Jennyawenegheme

15.6bn external borrowing enhanced naira exchange rate — DMO
The Debt Management Office (DMO) yesterday disclosed that external borrowing of $15.368 billion in the last ten years helped to shore up naira exchange rate.
The Director-General of the DMO, Ms. Patience Oniha, disclosed this at the workshop on, ‘Understanding Nigeria’s Public Debt Management’ organised for the secretariats of the Senate Committee on Local & Foreign Debts and House Committee on Aids, Loans & Debt Management, in Zuba, Niger State, yesterday.
According to her, the $15.368 billion which was raised from external borrowings between January 2011 and September 2021 strengthened the nation’s foreign reserves, thereby firming up the nation’s currency at the foreign exchange market.
Oniha explained that there were more to external borrowings than just raising funds to finance budget deficits.
Her words, “The DMO’s activities are not limited to domestic financial markets. It may please you to note that the DMO has raised over $15.368 billion through Eurobonds and a $300 million diaspora bond to finance budget deficits and various projects.
“Through these securities issuance in the international capital markets, the sources of funding for the Federal Government have expanded, while it created opportunities for Nigerian corporates including banks to raise capital abroad.
“Perhaps, even more important, the proceeds of Eurobonds issued, increased Nigeria’s external reserves thereby supporting the Naira exchange rate.
“The new borrowings are undertaken in compliance with legislations and public debt is managed in accordance with international best practice and that debt is serviced in a timely manner. In the case of the later, the DMO undertakes an annual Debt Sustainability Analysis and is guided by a Medium Term Debt Management Strategy which is prepared every four years.”

2021 External Borrowing
Oniha added that $4 billion out of the $6.18 billion approved external borrowing in the 2021 budget has been realized.
She said: “For the external, which is about $6.18 billion, we raised $4 billion in September. We did have what you will call demand, which is same thing as order book or subscription of over $12 billion, but the advisers said to us, let’s drop the interest rate a bit and see how much we get and also $6 billion at once is huge.”

An average of 13 persons were abducted daily in Nigeria in the first half of 2021, according to a report by SBM Intelligence, bringing to 2,371 the number of persons kidnapped in the country within the first six months of the year.
SBM Intelligence is a leading research consultancy group, versatile in the area of primary data gathering, and analyses of data that provides clarity relating to political, economic and social issues in Nigeria and West Africa.
This came as the former senator representing Kaduna central, Shehu Sani said yesterday that the north-west would be a better place, if the Federal Government could deal with bandits with the same vigour used against secessionists.
This is even as the abductors of the Emir of Kajuru, Alhassan Adamu, yesterday released the monarch but held on to his family members.
Similarly, Gombe State government said yesterday it had deployed local security in all institutions in the state to compliment the efforts of the police and other security agencies in efforts to ward off bandits. On the number of people kidnapped in the last six months, the SBM report covered abductions from January to June.
It indicated that a total of 2,371 persons were abducted across 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
The tally was derived from media reports and the national security tracker of the Council of Foreign Relations.

Abduction — the new oil money of kidnappers
According to the report, N10 billion ($19.96 million as of June 30) was demanded as ransom for the kidnap victims.
However, the report did not state the total amount paid. The highest number of kidnap victims, about 605, was recorded in February.
This was closely followed by March with 534 kidnap victims; May, 355 kidnap victims; while April, January and June had 316, 284 and 277 respectively.
Schools were often targeted in the abductions that took place in the first half of 2021, with hundreds of students taken hostage in the north-west.
Reacting to the high incidents of kidnapping in the country, particularly by bandits, Shehu Sani, a former senator representing Kaduna central said, the north-west will be a better place if the Federal Government could deal with bandits with the same vigour used against secessionists.
The north-west had been the hotbed of banditry in recent times, with over 500 students kidnapped in the region by bandits this year alone.
The latest is the abduction of 121 students in Bethel Baptist Secondary school in Damishi, Chikun LGA of Kaduna State, on July 5. Less than a week later, the Emir of Kajuru and 13 members of his household were abducted at his palace.
While bandits continue to wreak havoc in the north-west, security operatives have successfully clamped down on leaders of secessionist movements in the southern part of the country.
Last month, authorities arrested and extradited Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, back into the country to face charges of treason.
In a similar development, DSS operatives declared Sunday Igboho, a prominent voice in the call for ‘Yoruba Nation’, ”wanted” after raiding his home and killing two people.
Many have criticised the government for not extending equal level of commitment to tackling banditry.
Speaking on Arise TV yesterday, Senator Sani said: “I can say in comparative terms that there’s more interest for the government in going after secessionists than going after bandits. I’m not a supporter of secessionists and I believe that secession agitation are virtually wrong and we should work towards a united Nigeria.
“But I believe that if the same effort, the way they are going after Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho, is applied to these bandits, things would have been better for us in Kaduna and the north-western part of the country.
‘’Arresting bandits is more important to us than the issues of Igboho and Kanu as far as I’m concerned.”
Sani, who lamented that only two of the 23 LGAs in Kaduna State were safe, noted that all the entry points of the state were besieged by bandits, adding that residents who lived on the outskirts were constantly running for their lives.
“Abduction has become a daily tragedy in Kaduna State, many even go unreported. Those that are reported are either mass abduction or the abduction of prominent people. We have reached a point, today, in this state where the only local governments that are safe are two — Kaduna North and Kaduna South.
“All the other local governments in the state are under siege of bandits. We have never seen this kind of trouble and it appears that the abductions are even increasing by the day. All the four entrances to Kaduna State are under bandits’ attack.”
Also yesterday, the Emir of Kajuru in Kaduna State, Alhaji Alhassan Adamu was released by his abductors after spending a night with his captors, while other 10 family members of the monarch are still in captivity, the spokesperson of the Kajuru Emirate Council, Dahiru Abubakar, has disclosed.
Explaining how the emir was released, Abubakar said the emir was found in a nearby forest by his subjects while on their way to the farm.
His release came as it was earlier revealed that the bandits had contacted the emirate to demand N200 million as ransom for the emir and members of his family to be released.
Abubakar disclosed that the emir had since addressed his subjects, noting that he was in good condition, but would be taken to the hospital for medical check-up.
The monarch was kidnapped by bandits in the early hours of Sunday in Kajuru, headquarters of Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State.