The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has placed international schools charging tuition in dollars and other foreign currencies under surveillance as part of measures to reduce the pressure on the naira.

The Head, Media and Publicity, EFCC, Dele Oyewale, confirmed the development to one of our correspondents on Thursday,  and said the agency would clamp down on schools and other organisations charging foreign currencies.

He reiterated that it was illegal for schools, hotels and firms operating in the country to charge for services in foreign currencies.

He explained that the 7,000-man special task force on dollar racketeers operating across the EFCC zonal commands was monitoring the schools and other organisations that might be involved in the illegality.

In a move to curb the free fall of the naira against the greenback, the ant-graft agency in February summoned the proprietors of private universities and other schools charging tuition in dollars.

The task force also conducted several raids in Abuja, arresting currency traders suspected to be speculating against the naira.

Worried by the depreciation of the national currency, the Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, had met with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Yemi Cardoso and the EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, to proffer solutions to the naira crisis.

Speaking on Thursday, in response to questions about the agency’s efforts to address forex racketeering and stabilise the naira, the EFCC spokesman, Oyewale, said the task force was set up ‘’to ensure that those breaking the rules find their way back to the right path so that the wrath of the law will not be on them.’’

Oyewale said it was illegal for any business operating in the country to charge for its services in foreign denominations apart from the naira, vowing sanctions for any breach of the law.

He stated, “The task force is not just to monitor naira abuse alone but for the whole economy. So, the EFCC is working to ensure that those breaking the rules find their way back to the right path so that the wrath of the law will not be on them.

“Yes, everyone knows that it is illegal to charge in other denominations apart from the naira. Whether in Chinese or American currency, any transaction that is not denominated in naira in Nigeria, the EFCC is against it.

“So, the task force is in place to check that and Nigerians should be happy about that. It is not just schools, hotels but other entities across the country that are doing this must come back to the naira as our legal tender.’’

He added, “Naira is the symbol of our economy and everything that has to do with the economy in Nigeria must be done in naira.’’

Asked if the schools, hotels and other businesses under watch would be punished if caught violating the law, Oyewale responded, ‘’Certainly, they are aware that we are watching them.’’

The National Union of Teachers declared its support for the EFCC over the move to sanction erring international schools charging in dollars.

• NUT Backs EFCC

The NUT President, Titus Amba, made this known in an interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja.

He said, “Though I am not meant to speak on this because these schools are private schools. However, it is necessary to note that this is Nigeria and if you are going to charge for services, it should be in the national currency which is naira.

“So, we support the EFCC on its mission. Acts like these are sabotaging the economy so we support the EFCC and the Federal Government wholeheartedly.”

The Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative and Advocacy Centre, Auwal Rafsanjani, urged the government to review its memorandum of understanding with foreign schools and other businesses demanding payment in foreign currencies, noting that the economy was suffering on account of this.

“This cannot happen in the UK, it cannot happen in America, it cannot happen in any serious country. And that is why the economy is suffering because they have destroyed the value of the naira.

“So, we commend EFCC for rising to at least bring this issue to the public, because in the Memorandum of Understanding that they signed with the Nigerian government, there is nowhere the government permitted them to be charging in dollars. If there is anything like that, then we will need to seek reversal of that,” he said.

The group further asked the government to monitor the operations of all businesses demanding payment in foreign currencies.

Rafsanjani noted, ‘’Not only the foreign schools but even hospitals and real estate. Let the government review all those things, and if there were any fraudulent insertion of payment in dollars, the government should stop that as part of measures to revitalise the economy and our currency.”

Also weighing in on the matter, the National Coordinator of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, Emmanuel Onwubiko, stated that payment of dollars to foreign-owned institutions was unlawful, urging the EFCC and other relevant agencies to take action against the concerned organisations.

He said,  “The currency that we use in Nigeria is the naira, and there is no reason why any private institution or any service provider should charge their customers in a foreign-denominated currency because that is unlawful.

“That being the case, the relevant law enforcement authority is supposed to act decisively to ensure that this kind of illegality is brought to an end. It’s not something that should be allowed because it also affects the naira, it makes the naira to become somehow worthless.’’

Onwubiku challenged the EFCC, CBN and other agencies ‘’to wake up to save the naira from collapsing. ‘’

“It’s not something that the government should just sit down and watch, they should make sure that the naira gains its respectability in the comity of nations,” he insisted.

The Executive Director, the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy, Chido Onumah, on his part, said the situation was a pointer to the lack of a regulatory system to check the activities of foreign schools.

The situation, he said, has also placed a burden on the public school system, urging the government to reinvest in public schools.

The president of the Parent-Teacher Association of Nigeria, Haruna Danjuma, explained that the EFFC had the right to decide on such schools.

He said, “I understand these schools are set up for commercial purposes, they are not public schools. As PTA, we have not received any complaint from any parent from any of such schools that they are being charged in dollars. But is the Federal Ministry of Education not aware of all these? Is it okay with them? Will they say they know nothing about it? If EFCC wants to pick them up now, no problem they should do so. We represent public schools.”

Credit: The Punch

• IPMAN begs NMDPRA, NNPC not to delist operators from sales portal to avert fuel crisis.
• Queues persist as more filling stations open for sale, pump price drops marginally.

Over 9,000 oil marketers are on the verge of losing their operating licences as Nigerians battle fuel scarcity.

As a result, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria is urging the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to extend its final deadline for licensing renewal to July.

It also appealed to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority to release 9,000 already processed licences to its members.

The association made the request known in a release signed by the National Public Relations Officer, Chief Chinedu Ukadike, on Thursday in Abuja.

Recall that IPMAN in a statement on Sunday lamented the slow pace of marketers’ licence renewal by the NMDPRA.

The NNPCL had placed a deadline of April 15, 2024, for marketers to renew their licences or risk closure to access their customer express portals for the purchase of petroleum products from NNPC Retail Limited.

But IPMAN requested an extension, saying the extension would enable marketers to reconcile their licenses and reduce panic buying by members of the public aggravating the present scarcity of petroleum products.

The statement read, “The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria are abreast with current developments in the downstream sector of our petroleum industry and wish to state that the latest information reaching us from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority states that they have already processed more than 9,000 out of the 15,000 licenses they are expected to process for our members within this period.

“Marketers are fast-tracking the processing of their licenses to avoid the impending closure of their customer express portals for purchase of petroleum products from NNPC Retail Limited.

“We, therefore, use this opportunity to appeal to the management of the NMDPRA and NNPC Retail Limited to respectively release the processed licenses and extend the deadline for delisting of marketers from their express portals. If our request is granted, it will ease the tension of panic buying by members of the public in order not to aggravate the present scarcity of petroleum products.”

Giving further clarity in a telephone interview, Ukadike said, “The release is to appeal to the NNPCL and NMPDRA to please extend the final deadline to July so that it would enable them to reconcile the licences so that they will not be unduly shut out off the portal and that is IPMAN appeal.”

Recall that IPMAN had on Tuesday declared that it would shut down the 30,000 stations operated by IPMAN members across the country if the Federal Government failed to pay the N200bn that was being owed marketers.

IPMAN specifically said the NMDPRA had refused to clear the debt, which had continued to accrue since September 2022.

It disclosed this in a communique issued in Abuja by the Chairman of IPMAN Depot Chairmen Forum, Yahaya Alhassan, over the non-payment of marketers’ bridging claims.

• Fuel Scarcity Lingers

In their quest to buy the currently scarce Premium Motor Spirit, commercial drivers in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State have started keeping vigil at fuel stations.

The Federal Government on Wednesday said it had begun a 15-day emergency fuel supply to ensure the commodity circulates across the length and breadth of the country to immediately cushion the scarcity.

The government also disclosed that vessels importing Premium Motor Spirit would continue to berth at the shore to discharge petrol to different depots, from where the product would be distributed to different filling stations.

But despite these promises, the product is yet to be available to residents as commercial drivers now keep vigil at filling stations in Abeokuta, Lagos, Oyo and others.

Commercial drivers have raised transport fares as the majority of them now patronise black marketers who sell a litre of petrol at N1,200 per litre or more.

A commercial driver, Adio Adegoke, at Slaab filling station in Abeokuta, said that he had slept in his taxi in an attempt to buy fuel.

“I had to park my car here since 7:30 pm yesterday when my tank went empty. I slept at Divine Pax Oil and Gas filling station,” he said.

Also, a mechanic, Lekan Ade, corroborated the claims of the taxi driver stating, “I just bought it there this afternoon for one of my customers, they are still selling it as we speak at the rate of N950 per litre.”

It was gathered that a fuel station, aside from being written on their metre, an attendant was also seen warning motorists to go if they could not buy the product at that rate.

Another driver, Adeoluwa Onasanya, told one of our correspondents that many slept at the filling station before they could get the product.

It was observed that the persistent fuel scarcity seems to be a huge source of income for black marketers, as young boys and girls were sighted by the roadside in Lekki, Ajah and other parts of Lagos advertising fuel in jerry cans.

It was also observed that along the Egbeda-Idimu-Ikotun axis of Lagos, the black marketers sold five litres of the product for N6,000.

A young man who gave his name as Mr John said, “How many litres do you want? We sell 5 litres here for N6,000. At the fuel station, they sell a litre for N1,200, we have to bribe the fuel station to be able to get the product, I can give you any amount of litre that you want,” he boasted.

Long queue of vehicles were observed at the NNPC filling station along the Cele Expressway which was selling at N568/litre, while the AP filling station at Barracks Bustop was selling fuel at N700/litre with a long queue of motorists scrambling to buy fuel.

As the queues refuse to ease off at the filling stations despite the promises from the government, Nigerians are worried that the fuel crisis might degenerate into loss of sources of income.

Credit: The Punch

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum says it is yet to conclude work on what the states can sustainably pay.

Chairman of the Governor’s forum, governor Abdukrazaq of Kwara State, noted that as members of the 37-member tripartite committee for the national minimum wage which is yet to conclude its work, “the governors are reviewing their fiscal space to see the consequential impact of the various recommendations.”

“While we acknowledge various initiatives adopted of recent by way of wage awards and partial wage adjustments, it is imperative to state that the 37-member tripartite committee inaugurated on the national minimum wage, is still in consultation and yet to conclude its work.

“As members of the committee, we are reviewing our individual fiscal space as state governments and the consequential impact of various recommendations, to arrive at an improved minimum wage we can pay sustainably,” the statement read in part.

However, the governors said they remain committed to the process and promised that better wages will be the invariable outcome of ongoing negotiations.

“We remain committed to the process and promise that better wages will be the invariable outcome of ongoing negotiations”.

Meanwhile, organised labour has submitted a proposal of N615,000 monthly minimum wage for workers, urging the federal government to approve same.