The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, says Nigeria’s economic reforms and tight monetary policy have helped ease inflation, strengthen external reserves and restore investor confidence.

Cardoso said this during a debate on the global economy, with the theme, “Forging Resilient and Dynamic Economies for the Future”, in Bangkok, Thailand, yesterday.

He said that the reforms, including foreign exchange market adjustments and aggressive monetary tightening, were necessary to address economic challenges and restore credibility.

According to him, inflation, which peaked at about 34 per cent, has gradually declined to approximately 15 per cent.

The CBN governor said that Nigeria’s external reserves had risen to their highest level in 18 years, reflecting improved investor confidence.

He said the CBN raised interest rates aggressively in 2024, even as other economies began easing monetary policy.

He said that the measures helped to address weaknesses in monetary policy transmission and align market expectations with the bank’s policy decisions.

The CBN governor said that clear communication and consistency in implementing reforms helped prevent market panic and also strengthened confidence in the CBN.

Cardoso said that Nigeria had tackled severe external financing challenges, including net external reserves falling to about three billion dollars and outstanding foreign exchange obligations exceeding seven billion dollars.

The CBN governor said that an orthodox monetary policy approach helped stabilise the economy, settle the outstanding obligations and attract investment.

“Diaspora remittances were a major source of foreign exchange diversification, as that monthly inflows increased from 200 million dollars to 600 million dollars within a year.

“Nigeria subsequently targeted one billion dollars in monthly remittances, with inflows reaching about 950 million dollars in July.

“The improvement is partly due to digital solutions, engagement with Nigerians abroad and the removal of bottlenecks affecting international money transfers,” he said.

Cardoso said that Nigeria must sustain its reforms and diversify revenue sources beyond crude oil to strengthen economic resilience.

He cited the Dangote Refinery as an example of domestic value addition that could reduce dependence on exporting crude oil and importing refined petroleum products.

He said improved macroeconomic stability had also supported Nigeria’s return to international market indices, including the FTSE and JPMorgan bond indices.

Cardoso said that the country would maintain its reform momentum, stressing that credibility depended on consistent action rather than promises.

He said Nigeria, a major African economy with a large population, had a responsibility to demonstrate that sustained reforms could deliver lasting economic change.

The Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Port Harcourt Branch, Dr Chinedu Maduba, has joined the call for the appointment of a woman as Inspector-General of Police.

Maduba made the call in an interview with newsmen at the book launch of Dame Stella Okuyiga’s book, _The Origin of Police in Nigeria_, at Hotel Presidential, Port Harcourt, yesterday.

He said his opinion was formed after listening to some of the special tasks performed by women in the police, as revealed by the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu.

According to him, it would not only be proper to give women the opportunity to serve in the highest office in the police force, but would also address the quest for good conscience, equity and justice.

To buttress his point, he said the testimony of the IGP on women manning all the area commands in Abuja should serve as a good basis for considering women for other sensitive offices from which they had been excluded in the past.

“We in the NBA trust our offices to women. Just imagine if the current IGP is a woman and we have a woman as the NBA President; they will bond for better policing,” he said.

He also lauded the IGP for what he described as the introduction of international standards of policing in the country, notwithstanding some pockets of challenges, and called for improved welfare packages for the Nigeria Police.

To other women, he urged them to look up to retired Deputy Commissioner of Police, Dame Okuyiga, as a role model and build on her records in the police force.

He further admonished them to take additional steps in exposing the ills allegedly perpetrated by some women in the Nigeria Police Force, saying such issues might be part of the concerns surrounding the appointment of women to the apex police position.

The Secretary of the NBA, Port Harcourt Branch, Rachel Princewill, also joined in the historic and memorable occasion, which celebrated women in the Nigeria Police Force and honoured the 94-year-old retired Deputy Commissioner of Police, Dame Stella Okuyiga.

The event, held at Atlantic Hall, Hotel Presidential, Port Harcourt, featured the presentation of Okuyiga’s book, _The Origin of Police in Nigeria, and brought together retired and serving women police officers from across the country.

King Onunwor

The Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division, has dismissed two separate appeals arising from the protracted chieftaincy dispute over the Okehi Clan traditional stool in Rivers State.
The appeals, numbered CA/PH/202/2021 and CA/PH/240/2021, were dismissed on grounds of lack of merit and failure to diligently prosecute the appeal, respectively.
In Appeal No. CA/PH/202/2021, Chief Kingsley Nwaejie challenged a ruling delivered by the Rivers State High Court in March 2021 in Suit No. OHC/69/2019.
The High Court, presided over by Justice I. Wodi, had dismissed his preliminary objection, holding that the suit instituted by HRH Eze Christopher Nwakamma and Chief Charles Nwaejie against HRM Eze E.M.B. Opurum and others did not constitute an abuse of court process.
Delivering the lead judgment on December 6, 2024, Justice E.O. Williams-Dawodu held that the appeal lacked merit and consequently dismissed it.
The appellate court found that the appellant had failed to establish that the parties and subject matter in the other suits he relied upon were identical to those in the pending suit, a requirement necessary to sustain his argument that the action amounted to an abuse of court process.
Justices A.M. Talba and Hannatu Azumi Laja Balogun, who sat on the panel alongside Justice Williams-Dawodu, concurred with the lead judgment.
In his concurring judgment, Justice Talba agreed that the trial judge was right to dismiss the preliminary objection, while Justice Laja Balogun also affirmed that the appeal failed and should be dismissed, with the consequential orders contained in the lead judgment.
In a related development, the Court of Appeal also dismissed Appeal No. CA/PH/240/2021, filed by HRM Eze E.M.B. Opurum against HRH Eze Christopher Nwakanma and others, for want of diligent prosecution.
The proceedings in the second appeal took place on March 29, 2023, before a panel comprising Justices S.T. Hussein, F.A. Ojo and A. Waziri.
According to the court record, although the appellant filed his notice of appeal on March 30, 2021, and transmitted the record of appeal on July 26, 2021, he failed to take the necessary steps to prosecute the matter thereafter.
Consequently, counsel to the respondents, E.O. Kalu, filed a motion on December 7, 2022, seeking the dismissal of the appeal over the appellant’s failure to file his brief of argument.
Counsel to the appellant, Osita C. Ohabuenyi, had earlier filed a counter-affidavit on December 23, 2022, but subsequently applied to withdraw it and did not oppose the motion seeking dismissal of the appeal. The court granted the application to withdraw the affidavit.

In its ruling, delivered by Justice S.T. Hussein, the court relied on Order 19 Rule 10(1) of the Court of Appeal Rules, which provides a 45-day period for an appellant to file a brief of argument following the transmission of the record of appeal.

The court held that the appellant’s failure to comply with the requirement warranted the dismissal of the appeal.

With the dismissal of both appeals, the decision of the Rivers State High Court in Suit No. OHC/69/2019 remains undisturbed by the first appeal, allowing the underlying suit to proceed, while the second appeal was terminated on procedural grounds.

Certified True Copies of the two decisions were issued by the Court of Appeal