The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has identified e-fraud as the greatest threat to digital finance.

The Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Efosa Idehen, disclosed this while speaking at the Secondary School debate organized by  the NCC in collaboration with Save the Consumer in Abuja.

The theme of the event was “Should Secondary School Students Use Mobile Phones To Enhance Education?”.

Idehen said that this was to create awareness and save consumers from e-fraud and to educate the young ones on the proper use of e-channels for financial services.

“According to the CBN, e-fraud is costing the Nigerian financial sector whopping sums of money.

“As technology evolves, there is a growing concern over the rising trend in fraud perpetuated on telecom platforms across key sectors of the Nigerian economy known as e-fraud.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) rates e-fraud as the biggest risk in the sector, which has widely affected electronic payment solutions such as Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBBS) Instant Payment and mobile banking.

“…Attackers are now targeting telecom networks with the aim to disrupt service delivery and infiltrate their data bank, SIM swaps, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) and e-payment fraud.

“To address this menace, the commission actively collaborates with critical stakeholders such as CBN, the Nigerian Police (NPF), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and other relevant bodies in the fight against e-banking fraudsters,” Idehen disclosed.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday released a draft guideline for the registration and operation of Bank Neutral Cash Hubs (BNCH) which are to serve as central cash deposit points for bank customers across the country.

According to the draft guideline released yesterday, BNCHs will provide a platform for customers to make cash deposits and receive value irrespective of the bank with which their account is domiciled.

The CBN noted that the guideline aims to provide minimum standards and requirements for BNCH registration and operations for effective supervision. This move, it said, is in line with the Nigerian Cash Management System (NCMS) which seeks to reduce cost and improve operational efficiency in the country’s cash management value chain.

The guidelines explained that BNCHs which are; cash collection centers are to be established by registered processing companies or Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) based on business needs.

“They will be located in areas with high volumes of commercial activities and cash transactions.

ting up Bank Neutral Cash Hubs (BNCH) is to reduce the risks and cost borne by banks, merchants and huge cash handlers in the course of cash management activities; deepen financial inclusion; and leverage on shared services to enhance cash management efficiency.”

Activities that are permissible for BNCHs under the guideline include “receipt of naira denominated deposits on behalf of financial institutions from individuals and businesses with high volumes of cash. High volume cash disbursement to members of the public on behalf of financial institutions,” it stressed.

These banks are, however, barred from carrying out investing or lending activities. They are also not allowed to receive, disburse, or engage in any transaction involving foreign currency or sub-contract another entity to carry out its operations as well as undertake any other transaction not prescribed by the guideline.

Only deposit money banks and cash processing companies are allowed to apply for a BNCH registration and they are expected to provide a non-refundable application fee of N100,000 and a non-refundable approval fee of N500,000

In what is seen as a total blackout, worsened throughout the country around 10:40am, Monday March 14 after the national grid collapsed, with the Eko Electricity Distribution Company, confirming the incident in a text message to its customers.

Consumers who are yet to come to terms with Power tariff hikes that is not commensurate with the amount of power distributed  have continued to lament the epileptic electricity supply across the country. In Lagos south west Nigeria consumers have been greeted on a regular basis with power shortages which has also affected businesses in the commercial nerve centre.

The Nigerian national power grid collapsed , causing a nationwide outage as the entire system crashed due to the loss of 1,100 megawatts from a 3,700mw peak generation earlier recorded.

For the power sector, as at March 14, the system was yet to pick up load, according to a grid operations report, which showed that just three Generation Companies (Gencos) were trying to restart, but were yet to generate any energy.

News report gathered said  Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, called an emergency meeting yesterday to resolve all outstanding issues with the stakeholders in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) as a result of the worsening power situation.

According to the grid operation trend, of the active 25 Gencos on the grid, 19 were producing power as of 6am, when the grid had 3,867.60MW, but that began to reduce gradually until it dropped to 2,761.20MW by 10am after six Gencos went down, leaving just 13, before crashing to zero at 10.40 am.

at least 1,100MW was initially lost from the 3,867MW peak generation before the Gencos started shutting down.

The analysis showed that the affected plants included Azura-Edo IPP (Gas), which was generating 447MW earlier, and Shiroro hydropower, which had 300MW earlier and later went off. Trans-Amadi (Gas) lost 92MW, Alaoji NIPP (Gas) lost 75MW, while Ihovbor NIPP (Gas) lost 101MW.

As of yesterday, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), which manages the power grid, had yet to comment on the immediate cause of the collapse, although, it was the first in the year.

Following  airline operators warning  that they have only three days left to shut down operations over lingering scarcity of aviation fuel in Nigeria.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Airline operators, aviation fuel marketers and other stakeholders agreed on an interim price of N500 for aviation fuel, Jet A1.

The interim price is to run for three days pending the determination of a substantive price that would be arrived at.

The Group Managing Director, NNPC Ltd, Mele Kyari, disclosed this at the end of the resumed stakeholders meeting on the high cost and non-availability of aviation fuel in the country.

Kyari said after consultations between stakeholders, the airline operators would be given licences to import aviation fuel as requested by the chairman of Air Peace.

The Vice-Chairman, Airline Operators of Nigeria, Allen Onyeama said, although it was not what they expected, they have agreed to experiment with the price for three days while negotiations between stakeholders last.

“We would have loved to have the price as low as N200 per litre, but we will keep to the agreement on the tentative price,” Onyeama said.

He, however, disclosed that the cost of airline tickets would still be on the high side until everything is resolved.

Speaking on Monday, March 14, 2022, at a meeting of oil marketers and Airline operators in the National Assembly, Onyema said, “We have only three more days, all airlines in Nigeria will shut down. We are not threatening this country, it is a fact.”

He explained that if they were to continue flying, an average Nigerian will spend N120,000 for an economy ticket.

Nigerian Airline operators are demanding operational licenses from the federal government to begin importation of fuel into the country following the recent fuel debacle and scarcity across the country.

The Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase pleaded with the stakeholders to resolve the issue and reduce the sufferings of aviation passengers in the country, adding that the interim report would be presented on the floor of the House on Tuesday, March 15, 2022.

Cause of aviation fuel price hike

Looking at the cause of the scarcity and current high price, Chief Executive Officer of Cleanserve Energy, Chris Ndule, said the current price of crude oil in the international market had affected the prices of all petroleum products, aviation inclusive.

Ndule said: “It is not only aviation fuel price that has increased, other petroleum products prices have also increased.

“This is partly due to the current price of crude oil in the international market, which is going for between $110 and $125 per barrel.

“The raging war in Ukraine has affected international trade. For instance, I was to bring in some shipment of Jet A1. But my foreign partner decided we should hold on and watch the international shipping routes.”

Oil companies operating in Nigeria Eni, the parent company of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) and Shell on Monday declared a Force Majeure on expected oil output at its Brass terminal in Yenagoa.

The declaration means a shortfall of 25,000 barrels of crude oil and 13 million standard cubic metres of gas per day from the terminal.

A Force Majeure is a legal clause in contracts which absolves firms from legal liabilities due to circumstances beyond their control.

“An incident occurred on the Ogoda/Brass 24 oil line at Okparatubo in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa. The incident was caused by a blast, consequently causing a spill.

“All wells connected to that pipeline were immediately shut whilst river booms and containment barges were mobilised to reduce the impact of the spill.

Shell Petroleum Development Company, the local unit of Royal Dutch Shell, on Monday said it declared force majeure on Bonny Light oil export programme beginning from March 3, citing a decline in flows to the export terminal.

On the same day, Italian energy giant Eni also declared the same measure on exports of Brass River crude oil, triggered by a pipeline explosion in Bayelsa State. Force majeure legally allows a company not to meet contractual obligations for reasons that are out of its control.

The twin occurrences is likely further pressure a market reeling from the weighty implications of Russian occupation of Ukraine by complicating supply woes.

The two Nigerian grades – Bonny Light and Brass River – were part of a shipment programme of 170,000 barrels of crude per day (bpd) for April even though they have seen a continuous for years, Bloomberg said, citing loading plans.

Eni stated it has pared crude exports from Brass Export terminal by around 25,000 bpd, noting that the explosion was the second blast after an explosion on February 28 at its Obama flow station caused a drop in output of 5,000 bpd.

kMarket observers are weighing the uncertainty around the fate of Russian oil following the country’s occupation of Ukraine, with a number of energy firms ending patronage of new cargoes from Moscow and some countries ordering embargo on importation of petroleum from Russia.

The latest developments could deal a blow on Nigeria