Ukeme Eyibio's Blogosphere

Margaret Emefiele, wife of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who was kidnapped by heavily armed abductors on Thursday, has been released.  Mrs. Emefiele who was kidnapped along the Benin-Agbor Road on Thursday alongside four others was released exactly 1 am Nigeria time.  It is further speculated that the kidnappers who earlier demanded N1.5 billion released Mrs. Emefiele after receiving N80 million ransom. The Police Public Relations Officer of Delta State has just confirmed the release,  but declined to comment on the issue of ransom being paid.

The nation’s foreign exchange reserves have increased by $595m to hit a one-month high of $26.196bn, the latest data from the Central Bank of Nigeria have shown. This came on Monday just as the naira traded around 412- 413 against the United States dollar at the parallel market, compared to 414/dollar on Sunday. External reserves stood at $25.6bn as of August 24, down from $26.21bn on July 28, the CBN data showed. The reserves declined from $26bn on August 4, 2016 to $25.97bn on August 5 as the CBN stepped up dollar sales to boost liquidity at the interbank market and support the ailing naira. The central bank has been selling dollars regularly at the interbank market to prop up the naira since it floated it on June 20. The currency touched an all-time low of 365.25 per dollar on August 18 at the official market. In June and July, the reserves hovered between $26.3 and $26.4bn, but fell to $26.12bn on August 1. The reserves had stood at $26.4bn between May 24 and 27, after d...