New face of US$20 bill to be one-time slave Harriet Tubman

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The one-time slave turned abolitionist Harriet Tubman was named Wednesday as the new face of the $20 banknote, the first time an African American has featured on US currency.

A sweeping redesign of the US bills to be unveiled in four years will also protect Alexander Hamilton’s central place on the $10 note, once thought threatened until Broadway’s hit hip-hop musical “Hamilton” made the 18th century US finance chief a modern-day star.

Hamilton’s latter-day successor, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, announced the changes slated for the $5, $10, and $20 notes after more than a year of lobbying and polling, with heavy pressure for a female figure to take place on a US banknote.

An open poll of more than 600,000 people had strongly favored Tubman, a hero to African Americans for her escape from slavery in Maryland in 1849 to help run the legendary Underground Railroad that helped thousands of slaves flee to freedom in the 19th century.

The announcement brought widespread cheers.

“A woman, a leader, and a freedom fighter. I can’t think of a better choice for the $20 bill than Harriet Tubman,” tweeted Hillary Clinton, the Democrat seeking to become the country’s first female president.

Clinton’s rival for the Democratic nomination, Bernie Sanders, echoed: “I cannot think of an American hero more deserving of this honor than Harriet Tubman.”

– ‘Role model’ –

The plan originally was to revamp the $10 note in 2020, possibly having a woman share it with Hamilton, while the $20 bill, one of the world’s most circulated banknotes, would wait another decade for redesign.

But the grassroots group Women On 20s launched a powerful campaign to get the $20 note revamp sped up, with a woman featured, in time for 2020, the 100th anniversary of American women receiving the right to vote.

“The decision to put Harriet Tubman on the new $20 was driven by thousands of responses we received from Americans young and old,” Lew said.

“I have been particularly struck by the many comments and reactions from children for whom Harriet Tubman is not just a historical figure, but a role model for leadership and participation in our democracy.”

Lew also came under pressure over the talk of changing the $10. Hamilton is a hero in the Treasury as the architect of the US financial system.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator and star of “Hamilton”, lobbied Lew when the official attended the musical in New York. Miranda later said Lew had assured him his fans would be happy with the decision.

Women and African Americans will feature more broadly in the remakes of all three bills. US currency traditionally has featured a president or one of the founding fathers like Hamilton on the front and a monument on the back.

Women have only featured twice before: first president George Washington’s wife, in 1886, and the native American folklore heroine Pocahontas in 1875.

The new $10 note will depict a historic 1913 protest for women’s suffrage at the Treasury and several women, black and white, involved in that campaign.

The backside of the new $5 bill — which features president Abraham Lincoln on one side — will depict a number of historic events at his memorial in Washington, including Martin Luther King’s 1963 “I have a Dream” speech for racial equality.

The choice of Tubman pushed Andrew Jackson, a southern slave owner and general who was US president from 1829 to 1837, to the backside of the $20 note.

Lew said the target for the redesigns, which are complicated by the need to employ the most modern anti-counterfeiting technology, was 2020.

NAMA director and others arrested by EFCC

Abuja - It has been alleged that the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency Managing Director, Ibrahim Abdulsalam, has been arrested by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission.
Abdulsalam has been arrested alongside a number of directors in the company.

Plateau recovers N2,7million through TSA

Abuja - Gov. Simon Lalong of Plateau on Friday disclosed that the state government had recovered N2.7 billion through the implementation of Treasury Single Account (TSA) in the state.

Lalong made this known at the All Progressives Congress (APC) media roundtable in Abuja.

According to him, the money, which had hitherto been missing, was traced to some accounts in the state and have been recovered.

He said that the recovery had enabled him to pay workers in the state, who had been on strike for months, at a time. "Recently, we recovered about N2.7 billion in the state, money that was regarded as lost. We traced and recovered the money which was meant for teachers.

"Teachers, civil servants, the judiciary had gone on several months of strike; some nine, some 11 but now, since I came on board, we did our best. We now have arrears of salaries of only two months.

"For teachers, we paid all; they are back to work. The judiciary is also back to work. So, for the plateau, we are moving on well.

Also read: Kano State Govt spends N10m on recovered cattle

"In the area of corruption, we are putting pressure on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to hasten their investigations so that they can begin prosecution and we can also gain recovery of looted funds,’’ Lalong said.

He said that several other cases had also been sent to the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), "which will yield results soon’’.

He disclosed that like the Federal Government, there was pressure to stop prosecution of some cases, while some people with concrete evidence refused to come out to testify.

He, however, said that such antics did not and would not deter the government from pushing for the recovery of stolen funds in the state. The governor said that he was unsure why other governors were finding it difficult to implement the TSA, disclosing that the merits of the system outweighed its demerits.

"I am not an accountant but immediately I became aware of both the advantages and disadvantages of TSA, I gave the instruction that it should be implemented.

"I organised a committee immediately and today, TSA is being implemented.

"I don't know why some governors are finding it difficult to implement TSA in their states but out of the TSA implementation in our state, we have gained some dividends.

"We are now tracing some accounts that were not known to us before and we are seeing some excesses in those accounts, especially in some of the ministries.

"So, I will advise other states that have not yet implemented TSA to do so,’’ he said.

Lalong assured that in spite of the reduction in monthly allocation to the state, there would be no downsizing of workers in the state. "It will be very difficult to downsize on the plateau; I don't intend to and I will not. All I want to do is to maintain what I have and also improve on it.

"That's why our concentration is on improving on the revenue so that we can, if possible, employ additional workforce.

"Downsizing in this present administration is going to be very difficult; the president has advised state governments and even corporate organisations not to downsize,’’ he said.

The governor said that although he was yet to pay all outstanding salaries, he would do so as soon as the Federal Government paid the bailout he applied for in full.

"Before the issue of bailout, we had already started paying workers in the state.

"When the issue of bailout came, we applied for N10 billion which was supposed to be for the arrears of salaries for about eight to nine months and so far, we have only received N5 billion.

"Plateau was supposed to get N10 billion for salaries and for infrastructure but all we have got so far from the Central Bank of Nigeria is N5 billion.

"Even with that, we have been able to clear most of the arrears of salaries; we only have an outstanding of two months salaries not paid in our state.

"We have paid all the outstanding salaries for all our local governments. If I am able to get my balance of N5 billion, within a week, all the remaining salaries would have been cleared.’’

Presidency raises alarm over impending starvation

Abuja - Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, has revealed that Nigerians might starve to death by 2025 if the country does not embrace all round farming.

Ogbeh was speaking on Thursday during the budget defence of 2016.

He said the present mode of farming will not sustain the increasing population in the country which is likely to be around 509 million by 2025.

He noted that there was the urgent need for all major stakeholders to work towards improving mechanized farming and irrigation, to ensure an all year farming to avert the problem.

He stated that the federal government is looking at intensifying and consolidating on the local staples, the yams, the cassava, the beans, especially rice and wheat. Both of which consume $11 million per day in import.

Facebook records massive adoption in Nigeria

Lagos  - Some 16 million people in Nigeria visit popular social networking site, Facebook every month, the company’s Head of Africa has disclosed.

Further statistics suggest all these users access the service on mobile while each day, some 7,2 million people visit Facebook, with 7 million on mobile.

Nunu Ntshingila, Head of Africa for Facebook, disclosed the figures to coincide with Friends Day (February 4), which is Facebook’s 12th birthday.

She said during the past five years, the global Facebook community had more than doubled in size, and its community in Nigeria continued to grow.

Ntshingila said they would this year deepen their partnerships with Nigerian businesses.

“We’re committed to Nigeria, and during this visit we shared insights with our business and agency partners on how to deliver personalised marketing, at scale, where people are – on their mobile phone. We want to make sure Nigeria - its people, its agencies and its businesses - realise the opportunity that technology and mobile bring,” she said.

She said they knew the mobile platform people used the most in Nigeria was Facebook and up to 77 percent of Nigerians on Facebook used their mobile device to discover new products and services.

“Nigerians are sophisticated mobile users and this sophistication is increasing fast – people are ahead of businesses, and we’re here,” Ntshingila said

Nicola Mendelsohn, Vice President, EMEA, at Facebook, said Friends Day in Nigeria was about hearing the stories of the community using Facebook our platform to grow and connect with others.

“We have made amazing progress over the past year.  We’re only 1 percent done in Nigeria and inspired to do even more in this fast-moving, mobile first country,” said Mendelsohn

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Naira faces further fall this week – Experts

Economic and financial experts on Sunday said the naira could fall further this week if the Central Bank of Nigeria failed to do something about the continued depreciation of the currency.

The naira crashed further against the United States dollar at the parallel market to 262 on Sunday, foreign exchange dealers said.

The greenback had sold for N257 and N260 on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

The experts said the N60 margin between the official and black market rates of the naira was dangerous for the economy, adding that it could give room for round-tripping and other sharp practices in the forex market.

“The margin is too dangerous for the market. There is a need to do something about it,” the Head Investment and Research, Afrinvest West Africa, Mr. Ayodeji Ebo, said.

He added that administrative controls imposed by the CBN might have been the remote cause of the fall, while the central bank’s activities in the Bureau De Change segment were the immediate cause.

“The CBN’s action in the BDC segment is right but it is causing the depreciation,” Ebo said.

Analyst at Investment Today, a financial advisory and research firm, Mr. Okunola Henry, said if the CBN continued with its policy measures in the BDC segment, the naira would fall further this week.

“Apart from the need to devalue the naira, there is a need to take a second look at the BDC segment,” he added.

The local currency has been on a steady fall against the greenback at the black market in the past three weeks after the CBN stopped the sale of forex to over 1,500 BDC operators who failed to render returns on the utilisation of previous forex purchased at the official window.

The central bank had during its weekly forex sale to the BDCs over two Wednesdays ago refused to sell forex to operators that failed supply adequate documentation.

The dollar, which was selling for between N241 and N243 before the CBN’s clampdown on the BDC sub-sector, initially fell to 247 and later 251.

Intending international travellers, who depend on BDCs for Personal Travel Allowance and Business Travel Allowance, were hit by the development, which caused dollar scarcity in the black market.

As of Sunday, intending international travellers were still finding it difficult to access forex. It is still unclear if the CBN will supply enough forex to Deposit Money Banks to enable them commence the sale of the PTA and BTA to intending travellers.

FG bans importation of ''I better-pass-my-neighbour" gen sets

The Federal government has banned the importation of a very common brand of generators locally called “I better pass my neighbour”.

The Controller, Federation Operations Unit Zone A, Lagos of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Madugu Sanni Jubrin, who disclosed this, yesterday, said, “the smaller generators have been banned by the Federal Government because it is causing air pollution and destruction of our lungs and breathing system.

“That is why they have banned it but people are still interested in smuggling them in, that is why we intercepted them. If you go to the market, you still see them because people have imported them before the ban. So it is the leftover they had before the ban that they are selling because the law did not backdate the ban and it is not an absolute prohibition. It is prohibition by trade which means you cannot bring it in large quantity and sell to the public. That is the type of prohibition we have on this but if you buy one piece, Customs will not seize it”.

Buhari seeks N413bn approval to pay subsidy claims

Buhari Writes NASS, Seeks Extra-Budgetary Approval To Pay N413bn Subsidy Claims

Petroleum marketers in the country will soon heave a sigh of relief as indications emerged yesterday that President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the National Assembly to approve the payment of their N413 billion claims.

The payment of the outstanding subsidy claims is believed to be the key to ending the biting fuel scarcity across the country.

According to a Presidency source, “only about N140 billion was appropriated for subsidy payment in the current budget and it has been exhausted”.

“Out of respect for the parliament, the President insisted that the right thing must be done by seeking approval from the National Assembly before an additional kobo is paid in excess of what the budget makes provision for”.

“This is a clear departure from the past, when extra-budgetary expenditure was the norm”, the source added.

Another source told The Nation that “the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) expressed the belief that with the outstanding payment due to oil marketers now assured, the marketers and other downstream players will join hands with the corporation to guarantee that the nation remains wet with petroleum products all year round”.

When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant (SSA), Media, to the President, Mallam Garba Shehu, noted that President Buhari “is desirous to end the petrol scarcity. But he insists that due process must be followed”.