Economy

TSA: ‎Court Orders Skye Bank, UBA, 5 Others to Remit $793m to FG

Published

8 years ago

21/07/2017

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Seven banks operating in Nigeria have been directed by a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos to remit about $793.2 million allegedly hidden by them in violation of the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy.

The affected lenders include Skye Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Diamond Bank, First Bank Nigeria Limited, Fidelity Bank, Keystone Bank Limited, and Sterling Bank.

In his ruling yesterday, Justice Chuka Obiozor ordered the banks to remit the various amounts into the designated Federal Government’s Asset Recovery dollars account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

According to court documents filed by counsel to the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Yemi Akinseye-George, “a total of $367.4 million was illegally hidden by three government agencies in UBA, while a sum of $41 million was illegally kept in a NAPIMS fixed deposit account with Skye Bank.”

The documents indicated that “$277.9 million was hidden in Diamond Bank; $18.9 million in First Bank; $24.5 million in Fidelity Bank; $17 million in Keystone Bank; and $46.5 million in Sterling Bank.”

A lawyer from Mr Akinseye-George’s law firm, Mr Vincent Adodo, who deposed to a 15-paragraph affidavit in support of an ex parte application filed by the AGF, stated that “seven banks colluded with federal government officials to hide the funds in breach of the government’s TSA policy.”

“The funds were revenues, donations, transfers, refunds, grants, taxes, fees, dues, tariffs etc accruable to the Federal Government from different ministries, departments, parastatals and agencies,” said Mr Adodo.

Mr Adodo said the banks had failed to remit the funds to the TSA domiciled in the CBN in violation of the guidelines issued by the Accountant General of the Federation which fixed September 15, 2015 as the deadline for such funds to be moved.

The 1st to 7th respondents (banks), he said, “in collaboration with and/or collusion with unknown officials of the Federal Government, conspired to disobey the relevant constitutional provisions, thereby depriving the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of funds belonging to it, which are needed urgently to fund pressing national projects under the 2017 budget.”

Among the allegedly culpable government agencies is the National Petroleum Development Company.

Moving the ex-parte application on Thursday, Mr George said “it would best serve the interest of justice for Justice Obiozor to order the banks to remit the funds to the Federal Government, to prevent the funds from being moved or dissipated.

“The withheld funds are urgently required for the implementation of the 2017 budget. The budget has a lifespan of 12 months and we are already in the middle of the year. By hiding these funds, the Federal Government is being forced to borrow money from these commercial banks at exorbitant interest rate,” Mr Akinseye-George added.

After listening to the counsel, Justice Obiozor granted the interim orders.

He directed that the order should be published in a national daily newspaper.

He, subsequently, adjourned till August 8, 2017, for anyone interested in the funds to appear before him to show cause why the interim orders should not be made permanent.

‘We are not guilty’

In a swift response to the judge’s decision, Fidelity Bank Plc denied holding any wrongdoing.

Mr Charles Aigbe, the Divisional Head, Brand and Communications at the bank, said since the commencement of the TSA policy, all TSA related accounts held by the bank were fully disclosed to the authorities.

“We do not have any TSA related account with a balance of $24.5m in Fidelity Bank which has not been remitted to the authorities,” Mr Aigbe said in a statement.

“This matter is coming to us as a surprise. We are therefore reaching out to the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation to ascertain which account or parastatal they are referring to with a view to carrying out a detailed reconciliation,” he added.

Also, UBA’s Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, Bola Atta, in a statement on Friday afternoon, said her bank “has fully remitted all NNPC/NLNG dollar deposits since August 24, 2016.”

“We hereby emphasise that none of such funds are currently in the Bank’s books. Our action was further corroborated by a clearance memo published by CBN on its website on same date (http://www.cbn.gov.ng/Out/2016/CCD/UBAPress%20Statement240816.pdf).

“We would like to thank all our customers, business partners and other stakeholders who have reached out to us on account of this judgement,” she said.

Additional information from Premium Times

Economy

CSCS, Geo-Fluids, FrieslandCampina Lift NASD OTC Bourse by 0.62%

Published

19 hours ago

13/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Three bellwether stocks lifted the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.62 per cent on Friday, December 12 with the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) jumping by 22.20 points to 3,600.43 points from 3,578.23 points.

In the same vein, the market capitalisation of the trading platform increased by N13.28 billion to close at N2.154 trillion from the previous day’s N2.140 trillion.

During the session, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc went up by N2.53 to close at N39.71 per share compared with the previous day’s N37.18 per share, Geo-Fluids Plc added 35 Kobo to its price to finish at N5.00 per unit versus Thursday’s closing price of N4.65 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc appreciated by 23 Kobo appreciation to sell at N60.23 per share versus N60.00 per share.

It was observed that yesterday, the price of Golden Capital Plc went down by N1.05 to N9.45 per unit from N10.50 per unit, and UBN Propertiy Plc declined by 21 Kobo to N2.01 per share from the N2.22 per share it was traded a day earlier.

There was a significant improvement in the level of activity for the day, as the volume of transactions increased by 6.2 per cent to 37.4 million units from the previous day’s 35.2 million units, the value of trades went up by 265.1 per cent to N4.9 billion from N1.4 billion, and the number of deals soared by 13.80 per cent to 33 deals from 29 deals.

Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc ended the last trading day of this week as the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units valued at N16.4 billion, the second spot was taken by Okitipupa Plc with 178.9 million units traded for N9.5 billion, and third space was occupied by a new comer in MRS Oil Plc with 36.1 million units worth N4.9 billion.

InfraCredit Plc also finished the session as the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units transacted for N16.4 billion, followed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units valued at N420.3 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 537.0 million units sold for N524.9 million.

Economy

Guinness Nigeria, Others Buoy NGX Index 1.00% Growth

Published

19 hours ago

13/12/2025

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

The bullish run on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited continued on Friday with a further 1.00 per cent growth buoyed by gains recorded by Guinness Nigeria, Champion Breweries, and others.

Data showed that the consumer goods space expanded by 1.53 per cent during the last trading session of the week, as the insurance counter grew by 0.51 per cent, and the industrial goods sector marginally gained 0.01 per cent.

However, the banking index depreciated by 0.54 per cent due to a pocket of profit-taking, and the energy industry shrank by 0.09 per cent, while the commodity sector closed flat.

Guinness Nigeria gained 10.00 per cent to trade at N217.80, Morison Industries rose by 9.84 per cent to N4.69, Champion Breweries jumped by 9.69 per cent to N14.15, Austin Laz grew by 9.66 per cent to N2.27, and C&I Leasing appreciated by 9.62 per cent to N5.70.

Conversely, eTranzact lost 10.00 per cent to finish at N12.60, Chellarams slumped by 9.00 per cent to N13.20, Eunisell depleted by 9.89 per cent to N75.15, Africa Prudential moderated by 9.77 per cent to N12.00, and DAAR Communications decreased by 9.18 per cent to 89 Kobo.

The busiest stock on Friday was Access Holdings with 107.6 million units sold for N2.2 billion, Consolidated Hallmark traded 59.9 million units worth N245.8 million, Zenith Bank transacted 48.2 million units valued at N3.1 billion, Transcorp Power transacted 42.8 million units for N13.1 billion, and Champion Breweries exchanged 36.4 million units valued at N510.2 million.

At the close of business, a total of 602.8 million units worth N30.7 billion exchanged hands in 20,550 deals yesterday, in contrast to the 529.7 million units valued at N12.3 billion traded in 18,159 deals on Thursday, representing a surge in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 13.80 per cent, 149.59 per cent, and 13.17 per cent apiece.

Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) soared during the session by 1,485.89 points to 149,436.48 points from 147,950.59 points and the market capitalisation moved up by N945 billion to N95.264 trillion from N94.319 trillion.

Economy

Naira Chalks up 0.11% on USD at NAFEM as CBN Defends Market

Published

19 hours ago

13/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

An intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the foreign exchange (FX) market eased the pressure on the Naira on Friday.

The apex bank sold forex to banks and other authorised dealers in the official window to defend the domestic currency, helping to calm the FX demand pressure, with the Nigerian currency appreciating against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by 0.11 per cent or N1.57 to sell at N1,454.50/$1 compared with Thursday’s closing price of N1,456.07/$1.

Also, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N3.95 to close at N1,946.15/£1 versus the previous day’s N1,950.11/£1 but lost 10 Kobo on the Euro to quote at N1,706.46/€1 compared with the N1,706.36/€1 it was exchanged a day earlier.

At the black market segment, the Nigerian Naira maintained stability against the Dollar during the session at N1,470/$1 and also traded flat at N1,463/$1 at the GTBank forex counter.

Despite the sigh of relief, demand pressures outweighed the robust supply from the CBN and inflow from offshore players looking to participate at the OMO bills auction.

Gross FX reserves increased for the twenty fifth consecutive week, growing by a strong $396.84 million week-on-week to $45.44 billion.

As for the cryptocurrency market, it was down on Friday as pressure remained after Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s speech on Wednesday, which hinted at a possible rate cut pause in January. As a result, markets now expect only two rate cuts in 2026 instead of three.

However, Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee, who was against a December rate cut, said he expects more in 2026 than the current median projection.

Ethereum (ETH) slumped by 5.1 per cent to $3,090.61, Solana (SOL) declined by 4.5 per cent to $132.79, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 3.8 per cent to $0.4103, and Dogecoin (DOGE) dropped 2.5 per cent to trade at $0.1373.

In addition, Bitcoin (BTC) lost 2.4 per cent to sell at $90,342.74, Litecoin (LTC) tumbled by 1.9 per cent to $81.86, Binance Coin (BNB) fell by 0.6 per cent to $886.93, and Ripple (XRP) slipped by 0.5 per cent to $2.02, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.