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Click here to view past News items Items 1. QCY93 website (New Section deleted after first week of being published) 2. Nigeria's Banking Sector in Serious Trouble 3. Obasanjo, Tinubu Invited USA - USA Bomb Experts 4. British, American Tobacco Signs Distributorship Agreement
QCY93 website (New Section deleted after first week of being published) The new “gossip” section which was launched only last week, has been forced off the QCY93 website. Majority of the members found it too offensive and requested it to be removed immediately. The Webmaster has been inundated with emails from very angry people, claiming that leaving that sort of section on the website, will totally tarnish the good cause everybody is trying to achieve. One angry member has been quoted as saying. “…The 'Gossip section' I am sorry to say left me with a very sick feeling in my stomach… The QC 93 website as I see it symbolises ex QC girls, their achievements and future projections. The gossip column detracts from that and encapsulates all the negativity and immaturity perpetuated back when making fun of the next person was what many aspired to do…”
Nigeria's Banking Sector in Serious Trouble Financial Times; Mar 7, 2002. By WILLIAM WALLIS.
Nigeria's financial sector has been thrown into confusion by speculation that the Central Bank of Nigeria is set to impose severe penalties on 21 banks accused of contravening foreign exchange regulations. The penalties are mentioned in a series of private memos from the central bank. They run, in some cases, to many times the shareholder funds of banks accused of trading illegally on the parallel market. Some of Nigeria's top banks are involved. The country's banking sector is already jittery following the revocation last month of one bank's operating licence, the suspension of another bank from foreign exchange markets and signs of growing distress among mostly smaller banks. Diplomats said a recent study carried out for the International Monetary Fund recommended that almost half Nigeria's 100 or so banks be closed. Joseph Sanusi, the central bank governor, has yet to publicise his intentions but CBN officials said the letters sent to offending banks mentioned the maximum penalties applicable - in some cases above Dollars 100m (Pounds 70m). But sanctions would be set at more realistic levels once the banks had disclosed the extent of their involvement in parallel market trades. "We want to impose sanctions that will be punitive and corrective but which will not affect the overall health of the system," said Tony Edeh, the central bank's spokesman. "The level of sanctions will be determined by the response from the banks concerned and also by the gravity of offences." One senior banker said that, if applied in full, the fines would "bring an end to the banking sector in Nigeria as we know it". The central bank is aiming to stop bankers from exploiting the gap between the official (Dollars 1=N116.1) and parallel market (Dollars 1=N139) rates for the naira, and force them to formalise relations with all their clients. Greater global scrutiny of money transfers post-September 11 and, in Nigeria's case, after investigations into the laundering of billions of dollars stolen under Sani Abacha, the former dictator, have raised the stakes. At issue is the structure of Nigeria's foreign exchange markets. Bankers estimate as much as half of all foreign exchange transactions take place on the parallel market, either in cash through bureaux de change and currency dealers or in offshore bank transfers. Demand for unrecorded access to hard currency is huge as it enables traders to circumvent duties and bottlenecks at ports. Parallel market rates are therefore at substantial premiums. Bankers say many multinationals operating in Nigeria also prefer the convenience of the parallel market to the bureaucracy of complying with what are, in some instances, ambiguous regulations. An investigation into "free funds" dealing at First City Monument Bank (FCMB) last year led to the emergence of a list of dozens of other banks involved in offences. Only a handful of Nigerian banks are known to be clean. FCMB was suspended from the foreign exchange market for 12 months. The central bank has been under pressure since to be consistent in enforcing the rules. However, bankers warned yesterday that the consequences of across-the-board penalties for a practice that is so widespread could be grave. Rumours circulating about forthcoming sanctions could alone precipitate a run on some banks, they said. Reformers advocate making the naira fully convertible as a structural solution to the problem. But this would have political as well as economic consequences in the run-up to general elections next year. A resulting devaluation could, in the short term, exacerbate poverty and fuel inflation, given Nigeria's dependence on imports.
Obasanjo, Tinubu Invited USA - USA Bomb Experts The United States bomb disposal experts who arrived the country Tuesday night have, through their spokesman, pointed out that they are in the country on the invitation of President Olusegun Obasanjo and Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Lagos State. Speaking at a press conference organized by the office of the American Consulate General in Lagos, the Public Affairs Officer of the section, Stephaine Wickes, noted that immediately the incident occurred on 27 January, a request for assistance was extended to President George Bush of America by President Olusegun Obasanjo for assistance. According to him, similar request was extended to the American Embassy by the Lagos State government. Also speaking on the mission of the experts, Major William Thurmond explained that the project will be coordinated by the American experts with assistance from their Nigerian counterparts.
British, American Tobacco Signs Distributorship Agreement British American Tobacco (Nigeria) Limited has appointed Interfoods Distribution Company Limited to exclusively distribute both its locally manufactured and imported brands. Speaking at the signing ceremony to formalise the agreement, Mr. Kingsley Wheaton, Marketing Director of BAT Nigeria, stated that the primary objective of the relationship with Interfoods Distribution Company Limited was to ensure the uninterrupted availability of genuine, duty paid BAT brands throughout Nigeria. "As we commence in earnest the construction of a state of the art factory in Ibadan, the establishment of a world class distribution network for our brands is a crucial element that forms one part of our investment pact with the Nigerian government," Wheaton expressed. As a result of this distribution arrangement, Intern-foods will substantially increase its investment with a view to expanding its existing coverage within Nigeria. The expansion programme by Interfoods is expected to create direct and indirect employment for 1000 Nigerians.
Judge Clears Damilola Boy One of the defendants in the trial of the Nigerian boy, Damilola Taylor murdered in November 2000 in London - Peckham has walked free from court after a judge threw out the evidence of the prosecution's key witness. According to agency report, Old Bailey judge Mr Justice Hooper directed the jury to find the 17-year-old youth not guilty of murder and other charges. The case against the boy relied on identification evidence from the 14-year-old girl who said she had witnessed the killing of 10-year-old Damilola. But the judge said the girl, now named as 'Bromley', had embellished her story with details from her "fertile imagination". The prosecution of three other youths for the murder is continuing. The judge said the evidence contradicted Bromley’s description of the location of the attack and no reasonable jury could consider her claims to have been at the scene as reliable.After the case against him was dropped, the teenager kissed his mother and they hugged briefly before he was led from the courtroom. His solicitor, Greg Stewart, said his client had suffered because of the trial: "There are no winners in this case. Unresolved is the terrible loss of a young boy. "My client has been separated from his family for the past eight months. The stigma of this trial will remain with him. "My client had nothing to do with the events that led to the premature death of Damilola Taylor." He said the judge's decision to throw out the witness's evidence was "exceptional" but "inevitable". Announcing his decision to throw out Bromley's evidence Mr Hooper said: "My conclusion is that no reasonable jury, properly directed, can be sure that (the girl's) account of what she saw in Blakes Road, is reliable." He said the girl had described seeing 10-year-old Damilola "crawling on his hands and knees" and of hearing him cry "help, help" while his voice was getting weaker. She also described him being on the floor holding his leg, but the judge said it was graphic detail, which was untrue. Mr Hooper said the evidence of the blood trail and the absence of glass contradicted the teenager’s description of the location of the attack with blood on it in the area she identified.The judge added that there was no independent support for her account that she saw the incident that led to Damilola's death. He said: "The highest it could be put is that she could have been in the vicinity at the time." The bulk of the witness's evidence consisted of details already known to the public, Mr Hooper added. The defence has accused the girl of lying and basing her account of the incident on newspaper reports. Damilola caught on CCTV shortly before the attack. The jury had also heard claims the witness was motivated by a oe50,000 newspaper reward when she came forward with information - a month after 10-year-old Damilola was killed. On two occasions, the girl, protesting at the vigorous cross-examination from the defence, walked out of court. She was also accused of being an attention-seeker with emotional difficulties. Damilola's mother Gloria was in court to hear the details, but her husband Richard, who has attended most of the hearing, was not in court. Damilola bled to death in November 2000 after being stabbed with a broken bottle in the stairwell of a block of flats on the North Peckham estate in London.In June last year, after a huge police operation, two boys aged 16, their 17-year-old friend and a 14-year-old youth were charged with murder, manslaughter and assault with intent to rob. They all deny the charges.
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