable
energy specialist to build west Africa’s first industrial-scale solar power plant, the company announced in a statement on
Friday.
Oslo-based Scatec Solar said it had signed up to build the 52 million-euro ($58 million) unit near the southwestern city of
Segou and run it for 25 years.

“This landmark agreement signals the government’s commitment to meet the nation’s growing energy demand and to
provide clean, renewable and affordable energy to our people,” 

Energy Minister Mamadou Frankaly Keita was quoted as saying.
The plant is expected to produce enough electricity each year to
power 60,000 typical family homes, while cutting annual carbon dioxide emissions by
about 46,000 tonnes.
Mali, a volatile, conflict-hit country of over 16 million people, has been plagued in recent years by chronic electricity outages.

Shobizz Blog - Mali Solar Energy..

The government reported last year that the country, which is
almost two-thirds desert, had managed to supply just 45
percent of its electricity demand in 2013.

The administration in Bamako says Mali’s EDM-SA energy
company — two-thirds owned by the state and a third owned by a subsidiary of the Aga Khan
group — is in crisis, failing to ensure an adequate supply
despite state subsidies worth 87.7 million euros in 2013.

“After several years of
development efforts in the region, we can now move forward with the first utility-scale solar plant in west Africa,” Scatec
Solar CEO Raymond Carlsen said.

“The Malian authorities have
demonstrated decisive will to tackle the nagging issue of
power supply.”
Scatec will own 50 percent of the Segou plant while the World
Bank’s International Finance Corporation will hold 32.5%, leaving the remaining
equity to local partner Africa Power 1.
The project is to be funded by a combination of traditional bank
borrowing, a loan from the World Bank’s Investment Climate
Fund and equity contributed by the partners.

Sokoto flood destroy 115 houses and properties {victims seek for help}

The Sokoto State Emergency Management Agency ( SEMA) said that the flood that occurred in
Butuku-Babba village of Bodinga Local Government Area on June 25 destroyed 115 houses.
The Director-General of the Agency, Alhaji Hassan Maccido, made the disclosure at a news conference in Sokoto on Wednesday while reacting to pleas by victims of the disaster for urgent assistance.
Maccido said the Agency had dispatched a technical team to the village and had since assessed the extent of damage done by the disaster. He added that “it was based on the team’s report that we sent a
memorandum to Gov. Aminu Tambuwal on what to provide as relief materials to the victims.

Shobizz Blog - Sokoto Flood

“The governor had since approved some money, which we would use to buy the items and donate to the victims as soon as possible.’’
According to him, the items include building materials and food items, to alleviate the
sufferings of the victims.
The director-general then appealed to the victims to be patient with government as it
would soon come to their rescue.
Earlier, some of the victims had lamented that 13 days after the disaster, only one businessman based in Bodinga town, Alhaji Sahabi Bojo, had assisted them with N200,000.

The Hamlet Head of the area, Alhaji Magaji Mallam and another victim, Malam Barmo Abubakar, had called for urgent assistance from the three tiers of government and other emergency management agencies.
Two other victims, Sanusi Butuku and Umaru Danhashe told newsmen that “we need urgent assistance of food items and building materials to enable us to rebuild our houses.’’

Shobizz Blog - Sokoto Flood 2

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that no human life was lost as a result of the disaster.
However, no fewer than 25 livestock were lost, while
farmlands, farm produce and stored food items were
destroyed by the disaster.

SCOAN Collapse Building Tragedy Court to rule on July 8

Shobizz Blog - SCOAN Collapse Building

THE coroner court conducting investigation into the collapse of a building belonging to the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) has fixed July 8, 2015 to deliver judgment in the inquest.

The presiding Chief Magistrate, Oyetade Komolafe, fixed the date yesterday after parties made their final submission on the matter before the court. It would be recalled that on September 12, 2014, a six-storey building within the premises of the church collapsed.
Lagos State government therefore set up an inquest to ascertain the cause of the building collapse, identify the victims and how they died.

Founder and Senior Pastor of the church, Prophet Temitope Joshua, had initially linked the incident to a strange aircraft hovering above the building shortly before the structure collapsed. The CCTV video was subsequently released by the church on social media platforms showing the plane allegedly hovering over the building before it crumbled.

Various organisations testified as witnesses during the proceedings, which lasted about eight months, giving various reasons why the building collapsed.
T.B Joshua refused to appear before the inquest insisting that he was not under any obligation to testify before the coroner. Although an appeal he filed before a Lagos High Court was overruled, he still did not appear before the panel.

At yesterday’s proceedings, counsel to SCOAN, Mr. Olalekan Ojo in his final address insisted that external forces remain the cause of the tragedy.

He referred to the testimony of a 37 year-old graduate of Chemistry from the University of Maiduguri, Mr. Biedomo Iguniewe, who suggested that the building might have collapsed due to infrasonic radiation.
Ojo further argued on the testimony of another witness that the non-existence of a building plan as stated by the Lagos State Government has nothing to do with the structure of the building, which he
maintained was constructed according to standard.

Ojo submitted that the contract for the collapsed building was awarded to competent engineers
and if anyone must be questioned for the tragedy, it should be the engineers and not
the Synagogue Church.

He, therefore, admonished the Lagos State Government to take appropriate steps to regularise the building construction and approval applications shown to be pending with the relevant state agencies.
After listening to all the counsel, Magistrate Komolafe thanked everyone who helped the inquest to arrive at a just judgment.

He thereafter adjourned judgment till July 8, 2015.

More Photo

Shobizz Blog - SCOAN Collapse Building2

Shobizz Blog - SCOAN Collapse Building3

Shobizz Blog - SCOAN Collapse Building Witness