Heritage Bank sacks 400 workers

HERITAGE BANK NIGERIA

Less than four months after Heritage Bank had denied suffering mass withdrawal of customers’ deposits, the bank has embarked on mass sack of staff.
Reports indicate that at least 400 of its workforce have been laid off within January 2017.
The bank is still smarting from a series of crises, including a query by the Nigerian Stock Exchange over share-related issues and alleged loss of investment revenue from a business partnership with a consortium of enterprises on an agric-related business.
Reports in September 2016 said the bank’s involvement in the deal stood at about $150 million.
But a representive of the workers union, Kayide Adewusi, in a phone chat confirmed that some names of staff to be sacked were compiled from various branches.

He also alleged that there were cases of witch hunting as some of those affected had clean records.
A detail of the list showed that two management staff and five branch mangers would be involved.
“I can assure that we are going to fight this because most of the names are from Enterprise Bank staff, which Heritage Bank acquired in 2014. We won’t allow this to be,” the union leader stated.
When contacted, the bank’s Head of Corporate Communications, Mr. Fela Ibidapo, said there were some exaggeration in the figures being bandied about.
“It is not only banking institutions that are retrenching staff, other organisatuons have been on it. So Heritage Bank should not be blackmailed,” Ibidapo said.

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SHOCKING AS govt warns Nigerians Stay away from Bitcoin, Swisscoin, others,

cryptocurrencies

Nigeria’s apex capital market regulator, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has warned Nigerians against investing in digital currencies, otherwise known as crypto currencies.
In a circular issued at the weekend, SEC stated that crypto currencies such as Swisscoin, OneCoin, Bitcoin and such other virtual or digital currencies and their promoters have no legal standing in Nigeria to provide comfort for any investor.
The Commission stated that none of the persons, companies or entities promoting crypto currencies has been recognized or authorized by it or by other regulatory agencies in Nigeria to receive deposits from the public or to provide any investment or other financial services in or from Nigeria.

According to the Commission, the public should also be aware that any investment opportunities promoted by these persons, companies or entities are likely to be of a risky nature with a high risk of loss of money, whilst others may be outright fraudulent pyramid schemes.
“Given that these instruments and the persons, companies or entities that promote them have neither been authorised, nor any guidelines and regulations developed for them by any of the regulatory authorities in Nigeria, there is no protection available to users or investors in these virtual currencies from financial losses if the virtual currencies fail or the companies promoting them go out of business,” SEC stated.
The Commission urged the public and consumers of financial services to ascertain that the entity with whom the investment or transaction is being made is authorized by the Commission or other financial services regulatory authority as applicable to provide such services before making any financial commitment.

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We’re Missing Nigerians – Dubai Luxury Shops Cries Out

Dubai luxury shops are feeling the absence of Nigerians who have been kept away from their usual travels to Asia’s shopping capital by a weaker naira and higher airfares, a report by Business Day has revealed.

Nigerians who typically buy huge volumes of luxury goods such as gold and assorted jewellery and wristwatches as well as clothes, fabrics, shoes, other accessories and electronics, are cutting down on their expenses as a result of the economic downturn, dollar scarcity and high air fares.

“Before now, purchases from Nigerians made up about 18 percent of our market share, but it has dropped to about eight percent this year. I tell you the truth; we miss Nigerians here, and we hope things get better so that they can shop again as they used to,” Bilal Chaouch, sales manager, Paul Smith, a unisex luxury fashion clothing outfit told BusinessDay in Dubai.

Johanna Pascual, sales manager, Accessorize, a luxury accessory shop in Dubai also said she is missing the patronage from Nigerians. Pascual explained that Nigerians often bought accessories in large quantities, but there has been a sharp drop in sales of accessories this year because only few Nigerians have been visiting recently and those who do not buy as much as they used to.

“I always believed Nigerians were very rich people because when they came to buy gold, they always bought in large quantities and paid immediately. But that has changed now. We have not sold as much as we sold accessories by this time last year,” Pascual disclosed.

Gilbert, a sales representative of Timex, a wristwatch brand at the Dubai shopping mall, said he had observed a sharp drop in demand from Nigerians for luxury brands.

The Dubai attraction has lost its shine as Nigerians now struggle at the airports to get dollars to travel unlike before when they could easily travel with the cards and shop in over 200 countries around the world.

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Naira hits new record low as CBN issues new directives on domiciliary accounts - Read this

As Naira came under fresh pressures in the parallel market Wednesday, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, issued more directives restricting usage of domiciliary accounts by bank customers, apparently to stem the pressures and improve the official supply of foreign exchange to the interbank market.

As a result of the pressure, Naira crashed to between N460 and N465/ USD1, against the opening rate of N445/USD1 in the parallel market segment, though the interbank rate depreciated just marginally to N312.9/ USD1, against N310 earlier in the week.

Currency dealers at both segments of the market attributed the renewed pressure on rates to a worsening supply gap at all the segments, even as CBN’s intervention, according to them, has become too thin to assuage the huge demand.

One of the dealers in a commercial bank said:

 “CBN may have started finding it difficult to intervene with significant supply of foreign currency to the interbank market.“On the other hand we have been having increased demand from our customers but we are unable to source their requirements for some weeks now.”

Against the backdrop of the huge supply and demand gap, CBN appeared to have renewed its restriction measures on access and usage of independent foreign exchange resources.

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Yesterday, some bank customers said they had received messages from their banks warning them to desist from using foreign exchange inflows in their domiciliary accounts for trading purposes.

The directives, according to a source in a bank, came against the emergence of a thriving currency trade by some individuals with their domiciliary accounts.

An e-mail from one of the banks stated that CBN had mandated that all customers of financial institutions were expected to utilize their accounts within regulatory guidelines.

According to the e-mail, the guidelines stated:“All customers of financial institutions are expected to only use their accounts for their direct personal/company related transactions.“No customer of any financial institution is permitted to engage in any activity that could be perceived as international money remittance service (IMTO) or bureau de change (BDC) activities without the express approval of the CBN.“Any customer who fails to adhere to these guidelines runs the risk of being reported not only to the CBN but subsequently to the security agencies.’’

The bank, in the same e-mail, encouraged customers to be mindful of these directives when using their bank accounts, adding that it would continue to provide updates regarding the proper use of domiciliary bank accounts.

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Naira drops further against dollar

The Naira on Sunday, the 25th day of September, 2016depreciated further against the dollar on the parallel market.

The currency exchanged for 440 Naira per dollar on Sunday.

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The latest declines in the naira value started on Wednesday, a day after the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee retained the benchmark lending rate at 14 percent.

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Airtel Nigeria introduces 1.5GB for N50 data plan

The smartphone network, Airtel Nigeria, has introduced a new set of data plans which is tailored towards heavy downloaders like me.

The unlimited night browsing plan has been modified from an hourly plan to a limited data plan. It now offers an impressive 1.5GB for N50 and 500MB for N25. Each plan lasts from 12am to 5am.

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Interested users can dial *312# to subscribe. Subscribers also have to be on Airtel Trybe Tariff plan to be eligible for the plan.

Let the night downloading begin...

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MTN Nigeria set to deploy 4G LTE internet

MTN pays the first instalment of fine: MTN Nigeria has paid N30 billion to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), its first payment towards the settlement of  N330 billion fine, MTN Nigeria CEO Ferdi Moolman said on Wednesday. The total fine equates $1.7 billion.

In October last year, the company was fined $5.2 billion which was subsequently reduced .The fine is for missing a deadline to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered subscribers.

Moolman said the payment was in addition to a payment of N50 billion ($250m) made in “good faith” in February. This means MTN has to date paid N80 billion ($282.25million).

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Meanwhile, the company said it has won a 10-year frequency spectrum licence for the 2.6GHz band at auction. The licence will be used to deploy super fast, long-term evolution wireless networks.

Moolman said MTN Nigeria subscribers could expect distinct improvements in browsing speed, quality, and experience. “This means that they will have fast access to high definition video streaming, as well as conferencing and calling, lag-free music streaming, and improved data uploads and downloads,” he said in a statement.

He said MTN paid N18.96 billion to the NCC for the licence. According to MTN, the NCC has described this spectrum as a “significant trigger for the abroadband revolution that will unlock benefits such as greater coverage, access, affordability, and innovation, with the customer at the centre of these gains.”

MTN will increase its capital expenditure in Nigeria in 2017, substantially as it invests R11.1 billion in upgrading and expanding its wireless and fixed-line network in that country.

The award comes after MTN said earlier this month that it would more than double its spending in Nigeria in the current fiscal year after agreeing to pay a heavily reduced fine of $1.7 billion for missing a deadline to deactivate more than 5 million unregistered SIM cards used on its Nigerian network.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had earlier announced that MTN had emerged as the sole approved bidder for the new licence,MTN said in a statement.

“With the 2.6 GHz band, we expect to roll out and provide the full range of LTE (Long Term Evolution mobile broadband) services to Nigerians, empowering Nigeria with the latest mobile broadband technology,” saidMTN Nigeria Chief Executive Ferdi Moolman.

“This licence acquisition further demonstrates MTN‘s abiding faith in the future of Nigeria and the resilience of the Nigerian economy.”

MTN is the largest mobile phone operator in Nigeria with 57 million subscribers, and the country accounts for about a third of its revenues.

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Buhari very angry with CBN over Naira devaluation

President Muhammadu Buhari is unhappy with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, over what he called ”ruthless devaluation of the naira.”While speaking at the Ramadan breaking of fast with members of the business community ,on Monday, the president condemned “the ruthless devaluation of naira,’’ saying that he was yet to be convinced about the economic benefits of the exercise.

He said;

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“How much benefits have we derived from naira devaluation in the past?

“I don’t like the returns I get from the CBN because that coupled with the demand that let us devalue the naira. In August 1985, the naira was N1.3k to a dollar, now you need N300 or N350 to a dollar.“What do we derive from that, how much benefit can we derive from this ruthless devaluation of the naira?“I’m not an economist neither a businessman, I fail to appreciate the economic explanation.“What has happened to us now is that we have maneuvered ourselves into a mono-economy which led to the collapse we are seeing now.“A lot of responsibilities now fall on your shoulders. You have a lot of investments, a lot of people you employ,’’ he told the businessmen.

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Naira recovers against dollar – See new exchange

Following the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) decision to let market forces drive the position of the naira, the interbank market has pushed the local currency to 264 against the greenback.

According to Bloomberg, the interbank market rate opened around N253 to the dollar on Monday at the start of the new foreign exchange regime.

At about 11:02am on Monday, the naira had moved to 264 to the dollar at the inter-bank market, with dealers expressing extreme caution in proceeding with transactions.

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A few minutes later, the naira was up to 260, which was the initial predicted position the CBN-FMDQ OTC guideline was planned to work with.

Earlier, the CBN said primary dealers of forex (banks), will be expected to make deals at N260 to the dollar with a band from 260 to 270, while the CBN expresses optimism that the currency will settle at 250 to the dollar.

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Finally CBN unveils new forex policy, removes controls on naira

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, yesterday formally unveiled the flexible forex policy, saying it would launch a forex interbank trading window that will be purely market-driven. The new policy effectively removes controls on the naira, and is expected to increase dollar supply and help Nigeria’s weak economy.

CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, said the bank will operate a single trading window, to be launched on Monday. The new window will have about 10 primary traders, to be appointed by the bank, with each trader will have a minimum volume of $10m.

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The new mechanism would enable businesses plan their portfolio effectively without fear of losses as a result fluctuation in exchange rates.

He said: “We are optimistic that the steps we have taken today will further deepen the market and help get forex into the market. I will say to Nigerians be calm, there is no need to worry, everything is well.”

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This is Exactly What You Should if Your Man Hits You

This is one of my favorite post on my personal blog but i decided we can use it to launch this powerful community.. Ladies please read careful and don't get bored with my boring words.

Dedicated to all ladies out there that suffer all sorts of physical abuse from Boyfriend. I'm so sad this is happening to you, just yesterday a friend of mine asked a question regarding to physical abuse in a relationships(Jaybee, what's your advice to a girl whose Boyfriend hits most times and still want to make home together?), so after series of research last night I decided to put up this post as my advice to any lady who get hits by Boyfriend. 

No measure of physical abuse, regardless of how "little," is ever alright anyplace, particularly in a relationship. 

There's a distinction between having hot temper and getting violent with somebody, and what your man does is not adequate by any means. It doesn't make a difference on the off chance that it happened once, or if it was "little," or "big" as the case may be. You're precious and you deserve no hitting. Coincidentally, beating and related abuse doesn't sound little to me rather a big one. 

Believe it or not, this is the fact. Abuse normally start little by little. At this moment, the majority of the regular examples of abusive behavior at home are there. Your Man lost his temper, hit you, and after that he felt sorry and apologized. This is the thing that abusers do; they control you. They hurt you, then let you know how sorry they are and act like a changed person for a couple of days, weeks, or even months. They swear they won't do it once more, however then one day, they lose their temper, and it happens. The cycle rehashes itself until things get worse, it gets more regular and have get use to you which forms his habits towards you only most times. Outside home he gets afraid to confront his follow man but exercise his power on you. 

I know how difficult this must be for you. You love your man, and you need to see the best in him. You want to accept that he can change, and that he won't do this once more. This is never a simple thing to experience, and I comprehend that your feelings are unfathomably complicated at this time. The truth of the matter is, nobody knows without a doubt what will happen later on – yet at this moment, your man is showing the attributes of an abuser. 

Studies shows that when a man gets to be violent once, he will doubtlessly get to be violent again. From where I stand, this doesn't look great. If he has a past filled with having Uncontrollable temper, who says he won't lose it like that again? In short, it's going to be terrible this time around.

At this time, you have to take time to consider this all alone. You need to ask yourself some questions: Do you feel safe around your man? Do you feel scared when you perceive that he's beginning to get angry? Do you feel like you’re walking on eggshells with him? or you must be extremely cautious to keep him happy and not do the wrong thing? Does your man additionally show indications of emotional abuser, such as trying to control you? Why do you have a feeling that you need him in your life? 

In all honesty, I think you have to end that relationship. Yes! Read my lips, end it. Violence in relationships is rarely a one time thing, and you deserve better than that. Abusive relationships are fantastically troublesome, and the more you stay in one, the more worse things will see or get. As hard as it might be to break up with this gentleman, its to your greatest advantage to do as such.

Somebody who genuinely loves you and care about you would never hit you. This is not a sign of true love, and no amount of apology can equal hitting you. I also suggest that you seek for advice somewhere else too. Discuss with parents or guardian, "trusted" close friends. Going for counselling is likewise something that you can truly benefit from. At times, it helps to simply have "trusted" somebody to talk with and turn to. 

Regardless of what you choose to do, I need you to realize that physical abuse is never your fault no matter how bad your behavior is.You never should be abused by someone who said he love and care for you. Hitting and abusing a Woman you said you love and care for is constantly unjustified. Never you blame yourself for your Man's inability to control his temper.

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