♻BREAKING: CBN Releases Reversed Regulatory And Supervisory Guidelines For Bureau De Change Operations In Nigeria, Here Are Key Points :

1.⁠ ⁠Bureaux de Change (BDCs) now have tiers: Tier 1 requires a minimum capital of N2bn (this is for a national license), while Tier 2 has a minimum capital requirement of N500m (these can only operate within one state and are allowed a maximum of 3 branches).

2.⁠ ⁠A shareholder cannot own more than one BDC, thus preventing people from holding more than one license.
3.⁠ ⁠BDCs can now serve as agents to disburse funds on behalf of International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs). Only amounts less than $500 can be received in cash, while larger amounts should be deposited in bank accounts. For foreigners, a card will be issued. Essentially, BDCs will now be able to issue Naira cards.

4.⁠ ⁠BDCs can now issue PTAs and BTAs.

5.⁠ ⁠BDCs are going digital and will need to integrate the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reporting platform for transaction and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) purposes. They will also integrate Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) for Bank Verification Number (BVN) verification, among other things.

6.⁠ ⁠As a Tier 1 BDC, you must have a minimum of 5 board members and a maximum of 9. Tier 2 should have 7 members. The draft guideline provides for gender equality, so a board cannot be constituted with only one gender. The CBN must now approve of directors serving on the board of a BDC and another regulated financial institution. New qualifications now require board members to have experience working in financial institutions. In particular, independent directors must have worked on the management team of a BDC.

7. Banks and Other Financial Institutions (OFIs) cannot hold Bureau De Change (BDC) licenses. It remains to be decided whether some of the permissible activities of BDCs under the draft regulation, such as the issuance of Business Travel Allowance (BTA) and Personal Travel Allowance (PTA), will be exclusively reserved for the BDC.

8. There is now a very extensive requirement for licensing. It’s a whole lot. It is very similar to what the CBN would demand from a finance company or bank, with increased scrutiny.

9. Unlike banks- BTA/PTA threshold they can sell is biannual – sell 4k to individuals and 5k to businesses cumulatively in a 6-month period

10. No more street trading.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has introduced a foreign exchange (FX) Price Verification System (PVS) portal to ascertain quoted prices before Form Ms are approved.

The pilot project was launched on 1st February.2022 following an awareness notice in a circular in the August 2020.

REGISTRATION
Suppliers and buyers of goods and services for Import/Export operations into or out of Nigeria are required to register on a dedicated electronic portal provided by the CBN and operated by its agent service providers as in the operational manual for Form M & Form NXP;

An annual subscription fee of $350.00 is charged for the authentication of suppliers on the TRMS system.

E- INVOICE AND E-EVALUATOR
The PVS is also referred to as E-invoice and E-evaluator initiatives because it requires submission of an electronic invoice (E-Invoice) authenticated by Authorized Dealer Banks (ADB) on the Nigerian Single Window Portal – Trade Monitoring System (TRMS). The e-Valuator and e-Invoice would replace the hard copy invoice and become a necessary supporting document for all import and export transactions.

HOW IT WORKS
The price verification report from the portal is now mandatory for all Form M requests, effective from August 31, 2023. The PVS will be a process to be completed before the Form M submission stage on the single window platform and on the Trade Monitoring System (TRMS)

The PVS mechanism will be guided by a benchmark price of goods and services in the market where the goods are traded, to ensure that the invoiced prices are based on spot market prices at the time of invoicing. It is hopeful that the PVS will help in safeguarding the scarce foreign exchange (forex) by ensuring that forex is allocated for eligible transactions.

Imports and exports with prices more than 2.5% of the verified prices will be queried and will not be approved for either Form M or Form NXP. The aim of this system is to achieve accurate value of import and export items in and out of Nigeria.

EXEMPTIONS
The following transactions are exempt from submitting PVS:

  • Individual invoice with values less than USD 10,000 or its equivalent in another currency. However, where the annual cumulative invoice value issued by a supplier/service provider is USD 500,000 or more, such a supplier would be required to submit e-invoices regardless of the individual invoice values.
  • Import or export transactions carried out by security agencies in the country.
  • Supplies to diplomatic and consular missions and supplies to international agencies dependent on the United Nations.
  • Donations made by foreign governments or international organisations to foundations, charities and recognised humanitarian agencies
  • Goods directly supplied by a foreign government

CBN will regularly update prices on the portal while the prices of every item will be reviewed at least quarterly and more frequently for goods with higher price fluctuations.

NATIONWIDE BROADCAST BY PRESIDENT BOLA TINUBU TO NIGERIANS ON CURRENT ECONOMIC CHALLENGES AND PALLIATIVE MEASURES WITHOUT DWELLING INTO ECONOMIC JARGONS AND CONCEPTS BUT RATHER IN CLEAR PLAIN LANGUAGE – JULY 31, 2023

President Tinubu’s Palliative measures centers around

(1) Financial assistance to businesses
(2) Food Security agenda
(3) Transportation
(4) Minimum wages

Going by the president’s speech, it suggest that the idea to give ₦8,000 per month for a period of six months to low-income earning household has been jettisoned. Probably replaced with FOOD SECURITY AGENDA. This was assumed since it was not mentioned in the nationwide address.

Find details of ALL the Palliatives proposed measures below:

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

MANUFACTURING BUSINESSES
Between Jul 2023 and Mar 2024 to 75 manufacturing enterprises will have access to N1Billion Loan at 9% per annum with a maximum of 60 months repayment for long term loan and 12 months for working capital in order to enhance their production capacity and in turn create good-paying jobs.

NON-MANUFACTURING BUSINESSES
Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSME) will have ₦125bn funds to access.

  • INFORMAL SECTOR:
    • Out of the ₦125bn, ₦50bn will be available as Conditional Grant to 1 million Nano businesses between now and Mar 2024.
    • That is, ₦50,000 conditional grant each will be given to 1,300 Nano Business owners in each 774 LGAs.
  • FORMAL SECTOR:
    • The remaining ₦75bn (out of the ₦125bn) will be available to fund 100,000 MSME and startups. Each enterprise to get between ₦500K to ₦1m at 9% interest p.a. and a repayment period of 36 months.

FOOD SECURITY AGENDA

Multi-stakeholder engagement with various farmers’ associations and operators within the agricultural value chain that will ensure staple foods are available and affordable by embarking on the following plans:

(1) to support cultivation of 500,000 hectares of farmland and all-year-round farming practice remains on course.

(2) ₦200bn of the ₦500bn approved by the National Assembly will be disbursed as follows: 

  • ₦50bn each will be invested to cultivate 150,000 hectares of rice and maize.
  • ₦50bn each will be invested to cultivate 100,000 hectares of wheat & cassava.

(3) to release 200,000 MT of grains from to households across 36 States and FCT free of charge.

(4) to provide 225,000 MT of fertilizer, seedlings and other inputs to farmers who are committed to the food security agenda above

TRANSPORTATION

Provision to invest ₦100bn between now and Mar 2024 by acquiring 3,000 units of 20-seater buses in order to roll out buses across the states and local governments for mass transit at a much more affordable rate

These buses will be shared to major transportation companies in the states and the companies will be able to access loan under this facility at 9% per annum with 60 months repayment period in order to fund its repayment of the buses.

MINIMUM WAGE

“I want to tell our workers this: your salary review is coming.”

Already working in collaboration with the Labour unions to introduce a new national minimum wage for workers.

Budget provision will be made for the immediate implementation of the new minimum wage once it is agree and determine.

OTHER COMMITMENTS
(1) To fulfill the promise to make education more affordable to all and provide loans to higher education students who may need them.

(2) Currently monitoring the effects of the exchange rate and inflation on gasoline prices. To intervene If and when necessary.

FINANCIAL PROTECTION TO SELLERS OF GOODS OR SERVICES IN BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS IN THE EVENT OF DELAYED PAYMENT FROM THE SIDE OF BUYERS

The best way to protect yourself as service providers, contractors or vendors against the risk of failure to receive payment upon delivery is to demand for some “Typical” Guarantee or Bond from BUYER. These guarantees and bonds are to be procured before delivery is made to the BUYER.
The execution of GUARANTEES or BONDS creates three parties as follows:

Buyer = Project owners (Primary Obligor)

Seller = Contractors, Vendors, Suppliers, exporter (Beneficiary)

Surety/Guarantor = Bank or Insurance Companies

These ”typical” Guarantees or Bonds are issued by the Surety/Guarantor at the request of the BUYER upon payment of Premium (%) of Contract Value.

The SELLER can demand for any of the financial guarantee and bonds listed below for protection the protection of their payment

(1) Deferred Payment Guarantee

(2) Letter of Credit (Inland or Foreign)

(3) Post Dated Cheques

(1) DEFEERED PAYMENT GUARANTEE

This is an assurance to the SELLER that BUYER will pay for goods supplied on a specific date. That is, BUYER will commit to a specific period in which all outstanding payment will be paid to beneficiary.

The maximum credit days (the specific date to pay) in DPG should be maintained at 90days

The seller offers credit to the buyer and buyer’s bank guarantees the due payments to the seller.

Perform = Payment

The Guarantee is issued by the Bank or Insurance company at request of BUYER in favour of SELLER

(2) LETTER OF CREDIT (LC)
Letter of Credit is a promise or commitment in writing made by a bank to a particular seller that payment will be made to the seller if the seller completes performing whatever is mentioned in the letter of credit. Payment here is not trigger by SPECIFIC DATE, payment is trigger once DELIVERY is made to BUYER. Letter of Credit is only used in foreign transactions. The type of Letter of Credit used for domestic transaction is called INLAND LC

LC is a form of Guarantee and is issued by the Bank or Insurance company at request of BUYER (local or foreign) in favour of SELLER

(3) POST DATED CHEQUES
Postdated cheque is one that is written with a future date indicated on it. This is usually done to account for an anticipated delay in deposit.

In Nigeria, like any ordinary cheques, post-dated cheques have a validity of 3 months from the date of issuance.

Post Dated Cheque is not a Guarantee issued by the Bank or Insurance company but rather an understanding between BUYER and SELLER to take advantage of illegal issuance of Post-Dated cheque without sufficient funds as a form of Guarantee for payment

*Knowledge shared here are for Sales and Marketing team of an organization or any individual assuming such a roles.

Time Perspective as a Useful Strategy to Achieve Success

The most successful people in any society are those who take the longest time period into consideration when making their day-to-day decisions. TAKE LONG TIME BEFORE A MAJOR DECISION
We can look at Time Perspective from Plant Trees and Doctors Training perspective to get a quick clue.


Plant Trees
What Banfield found was that the higher a person rises in any society, the longer the time perspective or time horizon of that person. People at the highest social and economic levels make decisions and sacrifices that may not pay off for many years, sometimes not even in their own lifetimes. They “plant trees under which they will never sit.”


Doctors
An obvious example of someone with a long time perspective is the man or women who spends ten or twelve years studying and interning to become a doctor. This person takes extraordinarily long time to lay down the foundation for a lifetime career. And partially because we know how long it takes to become a doctor, we hold doctors in the highest esteem of any professional group. We appreciate and admire the sacrifices that they have made in order to be able to practice a profession that is so important to so many of us. We recognize their long time perspectives.


Long Time Perspectives
People with long term perspectives are willing to pay the price of success for a long, long time before they achieve it. They think about the consequences of their choices and decisions in terms of what they might mean in five, ten, fifteen, and even twenty years from now.

Short Time Perspectives
People at the lowest levels of society have the shortest time perspectives. They focus primarily on immediate gratification and often engage in behaviors that are virtually guaranteed to lead to negative consequences in the long term. At the very bottom of the social ladder, you find hopeless alcoholics and drug addicts. These people think in terms of the next drink or the next fix. Their time perspective is often less than one hour.


Delayed Gratification is the Key to Financial Success
Your ability to practice self-mastery, self-control, and self-denial, to sacrifice in the short term so you can enjoy greater rewards in the long term, is the starting point of developing a long time perspective. This attitude is essential to financial achievement of any kind.

Action Exercise
Practice a long term perspective in every area of your life, especially in your financial life but also with your family and your health. Think of where you would ideally like to be in five years and begin today to take steps in that direction.

Tracking Traffic Offenders in Lagos with Technology Driven Device anchored on Mobile and Fixed Cameras

It’s no longer news that Lagos State Government has introduced two technology driven cameras till date. Vehicle owners are advised to regularly visit the two platforms to check for any possible Traffic Offense Billing for onward PAYMENT or CONTEST.

The two technology driven platforms are:

(1) Mobile Body Cameras (Traffic Management System TMS) – Operated by LASTMA
You can either use your Vehicle plate number, Violation number or Ticket number to search for any pending traffic offense bill

https://tms.lagosstate.gov.ng/Mobile/mClientHome.aspx

(2) Fixed Traffic Camera (PayVis ) – Operated by VIO
You can either use your Vehicle plate number or Bill number to search for any pending traffic offense bill

https://payvis.ng

(1) Traffic Management Solutions (TMS)

Traffic Management Solutions Devices was deployed in May 2023 to enable evidence-based prosecution of traffic violators.

Previously (July 2021) body cameras was employed, but the latest deployment will ensure that traffic offenders are captured from a distance.

The technology is a solution to LASTMA officials having altercations or struggling or trying to make arrests of motorists causing infractions on the road. Now, this camera captures traffic infractions from a distance. That means the LASTMA official will not be closer to you this time around before capturing you if you commit any traffic infractions.”

Notice in the form of video evidence will be sent to the traffic offender to justify infraction committed.
Traffic offenders can contest the video evidence. Under the video, you have three buttons there. One is to challenge it if you want to challenge it, probably you have the feelings that you have not committed such offense, you will be charged to a mobile court.

TMS has a learning modules with easy to assimilate animated representations of traffic laws and the effects their violations

TMS also has the Eyewitness function which allows road users the opportunity to also play a role in reducing traffic gridlocks by reporting observed traffic offenses, vehicle breakdowns, dysfunctional traffic lights, faded road markings etc, positioning everyone as a potential change maker in the traffic situation.

TMS also has a beautiful Mobile App, available for download from the Google Play Store and the App Store, which makes all these functions very easily available on mobile devices.

(2) PAYVIS (Plate Detection Platform)

PayVIS is a technology- driven plate detection platform that will capture plate number of traffic offenders and bill them. It was introduced in the January 2021.

VIO is in charge of its management

The cameras are located besides traffic lights to capture traffic offenders without the presence of traffic officials. The Camera will take photo shot of offenders plate number and run a scan on Lagos State Database to detect prior traffic offenses or expired vehicle papers so as to add it up to offenses committed.

NOTE, you can contest the bill

How to contest your bill under PayVIS Platform

  • Please search for your bill using either your Vehicle Plate Number or Bill Number
  • Click on the “Contest Bill” button
  • Upload your evidence of valid documents to seek redress. If your application is denied, ensure payment is made within Seven (7) days to avoid further sanctions

Nigerian Banks Lift Suspension on International Transactions With Naira Cards

“Wema Bank is the first to officially announced the lifting while other banks in Nigeria are expected to follow suit”.

“If we could recall, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) stopped Nigerian banks from international transactions using naira cards and imposed a $20 monthly limit on international transactions with dollar cards.”


“Customers can now use their Naira cards on Amazon and other related sites and platforms for International spending.

BUHARI SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER 007 of 2019, TITLED: “ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT AND REFURBISHMENT INVESTMENT TAX CREDIT SCHEME”. WHICH ALLOWS PRIVATE COMPANIES TO FUND ROAD PROJECTS

BUHARI SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER 007 of 2019, ON FRIDAY 25 JANUARY, 2019

The signing of this order on Friday (January 25, 2019) is another milestone recorded by Buhari led Federal Government to rapidly close the infrastructure gap left by previous administrations. Participating investors will use their funds to build infrastructure and return get incentives in the form of tax credits to reduce their corporate taxes payable to government until they recoup the value of their investments in roads and bridges.

The policy is an alternative source to fund infrastructure, including road and electricity projects.

For the records, Nigeria ranks 11th on the list of countries with the world’s worst road quality and network, according to the Global Competitive Index of 2018.

Between 2017 and 2018 Nigeria scored 2.5, worse than neighboring Cameroon which scored 2.6.

PILOT PHASE

The policy will take-off with six companies. In this pilot phase, the following six private sector companies have chosen to participate in the Scheme to construct 19 federal roads covering 794.4km under the new Executive Order 007

a) Dangote Industries Limited;

b) Lafarge Africa Plc;

c) Unilever Nigeria Plc;

d) Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc;

e) Nigeria LNG Limited; and

f) China Road and Bridge Corporation Nigeria Limited.

“The above companies (to be referred to as investors under the scheme) will be investing in the following 19 eligible road projects, totalling 794.4km which have been prioritised in 11 states across each of the six geo-political zones:

a) Construction of Ashaka-Bajoga Highway in Gombe State;

b) Reconstruction of Dikwa-GambaruNgala Road in Borno State;

c) Reconstruction of Bama-Banki Road in Borno State;

d) Rehabilitation of Sharada Road in Kano State

e) Rehabilitation of Nnamdi Azikiwe Expressway / Bypass, in Kaduna State;

f) Reconstruction of Birnin Gwari Expressway – Road in Kaduna State;

g) Reconstruction of Birnin Gwari – Dansadau Road in Kaduna State;

h) Reconstruction of Makurdi-Yandev-Gboko Road in Benue State;

i) Reconstruction of Zone Roundabout-House of Assembly Road in Benue State;

j) Reconstruction of Obajana-Kabba Road in Kogi State;

k) Reconstruction of Ekuku-Idoma-Obehira Road in Kogi State;

l) Construction of AdaviEba-Ikuehi-Obeiba-Obokore Road in Kogi State;

m) Rehabilitation of Lokoja-Ganaja Road in Kogi State;

n) Ofeme Community Road Network and Bridges in Abia State;

o) Rehabilitation of Obele-Ilaro-Papalanto-Shagamu Road in Ogun State;

p) Reconstruction of Sokoto Road in Ogun State;

q) Reconstruction of Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonshoki-Ojota Road in Lagos State;

r) Construction of Bodo-Bonny Road & Bridges across Opobo Channel in Rivers State; and

s) Rehabilitation of Benin City – Asaba Road in Edo State”.

METHOD OF APPLICATION

Any investors that is interested to participate in the scheme or take advantage of the scheme shall submit proposals (to include prospective road projects) to the government via the scheme’s management committee.

After carefully considering submissions by investors, the management committee will forward the proposals, through the chairman of the committee, to the president.

The president will then, based on the new Executive Order, select eligible road projects which will be published in an official gazette.

MEMBERS OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Minister of Finance, The chairman

Minister of Power, Works and Housing as its Deputy Chairman, and

The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance as its Secretary.

Other members of the Management Committee are drawn from a number of relevant federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (‘MDAs’),”

The other Representations from the MDAs are to include:

a) The Federal Ministry of Finance;

b) The Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing;

c) The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment;

d) The Federal Ministry of Justice;

e) The Bureau of Public Procurement;

f) The Federal Inland Revenue Service;

g) The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission;

h) The Securities and Exchange Commission;

i) The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission;

j) The Budget Office of the Federation;

k) The National Bureau of Statistics;

l) The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority; and

m) The Office of the Chief of Staff to the President.

For non Yoruba speaking Nigerians, here is the English interpretation of #SarakiAudio ?

SARAKI AUDIO (Sorry for non Yoruba speaking, I will run the interpretations here below) ☝️

When I told you in my previous campaign that this rouges treat Nigeria as a a PLC, some of us think it’s an understatement.

BUHARI HAS CHARACTER AND INTEGRITY AND CANNOT REWARD EVIL DOERS, ENEMIES OF GOOD GOVERNANCE, TREASURY LOOTERS AND VIOLENCE ENGINEERS WHO USE PROPAGANDA AND BLACKMAIL TO BLACKLIST OUR FATHERLAND AND CUT-OFF INVESTMENTS AND INVITE FOREIGNERS TO KILL OUR PEACE.

ENGLISH INTERPRETATION OF SARAKI AUDIO?

“All that you have complained about tonight is on point, I can not find anything you have said that is not on point, you complained about empowerment”

“Let us agree that the last 3 and a half years, things have not been easy at all, I agree and accept things have not been easy at all, particularly in the area of empowerment”

“Before 2015 I have always tried to empower the youth and get you involved in appointments, but this time around as a result of what I call human factor, things have not been the same, I believe it is the will of God”

“When you all are complaining and you give example of Gegele and co and you compare it to what is happening now, I am sure you are asking yourself, what is happening? how come all of you struggling with me are not rewarded, it is unacceptable”

“What is the point of putting everything into the emergence of a government and we could not benefit anything from the government, you are asking yourself, what have you benefited”

“If you have not benefited personally in the last 3 and a half years, how do you go to market us, wont people ask you what you have benefited for yourself?

“It got to a stage that people will be making fund of you and asking you what you have benefited, but what is happening from Abuja, use me as an example, in 2015 I carried APC on my head around Nigeria”

“Hardly any state in Nigeria that I did not campaign for Buhari, up to the time of the election in 2015, out of 36 states I paid for the election of 30 states”

“Out of 36 states in Nigeria I funded Buhari campaign in 30 States, some states I paid 200 Million Naira, some 300 Million, some 400 Million, the only states I did not fund are South West States”

“Many times I will be calling my Banks to send money to fund elections across Nigeria for Buhari my thinking was that when we get elected, the next thing is that we will get majority of our people appointments”

“In fact I had already promised some of you here that you will either be MD of Federal agencies, either road maintenance, NIPDA (inaudible) even Nigerian Ports Authority, SUBEB and so on and so forth”

“I know if I put someone amongst you from Kwara even in the smallest Federal agencies, the contract you will sign out, 1Million, 2 Million, but for the first time that I have been in politics even speaker cant appoint a cleaner”

“I as President of the Senate I could not even appoint a cleaner not to talk of Board appointment, if you look at Executive positions I have nothing even after spending Billions for 3 and a half years, I am as angry as you are ”

“I am fighting Buhari because of you, if it because of me I wont fight, it is not easy to fight the federal government, the sufferings you are all going trough is because they did not fulfil our agenda”

“In 2018 I told you all I wont be going with APC but in the last one or 2 months that I left I have been doing a lot for you people, my politics is for all of you, I am just here to empower you all, dont mind the one who just bought form for 33M ”

“It was not my plan not to appoint you, when David Mark was Senate President, every confirmation he made for the President came with something, if they really love us now you will be empowered”

“In the past we they have a cut for Senate President and Speaker but not anymore, so we are no longer going with APC as soon as we joined PDP they called me National Leader when I lost election Atiku came to me immediately”

“Now we have seen the sign that if Atiku becomes President things will come to us, he told me I am the only one that can run his campaign, I know it is not easy for you all, but let me assure you things will be better”

“God see my “aniyan” (Arabic word) now in PDP they have brought us closer, how many people in Kwara did APC bring together in Kwara, now we will soon have power, today in APC they want us to go to Asiwaju Tinubu in Lagos”

“If I am the only one in PDP I will fight alone, my Father made Kwara and took Kwara to the top 10 in Nigeria and I also took Kwara to between number 1 to 3 in Nigerian politics and they now want us to bow to Lagos”

“In the coming election we will put Youth into power in Kwara, let us take Atunwa as he his, he will take care of you all, all those who contested against him are loyal but Atunwa will….. inaudible” (applause)

“When I was Governor I gave a lot of young people contract, they buy land etc and then empower others, I want to return you to the days of when I was Governor when you were all enjoying, Atiku will open things when we win election”

“You know as a leader I see things that followers dont see, when we followed Buhari we felt after spending money, we saw that he failed to reward us, so we said this Baba is not coming back, no money, no patronage all over Nigeria”

“Even with all the problem we have with Buhari the little cut I get I always send to Kwara but I can tell you that we had to design a method to make the little we have, they did not involve us in sharing”

“The only agenda APC have for Kwara is to fight Bukola Saraki , they favour Osun State with empowerment, for the remaining time of Buhari we will still get some things, we gave them list for FIIRS for 3 years they did not employ our list”