Insurance firms that fail to report financial transactions above the amount stipulated by the Nigerian Finance Intelligence Unit (NFIU) would pay a N1 million daily penalty, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has said.

Under the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Compliance Institutions in Nigeria Act, NAICOM said companies are to make a report in writing to the agency in seven and 30 days, on a transaction in excess of N5million or its equivalent for an individual, or N10 million for a corporate body.

Nigeria’s 2012 budget allocation to pay for fuel subsidies will run out before the end of the year, risking the country raiding its oil savings and borrowing more, Central Bank governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi told Reuters.

Nigeria scrapped subsidies on petrol imports on January 1, potentially saving over N1 trillion ($6.35 billion). But more than a week of strikes and protests erupted across the coutry against the higher cost of motor fuel, forcing government to partially reinstate them.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that the tight monetary policy it adopted last year to rein –in inflation would be mixed with easing measures with hopes that this could help moderate the cautious approach to lending by the banks, thus further easing credit expansion to the productive sectors of the economy.

The CBN is concerned that the effects of the continued liquidity squeeze on the Nigerian economy, as a result of this tight stance, are expected to linger through 2012 as banks re-adjust their portfolios to accommodate prevailing liquidity conditions and may consequently, push up lending rates.

ABUJA — The Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, realised N21.7 trillion from  taxes in  the last 11 years, it was learnt, yesterday. FIRS made a total of N13.036 trillion from oil sources and another N7.53 trillion from non-oil taxes within the period under review

In the thank-you message, posted on the internet, yesterday, the service’s immediate Chairman, Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru, was full of thanks for multilateral agencies, members of the Study and Working Groups, her peers at the sub-regional and continental levels, with whom FIRS shares ideas, his colleagues in the global tax body, Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators, tax authorities in the states for the successes she recorded in her tenure.

The Nigerian naira weakened against the U.S dollar on the interbank market on Wednesday, as strong demand by fuel importers outweighed dollar inflows from energy companies, traders said.

The local currency however, managed a slight gain at the bi-weekly foreign exchange auction, closed at 156.01 to the dollar from 156.06 at the previous auction on Monday.

The naira traded at 157.90 to the dollar on the interbank market, weaker than the 157.70 to the dollar on Tuesday.

The Nigerian naira weakened against the US dollar on the interbank market on Monday, on strong demand by some banks filling their customers' needs for dollars, as dollar liquidity gradually dries up in the market, traders said.

The naira closed at 157.90 to the dollar compared with the 157.30 to the dollar on Friday.

Ogun State Government has assured workers that it will this month start the implementation of the new tax regime just signed into law by the Federal government.

Making this known to newsmen in Abeokuta was the Consultant to the Governor on Labour Matters, Chief Julius Ogundipe who said the new system when operational would reduce the amount being paid by civil servants as tax drastically.

Nigeria's central bank has added the equivalent of $500 million in Chinese yuan to its reserves and plans to buy seven times that amount, in a shift that underscores booming commerce between China and the African continent.

The bank will gradually increase its yuan holdings to 10% of its $35 billion in reserves, Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal yesterday.