The government, with assistance from the Nigerian Bar Association, started trials against members of the country's election commission and other political figures indicted for various offenses during the 2023 general election.
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Chidi Ebule keeps at least 10 payment machines on the check-out counter of his grocery store in Lagos, so his customers can use cards from any bank or fintech company they prefer. But in recent months, he has needed to use only one machine for most transactions: the one provided by local fintech major Moniepoint.
“I try to use another POS [point of sales] machine, [but customers] will say, ‘Please don’t put my card in that. Use Moniepoint,’” Ebule told Rest of World. “The customer knows there could be an issue when you use the other [terminals], and he does not have power over the bank.”
Moniepoint’s light-blue payment machines have become ubiquitous across Nigeria — from megastores in Lagos to roadside shops in Kano. Shoppers prefer it to other options because Moniepoint offers a lower-than-average transaction decline rate and instantly reverses transactions in case of failed payments. The Lagos-headquartered company, founded in 2015, has expanded its footprint across the length and breadth of Nigeria, and is now available across all 774 local governments in the country, according to its website.
“Merchants don’t care about lofty claims about financial inclusion. All they want is to see their transactions have gone through and get the instant payment alert,” Nchedolisa Akuma, senior fintech analyst at market intelligence firm Stears, told Rest of World. “Moniepoint appears to be quite intentional about market intelligence and gathering real-time market intel, which made them quite nimble.”
In 2023, Moniepoint reportedly recorded 5.2 billion transactions, worth over $150 billion. The same year, it ranked second in the Financial Times’ list of Africa’s fastest-growing companies. By January 2024, around 2.3 million businesses were using Moniepoint’s payment machines, a company representative told Rest of World. The bulk of Moniepoint’s earnings come from the transaction charges on its point-of-sales machines and its online payment gateway. It also has a microfinance bank license and offers business loans.
When it first launched, Moniepoint was named TeamApt, and built software for traditional banks. In 2019, it obtained a government license for agency banking — a model that allows companies to act as intermediaries between banks and their customers.
“We just felt that banks are not executing these things the right way, and can we get into this space and execute it right?” Tunde Olofin, managing director of Moniepoint’s banking arm, told Rest of World.
So far, Moniepoint has raised over $57 million from investors such as QED Investors, Quantum Capital Partners, and Global Ventures. The company’s growth is aided by its network of more than 600,000 on-the-ground “business managers,” who earn commissions for onboarding business owners to the platform and distributing the POS terminals, Olofin said.
In early 2023, when Nigeria experienced an acute cash crisis after the government changed the currency’s design, Moniepoint came to the rescue of many small businesses.
Oberry Agamah, who owns a phone accessories shop in Lagos, told Rest of World she started using Moniepoint’s payment machines during that time. The ones provided by other banks could not process transactions smoothly, she said, due to the pressure on the country’s banking infrastructure.
Before she began using the Moniepoint machines, Agamah’s business suffered: She struggled to process customers’ transactions, and had to deal with shoppers who bought goods and disappeared after making unsuccessful digital transfers.
“Before, receiving transfers in our normal accounts was hell — they wouldn’t go in time, and customers were going away with our money,” Agamah said. “The experience with Moniepoint is very nice, and it has made my business very easy in the aspect of receiving transfers, and I receive [them] very fast.”
Moniepoint’s systems are designed to expand based on the volume of transactions, Solomon Amadi, the company’s vice president of payment infrastructure, told Rest of World. “Many of the other players in the industry don’t have a lot of control over their core banking, [but] we do … and we have optimized that process well enough that the customer is priority,” he said.
In June 2023, Moniepoint’s closest rival in Nigeria was Chinese-owned fintech OPay — backed by SoftBank Vision Fund and Sequoia Capital China. OPay had a 37% share of the Nigerian point-of-sales agents network, according to the Nigerian Financial Services Report. Moniepoint came in second with a 20% share.
But Moniepoint is better placed than its rivals because of the bouquet of financial services it offers, Olaoluwa Oyedele, vice president of growth and product at Lagos-based fintech startup Earnipay, told Rest of World.
“Moniepoint has a couple of license categories that allow them to do different things,” Oyedele said. “They have a microfinance bank license which allows them to collect deposits, and a payment terminal service provider license which allows them to issue POS terminals. With these two license categories working hand-in-hand, they can target offline payment businesses or industries. That is where they have built a very impressive distribution network. The offline payment, for context, is the biggest payment opportunity in Nigeria.”
Moniepoint’s business managers — well-known members of local communities who serve as liaisons between the company and its users — are central to its growth, Edidiong Uwemakpan, vice president of communications, told Rest of World.
To build this network, “we studied a number of informal networks in the country … [including] the National Union of Road Transport Workers, churches, and people with branches everywhere,” Uwemakpan said. “How are these people able to collect money from everyone and balance their books? Because at the end of the day, what we were building were human branches across the country.”
The business managers don’t get a salary but receive a sign-up fee of 8,500 naira ($5.44), and monthly commissions on the transactions made through each POS terminal they manage.
“If you work hard and make enough people sign up for POS, you are in business, you are in money,” Fabusoye Tolu, a Moniepoint business manager, told Rest of World. “You earn commissions, and that is even far better than earning a salary because if you earn a salary, it will be capped at a particular figure. With commissions, your earnings do not have a limit.”
Tolu declined to disclose how much he earns from commissions, but said he often targets big businesses that generate high cash flow so that he can earn more at the end of the month.
By Ope Adetayo, rest of world
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"I announce with [a] deep sense of grief that Mr Ibu didn't make it," said Actors Guild of Nigeria President Emeka Rollas on Saturday.
He said the actor had a cardiac arrest.
Okafor rose to fame two decades ago in the film Mr Ibu - which became his career-long nickname.
It is still regarded as one of the best Nigerian performances in a comic role.
He went on to star in more than 200 Nollywood films - including Keziah, 9 Wives and several Mr Ibu sequels.
"Rest well, sir," said actress Mercy Johnson-Okojie in her tribute. Law professor and former UN rapporteur Joy Ezeilo said the actor was a "beloved" figure who "brought laughter to many".
Nigeria's Culture Minister Hannatu Musawa described him as a household name who had made families smile throughout his career.
According to local reports, Okafor died at an undisclosed hospital in Lagos state.
The actor's health issues first came to public attention last year. One of his legs was amputated in November after fans donated to a crowd-funding scheme for his medical bills.
Since then, his son Daniel Okafor and adopted daughter Jasmine Chioma have been arrested on suspicion of hacking into his phone and taking $60,700 (£47,800) for themselves.
The pair have not commented since their arrest in January and are expected to appear in court on 11 March for the next hearing.
Okafor's last years were "tumultuous", Nigeria's Punch newspaper said, with the actor claiming to have survived several attempts to poison him.
Local media say he is survived by his 13 children.
By Natasha Booty & Mansur Abubakar, BBC
The vessel the Sweet Miri (1,800 dwt) is reported to be owned by a Ghanaian according to the Nigerians but according to databases is managed out of the UAE. The vessel is 34 years old and operates in the Gulf of Guinea region.
Flag Officer Commanding the Western Naval Command, rear Admiral MB Hassan, told reporters on Saturday that the navy had been observing the bunker vessel and its activity for some time. He said the vessel had turned off its AIS signal on February 25 which raised suspicions. The Navy dispatched a gunboat to investigate and they had suspicion the vessel was smuggling oil.
The Navy dispatched a second vessel in the search for the Sweet Miri before they finally located the vessel approximately 174 nautical miles from Nigeria. It was traveling to Benin when it was apprehended. The command reported a search turned up nearly two million liters of oil and the vessel was ordered to return to Nigeria.
The vessel and its crew of 13 have now been placed under arrest while the commander said other departments of the government were also free to search the ship. The crew consists of one Ghanaian and 12 Nigerians.
The seizure was part of a wider crackdown across the region on alleged oil thefts. Over the past few months, there have been several reports of smaller vessels being held on allegations of oil theft.
The Nigerians in August 2022 chased a large tanker, the Heroic Idum, which they also charged with loading stolen crude. The vessel took refuge in Equatorial Guinea but was later handed back to Nigeria which used antipiracy laws to charge the crew. A settlement was finally reached in April 2023 when the vessel’s operators agreed to a public apology and a fine but it took till June 2023 for the crew to be released.
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Kabir Nadabo, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Kaduna State sector commander, says no fewer than 12 persons died and 28 sustained injuries in a road crash along the Zaria-Kano expressway.
Mr Nadabo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Kaduna that the fatal road traffic crash occurred at Tashar Yari village at 7:36 a.m. on Monday.
“The trailer with a registration number KTG 454 ZZ was travelling to Kano when the unfortunate incident occurred,” Mr Nadabo said.
He said the cause of the crash was wrongful overtaking, speeding and overloading, which sadly resulted in the high number of fatalities.
Mr Nadabo said the Chairman of Makarfi Local Government and the Unit Commander, Tashar Yari, were on the ground to assess the incident.
He said that an investigation of the incident has revealed that 40 people were involved in the crash, 28 got injured and 12 were deceased.
“The injured were conveyed to the Makarfi General Hospital for further treatment.
“The owner of the vehicle, who is in Azare, Bauchi State has been informed and directed to report to the Kaduna Sector Command, while the driver of the trailer was reportedly among the deceased, “he said.
Mr Nadabo said the accident was avoidable, adding, ” Hence our resolve to continue to reach out to the stakeholders, particularly transport unions.
”This is to preach and sensitize their drivers on the dangers of speeding, overloading, dangerous driving and the use of cellphones while driving, among others.
“The Corps in Kaduna will strive to continue to work hard and liaise with transport Stakeholders and the media in preaching the word of safety.”
Mr Nadabo appealed to motorists to imbibe the culture of safe driving, particularly on the highways.
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