At N300/dollar, no need for fresh devaluation – Emir Sanusi

The Emir of Kano and former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Muhammad Sanusi II, has said that the naira, at 300 to a dollar, needs no fresh devaluation.

Sanusi said all the CBN needs to do is to make the Bureau de Change (BDC) segment of the market liquid, and watch the gap between official and parallel market close, with investors bringing in more forex.

“My public position is that if the Central Bank can improve on its management of foreign exchange, provide liquidity to the parallel market, get a convergence between the BDC rate and the official rate, also keep these yields where they are, that will help to attract the foreign exchange that we need to stabilize in the short term,” he told Daily Trust.

“While I think the naira is undervalued, certainly if you look at the purchasing power parity, when you look at the nominal exchange rates, when you look at the rate of inflation, it stands to agree that even at 300, the naira will be slightly undervalued.

“Fundamentally, I think the exchange rate is where it’s supposed to be. What is obviously the problem, is not the fundamentals, it is the managing of the regime, so that people will have the confidence that we are indeed having a flexible exchange regime and also that we are closing the gap between the official and the parallel market rates, and that could only happen when we have liquidity within that segment.”

He said the central bank decided not to sell forex to BDCs, adding that the segment of the market where the naira is trading at 470 to 490 is a very shallow segment, which however has impact on the entire market.

“What you said is for N470-N490 to the dollar might be a very small volume in transactions, but it does have the impact of creating the impression that it creates a huge gap.

“So if we could just provide liquidity to that segment and close that gap it will help a lot. But in terms of where the naira is today, there is no need for any further devaluation as far as the fundamentals are concerned but we have to take steps to address confidence.

“We spent one year defending an exchange rate regime that everybody knew would not work. It has been tried by Chavez in Venezuela, tried by Mugabe in Zimbabwe and Rawlings in Ghana.

“It never works so everybody knows it will not work for Nigeria, unless oil prices miraculously rebound. So the real issue is the confidence issue, which is convincing the world that we had an error in the past and it has been corrected now.”

The local currency was trading at 450, 550, and 495 to the dollar, pound and euro, respectively, at the parallel market.

Police Arraign Businessman For Raping Minor

A 40-year-old businessman, Cosmos Ajibo, who allegedly raped a 10-year-old girl, was on Monday charged before a Magistrates’ Court sitting in Kano.
The prosecutor, Insp. Junaidu Aminu, told the court that one Barira Isyaku reported the case to Takai Police Division on Jan. 19.
Aminu said that the accused committed the offence on Jan. 19, at about 5.00p.m in Unguwar Tsamiya Quarters, Takai Local Government.
He said that the accused had dragged the girl to his room when she went to buy biscuit from his shop and “forcefully had unlawful sexual intercourse with the victim, which caused her harm.”

The offence is punishable under Section 283 of the Penal Code.
Ajibo, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge of rape, and his counsel, Mr Casmir Agbueze, applied to the court for bail.
Senior Magistrate Kabiru Abubakar, granted the accused bail in the sum of N300, 000 with one surety in like sum.
He said both the accused and surety shall deposit two recent passport photographs with the court.
The case was adjourned to Oct. 20, for mention.

(NAN)

Man on trial for raping nine boys in Kano

A 28-year-old man, Alhassan Musa, on Wednesday appeared in a Magistrates’ Court sitting at Audu Bako Secretariat, Kano, for allegedly sexually abusing nine under-age boys.

Musa of Gwammaja Layin Jirgi, Kano, was charged with unnatural offence, contrary to Section 284 of the Penal Code.

Prosecutor Suleiman Danladi had told the court that parents of two of the abused minors, Ahmed Musbahu and Fatihu Hibbu, jointly reported the matter on July 24.

Danladi said that on July 18, the accused person lured the nine minors between the ages of 11 and 12 to defile them at separate times.

He said, “Your Worship, from our investigation, the accused lured the minor into his Shop at Gwammaja Layin Jirgi Quarters to have unlawful sex with each of them through their anus.

“He had his way at different occasions to perform the unlawful carnal knowledge of the children by offering them N100.”

The accused person pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The Chief Magistrate, Muhammad Jibril, however, remanded the accused in prison custody, and adjourned the case till Sept. 29 for mention.

(NAN)

(Photos) See Pictures of these Beautiful Ladies from the Northern part of Nigeria

I saw these photos and I said must show them to people. 

There are thousands of beautiful women around the world. Even Chris Brown is aware of this when he dropped the song: Beautiful girls, all over the world. However, Northern Nigeria, as well as all parts of the country, is not excluded.

I accept that most people treat the minor ethnic groups as if they do not exist when they actually do. There are, however, so many beautiful women from that part of Nigeria. These ethnic groups also have a say as they would always be a part of the country.
This post would display the pictures of the beautiful ladies from the northern part of Nigeria. These ladies are basically from Kano and Zaria.

See more photos below: