Wedn~ay.:March
28. 2012
Cashless policy: CBN exempts embassies, donor agencies
FROM left: Generttl Manager. TranKorp Hilton, Mr, Andro Herrenschurdt; Vice Pfflldent Africa, Hil ton Wo rldwide Mr. JohlnnH Van ~er Punen: Preslde"t. Middle East and A'r iro, Hllto" Wotldw lde. Mr. Rudl Jagersbilther a nd Vic President HUn1ilrt Resources, Middle Eillt Dnd Afrial. HUton Worldwide, Mr, G.l.eth foil. at • press bnefi ng on the Islt of Hll tonVlorldwlde Presid ent to Nigeria In AbuJD~elterday Pic: Felix Onlgblnde
TH.E Central Bank of Nigeria said it has aempted all embassies. diplomatic missions, multilateral and aid dOIHM a~ncies in Nigeria from penalties and charges on Ctih withdrawal and deposits with regards to the cashless Nigeria project. TIle central bank said it Is aempting them because Nigeria Isa Signatory to several treaties which exempt the institutIons from all fttS and charges in the h051 country. This was contained in a memo to banb In the country and Signed by the cent".! bank', acting dlrector, Banlcing and Payment System [)qr.trtment. GJ Emokpae:. ~As a mailer ofinte:rnltlonal practJu', RWCreign Stales do nOI impose financial penalties on other $Overeign states., It has become necessary therefore to extend the exemption on cash withdrawal/deposil to Ihese: inslilu· lions. the memo read.. The central banlr. had last week formall y shifted the fuU commencemenl ofiLS cashless policy nalionwide from lune: I 10 january I, 201) while the pt10c phase: o(the pJ'O"gramme in Lagos~alewould begin on April 1. 2012. It had also raised the cash depositlim!t for lndividu als from N 150,000 to NSOO,OOO while thaI for corporate organisations was raist1I from NI million 10 NJ million The processmg fee (or ,.mhdrav."1lb above the limIt for Individual customen has been reviewed downwards from 10 percent to) per cenl, while the processing fecfor with· drawalsabove the lintil for corporate bodies has also bttn reviewed downwards from 20 percent to 5 per cenl.
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PHCN sabotages use of meters - NERC CHAIRMAN o rtlte :-lIgerian Electridty Ikgulalory CommissIOn "ERC) Dr. Sam Amadl l ester day said authoriti' "Ji of the Power Holding C Jmpany of Nigeria (priCN) were deliberately sUootaging the deployment ", nelers to C\l.'itomers fn r I" cir personalwhims.. He said Lhe ~"'''''lIIi$ sion hilS strong r. idcnc:es tu sllOw thai disl )"il: ution compllnies prefel"fetl estl· mated billing ratf,er than using fm"ter be(.u:se il offer,ro them the f\pPOriU. nity to O\""CT bill thei ~ cuslomen. Allladi said th", tester· day in AbuJa at a 1m."Cting with the Odd EM"Cut Ive Offict'f"Sof
lion companies in prepa ration for the announce· mem of new ta:riITs ,,;hKh is billalto take off on June I . He !laid: ~We have cases of ~ple who p;ay ~en more than companies for ~k1ential E\-c.n though they ha'"C lIIe1en. they {dis. tribut ion «"npanies) don't go and rtatlthese: meters.. '" see no reouon w!'ty somebody living in a thrcc bedroom Oat will be pay. ing say N3000 a momh and another with similar nat and appliances will be paying N)O, 000. That is what we call cfUy billing. Otherwise il becomes a cheat on Ihe propIe.~ 1be NERC bou how ever assurrd thai Ihe new tariff dubbed Multi Year TariffOroer 2 (MYTO U) would be pro-poor and
business friendly. He sud performance re:bted conditio ns wuuid be set for distnburion companies before thq are allowed to Implement the new tariff_ ~The poor are going to p;ay Ie:ss.. Wecan loolr.;at NJ to N4 per kil0W21t hour for poor people: he saId. l-ie described the poor as those customers wl10 a", on residential dass I ofthe tanIT order who consume less than SOkiiowat hour per mOllth. The residential class 2, which constitutes about 85 pe:rCent of the customers.. will have 11 peKml lnaeases in their tariff while the commercial and industrial OJ5tomers would have higher increase in theU- tmfJ and will ~ pay.
ing N 16toN26perlr.dOWoiIl h"",_ While reading the riot Act to the cfutrlbution compallies. Dr Amad! said: -TIlls is no! a windfall tariff. Even after june I, when the' MYTO 2Iariff",;11 offICially COmmence:, no distribution company will coIlecl ont: dime eJlct']Jt they receive a certification from us. That llleans there ~ conditions thai muse be met Wore the ntw tanff can be Implemented. One is metering. -We are 80mg to go round to inspect the distri bution COffijW1les 10 access how much impfO\"t'Inent they have made in terms or metering. and if you can meter everybody. ~ expect )'011 should come up with a standardtted framework for billing..-
Fadama III disburses Nl00m to farmers in Kogi THE Fadama III pro;ectin Kogi hasdi.sbuncdover NIOO million to 2Q Fadmla commuroty associabons £or the implementatJonof sub-pro,ects under the ongoing Fadama III prtt}«l Disbursing cheques to the bmefidaries at the ~ house in I..okop.. GoI.~ Idns Yo.'adasakl credtt 6Kilities is a ,Uitab6etool which thegoymunenl rdiesupon toacbiew: fOod suffidenc:y in the 5la1e. He said w state government has 50 far ex:polded NSOO million on Fadama pmJCCIS. saying thou tus admi.nistralion would continue to pay its counterpart fund the project as it is designed to t:nSU"' Wming all round the~. He appeakd to Wurid Bank and other donor ;agc:nc:ic:s 10 partners with Ute 5late In ilS efforts loaeate employment fur the )'UUths. adding that ~t ~ continue: to support thtproject forthegyerall benefit oragriculture in the:stale. Earlier, the Commissioner lOr Agriculttue and Nacural Rc3owces. Joseph Faniyi. said • totaJ r:L 46 Fadama communityassodations have so far assessed N 170 million from gnut lOr the lmpkrnenlation ci income gmeratill8 sub-pmjectli by both l:adamaaxnmwtityassodationsas wdl as theirconstitumt fadama. USCf groups ac:roIli the stale. Ibe pro;ect coven rehabUitalion,CIJ05truCtJorI orFad.asN ;acag road, aJlvert, potable WlIter supply. Jllildtd. inhastroctures amongothersat conununhy IC'vel. h is5U(1pOTtlngacquisi.ijon or as5eIs £or production and value: addition pwposes that would enable them adopt best practices 50Ch as improved pr0duction ptaelioes and proassllll'. tcdmk(Ul' lUulting in high output and increased tncome:" he said He urged bmeftdancs ci the fund to IDC the money judiciously 50 as to achinT the: Pro;ect De-.-dopmenl obJective of IIlCI'eaSC'd income uU'OUgh value addition lOr agricultural produoe III the ~tale.
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