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Naira Collapse: Tinubu’s Aide Tells Central Bank, EFCC to Ban Crypto Exchange Platforms In Nigeria

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Onanuga, gave the advice in a statement he shared on his X (formerly Twitter) handle on Wednesday. He also suggested that Crypto channels should be banned in the country, otherwise, “this bleeding of our currency will continue unabated”.

 

The Special Adviser on Information & Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, Mr Bayo Onanuga has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to move against platforms trying to manipulate the naira through crypto exchange platforms.

Onanuga, gave the advice in a statement he shared on his X (formerly Twitter) handle on Wednesday. He also suggested that Crypto channels should be banned in the country, otherwise, “this bleeding of our currency will continue unabated”.

 

Titled: “The Naira-Dollar manipulators,” the presidential aide explained how he chanced upon an X post Tuesday night made by one Brother Bernard, who according to him, rallied against what he called the order of the EFCC, NSA (National Security Adviser) on Finance to set a cap on traders selling USD tokens for naira equivalent.

According to the presidential aide, the said Bernard disclosed that token sellers had migrated to Telegram and were selling naira at N1850 and above.

 

Onanuga said, “He did not stop there, he lashed out at the Nigerian authorities over the efforts to arrest the slide of the Naira. He wrote: ‘If this is how they plan to save the naira, I’m sorry but it’s going to fail woefully. Binance was only a medium. If you block Binance, people will find new ways. This whole policy is absolutely ridiculous. Naira is going to zero’.

 

“Naira going to Zero? Is the owner of this account a Nigerian patriot? I checked Bernard’s profile. He says he is “BUIDLing something for migrants” and he is the “Chief Commander of Japa”. Bernard also posted a web link www. http://exposingagbado.com.

 

“My curiosity has paid off. Bernard is one of those implacable supporters of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s opponents in the last election, still having an axe to grind; otherwise, why will any patriotic Nigerian wish that “Naira is going to Zero”.

 

“On Tuesday, Bernard shared Naira-Dollar rates on some unidentified platforms, possibly Telegram, where Naira is being traded at N1900-N1950 to a US dollar.

 

“He also enjoined forex traders or token holders to move their funds to ‘kucoin or bybit or your own cold wallet.’”

 

Onanuga regretted that Bernard reported on Wednesday that Binance had removed Tuesday’s cap and had now put another cap on the naira-dollar exchange. It is now N1892, he said, with a trading range of N1392 and N1892.

 

The presidential aide said, “He was not happy about the new cap and attacked Binance: ‘Binance continues their games with Nigerians. Caps at 1892 when clearly the exchange rate is almost 2000/$ on other platforms. Trade elsewhere (NFA)’.

 

“He retweeted a post by ‘Olumide capital’, who said Binance ‘distances itself from the forex debacle in Nigeria. Olumide reported that Binance said its platform is “market-driven and not intended to be a proxy for currency pricing in Nigeria.’”

 

Calling on the authorities to go after currency manipulators, the presidential aide explained that Binance, “which is blatantly setting exchange rate for Nigeria, hijacking CBN role, is a cryptocurrency trading platform, which has suffered access limitations from multiple jurisdictions, in the US, Singapore, Canada and the UK”.

 

Citing Data Wallet, Onanuga said that Binance is prohibited in the United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct Authority from conducting any regulated activities.

 

He continued, “In Japan, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) banned Binance for operating without the necessary regulatory approval.

 

“Ontario, Canada, has also suspended Binance services following its inability to meet the province’s securities regulation criteria. The Monetary Authority of Singapore also banned Singaporean investors from accessing Binance’s services.”

 

He added Binance, “which is currently facing regulatory showdown in many countries, and causing disruptions in the currency market, should not be allowed to dictate the value of the Naira, not on its crypto exchange platform.

 

“Other crypto platforms such as Kucoin, Bybit should be banned from operating in our cyberspace.”

 

“FX platform Aboki should be re-banned,” he suggested. He advised that the “EFCC and the CBN should move against these platforms trying to manipulate our national currency to Ground Zero”.

 

“Crypto should be banned in our country or else this bleeding of our currency will continue unabated,” he added.

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Lucid Had Another Record Quarter Thanks To Tesla Owners Who Jumped Ship

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2025 Lucid Air Sapphire © insideEvs.com Copyright
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The American luxury EV maker had its fifth consecutive record quarter.

  • Lucid Motors delivered 3,109 cars in the first quarter.
  • That’s a 28% increase year-over-year.
  • A big reason for the uptick? Tesla owners.

The Lucid Air is a phenomenal machine, albeit a very expensive one. It’s the longest-range electric vehicle on sale today, with up to 512 miles on a full charge. It’s also extremely comfortable, but it costs between $70,000 and $250,000.

Despite the high price tag, the Air just helped Lucid achieve its fifth consecutive record quarter for deliveries. Thanks in no small part to Tesla owners ditching their EVs for other battery-powered cars, Lucid delivered 3,109 units in the first quarter of this year–an impressive increase of 28% over last year.

“Tesla owners always have been a source of customers for us,” said Lucid’s Interim CEO Marc Winterhoff during a Fox Business interview last week. “We saw a dramatic uptick in the last two months. Right now, 50% of all the orders that we have are from Tesla owners.”

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Compared to last year’s fourth quarter, Lucid delivered just 10 more vehicles, but a record is still a record. When it comes to manufacturing, the California-based startup built 2,213 cars at its facility in Casa Grande, Arizona, with an additional 600 units in transit to Saudi Arabia, where they will be assembled at the company’s AMP-2 facility. Compared to Q1 2024, Lucid built 28% more cars in the first quarter of this year.

Deliveries of the new Gravity SUV are yet to begin, with the first demo units scheduled to be finalized by the end of April. As a reminder, Lucid also built a handful of Gravity SUVs late last year, but that was a limited run intended for employees and company friends. In other words, although Lucid doesn’t split the delivery numbers for its two models, all the cars delivered in Q1 were likely Air sedans.

With the Gravity, Lucid is broadening its appeal to a wider audience that may not be so convinced about a luxury electric sedan. “More than 75% of our Gravity orders are from people who don’t own a Lucid,” said Winterhoff. That said, don’t expect Lucid’s first SUV to be affordable. The Gravity Grand Touring starts at $94,900–this gets you up to 450 miles of range on a full charge and seating for up to seven adults. A cheaper Touring trin, which will start from $79,900, will go on sale in late 2025.

Lucid Motors Deliveries

PeriodUnits Delivered
Q4 20221,932
Q1 20231,406
Q2 20231,404
Q3 20231,457
Q4 20231,734
Q1 20241,967
Q2 20242,394
Q3 20242,781
Q4 20243,099
Q1 20253,109

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Ford’s EV, Hybrid Sales Surge In Q1 Ahead Of Tariff Chaos

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Ford Q1 2025 Sales © InsideEVs
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It was a record start to the year for electrified vehicles, mainly led by the Mustang Mach-E. But that could get pricier soon.

  • Ford sold 73,623 electrified models in the U.S. in the first quarter, a 26% year-over-year growth.
  • It was a record start to the year for hybrids, up 33% while Ford’s EVs were up 12%, mainly led by the Mustang Mach-E.
  • Deliveries of the 2025 Mustang Mach-E, with improved range and more features, is imminent. But it could cost substantially more with President Trump’s 25% tariffs.

Ford sold more than half a million vehicles in the U.S. across powertrain types in the first quarter of this year.

While its overall sales sank marginally, electrified vehicles grew 26% year-over-year. Hybrids, plug-in hybrids and fully electric models now together account for 15% of Ford’s overall sales, a 3% jump over last year.

The Dearborn automaker sold 501,291 units in the first quarter, a 1.3% year-over-year drop. Gas-powered vehicles accounted for 427,668 units (85%) of the total sales, whereas fully electric models made up 22,550 units (4.4%) and hybrids totaled 51,073 units (10.1%).

2025 Mustang Mach-E Rally_04

 

Photo by: Ford

The Mustang Mach-E outsold the gas-powered Mustang again and every single Lincoln model on sale. Ford sold 11,607 Mach-Es, a 21% increase year-over-year. By comparison, buyers drove home only 9,377 combustion-engined Mustangs, a sharp 31.6% drop.

Sales of the E-Transit electric van increased nearly 30% to 3,756 units. However, the F-150 Lightningdid not perform as well, even though the overall F-Series trucks grew by 24.5%. Only 7,187 Lightnings found homes so far this year, a 7.1% drop.

By comparison, sales of the Chevy Silverado EVgrew 125% to 2,383 units. General Motors also just launched cheaper versions of the 2026 Sierra EV, which has the potential to put the automaker at the forefront of the electric truck race in the coming months.

However, Ford’s momentum with its electrified models risks stalling as President Trump’s 25% tariffs on imported cars and auto parts went into effect on Wednesday. While most Ford cars are assembled in the U.S., all of them get over half of their parts content from overseas—mostly Mexico—according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

2025 Ford F-150 Lightning with the

 

Photo by: Ford

A whopping 78% of the Mustang Mach-E’s parts are sourced from Mexico and the crossover is also assembled there. Even the hugely popular Bronco Sport and the Maverick are assembled across America’s southern border.

Unless the president provides American automakers with some tariff relief or trade concessions, their momentum risks getting wiped out, at least in the short term.

Have a tip? Contact the author: suvrat.kothari@insideevs.com

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Children are turning to ChatGPT over their PARENTS for life advice

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Dame Rachel de Souza has warned that children are increasingly turning to online chatbots instead of their parents for answers to life’s biggest questions (file photo)
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Children are increasingly turning to online chatbots instead of their parents for answers to life’s biggest questions, the Children’s Commissioner has warned.

Dame Rachel de Souza will say in a speech today that the ‘apathy’ of many parents is causing a ‘crisis in childhood’ that is leading to many children feeling ‘disconnected’.

The Children’s Commissioner will say that artificial intelligence such as Chat GPT could end up filling knowledge gaps for children unless parents can show they will respond quicker than online chatbots.

Her comments come amid a national conversation about how the internet and social media are affecting children, which has been prompted by the hit Netflix drama Adolescence.

Today Dame Rachel will address the inaugural Festival Of Childhood alongside Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, where she is expected to say that children just ‘want to be listened to’.

Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner for England, has warned that the ‘apathy’ of many parents is causing a ‘crisis in childhood’ that is leading to many children feeling ‘disconnected’

 

She will warn that childhood must not be conflated with adulthood ‘because to do so abdicates us of our responsibility to making sure every child has all the things they should always have, and no child experiences the things they never should’.

Dame Rachel will say: ‘If we want children to experience the vivid technicolour of life, the joy of childhood, the innocence of youth, we have to prove that we will respond more quickly to them than Chat GPT.’

She will add: ‘Some of these foundations of childhood are cracking. A different version of childhood is playing out – one that we are struggling to be honest about. A crisis developing in childhood.

‘There is a risk of inaction, of apathy – and the antidote to this is listening. Connecting. That is why we must listen to children, to engage them on the decisions about their lives.’

The Children’s Commissioner has also carried out a new survey using her statutory powers to obtain responses from around 19,000 schools and colleges, representing almost 90 per cent of schools in England.

Dame Rachel de Souza has warned that children are increasingly turning to online chatbots instead of their parents for answers to life’s biggest questions (file photo)

 

The research has found that more than half – 55 per cent – of schools are worried about the online safety of their children.

The survey also found that 71 per cent of schools are concerned about children’s access to adolescent mental health services, while 46 per cent are worried about the impact of poverty on children.

Dame Rachel is also expected to set out her focus for the next 12 months, which will include looking at children’s trust in the police, harms cause by AI ‘deepfake’ technology, and the use of mobile phones in schools.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said she pledged, upon entering office, that this would be a ‘child-centred government’.

She added: ‘This is exactly what we are delivering: better life chances for every child, wherever they live and whatever their background, putting their best interests at the heart of everything we do.’

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