Police Confirm Abduction of Three JAMB Candidates in Kaduna
Some bandits have abducted four persons, including three JAMB candidates who sat for the Saturday’s Unified Tertiary Joint Matriculations Examination in Kaduna State.
The police in Kaduna yesterday confirmed the incident.
The police said the four were kidnapped at Ungwan Yako Village, Birni Gwari Local Government Area of the state.
The fourth person was said to be a minor, a one and halfyear-old boy.
The driver of the vehicle that conveyed the JAMB candidates was also killed according to the police.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mohammed Jalinge, gave the names of the JAMB candidates to be Yusuf Sani, Ummi Sani, and Umairah Mustapha.
It was gathered that the candidates were returning to Birnin Gwari after their examination on Saturday in Kaduna when they were abducted by the gunmen.
The State Police Command confirmed the abduction of the JAMB candidate but remained silent on the killing of the driver.
When contacted, the police spokesman said, “Yes, there was an attack on Saturday on BirninGwari Road.
“Three of the kidnapped victims are candidates who came to Kaduna to write the UTME. They were on their way back when the incident happened.”
Continuing, he said: “But the area where we felt that we needed to speak on directly is that because of the drop in revenues to companies that may be or that will be directly adversely impacted upon by this CODVID-19 and economic crisis; because their revenues will drop, that we are saying that if your loan was initially meant to be a three-year loan, where for instance, you were paying on a monthly basis, say you took N10 million and you were paying N100,000 as repayment, we are saying that we are going to grant the banks the dispensation where they can restructure your loan from three-year to six-year, such that in addition to lie interest rate, what you will be making in installments of your loans would have been dropped from say N100,000 monthly to say N50,000 monthly to match the reduction in revenues arising from the impact of coronavirus. So it will naturally get to everybody.”
On MPR reduction, he said: “There are so many things the monetary policy committee takes into consideration in its determination as to whether or not to alter MPR. I think we should just wait. Indeed, MPC will be holding next week and I am also sure that with the array of data that will be confronting MPC by next week, they will direct as to whether or not to alter, reduce, raise interest rate.”
Analysts Hail CBN Timely Intervention
Meanwhile, analysts have hailed the timely intervention by the CBN to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 on the Nigerian economy.
Speaking to THISDAY, the Managing Director, Agusto & Co, Mrs. Yinka Adelekan, commended the central bank for being proactive, saying the measures would drastically reduce the cost of loans to the power sector, which in turn would enhance banking stability.
She said: “I think the CBN is being very proactive because of the impact of the COVID-19 cannot be underestimated. Officially when you look at the loans the banks have granted to the power sector players, giving them a moratorium period is very good in bringing down the cost of debt.
“The fact that they have also dropped the interest rate from nine per cent to five per cent to some sectors would also mean that the cost of funds would reduce, which is quite important at this time.
“Also, the N50 billion to the SMEs is commendable.”
Furthermore, she said the intervention for pharmaceutical companies was also essential so as to prevent the spread of the virus.
She added: “The fact that they are going to support the pharmaceutical sector, which controls 0.5 per cent of our GDP, which is very low, however, the first time they are focusing on this at this time is pivotal.
“All, the CBN is doing now is definitely the right thing to do at this time.”
On his part, the Head of Research, Afrinvest West Africa, Mr. Abiodun Keripe, also supported the intervention by the central bank.
He, however, called for enhanced liquidity for the banks like what was done in the United States.
“The funding for the healthcare is good given the situation at hand in dealing with COVID-19.
“It is also good that they talked about providing funding for businesses. However, that is just a drop in the ocean because we are a $94 billion economy and that ratio is tiny.
“It is good they are restructuring loans to the oil and gas, it is good they support healthcare which is needed to fight the pandemic COVID-19.”
“It is also applaudable they are cutting interest rates for their intervention funds for SMEs, he said.
On his part, the Head of Research at United Capital, Mr. Wale Olusi, said the move was a good response by the central bank.
But, he argued that the central bank had been overstretched in terms of its interventions.
He said: “We have gone all out on expansionary monetary policy before the COVID-19 virus outbreak and we have little or no room to respond appropriately to this new shock in town.
“The response is more or less a consolidation of what we have been doing before, apart from the new support for the health sector.
“As at today, oil price is below $30 and we can only hope it does not continue too long because if it does, the monetary authority is almost out of the options they can use to respond.”