As long as our economy is still in recession, our work is not done - Saraki tells Senate colleagues

Distinguished colleagues, as long as our economy is still in recession, our work is not done. Because our people are still being laid off; so long as factories are closing shop, for as the hardship in the land continues to bite harder, investment continues to dwindle and the foreign exchange market remains fragmented, I will be demanding even much more from us to get all our economic reform bills passed. Ideally we would like to see them pass together with the 2017 budget. Let me therefore urge all our committees involved with our priority bills to double efforts to ensure that by the end of the first quarter of this year we will have these bills ready

WELCOME BACK SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, HIS EXCELLENCY, SENATOR (DR) ABUBAKAR BUKOLA SARAKI (CON) TO SENATORS OF THE 8TH SENATE ON RESUMPTION FROM 2016 END OF THE YEAR RECESS ON TUESDAY, 10 JANUARY, 2017.

Abubakar Bukola Saraki

Protocol:

1. Distinguished colleagues, it is heart warming for me to see you back in good health, refreshed and energised for the work ahead. Let me on behalf of myself and the entire leadership wish you and all Nigerians a very happy new year.

2. 2016, was a very challenging year for all of us. But I assure you that the work we have done so far is gradually setting the stage for a greater and better 2017. Let me therefore, begin this address by thanking every one of you for the hard work and dedication exhibited in the last quarter of last year to keep the promise we made to all Nigerians that we would pass laws that would make the difference in their lives.

British Airways, Others Accused of Using Forex Scarcity to Rip off Nigerians, FG

Foreign airlines operating in Nigeria have been accused of devising a means of ripping off Nigerians and the federal government by taking advantage of the shortage of dollars in the foreign exchange market, and the gap between the official exchange rate and the parallel market rate, investigations have revealed.

According to sources in the industry and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the airlines procure their foreign exchange from ticket sales at the official rate of 199/$1 from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for onward repatriation to their home countries, but allegedly use the parallel market rate of over N300 to the dollar when Nigerians and other passengers opt to pay for their dollar-priced tickets in naira instead of using the official exchange rate.