The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Climate challenges and the Tinubu administration

    Climate challenges and the Tinubu administration

    Sir: There so many things on the table, awaiting the Bola Tinubu administration. With insecurity topping the list, there is a great task of the realization of viable and sustainable economic alternatives, developing a decisive healthcare structure and of course, and battling an ever evolving overwhelming climate reality. It is certain that the Tinubu administration will be challenged by many of what its predecessors fought.

    The year 2022 brought unprecedented climate crisis in Nigeria and the around the world. Floods have devastated communities in southern parts of the country and many communities in the North were displaced. The inherent consequences of climate related problems in our country are truly worrisome.

    Over 12,000 farmlands across about 14 local government areas were completely destroyed in Kano State due to heavy and torrential rainfalls. In Jigawa State also, many homes were destroyed by heavy rains and floods. Numerous families had to be dispersed across schools which served as relief camps for the displaced. Some innocent lives were lost after being buried under water due to heavy rainfall. A substantial number of farmlands were destroyed too. These issues occurred while the President Buhari administration was nearing its end and political campaigns heightened.

    Both the federal government and state governments rushed to cushion the effects by sharing palliatives to affected communities. Philanthropists also played important roles in supporting the victims. Many families lost everything including their only source of livelihood – farming. This challenge intensified living conditions for average Nigerians in these parts of the country as prices of commodities hiked and cost of living rose significantly.

    Read Also: Youths get training in climate education

    Now after a year, we’re back at it again. The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) has forecast of what we would expect during this year’s rainfall season and indicators are absolutely frightening: the heavy rains and thunderstorms are the pointers.

    Apart from heavy floods, the inconsistency of rainfall in the Northern part of the country is also another climate wrinkle. The inconsistency of rainfall if not managed with the right agricultural methodologies will only worsen access to food supplies. Policies of the just concluded government in terms of border closure and later ban on the importation of products like foreign rice has hit hard a large percentage of Nigeria’s population. Even with the supposed increase in agricultural activities as the alternative induced by the Buhari administration then, the prices are unbearable.

    With the cut down of trees in the North, heat is now persistent. The excruciating effect has been felt by people unlike heat seasons before. This year’s Ramadan season was marked by excessive heat. Federal and state government initiatives at this stage must prioritize replanting of new and resilient breeds of trees in places set for infrastructural activities. Our experiences have highlighted that prior climate change initiatives in this respect are not enough.

    Health problems are also being exacerbated as climate change continues to unravel.

    A United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) 2021 study found that “Nigeria produces more than three million tonnes of waste annually and only 20 to 30 percent is collected and disposed of. Uncontrolled wasted burning, which is one of the practices contributes to deteriorating air quality in Urban centres”.

    UNEP also in a recent publication this year also states that “In Nigeria, sachets have become increasingly widespread, especially in fast growing cities like Lagos. When you picture the whole Nigeria in terms of this indiscriminate act, you know a bigger problem lies ahead unless necessary measures are implored.

    Nigeria is blessed with enormous human resources capable of producing excellent ideas to combat some of these issues. As part of the government’s obligation to serve, it must consider accepting solutions from communities and creative youths as well as start-ups. Many ideas can be supported with considerable investment to support the fight against climate induced calamities.

    • Nusaiba Ibrahim Na’abba,  Kano.
  • Traffic congestion and public health

    Traffic congestion and public health

    Sir: Some of the inevitabilities of life are death, taxes, and rush hour traffic; the last two come with their own form of pressure on our health and might lead to the first one.

    One of the reasons why we have such a low life expectancy is the number of hours we spend in sedentary life; while we are built for mobility, we aren’t built for extremely long hours in traffic. Then there is also the effect on family life. When you have to rush out of the house early in the morning and get home just before midnight, the only time you have to spend with family is maybe at the weekend.

    Long road traffic can have several negative effects on the human body. Sitting for long periods in a confined space can lead to physical stress, particularly on the lower back, neck, and legs. Prolonged road traffic can cause mental fatigue, leading to decreased concentration and reaction times. Sitting in a cramped position for long periods can cause poor posture, leading to pain and discomfort. Staring at the road for long periods can cause eye strain, leading to headaches, blurred vision, and eye fatigue. Exposure to air pollution from car exhaust fumes can lead to respiratory problems, such as asthma, bronchitis, and other lung diseases. Prolonged exposure to road traffic noise can cause hearing problems, stress, and sleep disturbances.

    In this part of the world, remote working has infrastructural challenges like power and the internet, but if we can get fewer people on the road on a workday, it would increase productivity for those that have the option of either coming to the office or staying at home. Those who have no options but to turn up five days a week should be made more aware of its effects on their health and try to get some relief through breaks, walks, exercise, and rest.

    Read Also: Marwa: secret labs threaten public health, national security

    The traffic situation is a function of poor urban planning, economic stagnation, and mass migration. One of the lessons from COVID-19 was that we can use technology for meetings; we don’t have to be rushing on the road to get basic information and reports. Another way is hybrid working, where some days work can be done from home.

    By being more aware, Human Resources (HR) practitioners should come up with real solutions. They should be right up there crafting policies and strategy because it’s people who would execute them and someone in that meeting should be speaking up for the people.

    • Ovigho Richard Okojevoh, <mrsafetyabc@gmail.com>
  • Hanging in the air

    Hanging in the air

    • Unveiling of Nigeria Air should be investigated

    Five years after Nigeria Air was announced, and its name and logo unveiled, at the Farnborough Air Show in the UK in 2018, the national carrier has not only failed to take off but is also mired in a fraud-related scandal.

    Notably, the National Assembly condemned the handling of the project following the landing, on May 26, of a 180-passenger capacity Boeing 737 – 800 aircraft with the logo and livery of Nigeria Air at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja. The Federal Ministry of Aviation said it was “the official unveiling of Nigeria Air”; and later explained, rather sophistically, that it was not a launch of the airline. It was not the birth of an airline but the unveiling of a Nigerian brand of sophistry.

    There was something suspicious about the apparent rush by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari to get the national carrier flying in its last days. It looked like a sign of desperation for glory.   

    “Operation of local and international flights will commence soon. Before the end of this administration, before May 29, we will fly,” the then Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, was reported saying at the National Aviation Stakeholders Forum 2023 in Abuja in March. It was two months before the inauguration of President Bola Tinubu. The controversial “unveiling” happened three days to the beginning of the Tinubu era.

    Read Also: Arik Air: Shareholders tackle Receiver managers over fraud claim

    Less than two weeks after, however, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), in a statement, said that the promoters of the airline — the Federal Government and Ethiopian Airlines — did not go beyond the first stage of a five-stage certification process leading to the issuance of the Air Operators’ Certificate (AOC).

    The airline is expected to meet the requirements of the Civil Aviation (Air Navigation) Regulations before the NCAA can issue the AOC with the appropriate specifications and ratings. It is after the issuance of the AOC that the airline can engage in commercial aviation activities in Nigeria. It’s puzzling that the authorities misrepresented the airline’s status, giving the impression that its lack of certification wasn’t an issue.

    There are other cloudy issues concerning the airline’s takeoff. Its so-called unveiling prompted fact-finding moves by the National Assembly. The findings showed that the aircraft involved in the unveiling was “Ethiopian-registered,” and had been chartered for the ceremony. The Managing Director of Nigeria Air, Dayo Olumide, told legislators that the aim was to show stakeholders “what the aircraft will look like.”

     The Senate Committee on Aviation observed that the unveiling “created an integrity question.”  The House of Representatives Committee on Aviation said the exercise was “highly opaque, shrouded in secrecy, shoddy and capable of ridiculing and tarnishing the image of Nigeria before the international community.” It recommended that the project be suspended and all individuals, groups, or organisations implicated in the “controversial shenanigan named Nigeria Air’s takeoff” be prosecuted and sanctioned.

    During the legislative investigation, a stakeholder in the airline with a 15 per cent stake, Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) Plc, said it was uninvolved in the unveiling, and alleged that the ceremony was politically motivated to “whitewash” the previous administration.

    Importantly, the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) said it had obtained court orders against the continuance of the project, which means that the ceremony amounted to disobedience of court orders.  The authorities are expected to respect the law, and should not act unlawfully.

    Nothing that Sirika said on a national television programme last week can justify the embarrassment the said unveiling of the airline caused the country. His allegation of sabotage by domestic airline owners who he said did not want the project was bunkum. So was his allegation against a former chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji, that he alleged demanded a five per cent equity in the project as a precondition for the support of the committee. Why wait till now to make this public?

    Indeed, all of these further compounded the features of institutional irresponsibility in the story of Nigeria Air, with the former aviation minister, Sirika, at the centre of the project.  He said at the unveiling: “It’s a noble thing we are doing … This is part of the process. It’s the beginning of the establishment of the airline.”  His perspective is alarming, considering the clear and indefensible anomalies in the project under the Buhari administration.

    As things stand, a comprehensive probe of the project is necessary.  There is no better time than now to thoroughly review the problematic project. The Tinubu administration should take a hard look at Nigeria Air.

  • Emefiele’s suspension

    Emefiele’s suspension

    • It’s long overdue; his rentier-economy era must be investigated

    Last week, the financial sector heaved a sigh of relief following the suspension of the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, from office by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Under Emefiele’s nine-year reign, the naira suffered massive depreciation against the dollar, amidst multiple exchange windows and its corrupting influence. Inflation hovered at double digits, many times crossing the 20 per cent mark. The CBN became a primary lender to sundry interests, and the naira redesign policy was a fiasco. Added to these macro and micro-economic mismanagement, the Department of State Service (DSS) accused Emefiele of sponsoring terrorism. 

    So, his suspension from office was much awaited, and the fiscal and monetary indicators have rebounded following his exit. At his inauguration on May 29, President Tinubu vowed to end the multiple exchange window which was an opportunity for well-connected persons and bank officials to engage in round-tripping as a business. Under the newly introduced unified import and export window, the naira traded at N664 to a dollar, as against N463.99 at the official window and N776 at the parallel market, before the exit of Emefiele last week.

    On the first trading day after the ouster of the CBN chief, the Nigeria Stock Exchange closed at a 15-year high, as investors’ confidence returned. According to financial reports, a few days after Tinubu’s inaugural speech, the Nigerian stock experienced a notable surge of 5.2 per cent and a significant 133.5 per cent increase in trading volume. The market rebounded even much higher after the ouster of Emefiele and  unification of the exchange rate, as transparency returned to the foreign exchange market.

    Read Also: Emefiele’s Exit: Deliverance by Tinubu administration

    Local and international monetary experts are of the view that the Tinubu administration needed to clean the Augean stable that Emefiele’s policies constituted. While at the helm, Emefiele combined both monetary and fiscal controls to the detriment of the nation’s economy. While his monetary policies created a cabal who engaged in a rentier economy, his fiscal policies raised an army of loan beneficiaries whose contribution to the growth of the economy was disproportionate to what they received.

    Emefiele’s Anchor Borrowers Programme became a veritable opportunity for corrupt enrichment, as many of the loans given out by the CBN would be irrecoverable. A false hope as to the success of his agricultural programmes was promoted; as there was insignificant impact on the price of food in the market, even as inflationary pressure on food items continued to rise astronomically. The food inflation rate hovered between 20 per cent and 22 per cent in 2022, at the peak of what we may call his economic policies.

    In the last quarter of 2022, Emefiele announced a currency swap policy, ostensibly to enhance cashless policy, and fight kidnappings and ransom payment. While Nigerians were encouraged to deposit their cash, the new currency denominations of N200, N500 and N1,000, programmed to be available by mid-December became acutely scarce. Nigerians were subjected to one of the worst economic policies in recent history and many small businesses went under and are yet to recover months after the badly implemented programme ended.

    As if his poor monetary and fiscal policies were not bad enough, Emefiele, in clear defiance of the CBN Act, which prohibits him from political participation, threw his hat into the contest for the office of president in the 2023 general elections. Discountenancing wise counsel, Emefiele approached the courts to get an order to ride rough shod over the CBN Act. Being a contestant, Emefiele was legitimately accused of acting for his political interests in the monetary and fiscal policies he promoted.

    Emefiele’s tenure was headlined by the depreciation of naira from an average of N165.15 per dollar when he took over in 2014, to N459.76 in 2023 at the official window when he was suspended.

    We urge the Federal Government to avail him of his fundamental rights but subject his tenure to a thorough investigation of the reasons for such economic adversity, and the alleged economic sabotage and terrorism charges levelled against him.

  • Maritime safety in Gulf of Guinea

    Maritime safety in Gulf of Guinea

    The Gulf of Guinea is a major hub for global commerce, with immediate far-reaching implications on Nigeria and 12 other basin countries. In this report, Daniel Essiet examines on the challenges and efforts to ensure security on the international trade route.

    The Gulf of Guinea plays major role in global trade as connecting point between vast African resources and the world markets. A major hub for shipping, oil and fishing, the Gulf of Guinea impacts the fortunes of 13 basin countries.

    These proximate countries included Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, São Tomé and Príncipe, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo and  Angola.

    The past two years have seen some positive developments on global maritime security. According to the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Maritime Bureau (IMB), global piracy and armed robbery incidents are at their lowest recorded figure in three decades.

    The IMB’s  report showed a 32 per cent drop in overall attacks in 2021 compared to 2020. These promising trends were also evident in the Gulf of Guinea. Of the 90 global piracy and armed robbery incidents reported between January and September, last year, 13 have been reported in the Gulf of Guinea region, compared to 27 over the same period in 2021.

    Instances of piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf peaked in 2020 with 123 incidents. In recent years, pirates have targeted ships to kidnap crews for ransom—but since then, there has been a notable decline in attacks, with 45 incidents in 2021 and a continuation of this trend last year.

    A United Nations Secretary-General report attributed the reduction to several factors, including the impact of piracy convictions in Nigeria and Togo in July 2021, the deterrent effects of increased maritime patrols by Nigeria, and the deployment of international navies to the region, along with improved cooperation among Gulf of Guinea countries.

    The decline in the number of reported incidents in West African waters has a greater level of Nigeria’s input through deliberate and consistent action from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, (NIMASA) Deep Blue Project.

    Read Also: NIMASA eyes blue economy as Nigeria’s cash cow

    Nigeria’s role in supporting maritime security and global trade through NIMASA is resonating beyond her shores; powered by political will, enabling legal framework and necessary assets for enforcement.

    Piracy and other maritime crimes in the Gulf of Guinea which affects a number of countries in West Africa as well as the wider international community has received several responses from the global maritime community and in the last two years declined.

    Nigeria has greatly contributed in rebuilding confidence in the global shipping community,  reassuring ships, crew and cargo safety while they transit or trade within the Gulf of Guinea. This is a laudable impact of the Nigerian deep blue project.

    With President Bola Tinubu’s call for increased synergy between government agencies in pursuing national interest, the deep blue project promoted by NIMASA creates a robust platform for inter agency collaboration towards efficient maritime security.

    From the enactment of the country’s Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences (SPOMO) Act in 2019 to the procurement of deep blue assets for enhanced security and full scale deployment for enforcement, Nigeria has taken the bull by the horns.

    NIMASA in trying to make the Act gain greater traction has entered and sustained partnerships with various security agencies to prosecute the deep blue project.These inter-agency relationships are rooted in the several memorandum of understanding (MoU) NIMASA is having with the various bodies.

    States in the Gulf of Guinea region, with regional economic blocs like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC) are called to step up efforts to establish a stable maritime environment.

    This is inclusive of goal to achieve the full operationalisation of the maritime security architecture as laid out in the Yaoundé Code of Conduct in 2013.

    The Yaoundé Code of Conduct , even in it’s tenth year of existence, has faced challenges, including the lack of sustainable financing to procure maritime security assets, a situation Nigeria has boldly responded to.

    NIMASA’s DG,  Dr. Bashir Jamoh, had in 2021, appealed for the standardisation of the legal frameworks of countries in the Gulf of Guinea to aid effective prosecution of maritime crimes. Jamoh made the appeal in Lagos at the Third Technical Rotating Meeting of the project on “enhancing regional research, convening of stakeholders and capacity development in the Gulf of Guinea” implemented by the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra, and the Government of Denmark.

    A communique calling for the transformation of Yaoundé Code of Conduct (YCC) into a binding convention for better coordination and optimal benefit to the member countries, was issued at the end of the meeting organised in partnership with NIMASA and the Inter-Regional Coordination Centre (ICC).

    The DG said efforts were being made to standardise regional maritime law enforcement, stressing that some countries are already enacting their own antipiracy laws.

    Jamoh stated: “We encourage countries within the region, which do not have distinct antipiracy laws, to try to enact such laws. It is in the interest of every country in the Gulf of Guinea to consciously work to remove obstacles to the prosecution of piracy and sea robbery suspects.

    “Shipping is an international business, and crimes associated with it are equally international in nature. Now, how do you try a suspect in a country where our SPOMO Act cannot be applied?

    “No country can fight maritime insecurity alone. It is a collective responsibility. There is hardly any nation that does not have commercial interest in the Gulf of Guinea.

    “So we must work to ensure uniformity of legal frameworks in the region to facilitate effective prosecution of maritime crimes.”

    The communique said: “The YCC, as it stands now, is a code of practice without any binding provisions. This affects the way it is implemented at the regional and national levels. The meeting, therefore, calls for expedited action towards the transformation of the YCC into a binding Convention taking on board, the peculiar contexts of diverse jurisprudence, linguistic traditions and the inter-regional coverage of the code as well as the differing procedures of the three (3) sponsors of the ICC (i.e. ECOWAS, ECCAS and the GGC).”

    It said: “Coordination of action at all levels is critical for impact on the ground. Such coordination efforts must begin with states demonstrating willingness to cede portions of their sovereignty and invest in the realisations of the provisions of the YCC.”

    The communique also said: “State and multilateral actors who lead in the implementation of safety and security measures in the Gulf of Guinea, must identify and implement relevant confidence-building measures to reinforce the principles of coordination and in the implementation of the YCC.”

    The Yaoundé Code of Conduct was signed in 2013 by 25 West and Central African countries. It provides the structure for joint operations, intelligence sharing, and harmonised legal frameworks among its five zones, two regional centres, and one Interregional Coordination Centre (ICC) that watch over 6,000 kilometres of coastline and 12 major ports.

    From preventing terrorism in the maritime domain to fighting piracy and crude oil theft, Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (UUF) as well as proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons the suppression efforts got fiecer.

    This is in addition to the growing concern of cyber security in the maritime domain due to growing attacks on ships’ networks, communication and navigation systems.

    Secretary-General, International Maritime Organisation (IMO), Kitack Lim, has at various times commended the Nigerian government, NIMASA and the Nigerian Navy for their lead role in suppressing piracy in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG).

    The IMO is a specialised agency of the United Nations (UN) that sets global standard for the safety, security and environmental performance of international shipping.

    Speaking at the last year’s Nigeria International Maritime Summit (NIMS) in Lagos,   Lim commended Nigeria’s leading role in effectively collaborating with local, regional and international partners to achieve success in the war against piracy.

    The Project, which was initiated by the Federal Ministry of Transportation and Federal Ministry of Defence, is being implemented by NIMASA.

    While securing Nigerian waters up to the Gulf of Guinea, the Project has three categories of platforms to tackle maritime security on land, sea, and air. Some of it’s assets are being deployed in protecting the country’s oil facilities and prevent oil theft.

    The land assets at inception  included the Command, Control, Communication, Computer, and Intelligence Centre (C4i) for intelligence gathering and data collection; 16 armoured vehicles for coastal patrol; and 600 specially trained troops for interdiction, known as Maritime Security Unit.

    It’s sea assets included two Special Mission Vessels and 17 Fast Interceptor Boats. The air assets comprise two Special Mission Aircraft for surveillance of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ); three Special Mission Helicopters for search and rescue operations; and four Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

    These assets have been expanded and upgraded with more operatives trained to meet the demands of the country and maritime industry.

    It is the first integrated maritime security strategy in West and Central Africa tackling the incidences of piracy, sea robbery, and other crimes at sea with backed up SPOMO law.

  • ‘Invest in youth, technology to improve GDP’

    ‘Invest in youth, technology to improve GDP’

    A former Minister of Education, Obiageli Ezekwesili, has called on African leaders to invest more in youth, women and technology in order to improve the continent’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

        Ezekwesili, who spoke at the launch of Big Ideas Platform by the School of Politics, Policy and Governance (SPPG), said, Africa with such enormous resources and youthful population, has no excuse for being poor.

    While noting that African youths can compete globally, she added that young people in the continent are already showing the world that they can act globally.

    According to her, African young people have economically proven to be game changers.

     She said: “Number one big change of our continent is the young people. Africa’s mean age, or median age is about 18.6 years compared to the global average of more than 40 years.

    “African young people are already showing the world that they can act globally, that they can compete globally.

    Read Also: Gombe youths seek inclusion in government

     “And that despite some of the challenges that hold them back due to poor governance, if they find their feats, they can even surpass the ideas that others put on the table.

    “Another thing is African women. That is very clear. What data shows us is that Africa can actually increase its GDP by $360 billion by 2025.

        “We just need to include our women in the developing process, and Africa stands a chance of such an increase in its GDP, considering that the continent’s GDP is still a paltry $2.3 trillion. It means that there’s so much that is held up in gender disparity.

        “The third factor is technology. Technology has been Africa’s most insignificant revolution.”

        “The ICT revolution has been our first participation and not even as a major producer of ideas of it, but just a consumer, we already began to learn how to participate in producing innovations within it.

        “So even if you are the most pessimistic person, you have absolutely no business leaving today’s program without boasting of optimism, that our young people and women joined with the capacity that technology offers, we will definitely be the ones that will determine the 21st century.”

        Also, the Executive Director of Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ), Hansatu Adegbite, lamented that the cost of inequality is extremely high, which she said Nigeria has been paying the cost for the longest time.

        Adegbite added that women should be part of decision-making in the country.

  • Firm to support students loan’s implementation

    Firm to support students loan’s implementation

    PressPayNg, Africa’s tertiary education financing digital platform, has lauded President Bola Tinubu for taking the step to empower students and improve their access to higher education by signing into law the Student Loan Bill. 

    In a statement, the firm said the legislation will help youths to access funding to actualise their higher education dreams with less stress.

    It added that the development would bridge the funding gap experienced by young Nigerians who desire higher education and equally open doors of opportunity for their academic pursuits and their families, enabling them to focus on their studies and unleash their true potential.

    Following the signing of the Student Loan Bill into law by Tinubu, PressPayNg has restated its commitment to support the Federal Government and other stakeholders to ensure seamless and successful implementation of the provisions of the law.

    Read Also: ‘Student loan will revolutionise access to higher education’

    The historic legislation demonstrates the President’s genuine concern for the welfare and future of  students. By prioritising education and working in partnership with private stakeholders, the President has reaffirmed his commitment to ensuring that every student has the opportunity to fulfill his or her educational dreams.

    The Student Loan Bill represents the government’s commitment to fostering an environment where every student has the means to pursue their educational aspirations, regardless of their financial background.

    With this legislation, the government aims to alleviate the burden of educational expenses and bridge the financial gap that often hinders students from obtaining a quality education.

    The act will provide interest-free loans to students which means they would only be required to pay back the exact amount collected. The act will also see that the students have equal rights to access the loans without any form of discrimination of any kind. This will significantly alleviate the financial burden.

    Commenting on the signing of the Students Loan Bill into law and its significance, the Chief Executive Officer of PressPayNg, Abiola Metilelu, said, “by signing the Student Loan Bill, President Bola Tinubu has set in motion a transformational shift in Nigeria’s educational landscape. The legislation not only enables students to pursue their academic aspirations but also empowers them to become catalysts for positive change within their communities and the nation at large. It fosters a culture of academic excellence, enabling students to unlock their full potential and contribute meaningfully to the socio-economic growth of Nigeria’’.

    He added that, ‘’there is intensifying demand for expanded access to good quality tertiary education. PressPayNg is committed to providing financing opportunities for higher education and believes in the power of education to transform lives. Through our innovative approach to education financing, we have successfully empowered countless students to pursue their dreams and achieve academic excellence. Our comprehensive range of financial solutions and programs align perfectly with the goals of the Student Loan Bill, making us the ideal partner to support this historic initiative’’

    PressPayNg, a trailblazing education finance firm has already deployed a digital platform/app for young Nigerians to fund their tertiary education fees through target savings, scholarships, loans and crowdfunding. The platform is a value proposition that is expected to help over 1,500,000 million young Nigerians in the next two years to actualize their higher education dreams. So far, the firm has reached and on-boarded over 200,000 Nigerian students and parents by providing convenient opportunities to secure and creative funding solutions for tertiary education.

    PressPayNg expressed optimism that collaborating with the federal government will ensure that drop-out rate of the country significantly reduces by leveraging on the firm’s expertise and resources to efficiently disburse loans to deserving students across the country.

  • Electric vehicles have bright prospects in Nigeria, says Shettima

    Electric vehicles have bright prospects in Nigeria, says Shettima

    • NEC endorses first locally made EV

    Nigerian economy would foster the growth of the electric vehicles (EV) market.

    Vice President Kashim Shettima said given the advantages of EVs, they have bright prospects in Nigeria.

    He said Stallion Motors Nigeria has reaffirmed its leadership in the Nigerian automobile industry with the company’s Hyundai Kona EV, Nigeria’s first locally produced electric vehicle.

    Produced from its Lagos plant, the Hyundai Kona EV is projected to be the toast of Nigerian automobile enthusiasts and corporate organisations given the advantages it brings on energy costs, environmental friendliness and overall rest of mind.

    The company showcased the first locally produced electric vehicle at the meeting of the National Economic Council, NEC.

    Read Also: Geely to increase electric vehicles’ production

    Shettima test drove the vehicle in the company of the Director-General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council, NADDC, Jelani Aliyu.

    The Hyundai Kona first introduced in Lagos, Nigeria in 2020 is sold with 5 years of battery warranty and 5 years of vehicle warranty.

    The battery-pack on full charge allows the Hyundai Kona to drive 482 km (300 miles) approximating travel from Lagos to Awka, Anambra State or from Kano to Sokoto. The battery can be recharged at home or in the office.

    Speaking following the endorsement of the NEC, Managing Director of VON Automobiles, Stallion’s auto assembly unit, Dr Harpreet Singh, said that the innovation from the company was a step towards an eco-friendly green Nigeria.

    “The Stallion Group is in full support of the moves by the government of Nigeria towards a clean environment. We have brought the Hyundai Kona EV as our support towards this initiative that would not only enhance our environment but also bring economic advantage to the market for those who also consider energy costs,” Singh said.

    He assured that the sale of the Hyundai Kona EV is backed with the company’s comprehensive after sales service.

  • Forex: Firm launches digital currency

    Forex: Firm launches digital currency

    With the introduction of unified foreign exchange (forex) rate, a firm, Boom DAO has introduced Wrapped-eNaira (WeNGN) on the Ethereum blockchain to ease the movement of large sums within and outside Nigeria.

    Founder, Boom DAO, Mr. Peter Alfred-Adekeye, said WeNGN is an open-source and permission-less version of the Nigerian Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the eNaira.

    According to him, WeNGN brings fiat-level liquidity from Africa’s largest economy and most crypto-centric population into the Ethereum ecosystem.

    He noted that WeNGN is pegged 1:1 to the eNaira, thus one WeNGN equals one eNaira, which equals one naira.

    ‘’WeNGN will enable Nigerians to pay for international goods, services and subscriptions such as Netflix in naira, foreign businesses and Nigerian holiday makers to repatriate their funds abroad seamlessly and without limits and everybody to portably take their naira with them globally and cash out in any currency worldwide. To summarise, Wrapped eNaira creates global liquidity and utility for the naira making it a currency that is acceptable for trades outside of Nigeria,” Alfred-Adeleye said.

    Read Also: Banks tighten forex processes to block racketeering

    He explained that WeNGN could be used by foreign companies in Nigeria and other African countries to repatriate their earnings abroad without relying on banks for foreign exchange.

    “The WeNGN extends the utility of the eNaira, the CBDC of Africa’s largest economy and most crypto-centric population, into the Ethereum ecosystem, from where it can be lent, borrowed, swapped, yield-farmed, used in liquidity pools, or integrated into smart contracts.

    “Some of the benefits of the WeNGN include the onboarding eNaira into the ERC-20 format, enabling its integration into Ethereum smart contracts, WeNGN can be used in DeFi for lending, borrowing, token-swapping, yield-farming, and in liquidity pools. WeNGN allows holders to swap it into other ERC-20 tokens such as WBTC, WETH, MTCN, USDT, USDC and more. WeNGN enables global institutional traders and investors to access it and trade it,” Alfred-Adeleye said.

    Alfred-Adeleye added that people just need to transfer or deposit any amount they want to repatriate, pay, move or use into a dedicated account in Zenith Bank and they will get a token that will enable WeNGN to credit any account in any bank in the world.

    According to him, WeNGN minting, distribution, and burning are managed on-chain by the Boom DAO as its custodian. As an open-source protocol, all WeNGN transactions are viewable publicly on the Ethereum blockchain and the DAO’s proof-of-reserves are published online in the interest of transparency, and these reserves guarantee 100 per cent redeemability all-time round.

    He added that WeNGN can be exchanged for eNaira or naira on one for one basis through participating merchants worldwide while it is also available on decentralised exchanges like Uniswap from where it can be acquired with any ERC-20 token.

    Alfred-Adeleye described Boom DAO as a community-driven, non-profit organisation focused on making commerce more equitable by decentralising money. Boom DAO oversees the Boom Foundation, which is responsible for the Boom e-commerce without banking application, its native token the Multicoin (MTCN), and the global initiative to tokenise CBDCs starting with the WeNGN.

    According to him, Boom DAO is a permissionless, token-based membership DAO and the MTCN is also its governance token.

  • World Bank eyes $656b remittances amid slowdown

    World Bank eyes $656b remittances amid slowdown

    The World Bank has said countries with multiple exchange rates may find it difficult to attract diaspora remittances, which previously formed a major part of their dollar earnings, writes Assistant Business Editor, COLLINS NWEZE

    Nigeria was missing in the list of top five remittances countries released by the World Bank Group.

    Nigeria, alongside other emerging market countries with exchange rate and balance of payment challenges, are finding it difficult to attract diaspora remittances.

    The World Bank listed the top five recipient countries for remittances in 2022 as India (receiving $111 billion), Mexico ($61 billion), China ($51 billion), the Philippines ($38 billion), and Pakistan ($30 billion).

    It said remittances to Low-Middle Income Countries (LMIC) were expected to grow by 1.4 per cent to reach $656 billion in the year, following a very strong eight per cent growth last year and 10.6 per cent in 2021.

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    The World Bank explained that in many remittance-recipient countries facing balance of payments difficulties and the emergence of gaps between the official and the market exchange rate, remittance flows may shift to informal channels, which can potentially underestimate the true size of official data on remittance flows.

    Nigeria faces exchange rate difficulties with ongoing plan by the current government to unify exchange rates in the next few quarters. Nigeria had in the past recorded over $21 billion annual remittances from the diaspora, with the volume declining over the years.

    According to the World Bank, economies where remittance inflows represent large shares of GDP—highlighting the importance of remittances for funding current account and fiscal shortfalls— include Tajikistan (51 per cent of GDP), Tonga (44 per cent), Lebanon (36 per cent), Samoa (34 per cent) and the Kyrgyz Republic (31 per cent).

    The bank explained that besides economic growth and the employment levels of foreign workers, the other two variables that affect remittance flows are oil prices (especially in the Russian Federation and the GCC countries member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council), and exchange rates of local currencies with respect to the U.S. dollar.

    As a result, remittances are even larger than FDI and ODA and, excluding China, larger than the sum of FDI and ODA.

    This remarkable, consecutive year-on-year growth was supported by several factors such as strong oil prices in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, which increased migrants’ incomes; large money transfers from the Russian Federation to countries in Central Asia; and the strong labour market in the United States and other advanced migrant destination economies.

    The World Bank announced that by region, remittance inflows grew by 0.7 per cent in East Asia and the Pacific, 19 per cent in Europe and Central Asia, 11.3 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean, 12.2 per cent  in South Asia, and 6.1 per cent in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2022. In the same period, remittance inflows declined by 3.8 per cent for the Middle East and North Africa region.

    In 2023, however, slower growth in remittances is expected in all regions, notably in Europe and Central Asia (1 percent) and South Asia (0.3 percent). In Europe and Central Asia, remittances are slowing down because of lower Russian demand for their workers in Russia from that region, and the weakening of the ruble against the U.S. dollar.

    It explained that in South Asia, growth in remittances is expected to slow due to worldwide layoffs in the information technology IT sector globally and the possible diversion of remittance flows to informal channels as domestic economic uncertainties worsen in some recipient countries.

    By contrast, the growth rate of remittances is expected to remain relatively remain strong in Latin America and the Caribbean region (3.3 percent). Most of the senders of remittances to this region are based in the United States, where both the employment levels and wages of Hispanics and foreign-born workers and their wages have been strong. Growth rates of remittance flows are expected to be 1.5 percent in the Middle East and North Africa, 1 percent in East Asia and the Pacific region, and 1.3 per cent in Sub-Saharan Africa.

    With the stock of migrants likely to increase globally due to income gap, demographic change, and climate change, remittances will continue to grow in a counter-cyclical manner.

    Also, there is no doubt that during a crisis, remittances have emerged as a dependable financial lifeline in many economies through the pandemic and will continue to remain so. The need is to devise policies that can employ remittance flows for the development outcomes of the global south and north.

    The World Bank has stepped up collaborations with source and recipient countries to improve data and remittances to mobilise private sector capital through diaspora bonds and globally improved sovereign ratings.

    Deputy Director, Exchanges at SEC, Mahmud Mukthar, lauded NGX and IFC’s efforts and called on companies to engage in activities that promote gender equality and the creation of more opportunities for women to ensure a more inclusive capital market and the economy as a whole.

    “As a regulator, with the mandate of protecting investors, the SEC welcomes all initiatives that promote investor confidence and enhance the efficiency of the capital market. I assure you, the SEC has continued support, engagement and collaboration in providing a level playing field for all listed companies to thrive,” Yuguda said.