President Tinubu launches cash transfer to 15million Nigerian households

The Federal Government has announced that President Bola Tinubu will launch the new cash transfer program to 15 million households across Nigeria on Tuesday, October 17.

Nigerian Presidency made the announcement in a tweet on Tuesday.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, had disclosed the FG’s plan to commence a new cash transfer program to 15 million households by October.

She disclosed this in September during an interview on Arise Tv on the Progress Report on Nigeria’s participation at the 78th United Nations General Assembly meeting.

Edu made the disclosure while responding to questions on the FG’s presence at the UNGA 78 and what it meant for the Nigerians.

“We had meetings with the World Bank and very soon, we will announce the upscale of the national safety net program which will be putting funds in the pocket of over 15 million households in Nigeria,” she said.

“These are tangible funds that people can use to start businesses and improve their lives. This will be happening next month October.”

Edu had also revealed that the FG was ready to extend its social safety net program so as to reduce the level of poverty among households across Nigeria.

She added that the initiative is a strategic effort on the part of the FG to empower individuals and families in the country.

“We’ll initiate an expanded and upscaled social safety net program designed to reach a lot of households in Nigeria,” Edu said.

“These funds are aimed at jumpstarting businesses and helping individuals regain their footing.”

She further noted that the Federal government will partner with the state government and local communities in the verification of the national social register.

The Minister said it was geared towards ensuring that those in the current social register are still in that social category.

By Oluyemi Ogunseyin, The Guardian

Related story: President Tinubu stuns wary investors with quick reforms

Naira Drops in Four months to New Record Low

Nigeria’s naira plunged the most in almost four months to an unprecedented level in the official market as the West African nation’s move to a more flexible exchange rate puts pressure on the currency.

The naira weakened 8.9% to 848.12 to the dollar in the official market on Tuesday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The drop was the most since June 20.

Trades in the foreign-exchange market were executed within the range of 700 naira to 981 naira per dollar, according to an investment note by Lagos-based investment banking firm Chapel Hill. The value of dollar traded jumped 2.12 times to $133 million, the firm said.

The currency was little changed at 1,052 a dollar on the street, according to Abubakar Mohammed, chief executive officer of the Forward Marketing Bureau de Change Ltd.

The Central Bank of Nigeria eased foreign exchange controls in mid-June after newly elected President Bola Tinubu criticized monetary policy measures and pledged an end to the nation’s multiple exchange-rate regime. That saw the official rate plunge 40%, briefly aligning with the parallel market before the spread began to widen again. Until Tuesday, the official rate stayed near 800 to the dollar even as the street rate weakened past 1,000 naira.

“Illiquidity persists in the market in the absence of central bank intervention,” Tajudeen​​​​ Ibrahim, head of research at Chapel Hill, said by phone.

The widening premium between the official rate and the black market “indicates that the exchange rate has not been setting a clearing price,” the central bank said on Monday after it scrapped restrictions put in place eight years ago to manage demand for dollars.

Nigeria, Africa’s biggest crude producer, has been struggling to boost the supply of dollars for years after falling oil revenue left its foreign-exchange reserves in a perilous state. That prompted authorities to stop selling foreign currency to importers of products such as rice, vegetables and chicken in a bid to encourage local production.

The move only pushed demand for dollars to unauthorized trade.

Anthony Osae-Brown and Emele Onu, Bloomberg 

Five Nigerians jailed for exhuming skull 'to get rich'

Five men have been jailed for 12 years each in Nigeria after they were convicted of exhuming a human skull.

They had planned to take it to a traditional doctor who said it was needed for rituals that would make them rich.

The men pleaded guilty after being caught with the skull in a bag.

The prosecutor told the court that the men had dug up a body buried three years earlier at a Muslim cemetery in the north-central Niger state.

"They said the herbalist informed and promised all of them that they would share the wealth from the said criminal activity and directed them to look for the human skull," the prosecutor was quoted as saying by the privately owned Daily Punch newspaper.

Security officers had arrested the young men, who are aged between 18 and 28, in early September as they transported the remains to a third party, on the instructions of a traditional doctor.

A court in Minna, the capital of Niger state, declared the men guilty on the charges of criminal conspiracy, trespassing on burial grounds and unlawfully possessing a human skull.

The traditional doctor was not arrested and charged.

Belief in "juju" - sometimes known as voodoo or magic - is fairly widespread in Nigeria, with many combining it with either Christianity or Islam, according to a 2010 report by the Pew Research Centre.

Such beliefs, especially that human body parts and charms can produce money from a clay pot, have led to a recent wave of gruesome murders in Nigeria, often targeting individuals seen as vulnerable, including children, single women and people with disabilities.

Local authorities have also said that body parts are sold and used in rituals believed to generate wealth.

Money-making rituals in Nigeria have also been fuelled by mounting economic desperation, in a country where four out of 10 people live in poverty, according to World Bank data.

By Gloria Aradi, BBC 

Nigeria Set To Get $1.5 billion World Bank Loan By End of the Year

Nigeria’s cabinet approved plans by the government to seek a $1.5 billion loan from the World Bank, Finance Minister Wale Edun said.

The funding will be concessionary and is expected to be secured by December, Edun told reporters in the capital, Abuja, on Monday. The West African nation will also seek $80 million of financing from the African Development Bank, he said.

Nigeria is seeking funding as it implements a series of economic reforms to accelerate economic growth and support the more than 40% of its 200 million people who live in poverty. Over the past eight years, the nation’s debt has increased almost eight-fold to more than $110 billion, and servicing those obligations consumed 96% of government revenue in 2022.

The reform initiative by President Bola Tinubu “is being rewarded by processing for Nigeria $1.5 billion of immediate financing,” Edun said. “Provided that we do everything on our own side, it will be in before the end of the year.”

Read More: Nigeria Seeks World Bank Loan as IMF Says It’s Open to Funding

The International Monetary Fund has welcomed Nigeria’s reforms, which include unifying the nation’s various exchange rates and removing a costly gasoline subsidy, and said it’s prepared to help the government.

“As every member country of the IMF, Nigeria can seek IMF financing if they see this as helpful to address external imbalances,” the Lagos-based Punch newspaper quoted the fund as saying. “The Nigerian authorities have not approached the IMF with a request for financing.”

By Ruth Olurounbi, Reuters

Video - Mami Wata selected as contender for 2024 Oscars

Nigeria has selected Sundance Festival award-winning film, “Mami Wata” as its contender for the 96th Academy Awards’ International Feature Film (IFF) category.

Written and directed by C.J. Obasi, the film is an exploration and creative reimagination of the mythology of a titular mermaid-deity of West African folklore, and one which, among other things, celebrates womanhood.

The Nigerian Official Section Committee (NOSC) for the IFF said it selected the film for its “relevant theme – multiple generations of women at the forefront of society’s well-being, its unique approach to a story of pre and post-colonial African societies, as well as its technical and artistic excellence.”

The NOSC voting members include: Stepanie Linus – award-winning actress and Chairperson of NOSC; Dr. Chidia Maduekwe – M.D Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC); Dr. Victor Okhai – President of Directors’ Guild of Nigeria (DGN); Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde – veteran actress; Mr. Andy Amenechi – former President of DGN; Yibo Koko – theater practitioner; and Izu Ojukwu – writer/director.

Others are Adetokunbo ‘DJ Tee’ Odubawo – Cinematographer; Emem Isong – writer/producer; Dimeji Ajibola – director; Jude Idada – writer/director; Ngozi Okafor – producer/costumier; John Njamah – actor/director; and Meg Otanwa – actress/polyglot.

“I’m excited to announce a milestone in our NOSC journey: our first Pidgin film submission to the Academy, marking our commitment to diversity and global representation. I urge filmmakers not to relent in enhancing their skills, and elevate production to global standards,” Linus stated.

“Mami Wata” advances in the Oscars race having received the highest votes from the 14-man committee. The next stage of the film will be determined by the IFF Executive Committee.

Shot on location in the Republic of Benin, “Mami Wata” tells the story of a beach-side community that must interrogate previously held beliefs when a stranger washes up ashore and further threatens its harmony.

The film, which had its theatrical releases in Nigeria and other countries, won the Special Jury Award at Sundance Film Festival 2023 for its vivid black-and-white cinematography.

The 96th Oscars will take place on Sunday, March 10, 2024. The show will air live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation, Hollywood.

By Chinelo Eze, The Guardian

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