The fledgling mobile money market in Nigeria is about to get a major shake-up.
MTN Nigeria, the country’s largest telecoms operator, has been granted a “super agent” license which allows it set up an agent network through which it can provide financial services. It’s the first step in MTN’s plans to finally roll out mobile money services in Africa’s largest economy as the company says it has also applied for a payment service bank license, which will allow it “offer a broader and deeper range of financial services.”
The license comes after reforms by Nigeria’s central bank last October permitting telecoms operators to get mobile money and banking licenses in a bid to boost financial inclusion and facilitate the long-held ambition for a cashless society.
As already seen in several African countries, the real-life application of mobile money among unbanked populations ranges from quick, seamless fund transfers to facilitating payments and boosting small businesses. In Ghana, the service has been adopted for investing as well with MTN’s selling shares for its landmark IPO mainly through mobile money. The West African country has recently become the fastest-growing mobile money market in Africa, with registered accounts increasing six-fold between 2012 and 2017.
The Nigerian reforms now allow telecoms operators like MTN attempt to tap into the promise of mobile money to offer similar services locally. As Africa’s most populous nation as well being home to a vast population of unbanked adults, Nigeria remains an attractive prospect given the success of mobile money services in other parts of the continent.
At the end of last year, there were nearly 400 million registered mobile money accounts—nearly half of the global total—across sub-Saharan Africa with nearly 90% of users in East and West Africa. In Ghana, Kenya and Zimbabwe, over 60% of adults have mobile money accounts.
Compared to standalone startups who have to build marketing and distribution infrastructure through a network of agents from scratch, mobile money services owned by telecoms companies have the in-built advantage of offering their services to an existing user base of millions of subscribers. Indeed, the continent’s biggest mobile money players are all owned by telecoms operators.
In MTN’s case, its longstanding status as Nigeria’s most dominant telecoms operator means it will have a pool of 67 million users to offer its services. And there’s room for significant upside in the near future too with Nigeria predicted to add 31 million mobile subscribers by 2025.
The license is part of South African-owned MTN’s delicate balancing act in Nigeria. It has a tumultuous history of billion-dollar fines and lawsuits in its largest market. Most recently, the company faced allegations of illegally repatriating $8.1 billion in profits and owing $2 billion in taxes. In 2016, it reached a $1.7 billion settlement with Nigeria’s government after a protracted SIM card dispute and an initial $5.2 billion fine.
By Yomi Kazeem
Quartz
Thursday, August 1, 2019
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Video - Why has Nigeria banned Shia Muslim group
Government labels Islamic Movement of Nigeria a 'terrorist' organisation. Nigeria's main Shia Muslim group has had a tumultuous few days. The Islamic Movement of Nigeria has been banned and labelled a terrorist organisation. Its leader, Ibrahim Zakzaky, as been in jail since 2015, when 350 of his followers were killed in confrontations with security forces. More supporters were killed in protests last week demanding his release. Observers say the government is handling the group in a similar way to Boko Haram, which turned violent a decade ago when its leader died in police custody. Could this latest crackdown provoke a new conflict?
Related story: Shia group in Nigeria banned after deadly clashes
Nigerian dies during deportation process from Canada
Calgary police say Canada Border Services Agency officers are not to blame for the death of a Nigerian man during his deportation last year.
The passenger on a Calgary-Amsterdam flight had an altercation with two CBSA officers before takeoff on Aug. 7.
The plane returned to the gate and police responded to find Bolanle Alo in medical distress.
The 49-year-old was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police say an investigation found the death was not caused by the border service officers, who were acting in a reasonable and appropriate manner.
The chief medical examiner also determined Alo died of natural causes.
Alo’s relatives have demanded information in the case.
Their lawyer, Elias Munshya, has said they want to know what happened when Alo was detained, what happened in detention and what happened on the airplane before he died.
Documents from the Immigration and Refugee Board said Alo, whose first name is listed as Bolante, came to Canada in 2005 and made a refugee claim on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
He was, however, denied at every stage and ordered removed from Canada in February 2018.
The documents said he had been co-operative with the CBSA but didn’t want to return to Nigeria.
“Mr. Alo is adamant that he will face harm if he is returned to Nigeria and has consistently told officers that he will not return to Nigeria on his own and that he would only return if he is forced to,” stated the documents.
Once he was ordered removed, Nigerian High Commission officers interviewed Alo and raised concerns that he could become violent.
By Lauren Krugel
City News
The passenger on a Calgary-Amsterdam flight had an altercation with two CBSA officers before takeoff on Aug. 7.
The plane returned to the gate and police responded to find Bolanle Alo in medical distress.
The 49-year-old was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police say an investigation found the death was not caused by the border service officers, who were acting in a reasonable and appropriate manner.
The chief medical examiner also determined Alo died of natural causes.
Alo’s relatives have demanded information in the case.
Their lawyer, Elias Munshya, has said they want to know what happened when Alo was detained, what happened in detention and what happened on the airplane before he died.
Documents from the Immigration and Refugee Board said Alo, whose first name is listed as Bolante, came to Canada in 2005 and made a refugee claim on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
He was, however, denied at every stage and ordered removed from Canada in February 2018.
The documents said he had been co-operative with the CBSA but didn’t want to return to Nigeria.
“Mr. Alo is adamant that he will face harm if he is returned to Nigeria and has consistently told officers that he will not return to Nigeria on his own and that he would only return if he is forced to,” stated the documents.
Once he was ordered removed, Nigerian High Commission officers interviewed Alo and raised concerns that he could become violent.
By Lauren Krugel
City News
Dangote Refinery has World's largest atmospheric tower built by China for Nigeria
China’s leading energy and chemical company, Sinopec, on Monday, said that it had built the world’s largest atmospheric tower for Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery. On its verified Twitter handle, the company shared photos of the tower and revealed that it (tower) had already left its port in China and was traveling to Nigeria. It tweeted: “On July 29, the world’s largest atmospheric tower built by Sinopec slowly left a wharf in Ningbo. Following the Maritime #SilkRoad, it will travel to #Nigeria and be installed at the world’s biggest single-train facility – Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery.”
The piece of equipment is designed to process crude oil for Dangote refinery.
Citac analyst, Jeremy Parker, told Reuters on Monday that for the type of refinery the company is building, the atmospheric tower is the primary unit processing crude oil into fuels. The company expects the refinery to start producing fuels in 2023.
It will likely take at least a month for the shipment to reach Lagos, it was gathered.
The 650,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery is set to be Africa’s largest, with potential to transform the country from an importer of fuel to a net exporter. The refinery is situated on a 6,180 acres (2,500 hectares) site at the Lekki Free Zone, Lagos.
In 2018, Aliko Dangote disclosed that he planned to complete the $12-14 billion refinery project in 2019, with additional plans to start production in early 2020. Analysts have however suggested that the project would take longer in order to begin pumping out fuels such as diesel and gasoline.
Reuters reported last year that the refinery was unlikely to start production until at least 2022, two years later than the target date. “This is a major milestone, but there is still much work to be done, both in terms of sourcing the other units and in terms of interconnection at the site,” Mr. Parker said of the atmospheric tower shipment.
Guardian
Task Force set up in Nigeria to recover $15 billion Amcon Debt
Nigeria has set up a task force to recover about 5.5 trillion naira ($15 billion) of bad loans taken over during a banking crisis more than a decade ago.
The loans are owed to the Asset Management Corp. of Nigeria, known as Amcon, which bought them over during the 2009 banking crisis, the Abuja-based presidency said on its Twitter account Tuesday. The group includes the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, it said.
The amount owed is almost 80% of the West African nation’s revenue target for 2019 and 62% of planned spending by President Muhammadu Buhari, amounting to 8.9 trillion naira.
Nigeria’s central bank will bear the loss if the loans are not paid back by debtors as it provided the cash Amcon used to repay holders of bonds that were issued to acquire the bad debts from banks.
About 67% of the outstanding debt is owed by 20 individuals or entities, the presidency said, citing Amcon Chairman Muiz Banire.
Modeled on organizations including Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency Ltd. and Korea Asset Management Corp., Amcon used bonds to bail out 10 lenders and buy more than 12,000 loans from industries including aviation, gasoline marketing and manufacturing after the 2008-09 oil price crash. It’s so far recovered 1 trillion naira, Amcon Chief Executive Officer Ahmed Kuru said last week.
Bloomberg
The loans are owed to the Asset Management Corp. of Nigeria, known as Amcon, which bought them over during the 2009 banking crisis, the Abuja-based presidency said on its Twitter account Tuesday. The group includes the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, it said.
The amount owed is almost 80% of the West African nation’s revenue target for 2019 and 62% of planned spending by President Muhammadu Buhari, amounting to 8.9 trillion naira.
Nigeria’s central bank will bear the loss if the loans are not paid back by debtors as it provided the cash Amcon used to repay holders of bonds that were issued to acquire the bad debts from banks.
About 67% of the outstanding debt is owed by 20 individuals or entities, the presidency said, citing Amcon Chairman Muiz Banire.
Modeled on organizations including Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency Ltd. and Korea Asset Management Corp., Amcon used bonds to bail out 10 lenders and buy more than 12,000 loans from industries including aviation, gasoline marketing and manufacturing after the 2008-09 oil price crash. It’s so far recovered 1 trillion naira, Amcon Chief Executive Officer Ahmed Kuru said last week.
Bloomberg
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