The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Fate of a scapegoat

    Fate of a scapegoat

    Whatever Godwin Emefiele did right or wrong as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was done on Muhammadu Buhari’s watch as President of Nigeria.  If his suspension from office “with immediate effect,” on June 9, by President Bola Tinubu, is seen in this context, it would suggest that he is a scapegoat.

    A statement from the presidency attributed the move against him to “the ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy.”

     A day after his suspension was announced, the Department of State Services (DSS) said he “is now in its custody for some investigative reasons,” adding that “The public, particularly the media, is enjoined to apply utmost caution in the reportage and narratives concerning this.”

    Interestingly, the DSS has been in pursuit of Emefiele since December 2022, and had unsuccessfully sought an arrest warrant from the federal high court, which ruled that the security agency lacked evidence to support its allegations against him. 

    The agency had alleged “various acts of terrorism financing, fraudulent activities and his involvement in economic crimes of national security dimension.” It also claimed that he was involved in “fraud, mismanagement of interventionist funds, round tripping and conferment of financial benefit to self and others.” The federal high court later issued an order restraining the DSS from arresting Emefiele.

    It was curious that he faced such troubles as the boss of the apex bank in the final months of the Buhari administration; and it was striking that the court described the allegations against him as “trumped-up.”  It is unclear if the DSS is still on the old track.  Does the agency have a stronger case against him now?  Does it have the necessary evidence? 

    This legal battle between him and the DSS notably happened in the middle of the CBN’s controversial naira redesign and naira swap programme, which the bank said was introduced to control the currency in circulation, manage inflation, tackle counterfeiting, and curtail terrorism and kidnapping.

     The introduction of the policy coincided with the political campaign period ahead of the 2023 general elections, and there were claims that it was targeted at certain politicians to ruin their political aspirations.       

    At the time, President Buhari’s then Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement, said he backed the CBN in a Hausa radio interview to be aired on Tambari TV on Nilesat. The statement was titled ‘CBN has my backing in replacing Naira notes, says President Buhari.’

    There was strong evidence of an untidy implementation, causing chaos, crisis and widespread anger in the land.  The scale of the problem prompted calls for a review from several quarters, including the National Assembly, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Governors Forum, the Bank Customers Association of Nigeria and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). 

     When the Supreme Court, on March 3, ordered the authorities to allow the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes remain as legal tender and co-exist with the new notes until December 31, it nullified the CBN’s position that the existing notes would cease to be regarded as legal tender by January 31, 2023.

    The apex court had faulted the federal government’s failure to obey its interim injunction, issued on February 8, that the old notes should remain legal tender until the conclusion of the case instituted by some states to challenge the naira swap policy.

    The court noted that rather than comply with the order, President Buhari, on February 16, made a national broadcast during which he directed that only the old N200 notes should remain in circulation.

    This was a violation of the separation of powers and the rule of law, the court said, stressing that under the country’s democratic system of government the President or any other person could not vary an order of court.

    Read Also: ‘Emefiele not compatible with new economic thinking’

    As CBN boss, Emefiele was understandably the visible face of the problematic policy. But as president, Buhari was the masked face, the powerful puppeteer pulling the strings. The banker was condemned, but he had a boss who deserved greater condemnation.  It is unclear if the naira crisis under Buhari is part of the reasons for Emefiele’s suspension, arrest and detention. But Buhari was clearly part of the problem.  

    It’s easy to blame Emefiele for alleged corruption-related wrongdoing under the Buhari administration as the DSS did unsuccessfully last year. But it is puzzling that he served as CBN boss for eight years under a self-labelled anti-corruption government without getting into trouble.

    He headed the apex bank from June 2014, a year before Buhari became president, to June 2023 when he got into trouble in the Tinubu era, which began in May 2023. He was a constant presence during Buhari’s two terms as president. The Buhari government inherited him from the previous Jonathan administration, kept him in office, and reappointed him to the position.  He got a second five-year term as CBN boss in 2019, the first person to be appointed to the position for another term since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999.

    Curiously, at some point the banker had a dream, and saw himself in the presidential villa playing the role of president. Contrary to the Central Bank Act, he made moves, openly and clandestinely, to succeed Buhari in 2023. It was an unprecedented manoeuvre. The ambition could not fly while he remained CBN chief. By law, the occupant of the office must be apolitical and independent to preserve the neutrality of the apex bank.  In the face of intense public opposition, he was forced to drop the idea.

    Indeed, when the CBN introduced the new naira policy later in 2022, there were claims in some quarters that the idea was Emiefele’s way of seeking revenge for his ruined political ambition by targeting certain politicians who were in the presidential race.  

    Given his troubles in the new era, he is unlikely to remain in the position till the end of his term in 2024. Observers have noted that the move to suspend him strategically avoided the legislative approval that would have been needed to remove him.

     The outcome of the said investigation of his office remains to be seen. Also, it remains to be seen whether the leader who kept him in office will be investigated too.  

  • And Water Bill died

    And Water Bill died

    It is heart refreshing that the contentious Water Resources Control bill has eventually met its waterloo. The senate threw away the bill last week following objections that it ought to come with details in keeping with the rule that any bill coming for concurrence must provide details. The bill came with no such details and had to be thrown out by the upper legislative chamber.

    That has put paid to the bill presented to both chambers of the National Assembly by former president, Muhammad Buhari in 2017. The House of Representatives had passed the bill in 2020 in very contentious circumstances generating in its wake serious suspicion and protests.

    Before the passage of the bill, the chairman of the House Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli had claimed that the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and commissioners for justice in the 36 states were consulted and opinions received would be attached and distributed.

     Curiously the document emanating from the House of Representatives failed to furnish such details. And the senate did not waste time in appropriately throwing out the ill-fated and ill-conceived bill. Good riddance to bad rubbish!

    Tagged “A Bill for an Act to Establish a Regulatory Framework for Water Resources Sector in Nigeria, Provide for the Equitable and Sustainable Redevelopment, Management, Use and Conservation of Nigeria’s Surface Water and Groundwater Resources and Related Matters”, it sought to concentrate the control of water resources around rivers Niger and Benue and other waterways across the country in the hands of the federal government.

     When that Executive Bill first surfaced in the eighth National Assembly, it generated intense controversy dividing legislators along ethnic and regional lines. The senate, on account of the sharp divisions the bill created, did not waste time to throw it away when it came for second reading in May 2018.  Curiously however, the chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, Abubakar Fulata re-introduced the bill in July in a manner that was not in consonance with the rules of the house.

    Just like when the bill was first introduced, it again frayed nerves and generated intense suspicion. Southern, Middle Belt groups as well as other notable Nigerians including Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka in unison, expressed deep reservations and opposition to the proposed piece of legislation.

    Former Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu did not help matters when he insisted that the federal government would continue to pursue the passage of the bill into law because it was the responsibility of the government. But Afenifere countered the minister: “rather than acting as though it can force its plans down the throat of the people, what the government ought to do is to listen to the people and adjust in accordance with the aspirations and feelings of the people”.

    Read Also: Kill Water Bill! Nigeria Rescue, not more Rape!

    That adjustment never came. Neither were the wishes and aspirations of the people factored in until the bill met its death at the upper chamber of the National Assembly last week. But it says something about the kind of leadership we have in this country- leadership that seems to place an agenda of sectional predilection over the collective aspirations of the constituents.

    The indecent haste and surreptitious manner the bill was being pushed through had fuelled suspicion of sectional and clannish agenda especially as it sought to vest the control of water resources as well as river banks on the federal government. By extrapolation, a sizable portion of the land close to those rivers will also revert to the control of the same central authority. The implication is that the federal government will not only have absolute control of the waters and the resources in them but also lands around their vicinity.

    By the same logic, communities and hamlets that solely depend on these water resources and land for their daily lives will lose them all to the all-powerful federal government. States and local governments will not only lose their rights to water resources within their domain but portions of land very close to them. It was these foreboding realities that stood the greatest challenge to the bill.

    But that was not all. The motive of the federal government in seeking the passage of the bill by all means was also suspect. Allegations were that the obsession for the control of water resources and adjoining lands is a subterfuge to accelerate unfettered access to pastoral lands for herdsmen especially given the futile attempts in the past to achieve the same objective through other guises.

    Many of the communities in and around the banks of those rivers depend on them for survival. They fish there, farm there and engage in sundry productive endeavours such environment engenders. It is this category of people that the federal government sought to dispossess and displace through the obnoxious bill. The bill is anti-people and cannot serve our overall national interest.

    Suspicion of an odious agenda was further illustrated by Section 2(1) of the bill which states “All surface water and ground water wherever it occurs, is a resource common to all people”. It is inconceivable how the water resource at my backyard which over the years had served as a source of life can now be tagged a resource common to all people. Which people and what business do they have at my backyard?

    What the bill intends to achieve is to provide cover for all manner of people including militant herdsmen whom we are told are mostly foreigners to invade the privacy of the local population. It goes with serious security repercussions. At a time this country is stretched to elastic limits by the insurgency of the herdsmen, armed banditry and kidnapping as well as the Boko Haram insurgency, the passage of such a bill will inexorably lead to catastrophic consequences.

    But more seriously, current sentiments in the country are for the whittling down of the powers of the federal government through restructuring. Through restructuring or power devolution, the constituent units are to be empowered to effectively take over more of those unwieldy functions currently suffocating the federal leadership. The nagging corruption in public offices, the rancorous and deadly competition for power at the centre which accentuates amateur leadership is linked to our defective federal contraption.

    It is a thing of immense worry that instead of seeking ways to align with the dictates of true federalism, the same executive depicted vaulting obsession to further expand the frontiers of central control of life and death. All this seems to reinforce the suspicion that some people nurse an agenda to dominate others by surreptitiously appropriating the resources of the constituents to serve clannish and self-serving predilections.

    Or how else do we rationalize the scant heed by those entrusted with power to the sensibilities of the people they claim to rule? It is not uncommon to see leaders equate their self-serving interests to that of the collectivity they claim to serve.  It is also not out of place that people in leadership sometimes displace national interest with their own personal interests. That often leads to the erroneous notion that loyalty to the government in power is coterminous with loyalty to the country. They are two different things. We have seen leaderships that constituted unmitigated liability to the collective interests of their constituents.

    The mood of the country no longer favours an omnipresent and omnipotent central authority. At a time agitations are on the upper scale for power devolution and decentralization, the thought of a bill that will now control the water at my backyard is crass insensitivity to public feelings.

    That piece of legislation is an evil omen. But it did not come as a surprise because it bore the imprints of similar clannish policies pursued by the last regime fuelling feelings of division and acrimony among the constituents. That era is now history. Its repulsive vestiges must give way for all-inclusive policies- policies that unite the people and allow constituents greater control of affairs in line with true federalism.  

  • Still the same old separatist

    Still the same old separatist

    Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the proscribed separatist group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has yet again shown that his detention and trial have not changed him.

     This reported tweet by his lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor, on June 6, showed the same old Kanu and the same old separatist spirit: “Personal Message from Mazi Nnamdi Kanu: “I deeply appreciate the abiding solidarity of the people of Biafra & the entire IPOB noble family against my continued illegal detention.

    “I assure you all that our pursuit of self-determination to its logical conclusion is non-negotiable.”

    IPOB is known for using terroristic methods in its fight for an independent “Biafra land” made up of Nigeria’s five Southeast states, and parts of the South-south geo-political zone.

     Some days before the lawyer delivered Kanu’s message, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, a civil rights advocacy group, appealed to President Tinubu to release him in the interest of national reconciliation.

    Also, Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah recently made a plea to Tinubu to grant the IPOB leader’s release and hand him over to any of the Southeast governors.  “We believe that his release will expedite the healing process Nigeria needs at this time,” he said, adding that releasing Kanu would demonstrate the Tinubu administration’s “extension of brotherly hands of fellowship to Ndigbo.”

    Read Also: Bury retrogressive separatist idea, Igbos told

    In January, Anambra State Governor Charles Soludo made a “passionate appeal” to the federal government under former President Muhammadu Buhari to release the detainee “unconditionally.” He said: “If he cannot be released unconditionally, I want him released to me and I will stand surety for him.”

    IPOB maintains that the Court of Appeal, Abuja, on October 13, 2022, “discharged and acquitted the leader of IPOB and all the remaining eight-count amended charges preferred against him, and consequently directed for his unconditional release.”

    This is not the whole truth. The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on October 28, 2022, ordered that the enforcement of the judgement releasing Kanu be put on hold pending the resolution of the federal government’s appeal filed at the Supreme Court. So, it is untrue that Kanu is being detained unlawfully, as IPOB claims.

    He was first arrested in October 2015, and granted bail in April 2017 in the course of his trial for “alleged offences of conspiracy to commit acts of treasonable felony and other related offences.” He fled the country in September 2017, and was re-arrested in Kenya and brought back to Nigeria in June 2021.

     Those pleading for Kanu’s release should take note of his unchanged separatist stance. He makes their pleas ineffective by sticking to the same old position.    

  • The pawn

    The pawn

    How do you pity a man who did not show pity when the world panted in pain? When women wailed on the streets and children squeaked, when bank halls crammed into stampedes. Murder, hunger, hospital emergencies, a whole economy choking on his back. His was policy as bloodletting. Nobody was immune. From plenty, even executives had to scramble for 200 Naira notes. And nothing was immune, not even bananas that rotted in the open sewer of markets because no one had cash to buy.  Food everywhere but not a bite to buy. In the Bible expression, money failed in the land. He presided over the purgatory of a nation. First came flood. That came scarcity. It was like a fulfilling of a Bible prophesy.

    He was begged, cajoled, and pampered to show mercy? The quality of his mercy was strained. This essayist pondered this as Godwin Emefiele featured in a short video clip in the hands of his captors, the DSS. He first looked like a northerner in his cap and kaftan, his puny frame ejected from a vehicle as he stepped into an executive jet.

    Executive jet? It was a moment in paradox. That is what we associate with snob, the indolence of the plutocrat, the class of contempt, the brigandage of the luxe class. They usually did that when they wanted to attend parties, soar to a conference in Abuja or Lagos to preside over loots, or when they had butchered and shared the choice parts. Or when their families, wives and kids, bored by the Jejune routine of our lives, flew to Dubai or London or California for fresh air. So, the last image of the jet is one of captivity. That may not last, though.

    But as one looks at him, we cannot but wonder what triggered Mefi’s errancy. Why did he do it? When Buhari came on board, a few thought he would be fired. He cringed and rolled over in flattery and supine pleas. He was going to be a good boy. He was going to yell yes when the law said no. He was going to fret for them, perfume their farts, kneel with files as they sat cross-legged, stoop to be conquered, nod to the economy as their fiefdoms, play serf to their feudal commands.

    So, why was any surprised as the time came for him to fulfil their righteousness? He was a perfect example of how not to be a pawn. First, they conned him to run for president. He took the bait. His posters were everywhere. He teased us with a pyramid of nothing in Abuja, got a media house to evangelise him.  We knew, like a eunuch, his rice could rise. This essayist blasted him on this page and he ran an advertorial to defend himself and attacked him with the flimsiest of logic. When he ran that advert, I knew he was gone. He did not want to resign. But he wanted to run for president. His ego bloated. He was a lord by the lords in Aso Rock. That is the Malvolio complex. He thought he had the master’s permit. The master never gave him nor defended him. He was on his own. He alone did not know it. He puffed on his own fantasy. He was ready for the fight. He had jets, we are told. He had vehicles lined up. He had a media outfit. He had the cabal. And, of course, he had cash. His case reminds one of the IBB years, when the gap-toothed fellow conned some top bureaucrats to run for president. They believed the saint. They went to hell. One of them, colourful Abel Ubeku of Guinness, did not survive it having withered all his wherewithal in that disaster of an ambition.

    Who will save him now? Not Buhari, who stood firmly by him when he went full-throttle with his scheme. He knew it was not an economic policy. It was a gang-up against one man. He thought he was the ultimate beneficiary. He is not guiltless without Buhari, who defended him to the end.

    Who will save him? Not the cabal. President Bola Tinubu, as a candidate, said it was Buhari’s men. He said they did not know the way to victory. In what I call his Lisabi speech, he mocked that Mefi and his masters poured ink into the money in the name of currency redesign. Stormy Petrel Malam El Rufai corroborated this. The men who did not want Tinubu to win the party nomination – and who lost – also did not want him to win the presidency, and they lost again. They had been losing since they won the second term and took the party structure from him by ousting Adams Oshiomhole. They owned the structure but did not win the party’s soul. Tinubu did. Mefi lusted and Mefi lost.

    Read Also: Economists task FG on competence, and professionalism in appointing CBN Governor

    Who will save him now? Not the media house he fueled and funneled with his generosity. They knew, too, that it was all a cynical game. He would lose. He would pay them to lose. But he alone would pay for it when time put paid to his ambition. They flattered, made him swell like the rice pyramid, and he too enjoyed the run. They gave him the disease of all megalomaniacs – the delusion of grandeur. They did not believe in him. But he believed them and in them, so much so that he believed in himself. Faith without charisma, faith without resume, faith without structure, faith in a cabal that looked elsewhere. The faith was dead.

    Who will save him? Not his kinsmen. Reports tell me that he went on a nepotist spree of job offers. He comes from the Ika part of Delta State, and he binged on giving them jobs at the CBN. The jobs ran close to a thousand, and he deployed them to branches like Delta, Bayelsa, Kaduna, Kano etc.  This sort of practice ought to stop in this country. I attended an awards night by NIMASA a few years back, and it turned out that the awardees reflected the years that their kinsmen were the director general. This is not how to run a federation. From Mefi’s record, he had done the same thing. His kinsmen can only watch in impotence as their patriarch falls from grace.

    Who will help him? Not the cash of the CBN. Not the new money no one can see. Not the billions he spent to do the policy. Not the accounts of the jets, or cars, or party funds. Above all, not the public he tormented. He is alone, the sort of tragic island of humans that populate Kafka’s writings, like Gregor Samsa, who turns into a giant insect. No contact with humans anymore. A character in Henry James’ novel, The Ambassadors, captures the life of Mefi in the following words: “I have lived a life for other people.”

    But Mefi is a story of the pawn game. He was in the centre of all the plot to throw one man. All of the others, his fellow travelers, are happy in their ornate mansions, smiling to kids, tending their cattle, swaddling their kids, ogling their loot, hugging their wives. He is hugging a jail wall. He recalls a familiar figure in history, this time a cleric, a banker of souls. He served king Henry the Eight of England, who exercised his licence of the flesh to defy Rome and become a Christian nationalist. Cardinal Wilson served him with pharisaic mischief. When he fell, the cleric wept: “If I had served my God the way I had served my king, he would not have forsaken me in my old age.” Mefi is our cardinal of finance who fell, and who must contemplate the vanity of money and status as a hard reckoning opens up in the court. It is a lesson in power for those with an eye on posterity. Mefi followed a cabal like a herd, and now he must realise, as Joseph Conrad says, that “we live as we dream – alone.”

  • Fairer in the ninth

    Fairer in the ninth

    after just four years, his stewardship ends, and he leaves the post of speaker as one of the best players in Nigeria’s legislative history. He has handled the position, sometimes like a professor, sometimes like a technocrat, and sometimes like a man of the people. At one time, he made news by challenging the world on debt cancellation, and he was head of a body of international lawmakers and staked his claim on debt pardon. But on the local level, we also saw how he brokered ASUU into a quiet, challenged Buhari during the Endsars imbroglio to care for the police. Yet as he departs, we cannot forget the following: Petroleum Industry Act, Electoral Act, Omnibus Act, Deep Offshore Act, et al.  These are transformational acts that history will look back to with relish.

    Read Also: ‘How Gbajabiamila saved ASUU from proscription’

    We can say, Femi Gbajabiamilla, to parody Shakespeare, makes the House of Representatives fairer in the ninth. This is from Shakespeare’s line, fairer in the Night. But his era brought light to lawmaking. A tough act to follow as the tenth senate is set to take over the tent. But Gbaja – as he is fondly called – steps up

  • AFCON 2023: Super Eagles camp bubbles as Ekong, Lookman, Osimhen , others arrive

    AFCON 2023: Super Eagles camp bubbles as Ekong, Lookman, Osimhen , others arrive

    The camp of the Super Eagles came alive yesterday as Italy-based duo William Troost-Ekong and Ademola Lookman as well as England-based trio of Alex Iwobi, Joe Aribo and Semi Ajayi arrived ahead of the AFCON 2023 clash against Sierra Leone in Monrovia on Sunday.

    Also in camp yesterday were Netherland-based Calvin Bassey and Germany-based Kevin Akpoguma.

    Other players include Serie A winner Victor Osimhen and Leicester City of England stars Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi and a host of others.

    Read Also: Osimhen, Musa, Iwobi invited for AFCON 2023 qualifier showdown against Sierra Leone

    The Eagles have nine points from four matches and they are currently topping their qualification group.

    They are trailed by Guinea Bissau’s Wild Dogs with seven points. The Leone Stars, who caused an upset by defeating Coach José Santos Peseiro’s team 2-1 in Abuja during the opening match of the qualification series, are in third place with five points.

    Sao Tome and Principe, who will face the Super Eagles in the final game of the series in September, is at the bottom of the table with just one point.

    The highly anticipated clash between Nigeria and Sierra Leone is scheduled to take place at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Stadium in Monrovia on Sunday, 18th June

  • Nigeria’s Women top Kwibuka Cricket chart after three wins

    Nigeria’s Women top Kwibuka Cricket chart after three wins

    Nigeria’s Women National Cricket team presently tops the leader board of the ongoing Kwibuka T20 Women Cricket Tournament being hosted by Rwanda.

    The Female ‘Yellow-Green’ beat the host, Rwanda, Botswana, and Kenya in their first three matches at the tournament.

    The coach Leke Oyede-tutored side brushed aside Rwanda in their opening encounter on Saturday with a six-wicket victory at the Gahanga Cricket Stadium in Kigali. The host had left an 87-run inning for the Nigeria women to chase but they overwhelmed the visitors as they wrapped up the game in 18.2 over while Salome Sunday earned the player of the match.

    “I think the opening victory against the host, Rwanda, pumped up the girls’ confidence,” Oyede said. “Naturally, Nigeria and Rwanda’s encounters at this level have evolved into a friendly rivalry and, since we beat them to win the last tournament in April, in Lagos, I know we will need to work harder anytime we meet them again.”

    Read Also: Cricket: Nigeria U-19 team arrives India, begins training

    Yesterday, the team beat Botswana by Six wickets (Botswana 97/6, Nigeria 98/4), before humbling the three-time winner of the title; Kenya later in the afternoon by three wickets.

    Kenya batting first had set a target of 95/4 (20 overs) that set the team up for a hard-fought 98/7 (16.4 overs) to secure the needed 3-wicket victory, with 16-year-old Lucky Piety picking the player of the match for both games.

    “These wins put us on top of the leader board and unbeaten, ahead of our game one encounter on Monday with Uganda, one of the top teams here, who are also unbeaten after two wins against Botswana and host Rwanda as well,” Oyede further said.

    The on-going 9th Kwibuka Women’s T20 Tournament is featuring Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Botswana, and host Rwanda where the Gahanga and the Kicukiro Cricket Ovals in Kigali are playing host.

  • IMF, Goldman Sachs, warn against AI impediments to businesses

    IMF, Goldman Sachs, warn against AI impediments to businesses

    THOUGH Artificial Intelligence 9AI) will benefit humans, we must consider its negative effect on employment and the social upheaval it could cause, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) First Deputy Managing Director, Gita Gopinath, has warned.

    In a lecture at Glasgow University to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Scottish enlightenment economist Adam Smith’s birth, she said it’s possible that AI might simply replace human jobs without creating new, more productive work for them to move into.

    “Given that the well-being of the individual and the plight of the common worker underpinned much of Adam Smith’s thinking, this would surely have troubled him. He was interested in developing an economy that worked for everyone—not simply a chosen few.”

    Today, the market for the components to develop AI tools is highly concentrated. A single company has a dominant position in the market for silicon chips best suited for AI applications, for example. Only a handful of large corporations may have the data firepower to develop high-end models in the future. 

    “While Smith would have been impressed by the emergence of such a powerful technology in a globalised economy, he might also have realised that the invisible hand alone may not be enough to ensure broad benefits to society,” Gopinath said.

    “In fact, in many areas—from finance to manufacturing— the invisible hand hasn’t been enough to ensure broad benefits for quite some time.

    She said AI raised productivity task, and would help humans spend more time on things that make us unique.

    According to Goldman Sachs, if generative AI lives up to its hype, the workforce in the United States and Europe will be upended.

    Read Also: IMF, OECD, WBG, WTO launch subsidy platform

    The sobering and alarming report about AI’s ascendance also indicated that the investment bank estimates 300 million jobs could be lost or diminished by this fast-growing technology.

    Goldman contends automation creates innovation, which leads to new types of jobs. For companies, there will be cost savings thanks to AI. They can deploy their resources toward building and growing businesses, ultimately increasing annual global Gross Domestic Product by seven per cent.

    In recent months, the world has witnessed the ascendancy of OpenAI software ChatGPT and DALL-E. ChatGPT surpassed one million users in its first five days of launching, the fastest that any company has ever reached this benchmark.

    Goldman predicts that the growth in AI will mirror the trajectory of past computer and tech products. Just as the world went from giant mainframe computers to modern-day technology, there will be a similar fast-paced growth of AI reshaping the world. AI can pass the attorney bar exam,  score brilliantly on the SATs and produce unique artwork.

    While the startup ecosystem has stalled due to adverse economic changes, investments in global AI projects have boomed. From 2021 to now, investments in AI totalled nearly $94 billion, according to Stanford’s AI Index report.

    If AI continues this growth trajectory, it could add one per cent to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2030.

  • Brace up for fuel subsidy removal effects on insurance, says NAICOM

    Brace up for fuel subsidy removal effects on insurance, says NAICOM

    The recent fuel subsidy removal by the Federal Government will affect the demand for insurance, Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Sunday Thomas, has said.

    While delivering a keynote address at the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) 2023 Chief Executive Officers Retreat at The TCC Ogere, Ogun State, the commissioner said insurers must upscale their business models to attract individuals who are leaning towards creating sinking funds.

    He stated that economic activities might reduce in the short run, so insurance operators, including brokers, and insurers, must optimise their management expenses to avoid the pressure of an off-peak period, while not forgetting to prepare for the possibility of cost-push inflation.

    He said an important issue that needs to be tackled is the need for standards to prevent or reduce, to the barest minimum, unethical practices which ridicule or impugn the integrity of the insurance industry. 

    He commended the NCRIB for the cooperation to the commission’s effort to ensure  standards among its members as well as the continued support and representation of the NCRIB in various industry committees instituted by the Commission, such as the AfCFTA Committee, and Committee on the Insurance Bill.

    He, however, emphasised that irrespective of the differences in approach or methodology, they were  committed to deepening insurance penetration in the   industry.

    He said: “It has, therefore, become imperative that we all work towards aligning our collective vision and goals for the industry in order to present a formidable front.  We must break from an industry that is perceived as one that is always at logger-heads on matters that ordinarily are for the progress of the industry.  This cannot be achieved without being true to ourselves as professionals in this time honoured industry.

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    “Let me emphasise that for this industry to remain sustainable, we must accept changes that come with modernisation and technological advancement.This is why we must realise that distribution channels for insurance products must be expanded beyond the traditional norms. Every arm of the sector must hugely invest in technology  to compete or meet the expectation of clients. It has thus become imperative to support the Commission’s efforts to bring emergent online platforms for distribution or provision of insurance under the Commission’s regulatory purview in the interest of the insurance industry.

    “An important issue is the need for operational standards to prevent or reduce, to the barest minimum, unethical practices which ridicule or impugn the integrity of the  insurance industry.  It is our humble view that strong and sound firms are better able to invest in the much needed IT solutions to ease operational pain-points within the industry hence the need to dissuade portfolio broking firms. 

    “Insurance brokers must begin to re-examine the insurance broking value proposition beyond the traditional perception.This is necessary to enable the insuring public/insured appreciate other values offered, as the rhythm has changed and people may only use services that provide priority values to them.”

    Thomas also emphasised that insurance brokers have important roles to play in repositioning the industry. 

    This, he said, includes projecting the additional values created by the new regime of Third-Party Motor insurance cover, the NAICOM portal, improved soundness and stability of insurers, better market conduct practices and fair treatment of insurance consumers, as well as collaboration with state governments on compulsory insurances.

    He reiterated that regulatory changes were continuous given the changing dynamics of the market environment. 

    “We must, therefore, avoid the obvious temptation to resist innovative regulatory and supervisory initiatives intended to make the industry more relevant to the economy. We cannot continue to wait; we must confront our challenges before our challenges consume us. It is important to reiterate that collective planning is as necessary as individual planning; if we do not collectively plan to succeed then we might fail collectively”.

    He added that the Commission remains committed to the development and growth of the Nigerian insurance industry and would continue to collaborate with all stakeholders in promoting and entrenching good business practices.

    NCRIB President, Mr. Rotimi Edu while speaking on the the theme of the retreat “Planning” said it is precise and will encapsulate all efforts towards instituting a solid foundation for growth and development of Insurance industry.

    He stated that the “Brokers-Centric” focus of his leadership has been recording good success.

    We are all witnesses to the increasing tempo of member’s interest in activities of the Council, while the same interest is being stimulated amongst insurance companies who do everything possible to collaborate with the Council for their enhanced bottom-line and ultimate corporate progress.

    Edu assured that they would continue to commit to these lofty ideals for all their members.

    He added that the Council is stridently trying to retool the minds of members to the growing expectations of the public about the quality service they expect from them.

  • Sanlam, aYo partner on affordable insurance for Nigerians

    Sanlam, aYo partner on affordable insurance for Nigerians

    Sanlam Life Insurance Nigeria Limited has partnered the continent’s emerging microinsurance fintech, aYo Holdings, to support  the former’s drive to offer consumers affordable life and hospitalisation cover.

    aYo acts as a technology service provider to Sanlam in Nigeria.

    According to the Sanlam, it will coordinate technical integration for the underwriter of microinsurance products and provide platform services to enable mobile money and third-party payment offerings.

    This will enable Sanlam to offer easy, convenient and affordable products that challenge traditional insurance offerings.

    Chief Executive Officer, aYo Nigeria, Kayode Odetola, during the launch of aYo Nigeria, said the company aims to drive greater financial inclusion by using technology to make financial services more readily available across the country.

    Odetola said the low insurance penetration rate in Nigeria (less than one per cent of Gross Domestic Product, GDP) is one of the lowest in Africa.

    “Most people think insurance is a luxury product, but we want to show that people with all levels of income can get peace of mind at an affordable cost, to help take care of their financial health in the face of unexpected events.

    “From the seamless onboarding process to the ability to track cover in real-time, we aim to change the perception of insurance by dealing with one of the most important challenges, which is trust,” he added.

    He explained the Sanlam Recharge with Care product will offer up to N300,000 in life cover and up to N6,500 per day in hospitalisation cover that can be purchased using mobile money wallets and other payment options.

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    He said telco-driven financial services products were suited for Nigeria’s vast underserved population, which is expected to benefit  from Sanlam’s affordable life and hospitalisation covers.

    Chief Executive of Sanlam Life Insurance Nigeria Limited, Tunde Mimiko, said the aYo deal reflects Sanlam’s commitment to deepening insurance penetration by providing accessible life insurance products to more people.

    “At Sanlam Nigeria, we aim to form partnerships with organisations who understand the local market and share our values and culture. We’re  seeking innovative ways of bringing affordable and fit-for-purpose insurance to all Nigerians. With a trusted partner like aYo on board, the possibilities are as endless as they are exciting.