Biafra embassy in Spain

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has said that the reason it chose to open a first substantive mission, which it termed embassy in Vitoria Spain, was due to of the country’s rich knowledge and history of fighting for freedom.

The group noted that it chose a country like the Basque region because they would not betray Biafra like others did in the past.

Head, Directorate of State (DOS) of IPOB Mr. Uchenna Asiegbu said that the group took certain things into consideration in setting up mission based on their core values, respect and protection of freedom and was guided by the history due to bitter lessons learnt in the struggle for Biafra.

Recently, a video of the Biafra embassy in Spain was posted on Facebook. The group is seeking an independent state for the southeast and adjoining areas.

In the video, Uchenna Asiegbu, is seen taking a guest on a tour of the facility.

Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the group and director of Radio Biafra, has been facing charges of treason, and has been in detention since 2015. Kanu, who is regarded as the President of the “Republic of Biafra”, initiated the idea of planting “embassies” across the world.

The late Odimegwu Ojukwu, a retired army officer and revered Igbo leader, declared the old eastern region, comprising the southeast and the south south, the Republic of Biafra in May 1967 after a massacre of the Igbo in the north.

The Nigeria government under Gen. Yakubu Gowon thereafter declared war on the new republic, which fell in January 1970 when Biafran forces surrendered.

According to Asiegbu, “At IPOB, we are very methodical and cautious in all we do because we are guided by our history. We must not forget the bitter lessons of the past because Biafra, despite being a predominantly Christian enclave, was abandoned by almost every major Christian country in the world.

“They preferred to work with Islamic Northern Nigeria to entrench caliphate hegemony. This is a bitter lesson that will always guide our activities going forward. It is inconceivable that Saudi Arabia will support a set of Christians against Muslims regardless of the circumstance.

“Our Mission in Spain was opened in 2014 by our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu with members of the Directorate of State from all over the world present. It’s primary purpose is to serve as the world administrative headquarters of IPOB.

“As you know IPOB is the largest movement of its kind anywhere in the world today, therefore we have our leadership scattered across every continent. Having our administrative head office in a place like the Basque country is also logistically sensible.”

While speaking on plans to open new embassies in some other major countries, the Biafra Director said “It is on record that the Government of Spain has given us permission to kick-start our global Biafra Genocide Awareness exhibition in Vitoria Basque country, Spain. Their police will be there to protect us, and their media to report the event.

“We can also confirm that the Indian Government has giving us approval to open another mission in the subcontinent. Our strategy of quiet expansionism will take us to every part of the world. As soon as preparations are finalised, we shall invite world media to attend the opening, if they can overcome their bias by then.

“As you know, British hostility towards Biafra is well documented but we are encouraged by the fact that our broadcasting studios are still stationed in London where we have not encountered any difficulties till date. We hope to open a regional office there in the not too distant future.

“United States is key in our determination to be located in every country of the world to counter the lies of the Nigerian government. One of the areas we failed during the war of 1967-70 is that we lacked adequate presence abroad. Having identified this need, our leader quickly put in place a mechanism for the establishment of missions and offices around the world.

“We have a small office in Inglewood area of Los Angeles California which we hope to expand in the near future. Very soon we will announce the opening of our main office of the head of mission in Washington United States. All hands are on deck to achieve this.

“We evaluate the criteria of opening an embassy in a country based on their core values, respect and protection of freedom. How they view the issue of the rights of Indigenous people is also a determining factor.”

Naira Extends Gains on Parallel Market, Now N480/$

The naira continued on its four-day winning streak against the U.S. dollar on the parallel market yesterday to close at N480/$, stronger than the N501 to the dollar from the previous day, as the new foreign exchange policy actions introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) forced more currency speculators to sell off the greenback as sell rates fell as low as N460/$.

The buy rate of the dollar also strengthened yesterday to close N470/$, as against the N490/$1 at which it closed on Wednesday.

In all, the naira has appreciated by N39 since Monday when the new FX actions were announced by the regulator.

Also, as part of efforts to sustain dollar liquidity in the market and bridge the gap between the interbank FX and parallel markets, it was gathered that the central bank auctioned another $230 million through forward contracts on the interbank FX market yesterday.

It auctioned $370 million on Tuesday and sold $1.5 million on the spot market.

Commenting on the new FX measures, analysts at Cowry Assets Management Limited said the move by the CBN to increase FX availability to end users has been helped by the recent buildup of Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves amid increased crude oil revenues.

“Given the improvement in the external sector, we anticipate that the new measures could pave the way for a gradual return of confidence in the foreign exchange market.

“We also expect the monetary authority to do more to harmonise the exchange rates and thereby discourage arbitraging,” they added.

In the same vein, Ecobank Nigeria noted that the new policy actions would also help to reinvigorate the hitherto illiquid interbank FX market.

According to Ecobank, the decision to cap the settled rate for the retail transactions at 20 per cent above the interbank market rate and the restriction of school fees to university education only was a subtle way of partly controlling bank charges and manage likely FX demand pressure in the market.

The bank added: “Over all, the impact of the circular could be short-lived, if the CBN does not show strong capacity to support the FX market with liquidity.”

Also, Cyprus-based FXTM Research Analyst, Lukman Otunuga noted that with dollar demand for school fees payments overseas and personal travel allowance enforcing downside pressures on the parallel market, the move by the CBN to sell dollars to retail users via commercial lenders was logical.

“While the policy may create some transparency, liquidity and efficiency in the Nigerian FX markets, this does not solve the overriding problem of multiple exchanges.

“Eventually, the CBN may be forced to bridge the disparity between the official and parallel markets which have added to Nigeria’s woes.

“With expectations heightened over the central bank devaluing the local currency in an effort to create liquidity and stability, this new policy could be viewed as the first course.

“It must also be kept in mind that the inexhaustible demand for the dollar, that is not the legal tender in Nigeria, continues to leave the naira vulnerable to heavy losses,” he added.

Financial Derivatives Company (FDC) Limited also warned in a note that “Nigerians must remember that this recovery is only as good as the supply remaining consistent”.

“The good news is that oil is currently trading at $57pb. If sustained, this will provide the buffer needed to support the CBN’s policy directive of substantial weekly dollar injections into the market,” FDC said.

Meanwhile, the Special Adviser to the CBN governor, Financial Markets, Mr. Emmanuel Ukeje has said manufacturers could end up benefiting from other funding sources provided by the central bank that may exceed the 60 per cent preferential FX allocation to them, which was stopped last Monday when the new FX policy actions were announced.

Ukeje’s assurance to the manufacturing sector came against the backdrop of complaints by industries.

He said contrary to speculations that the CBN may have relegated the manufacturing sector, the central bank still holds the sector in high esteem.

Speaking on Arise News Network, the broadcast arm of THISDAY Newspapers, he said the CBN has developed a strategy of ensuring that funding gets to the manufacturing sector.

“There are other avenues that they will end up benefiting more than the 60 per cent they were getting from those allocations,” he said.

According to him, “Even though manufacturers were given that preference in the past, manufacturers under any condition are still part and parcel of bank customers.

“And that’s what the CBN is going to fall back on, as we feed other sectors for other people to access the funds. The manufacturing sector actually will benefit from other interventions by the CBN because we also hold this particular sector in very high esteem.

“We know the role they are supposed to play in terms of contributing to the economic development of the country.”

Despite its decision to stop the preferential treatment, which required banks to allocate 60 per cent of FX purchases from all sources to specific sectors of the economy, the central bank had maintained that the provision of FX to the manufacturing sector would remain its strong priority.

But since the announcement, there have been diverse interpretations of the central bank’s pronouncement, with some manufacturers raising concern.

Woman gives birth in Lagos commercial bus

It was jubilation, Tuesday, at Sabo area of Ikorodu, a suburb of Lagos, when a woman gave birth to baby girl inside a commercial bus. The woman, who reportedly boarded the bus at Ijede, could not alight at the Sabo Bus Stop, as other passengers did, making the bus driver and his conductor suspicious. An eyewitness said in the usual manner in Lagos, the conductor started yelling at the woman to get down from the bus, but she could not utter a word as she had fallen into labour. It was said that the conductor, seeing that the woman was in labour, raised the alarm. But those around took to their heels, thinking a fight had started between the conductor and miscreants. The mother and her child at the health centre. The eyewitness added that when the shout for help persisted, some officials of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, and other sympathisers moved closer, only to discover that the woman was in labour. They rendered necessary assistance and the woman delivered a baby girl few minutes after. Both the woman and her newborn were taken to the Health Centre, Ita-Elewa for medical attention, while her personal effects were kept in the custody of one of the sympathisers. Fortunately for the woman, one of the good Samaritans was able to identify her and a message was sent to her husband, who also rushed to the scene. LASTMA officials and other sympathizers, who visited the health centre to catch a glimpse of the baby, were to said to have provided the items used for the deliveries. A volunteer Traffic Mayor, popularly called Baba Isale Eko, who was also at the scene, said the delivery was easier compared with that of some women.

Coutinho crowned Best Brazilian footballer in Europe ahead of Neymar

Liverpool playmaker, Philippe Coutinho, has been announced as the winner of the Samba Gold award.

The 24-year-old won the prize ahead of Barcelona forward, Neymar Jnr.

Coutinho enjoyed a brilliant 2016, where he struck 18 goals for club and country.

“It means a lot. I’m very happy to know that this past year I have been recognised by many people. It was an important year for me and I’m very happy to win this award,” he said after picking up his award.

“It was a good year. As a team, we played very well and we managed to get to two finals.

“Unfortunately, we did not win the finals win, we lost. That was a very difficult time for us to deal with the defeat [to Sevilla] but this certainly made the group stronger.

“We started the season very well, at a high level. We all played very well, so, of course, 2016 was a good year. In the end I got injured, I missed a few games at the end of the year, but it was a positive year.”

JAMB affirms exam will hold May, prosecutes fake form sellers

Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, on Thursday restated that the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) will hold in May.

He also disclosed that five persons have been sentenced to various prison terms for selling fake forms to candidates.

Oloyede, who spoke at the 2017 Nigerian Academy of Letters Annual Lecture explained that there was delay in the sales of the forms due to logistics.

He said the board would begin sales of forms once the board had finished sanitizing the system.

Oloyede said: “We have observed that people are selling fake forms but what we are doing is to try to sanitize the system and as soon as the sanitization is done we will start selling the forms.

“We have arrested so many people in Abuja, Abeokuta, Ado Ekiti, Port Harcourt, Yenegoa, almost everywhere. You know bad people are evenly distributed in Nigeria.

“We are prosecuting and some are in courts and in the last three months we have secured about five convictions. People who are sentenced; some to imprisonment, some to fine but what is important is that they will now know is not going to be business as usual.                                                            “We need to reassure stakeholders that those selling fake forms are gone. We are not going to sell out forms through the other process.

“We will start the sale of the form and by May the examination will be conducted.”