APC chieftain challenges Governor Matawalle for insisting on negotiation with bandits
By Sani Idris
The Concerned All Progressives Congress (APC) youths of Nigeria, has challenged the governor of Zamfara state, Muhammad Bello, Matawallen Maradun for insisting on negotiation with bandits terrorising the state.
The leader of the forum, Dr. Sulaiman Shinkafi, said in a press briefing on Tuesday in Kaduna that despite the policy of Peace Initiative process in Zamfara state, many communities and villages were still facing attacks on daily Basis.
Faulting Governor Mutawalle's peace initiative, Shinkafi alleged that Matawallen Maradun has ill motives behind Introduction of the Peace Initiative.
"Even America does not negotiate with terrorists, the negotiations initiative brought by Matawalle is not working, he should come out and explain to the people", he said.
Shinkafi however threatened legal action should the Governor fail to State his reason behind the peace Initiative which according to him was a setback.
"We have written an altimatum, giving Matawalle two weeks to bring the issues of insecurity to end or tell the people why he is insisting on negotiations which is not yielding any result or we drag him to ECOWAS court".
Shinkafi further stated that the rumour flying round that Muhammad Bello was going to decamp from PDP to APC, was an idea which would not be welcomed by APC in Zamfara state.
He said if Matawalle should eventually decamp from PDP to APC, he would not be given automatic tickets but must be an ordinary member and work for the party before being considered for any other position.
"if Matawalle decamps to APC, he is not going to be given automatic governorship ticket or will he be given the party chairman in the state, he will be an ordinary member".
"We have seen in Lagos when Ambode was the governor and tinubu was the party chairman, Ambode was denied ticket for second term and it stood firmly, being the governor under the APC does not translate being the party chairman",he said.
"if Matawalle want to defects to APC, then he should resign from his seat", Shinkafi said.
He appealed to the national leadership of the APC to investigate issues of anti-party which they are accusing Sani Yarima of, for appropriate sanctions.
Speaking further, Shinkafi noted that parts of the groups resolutions after their meeting in Porthacourt was the endorsement of Abdulaziz Yari for the national chairman of APC.
According to him, Abdulaziz Yari was the only governor who started from the scratch to top.
"He started from ANPP, CPC to APC and till today, he has never defected or decamped to another party no matter the situation, therefore we are calling on all those aspiring for the position should please back out for Abdulaziz Yari", Shinkafi said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that Zamfara State was one of the State In the Northwest that is heated by the banditry attacks which resulted in claiming the lives and properties of the citizens.(NAN)
Commercial banks in Nigeria suffered CRR debits of N8.3 trillion in the financial year ended December 2020. This represents a 59% increase from the N5.2 trillion debited in 2019.
Nairametrics confirmed this data from the financial statements of all commercial banks listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and excludes banks not listed, suggesting the amount could be closer to N9 trillion. Nigeria’s largest banks “FUGAZ” suffered the most debits with about N5.9 trillion in debits in 2020, over 70% of the total debits. Except for Unity Bank, all the banks have released their full-year earnings for 2020.
CRR Debits deducted from commercial bank deposits in 2020. Source: Nairalytics Research.
Private-sector lending rises
The CRR is an abbreviation for Cash Reserve Ratio and is a monetary policy tool used by the Central Bank of Nigeria to control money supply in the economy. The central bank increased the CRR from 22.5% to 27.5% in January 2020 a decision it explained was because they wanted banks to lend more to the private sector.
The CRR empowers the central bank to sequester up 27.5% of customer deposits held by commercial banks, effectively restricting the banks from accessing the money. The restrictions impact significantly on the ability of some banks to generate interest income reducing the margins that banks can make in a given period.
The CRR debits are derived via a complex calculation involving a balance between a minimum loan to deposit ratio banks are expected to achieve and what they have in their balance sheet as cash deposits.
Banks that fall below the CBN’s loan to deposit ratio requirement of 65% have the full weight of the CRR imposed on them.
Banks have secretly complained bitterly about the level of CRR debits highlighting the effects it has on their bottom line especially Net Interest Margins. The year 2020 was also characterized by lower interest rate environment as banks earned much lower from Treasury Bills and other risk-free government securities.
What they are saying
Despite the claims, Net Interest margins for the commercial banks under review blew past N2 trillion for the first time in 2021 as lower cost of funds helped cushion the effects of lower interest rate environment and limited access to OMO securities. For example, GT Bank remarked in its investor presentation that it was able to mitigate the impact of CRR from sources such as revaluation of its foreign assets.
“CRR increase of 127.4% (₦565.1bn), funded through improved Naira liquidity largely from OMO maturities impaired the Group’s ability to take maximum advantage of opportunities to optimize its earnings potential. The Bank was however able to cushion the impact of CRR on earnings through optimization of its US$ liquidity and Revaluation Gains. The Bank benefitted from the US$1.15bn long position owing to devaluation of Naira against US$.” GTB
Zenith Bank also confirmed the impact of lower yield environment on their net interest margin in 2020 when they released their 2020 full year results.
“This retail drive, coupled with the low-interest yield environment helped reduce our cost of funding from 3.0% to 2.1% and also reduced our interest expense. However, the low-interest environment also affected net interest margin, which declined from 8.2% to 7.9% in the current year due to the re-pricing of interest-bearing assets.”Zenith Bank
One of the reasons cited by the CBN for introducing this policy in 2019 was to reduce the amount of customer deposits commercial banks were channeling into treasury bills as against lending to the private sector. Since its introduction, lending to the private sector has increased to N30.6 trillion from N26 trillion, data from the CBN’s monetary credit stats reveal.
Another reason cited by experts as an impetus for the CRR is the CBN’s capital control strategy where it limits the amount of naira available for banks to engage in illegal forex roundtripping by arbitraging from the disparity between the parallel market rates and the official rates.
Despite the CBN’s official claims that the CRR is required to help stimulate lending to the private sector, critics believe there is more to it.
In conversation with Nairametrics, Critics of the central bank’s CRR Policy who prefer to remain anonymous suggest some of the CRR debited from the banks are used to fund the Federal Government’s revenue shortfalls via the controversial Ways and Means provision of the apex bank. According to the CBN over N10 trillion has been extended to the Federal Government via Ways and Means since 2019, the highest on record.
To repay the money, the CBN in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance announced the introduction of “Special Bills” a fixed income security that offers commercial banks a window to earn an income on their balances held by the CBN. Some of the features of the Special Bills include the following;
It has a Tenor of 90 days
It comes with Zero coupon, as the applicable yield at issuance will be determined by the CBN.
The instrument will be tradable amongst banks, retail and institutional investors.
The instrument shall not be accepted for repurchase agreement transactions with the CBN and shall not be discountable at the CBN window.
The instrument will qualify as liquid assets in the computation of liquidity ratio for deposit money banks.
Data from the FMDQ OTC reveals Special Bills maturing in 52 days are currently trading at a yield of 5.43% as of Friday.
Nairametrics is Nigeria's top business news and financial analysis website. We focus on providing resources that help small businesses and retail investors make better investing decisions. Nairametrics is updated daily by a team of professionals. Post updated as "Nairametrics" are published by our Editorial Board.
Elon Musk has witnessed an eventful past three days as his wealth leapt from $175 billion (as of last week Saturday) to $194 billion this morning.
The eccentric businessman has now closed the gap between himself and Jeff Bezos to just about $4bn according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Nairametrics is quickly going to highlight the reasons for the recent massive surge of dollars for Elon Musk.
Tesla share price increase
According to Market Watch, Tesla stocks ended yesterday at their highest value in 8 weeks. The electric car company stock price increased by 8.6% and sold at $762.32.
According to Motley Fool, the reason for this increase is a generally upbeat mood in the market about growth stocks. It also believed the increase was driven by optimistic comments about Tesla stocks by trusted analysts.
A surge in Tesla car sales
According to Nairametrics finance department, Tesla delivery of new cars in the last 3 months of the year exceeded Wall Street expectations. Tesla delivered 184,800 new cars from January to March. This number exceeded Wall Street expectations pegged at 177,000 cars.
What you should know
Jeff Bezos only gained $1bn in the last 3 days, the same duration of days Elon Musk gained $19bn according to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s index.
Tesla is currently being portrayed and compared to Apple. The EV carmakers are modelling their vehicles and branding them to fit the “Apple of electric cars” persona. This was made public by Canaccord Genuity analyst Jed Dorsheimer. This also played a role in the surge of stock prices.
Tesla is currently the most valuable car company in the world with a market capitalization of $593.8 billion according to Yahoo Finance.
Traditional banks have been facing stiff competition from fast-rising digital banks. These digital banks emerged with higher consumer demand and have offered a more convenient full-banking experience to their users including higher interest rates on savings thereby attracting more people to adopt their services.
This has caused some traditional banks like Wema Bank and Sterling Bank to adopt this trend and also develop their own digital banking platforms.
Here is a list of the top digital banking apps in Nigeria.
Vbank
VFD Microfinance Bank is a fully digital bank that offers a wide range of financial products and services to professionals and entrepreneurs across all sectors. The digital bank has over 100,000 downloads on Playstore. They offer zero charges on transactions. Free account maintenance, monthly interest on savings, swift and secure transfers, withdrawals, and bill payments.
Pros
Instant account opening without any paperwork.
Fingerprint authorization: Login with your fingerprint and authorize transactions using your 4-digit PIN.
Good customer service.
Set up and track your spend budgets.
Order debit cards from the apps.
USSD banking service available.
Easy bill payments on the app.
Target savings with 8% interest rate.
User complaints
New update causes app to crash.
Upgrading KYC takes relatively longer.
Kuda bank
Kuda Bank is a free, digital-only bank with a microfinance banking license from the Central Bank of Nigeria. The bank includes tools for tracking your spending habits, saving more, and making the right money moves. They don’t charge card maintenance or account maintenance fees. Kuda has 1M+ downloads on Playstore. Its customers get 25 free transfers to other banks every month.
Pros
Free debit cards.
Good user experience.
Free withdrawals at over 3,000 ATMs across Nigeria.
15% annual interest rates on savings.
No paperwork involved when signing up.
Automatic budgeting tools for easier money management.
User complaints
Cards often take a long time to arrive.
No SMS notification when you get credited.
No USSD code option for transactions.
Identity verification takes time.
AlatbyWema
ALAT is Nigeria’s first fully digital bank, designed to help you do more with your money. Alat is owned by Wema bank. Just like every other digital bank, there is no need to visit a bank to open an account. Alat has over 500,000 downloads on Playstore.
Pros
Free bank card delivery anywhere in Nigeria.
A Virtual Dollar Card for online payments.
Bill payments option.
Collateral-free loans are available.
Save easily with automated goal saving.
User complaints
The virtual card does not yet work.
Delay in physical card delivery.
Sparkle
Sparkle is a lifestyle and finance app. It is a digital ecosystem providing financial, lifestyle, and business support services to Nigerians around the world. Licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sparkle is all about helping people achieve what they want, whether it’s entertainment, education, saving, or investing in the future. Sparkle has over 100,000+ downloads on the play store.
Pros
Create an account with just your Bank Verification Number (BVN), email address and phone number.
If you ever lose or misplace your card, you can freeze and unfreeze it in the Sparkle app.
Save using Sparkle Stash for different goals at the same time.
Percentage savings where you determine what percentage of your account balance will be going to your savings every day, week or month!
Get real-time instant notifications for your transactions.
Bill payments; Pay your bills whenever you want, wherever you are.
Split bills with friends and family on the app.
Physical and virtual cards available.
User complaints
New update causes the app to crash.
Reversal on failed transaction takes time.
Cards can’t be used for international transactions.
Poor customer service.
Mint App
MyMintApp is a self-service platform developed for customers to carry out a range of digital and mobile banking transactions on their accounts. It offers customers benefits such as convenience, speed, online real-time access, the security of transactions and options to initiate basic service requests without having to physically visit the bank.
MyMintApp also offers different banking services such as SME Banking, Personal Banking, Corporate Banking, Internet Banking (Electronic Banking), Current Account Opening, Savings Account Opening, Business Services, Loans, e-Business Solutions, Personalized Money Tracking and Card Solutions, etc. Mint has over 10,000+ downloads on Playstore.
Pros
Good customer service.
Seamless account funding via Paystack or directly from your existing bank account.
Different saving goals with competitive interest rates to help you save for a targeted purpose.
Money Manager to help you tag your expenses according to the most common categories, and see real views of how and where you spend monthly.
Zero transaction fees on bill payments.
User complaints
No bonus when you refer someone to the app.
The selfie verification process takes time.
Onebank
Onebank brings a whole new financial and non-financial experience to the digital space. This application comes with sophisticated features and an impeccable user experience. It is highly secure, convenient, and easy to use. Onebank also offers payments, lending, investment, advisory, informational, and lifestyle services which brings that intuitive banking experience on your mobile. Onebank is owned by Sterling Bank
Pros
Create a wallet account instantly with your mobile number.
Biometric authentication.
Instantly create your virtual card for online shopping and decide the card’s usage and expiry.
Investments; enjoy up to 100% returns on Naira and Dollar investments.
Quick loans of up to N5 million in 5 minutes.
Receive money from Onebank user via QR code scan.
Pay for airline tickets, cable & internet subscription directly on the app.
Cardless withdrawals are available.
User complaints
Prone to error when you try to sign in.
Bad user experience.
Transaction history only shows debits and not credit transaction.
Failed transactions take time to be reversed.
Difficulty when you try to switch devices.
Rubies
Rubies is a digital bank that disrupts regular banking by providing 100% digital top-notch services and technology at its peak. With Rubies, you can decide what your account number looks like. Rubies give you the financial freedom to do more than just banking and the app has garnered over 100,000 downloads on Playstore.
Pros
No maintenance fees.
Free Debit Cards: Also comes with an option of free delivery.
Independent Banker: Refer people and earn every time they transact on Rubies.
Customizable Account: Decide what your Account Number looks like.
Proximity Transfer: Transfer money easily to friends on Rubies around you with a single tap.
Open Account: Get an account on the fly, from anywhere (App, Website).
Request Money: Request funds from friends on Rubies with a single button.
User complaints
Verification process takes time.
BVN verification unstable.
App downtime takes more than 24 hours to resolve.
Difficulties upgrading account.
Why this matters
With the increasing number of digital banks and fintech startups, the competition for acquiring and retaining new and old customers is getting stiffer. More traditional banks will need to adopt digital banking to stay competitive.
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