Several people are feared trapped under the debris after a multi-story building under construction in the Nigerian capital collapsed, local authorities said Tuesday.
The building in downtown Abuja collapsed on Monday afternoon. "The search and rescue continues. Nine of them have been rescued, six were discharged from the hospital and three are still in the hospital receiving treatment. Their condition is stable and everything is going on well," said Amiola Adebayo, head of operations at the fire service in Abuja.
According to local media, the building was approved for three floors, but the developer violated the building codes. An unspecific number of people were still trapped under the debris.
Cases of building collapses are not uncommon in Nigeria, and local experts lay the blame on aging structures, non-compliance with building planning and regulations, and the use of substandard materials during construction.
Wednesday, July 5, 2023
Building collapeses in Abuja, leaving several people trapped
Tuesday, July 4, 2023
Video - 24-hour curfew declared in Nigeria's Taraba state, Karim town
The Governor of #Taraba State in #Nigeria imposed a 24-hour #curfew as a result of communal #clashes in some parts of the area which have reportedly led to the death of dozens of people.
Nigeria projected to save $28 Billion after ending fuel subsidies
Nigeria will save more than 21 trillion naira ($28 billion) in two years after scrapping gasoline subsidies and allowing its currency to weaken, according to the World Bank.
The savings will help President Bola Tinubu’s government cut its record fiscal deficit and a debt-service burden that surpassed revenue in 2022, the Washington-based lender said in a report. The budget shortfall will narrow to 3.9% of gross domestic product by 2025 from 5.1% this year, according to the report.
Scrapping the fuel cap will enable Nigeria’s state oil company to export crude instead of setting it aside to pay for the subsidies. Easing foreign-exchange controls will help the government convert overseas earnings at market prices rather than at “overvalued” rates, the bank said.
It forecast Africa’s biggest economy will expand 4% from 2024 should it implement urgently required reforms. The continent’s most populous nation has for years resisted calls by the World Bank to do away with its costly gasoline subsidies and myriad exchange rates that have stymied growth.
Africa’s largest crude producer should take further steps to increase non-oil revenue, lower inflation and expand the social safety net to protect the poor and most vulnerable, the World Bank said.
“The government could propose a compact with Nigerian citizens that directly links the phased-out subsidy to compensatory cash transfers,” it said.
More from the report:
. Inflation will accelerate to an average of 25% this year, compared with 18.8% in 2022
. Debt service as a proportion of federal government revenue will drop to 76% by 2025 from 121% this year.
By Anthony Osae-Brown, Bloomberg
Informal traders targeted in Nigeria to boost tax
Nigeria's federal revenue agency said on Monday it had partnered with a traders association to collect value added tax (VAT) from millions of informal traders, part of a push to widen the tax base by President Bola Tinubu's government.
Africa's largest economy has embarked on its boldest reform agenda in decades, including the removal of a popular petrol subsidy and restrictions on foreign exchange trading, a gamble by Tinubu to try boost sluggish growth.
Nigeria has one of the lowest tax collection rates in the world at around 10.8% of GDP, according to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). Only 47% of this year's budget will come from revenues and the rest from borrowing.
The FIRS said in a statement that it was partnering with the Market Traders Association of Nigeria (MATAN) to collect and remit VAT from its members, especially those in the informal sector, using a digital platform.
It said the partnership would help "curb the activities of touts, miscreants and self-imposed tax collectors involved in illegal tax collection in Nigeria's market spaces."
MATAN says it has more than 40 million traders, mostly in the informal sector where a majority of Nigerians earn a living.
The revenue agency said MATAN members will receive identity cards with tax identification numbers and a digital platform would track their turnover for tax purposes.
By MacDonald Dzirutwe, Reuters
Related stories: President Tinubu stuns wary investors with quick reforms
Nigerians are feeling the brunt of President Tinubu's economic shakeup
Monday, July 3, 2023
Video - 8-year-old Ivie Urieto spreads love for chess among the youth in Nigeria
Chess is a no-barrier game, and one Nigerian youngster is making her mark on the global stage.
Related story: 12-year-old Nigerian chess prodigy and his family granted asylum by U.S.
Video - Techpreneurs ease operations for SMEs in Nigeria
A team of young techprenuers in Nigeria has developed a financial service platform to enhance transactions and record keeping among small scale businesses. Digital communication experts say using such platforms to boost business processes have the potential to improve the country's economy.
Suspect arrested in stabbing death of Nigerian student in Canada
Toronto police have arrested a suspect wanted in connection with the deadly stabbing of a Nigerian international student in June.
On June 25, 28-year-old Ifeanyichukwu Oseke was stabbed in a Scarborough parking lot after an altercation with another man. He later died in the hospital.
A Canada-wide warrant was issued on July 1 for Tamar Cupid, on the charge of second-degree murder, police said.
Police arrested and charged Cupid, 25, hours into the warrant. He is scheduled to appear before the Toronto Regional Bail Centre on Sunday.
By Santiago Arias Orozco
Related story: Student from Nigeria stabbed in Scarborough, Canada
Nigerians warned against eating Ponmo due to Anthrax outbreak
Following an outbreak of anthrax disease in the West African nation of Ghana, Nigerian authorities have urged citizens to halt consumption of cooked animal hides, a delicacy also known as “ponmo” in the country. Gibson Emeka has this story from Abuja, Nigeria, narrated by Salem Solomon.
By Gibson Emeka
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Friday, June 30, 2023
Video - 80% of small businesses in Nigeria die in under five years
A recent study shows that 80% of small and medium enterprises in Nigeria don't make it to their 5th birthday. Despite the sector's significant contribution to Nigeria's economy, small and medium enterprises face many challenges that slow down the country's overall potential.
Wednesday, June 28, 2023
According to World Bank Nigeria could save $5.1 billion this year from reforms
Nigeria could save up to 3.9 trillion naira ($5.10 billion) this year alone after reforms to its foreign exchange market and the removal of a petrol subsidy, the World Bank said on Tuesday, but warned of growing inflationary pressures in the short term.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu is embarking on the country's biggest reforms in decades, including scrapping the popular but expensive petrol subsidy and unifying the country's multiple exchange rates.
World Bank lead economist for Nigeria Alex Sienaert said during a presentation in the capital Abuja that savings from the reforms did not amount to a fiscal windfall.
"They stop Nigeria from going over what you might call the fiscal cliff. They really set the stage for a new and an upward trajectory in terms of Nigeria's development path," Sienaert said.
Nigeria's economy was expected to grow 3.3% this year and 3.7% next year, he said.
The World Bank and International Monetary Fund had for years called on Nigeria to remove the petrol subsidy, which cost $10 billion last year, and free its exchange rate.
To deepen foreign exchange reforms, Siernaet said Nigeria should remove restrictions on a list of 43 items, including sugar and flour, that the central bank says cannot be funded from official dollar sales.
Tinubu's monetary policy advisor Wale Edun said the naira, which has weakened to record lows after forex restrictions ended, was expected to stabilise just below 700 to the dollar.
Inflation, which hit 22.41% in May, would rise further following the reforms, Siernaet said, adding that some four million more Nigerians may have been driven into poverty in the first five months of this year due to high prices.
Labour unions are pressing Tinubu's government to raise the monthly minimum wage more than sixfold to cushion workers against the impact of the fuel subsidy removal.
Nigeria has the second-largest population of poor people in the world and is one of the least developed countries globally, the World Bank says.
By Chijioke Ohuocha, Reuters
Student from Nigeria stabbed in Scarborough, Canada
The victim of a stabbing in Scarborough Sunday evening has been identified as Ifeanyichukwu Oseke, 28, a student from Nigeria, Toronto police say.
Police said they received a call for a stabbing in the Eglinton Avenue East and Brimley Road area just after 7:10 p.m. on Sunday.
According to police, two men were involved in an altercation in a parking lot.
When officers arrived they found a man with signs of trauma. He was transported to hospital where he died.
In a news release on Tuesday, police said the suspect is a man with medium-length dark hair. He was wearing a light-coloured tank-top, pants and shoes. The suspect was last seen getting into a dark-coloured sedan travelling south on Brimley Road from Eglinton Avenue East, police said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers.
Tuesday, June 27, 2023
Video - 5,000kg of cannabis seized in Lagos
June 26 is the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. The day was created to strengthen action and cooperation in achieving a world free of drug abuse with this year's theme focused on stopping stigma and discrimination.
Nuhu Ribadu promises to stabilise Nigeria
Ribadu, who was appointed by President Bola Tinubu on June 19, took over from retired Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno.
“This is a work for Nigerians and we intend to continue with what has been done".
“We will stabilise this country, we will secure our country and we will make Nigeria peaceful,” the new NSA said.
He said that the administration of President Bola Tinubu has the firm belief that “time has come for this country to enjoy peace, restore order and rule of law just like any other country in the world.
“Securing the nation is a continuous process. We will look at what has been done and build on it. We will count on your support in the course of discharging our responsibilities.
“Mr. President has a huge commitment to securing every inch of our country. We will work with all stakeholders to deliver on this vision."
“This enormous task of securing our country is that of all Nigerians, and all friends of Nigeria.”
Ribadu solicited the full cooperation of all servicemen and women, as well as all Nigerians.
He said there was need for Nigerians to unite to accomplish the administration’s quest for a more stable, peaceful and prosperous nation.
In his remarks, the former NSA said “Ribadu is well equipped, well qualified, well educated and have a very deep understanding of the complexity of the security challenges confronting the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
He added that the new NSA has the capacity to tackle whatever challenge that he might encounter having served in various related positions.
Monguno said he had submitted comprehensive handover note to his successor and briefed him extensively.
“For me, I want to give gratitude to the Almighty God for giving me the grace to serve for such a long time.
“And also allowing me to depart in good health and enjoy the rest of my life in an atmosphere that is bereft of the type of pressure that are associated with this all important office.
“I am also wishing in the same vein, that Mallam Nuhu Rubadu will have a very successful tenure and depart in good health when the time comes for him to depart.”
Monguno said the ever changing 21st security environment demand complex approach.
“Today we are dealing with a situation in which we have terrorists and insurrectionists.
“The way and manner you will deal with the situation is such that you will have to rely on collection of competent staff,” he added.
He urged the staff to support and cooperate with the new NSA to achieve the desired national security oobjectives.
Related stories: Nuhu Ribadu uncovers large scale oil fraud
Nigerian accused of blasphemy stoned to death
A man was stoned to death after being accused of blasphemy in northwest Nigeria, authorities and activists said, sparking outrage on Monday from rights groups worried about what they said were growing threats to religious freedom in the region.
Usman Buda, a butcher, was killed Sunday in Sokoto state’s Gwandu district after he “allegedly blasphemed the Holy Prophet Muhammad” during an argument with another trader in a marketplace, police spokesman Ahmad Rufa’i said in a statement Sunday night.
Residents shared videos that appeared to be from the scene showing a large crowd that included children pelting stones at Buda on the floor as they cursed him.
Rufa'i said a police team was deployed in the area but when they arrived, “the mob escaped the scene and left the victim unconscious." He was later declared dead at Usmanu Danfodiyo Teaching Hospital in Sokoto, Rufa'i said.
The killing was the latest attack rights campaigners have said threatens religious freedom in Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim northern region. Blasphemy carries the death penalty under Islamic law in the area.
Amnesty International Nigeria’s office said the failure to ensure justice in such cases would encourage more extrajudicial killings. “The government is not taking the matter seriously and that has to change,” Isa Sanusi, acting director of Amnesty International Nigeria, said.
Sokoto Governor Ahmed Aliyu said residents should not take laws into their hands. But he also warned that his government would “deal decisively” against anyone found guilty of blasphemy.
“Sokoto people have so much respect and regard for Prophet Muhammad ... hence the need for all the residents to respect [and] protect his dignity and personality,” Abubakar Bawa, his spokesman, said.
Many of those accused of blasphemy never make it to court for trial. Last year, a student in Sokoto was beaten and burnt to death for alleged blasphemy while a man was killed and set ablaze for the same reason in the capital city of Abuja also in the northern region.
The police in Sokoto said it has opened an investigation into the latest incident, though arrests are rare in such cases.
“Even where arrests were made, there were serious allegations that those arrested were either later released or the whole case is jeopardized. This is very dangerous, and it shows the Nigerian authorities are deliberately not willing to do the right thing to fix this dangerous situation,” Sanusi added.
Related stories: Imam Sentenced to Death Over Blasphemy in Nigeria
Mob kills student over ‘blasphemy’ in northern Nigerian college
Nigerian singer sentenced to death for blasphemy in Kano state
Shell's Trans Niger pipeline spill under investigation by Nigeria
Nigerian authorities and Shell's local subsidiary were on Monday investigating the cause of a spill on the Trans Niger pipeline that lasted several days.
The 180,000-barrel-per-day pipeline is one of two conduits to export Bonny Light crude.
The spill at Eleme in Rivers state was detected on June 11 and four days later, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) confirmed it in a statement.
Environmental rights groups said the spill lasted a week before it was contained.
A team comprising SPDC, Nigerian Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency and local communities were at the site on Monday to gather information, analyse data, examine physical evidence, and assess the causes of the leak, said Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre which monitors spills in the Niger Delta.
A Shell spokesperson confirmed Monday's visit to the site.
The investigation will determine the volume of oil spilt.
Shell has over the years faced several legal battles over oil spills in the Niger Delta, a region blighted by pollution, conflict and corruption related to the oil and gas industry.
The oil major blames most of the spills on pipeline vandalism and illegal tapping of crude.
Thandile Chinyavanhu, Greenpeace Africa climate and energy campaigner, said the latest spill compounded Shell's record in one of Africa's leading oil producers.
"Shell must be held accountable and financially responsible for this spill and for its neocolonial role in causing climate loss and damage," Chinyavanhu said.
By Tife Owolabi, Reuters
Monday, June 26, 2023
Nigeria Football Federation lets fans decide coach’s future
Nigeria coach Jose Peseiro's job is in the hands of the fans after football federation (NFF) president Ibrahim Gusau said he will let them decide if the Portuguese should stay on.
Peseiro, who has coached Porto and Sporting in his home country and took over Nigeria in May last year, has led his side to the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Ivory Coast starting in January but his contract ends on June 30.
There is now a national debate over whether the 63-year-old should be retained and Gusau said the people can decide.
"We have the plan to push the votes to Nigerians to hear their views and thoughts," Gusau said on the LovingFootball radio show.
"We've tried the foreign coaches and also the local coaches.
"Maybe we didn't get it right in the area of getting the right person. We are going to push it to the public, whether we should continue with Peseiro or he should go."
Despite Nigeria's continental qualification, results have been mixed under Peseiro even as he has been able to select from an array of players plying their trade in Europe’s top leagues.
Since failing to qualify for last year's World Cup in Qatar, Nigeria have won four and lost five of their games.
By Nick Said, Reuters
Nigeria amasses $3 billion debt to traders for oil swaps
Nigeria has accumulated up to $3 billion in debts to trading houses such as Vitol and oil majors such as BP (BP.L) for fuel supplies and is trailing four to six months behind schedule in repaying them with cargoes of crude, four traders and executives told Reuters.
Nigeria will likely take months to clear the debt, which will complicate reforms by new President Bola Tinubu aimed at weaning Africa's largest economy and most populous nation off costly fuel subsidies that have contributed to growing debt and foreign exchange shortages.
In his first two weeks in office, Tinubu removed petrol price caps and restrictions on the naira currency – liberalisation changes that investors have been awaiting for more than a decade.
As part of those reforms, Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer, plans to scrap an old scheme by which it swaps its crude for gasoline imports. Nigeria for years sold the gasoline, bought at the open market price, to its population at a discount, and the government paid the difference.
The subsidy costs about $10 billion last year. The last time the government tried to end the scheme, the move led to protests. Nigeria needs imports because it lacks the refinery capacity necessary to meet domestic demand.
The head of Nigeria's state oil firm NNPC, Mele Kyari, said earlier this month it was ending the swaps - known as Direct Purchase Direct Sale (DSDP) - after years of criticism by civil society groups including the Nigerian Extractive Transparency Initiative for a lack of transparency and corruption.
Kyari said payments would be now made in cash but traders say NNPC is still importing gasoline via swaps for July delivery and has to pay for those cargoes in crude as well as the pending payments for previous months of swaps.
The arrangement has for years involved more than a dozen foreign and local trading consortia and backpayments are expected to continue until at least October 2023, according to the four traders involved in business with NNPC.
NPPC, which claims the government owes it $6 billion for subsidised fuel sales, declined to comment. The government declined to comment. Swaps participants including Vitol, Mercuria, BP and TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) also declined to comment.
"Swaps will ultimately stop but not yet. We are getting our swaps crude cargo in October at the earliest," one major player said.
NNPC had made a rare cash payment in May to some partners of around $200 million, two trading sources said, but no further payment has taken place since amid the government's cash struggles.
Nigeria's falling oil production has exacerbated the country's fiscal problems, because it reduces the revenue that could be used to repay debt.
Nigeria used to produce 1.8 million barrels per day of crude but output has fallen in recent years to as little as 1.1 million during due to lack of investment.
PRIVATE IMPORTERS
Paying for fuel deliveries with crude cargoes means there is less crude for Nigeria and NNPC's to export, and so less revenue.
NNPC's contribution to state coffers went from a peak of more than $30 billion a year in 2011 to zero in 2022 as it retained revenues to cover gasoline sale losses.
International monetary experts have long suggested Nigeria remove fuel subsidies and liberalise its foreign exchange to address its fiscal crisis.
In recent years, Nigeria's central bank kept the naira fixed at an artificially high rate that gradually rose from 200 to 450 naira to the dollar that only a few players, including the NNPC, could access. That shut out potential private gasoline importers from the market.
President Tinubu allowed the naira to fall steeply in recent weeks, and eliminated preferential naira rates, a move that means all potential importers get the same forex costs and could compete in fuel imports.
But the naira volatility, which makes it tough to calculate potential profits, and uncertainty over whether firms will be able to get money out of the country due to continued dollar shortages, has for now deterred private firms from importing fuel.
Besides private importers, Nigeria will also depend on businessman Aliko Dangote's refinery to cover fuel demand in the future. Nigeria's first major oil plant is unlikely to start full-scale operations before next year.
By Julia Payne, Reuters
8 Killed, 10 Abducted by Islamic Extremists in Nigeria
Islamic extremists killed eight farmers and abducted 10 in an attack in northeastern Nigeria, officials said Friday — the latest in a volatile region that is a key part of the country's breadbasket and where militants have threatened food supplies.
The farmers were ambushed in the bush in the Borno state's Mafa district Thursday. The attackers slit their throats, authorities said.
Babagana Zulum, the state governor, said the attack was an attempt to "sabotage the successes of the government" as it struggles to have those displaced in Borno return to their villages and rebuild their lives.
He said the security forces need to rise to the challenge but also urged residents to take individual precautions.
"We must rise to our responsibility and address the situation," Zulum said. "I've told the people to be resilient, and they should be security-conscious and avoid remote locations."
Islamic extremist rebels launched an insurgency in Borno in 2009 to establish their radical interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, in the region. At least 35,000 people have been killed and more than 2 million displaced because of the violence by the militant Boko Haram group and a breakaway faction backed by the Islamic State group.
Borno's farming communities have been frequently targeted in recent months, raising fears of extreme hunger as U.N. agencies continue to warn of famine.
On Friday, local villagers are mourning the slain farmers while also decrying inadequate security measures in remote and volatile areas.
Modu Ibrahim, a resident, said there were no security forces where the farmers' bodies were found. The extremists spared one teenager whom they asked to "deliver the message" about the attack to other villagers, Ibrahim said.
The Islamic insurgency in the northeast has also overstretched Nigeria's security forces as they continue to battle other crises across the country, including continuing clashes between nomadic cattle herders and farming communities in northwest and central regions of the West African nation.
Black market collapses in Nigeria due to fuel subsidy removal
Things have been topsy turvy lately on the roadsides of West African nations where cheap contraband petrol from Nigeria has abruptly doubled in price, upending an informal sector that is central to the region's economic activity.
Since Nigeria scrapped a state fuel subsidy on May 31, black market fuel vendors and commercial drivers in Cameroon, Benin and Togo who were heavily reliant on petrol smuggled from Nigeria have seen their businesses collapse.
With supplies dwindling, queues have been forming at official petrol stations, where fuel is now competitively priced.
In Garoua, a town in northwest Cameroon about 60 km (37 miles) east of the Nigerian border, a litre of petrol on the black market used to sell for about 300 CFA francs ($0.48). Now the minimum is 600 CFA francs, vendors said.
"Supply has become scarce and customers think we're ripping them off with this high price, yet it's from Nigeria that prices have soared," said Perevet Dieudonne, a black market seller.
The knock-on effects on motorcycle-taxis, a form of public transport ubiquitous in West Africa, include conflict between riders who often live hand-to-mouth and customers who demand cheap fares no matter what.
Ousmanou Mal Djoulde, a rider in Garoua, said he had been forced to more than double his fares. Many customers were refusing to pay and business was agonisingly slow.
The trade in black market fuel is so central to the local economy that authorities either turn a blind eye or are complicit. A Reuters reporter in Garoua saw a Cameroonian customs officer sitting on a motorcycle-taxi that was being refuelled with smuggled Nigerian petrol.
RAMPANT SMUGGLING
There is no reliable data on the amount of fuel that is smuggled from Nigeria.
The head of Nigeria's state-controlled oil firm NNPC, the sole supplier, said early this month 66 million litres of petrol left its depots daily but could not say how much was consumed locally, though he admitted smuggling was rampant.
Independent energy experts and Nigeria's Dangote Petroleum Refinery - which expects to start producing petrol from early August to alleviate chronic fuel shortages - put Nigeria's total daily consumption below 40 million litres.
In Benin and Togo, small nations to the west of Nigeria, contraband fuel vendors have lost both supplies and customers while formerly sleepy official petrol stations are suddenly busy.
At Hilacondji, a border crossing between Togo and Benin, some black market fuel stalls were shut, while at others vendors waited among rows of empty plastic jerricans for potential deliveries.
"While we wait for the situation to improve, some have gone into fishing or other small businesses," said Ayi Hilla, who had been making a living from selling contraband fuel for 10 years but was now focusing on running a small roadside bar.
Some informal fuel depots were being demolished, and men who used to work there unloading and carrying petrol were now unemployed.
More than 80% of employment in Africa is informal, according to the United Nations, making the informal sector a key driver of economic activity.
In Cotonou, the commercial capital of Benin which is about 60 km from Nigeria, queues have been building up at official petrol stations and some have been unable to meet the sudden surge in demand, especially from "zemidjan", the local word for motorcycle-taxis.
"Before, we were selling about 2,000 litres per day, but now we're selling up to 7,000 litres per day," said a worker at the JNP fuel station who gave his first name, Janvier. He had just turned away four customers because supplies had run out.
"The zemidjan-men are even fighting to get served," said Janvier.
By Desire Danga Essigue, Reuters
Friday, June 23, 2023
Fight between telcos, banks hurts financial inclusion in Nigeria
Lagos, Nigeria – Comfort Oluwaseyi has a time-tested shortcut for sending money to everyone.
For the 40-year-old fruit trader at Ikeja, in the heart of Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos, all it takes is dialling *737# on her Itel 2160, a non-smartphone which costs 7,000 Nigerian naira ($15).
Within seconds, the operation is concluded and recipients, usually her suppliers, are sorted. The fee? Only 6.98 naira per transaction, deducted directly from her bank account.
“I cannot afford a smartphone but the phone I use still serves me well,” Oluwaseyi told Al Jazeera. “This phone helps me operate this business which in turn supports my family.”
In Nigeria, feature phones, because of their relative affordability and longer battery life, are a popular choice in low-income households – 133 million people according to a 2022 report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) – especially among older or illiterate citizens.
Furthermore, three things stand out: half of all phones shipped into Nigeria are still feature phones; only half of the country is connected to the internet according to the World Bank and, as per Lagos-based Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA), only half of the adult population use formal banks.
For this reason, *737 is one of the most popular short codes on the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) platform for millions in Nigeria.
USSD short codes – first introduced by the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) in 1994, and in Nigeria for banking purposes in 2015 – help users with or without smartphones or internet connections perform multiple features.
Every day, millions of Nigerians use different short codes to pay for a range of services, from purchasing airtime to tracking sales from customers who prefer cash transfers and paying suppliers for new stock.
The ease of access also helps people like Oluwaseyi focus on business and avoid bank queues during business hours.
Even smartphone users rely on USSD services when their bank apps malfunction or banking services are poor – a routine complaint. A third of all consumer complaints filed in 2020 were against poor banking services, the most recent data from Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) shows.
During a cash shortage in February that halted operations of many small businesses, USSD allowed Oluwaseyi to keep hers running, she said.
Dispute over bank fees
But a dispute between telecommunication companies and banks about the appropriate pricing model for USSD-powered financial transactions could cut off access to financial services for as many as 17 million people like Oluwaseyi.
Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) traced the dispute to 2019 when bank CEOs pleaded with the state-run Financial Inclusion Steering Committee (FISC) to make USSD services free of charge to accelerate financial inclusion.
Until October 2019, banks billed users directly for the service using their airtime. To ensure that even users who had no airtime could use it, banks introduced corporate billing; they calculated the number of 20-second USSD sessions (each pegged at 3.5 naira) customers used, deducted it from their bank accounts and remitted to telcos at the end of each month.
Because telcos were also billing for failed sessions and refusing to extend the 20-second session cap, banks baulked at this arrangement and asked telcos to charge their customers directly.
At a point in the dispute, MTN, Nigeria’s largest telecom company announced plans to directly bill users 4 naira for every 20-second USSD transaction.
Central bank governor Godwin Emefiele criticised the move, saying direct user billing would hurt financial inclusion. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) then suspended the new charges.
Thus began a tussle between banks and telcos over who shoulders the cost of USSD sessions for end users. The former insist that they provide the latter, who want payment for supplying infrastructure powering the USSD technology, with customers.
Today, the banks owe a cumulative 100 billion naira ($214m) to the telcos who are threatening to cut off access to the technology.
On May 12, ALTON said it had received approval from the NCC, Nigeria’s telecommunications regulator, to disconnect the banks.
And experts fear that this could have a significant impact on many Nigerians.
“If you turn off USSD the most vulnerable Nigerians will suffer because they don’t have smartphones or if they have smartphones they are using ancient and cheap smartphones that can’t work with the latest operating system,” Adedeji Olowe, CEO of Lagos-based fintech startup Lendsqr, and a trustee of Open Banking Nigeria, a nonprofit championing financial inclusion.
Even Adebayo, the telcos’ representative, believes that too.
“The average Nigerian relies on USSD, and a lot of those who use it for financial transactions will be affected. It will affect the entire financial institution … and the entire digital ecosystem,” he told Al Jazeera.
Chasing financial inclusion
Some bankers have described the USSD as a clumsy technology that cannot serve as Nigeria’s answer to its financial inclusion problems, arguing that the best path to financial inclusion is making data subscriptions more affordable.
A senior executive at a leading Nigerian bank told Al Jazeera anonymously that USSD is an overrated banking channel as bank hall walk-ins still carry the bulk of the financial transactions traffic, with intelligent banking systems such as WhatsApp banking slowly becoming more popular.
On the surface, the data seems to agree.
Data from the CBN reveals that USSD accounts for only 2.3 percent by volume and 0.29 percent of the value of all electronic transactions in Nigeria in 2022. Conversely, smartphone and internet-enabled channels make up 60 percent of such transactions. Additionally, the value of USSD transactions dropped by 13.2 percent or 685.45 billion naira ($1.47bn) in the same calendar year.
But experts like Olowe argue that even if internet subscription cost is zero, the cost of smartphones and expertise to operate them present barriers for the demographic of Nigerians who need financial inclusion the most.
“Except the economy improves a lot of people won’t be able to access smartphones and these are the exact people we are trying to expand financial services to,” he said.
In a country where only 3.7 million Nigerians spend more than $10 daily as of 2021 and most of that goes to food and transport, only a few people can afford to purchase smartphones.
“Nigeria’s economy is in a fragile place currently … another big, disruptive hit to consumer spending is the last thing that the country needs,” John Ashbourne, emerging market economist at Fitch Solutions, a London-based financial intelligence company, told Al Jazeera.
But disconnection of the service is also a difficult task because of bureaucracy surrounding approvals and resistance from the telcos, industry insiders say.
“The major source of their income, which is airtime vending, comes from these channels, if they [telcos] shut it down, they are the ones that would lose,” the bank executive said.
Two of Nigeria’s leading telcos, MTN Nigeria and Airtel made 1.25 trillion naira ($2.68bn) from airtime and data in the first 6 months of 2022, according to data from the NCC.
And that development could force innovation on the part of the telcos, Emmanuel Ido, a technology lawyer at Lagos-based law firm Aluko and Oyebode, told Al Jazeera.
“One possible outcome [of the dispute] is that telcos and banks will attempt to redefine their relationship and operate independently, with telcos providing banking functions independent of traditional banks,” he said.
For end users like Oluwaseyi, the disconnect would be detrimental to her business if the telcos went ahead with their threats to disconnect USSD services.
“All I had during this [cash shortage] period was my small phone,” she told Al Jazeera. “With it … I was able to make money transfers to my suppliers.”
16 dead in herders and farmers clash in Nigeria
Sixteen people have been killed in two attacks in north-central Nigeria in a region struggling with inter-communal violence, the army said.
Clashes between nomadic herders and farming communities often flare in Plateau State, which sits on the dividing line between the mostly Muslim north and Nigeria’s predominantly Christian south.
In the latest violence on Tuesday, half a dozen members of a local farmers’ self-defense group were killed by gunmen in Riyom district while another 10 people were killed in an attack in Mangu area, an army spokesman said.
“Six lives were lost in Riyom,” said army Major Ishaku Takwa told AFP on Wednesday.
“Another attack took place in some communities in Mangu and 10 persons died.”
Plateau state assembly member representing Mangu South, Bala Fwangje, said 14 people had been killed in that area.
“We heard that about 14 people were killed, houses destroyed, property burnt. I am yet to get the full details,” he said.
Since May, nearly 200 people have been killed in clashes between the Berom farming communities, who are mainly Christian, and the cattle breeding communities of Fulani Muslims in the Riyom, Barkin Ladi, and Mangu areas of Plateau.
It was unclear what exactly triggered the recent attacks in Plateau, but tit-for-tat killings between herders and farmers often spiral into village raids by heavily armed gangs who kidnap, loot and kill villagers.
The Plateau crisis is one of the many security challenges facing President Bola Tinubu who took the helm of Africa’s most populous nation at the end of May.
AFP
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Thursday, June 22, 2023
After 12 years at No.1 Aliko Dangote is now 2nd Richest man in Africa
For the first time in a dozen years, Aliko Dangote has fallen from his perch as Africa’s richest person. The continent’s new number one, according to Forbes’ calculations, is Johann Rupert of South Africa, who built a fortune in luxury goods and more. Rupert overtook Dangote on Thursday, June 15 and has an estimated net worth of $11.7 billion, according to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires ranking at 10 a.m. ET on June 21. This marks the first time that Rupert ranks as the richest person in Africa; he's been on Forbes' list of billionaires since at least 1997. Dangote, 66, stands in second place behind Rupert, 73, among African billionaires with a fortune estimated at $10.4 billion. That’s a $3.7 billion drop from the $14.1 billion net worth Dangote had on Wednesday, June 14.
The decline of Dangote’s fortune comes in the wake of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s decision to float its currency, the naira, on June 14, abandoning the fixed exchange rate with the U.S. dollar. The naira, which had been trading around 465 per U.S. dollar, plummeted about 40% against the U.S. dollar on Friday, June 16 and fell to a low of N690 to the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, June 20.
The majority of Dangote’s fortune lies in his 85% ownership of listed firm Dangote Cement, the continent’s largest cement producer, shares of which have risen about 1% since the central bank’s decision to float the currency. The plunging naira far outweighed the slight uptick in Dangote Cement’s shares in shifting Dangote’s fortune.
The continent’s new No. 1, Rupert is chairman of Compagnie Financière Richemont, a Switzerland-listed luxury goods powerhouse that boasts brands such as Cartier, Montblanc and Van Cleef & Arpels. Richemont was founded by Rupert in 1988 when he spun off the international assets from The Rembrandt Group, his father’s conglomerate formed in the 1940s. Rupert also serves as chairman of Remgro, a South African investment holding company with a diversified portfolio in banking, healthcare and media companies. He also owns part of the Saracens English rugby team and says his biggest regret was not buying half of Gucci when he had the opportunity to do so–decades ago– for just $175 million.
Rupert’s net worth has increased by nearly $3 billion since early 2022 and more than doubled since early 2020, when Forbes estimated it at $4.6 billion.
The Nigerian Central Bank’s decision to float the naira is part of newly-elected President Bola Tinubu’s larger efforts to reportedly encourage investment into Nigeria and stop black market operators profiting from the margin between official and unofficial financial markets. Tinubu took office in May and since then has led an overhaul of the Nigerian economy that also includes abolishing the country's fuel subsidies, an incentive that has been in place since the 1970s.
According to Nimi Wariboko, a former investment banker in Nigeria and former strategic consultant at Nigeria’s Central Bank, Dangote may be able to play Tinubu’s scrapping of state fuel subsidies to his advantage with his company’s launch of a new oil refinery in Lagos last month. The plant was built to combat the country’s fuel shortages–Nigeria hasn’t been able to refine the oil extracted domestically–and was built at a reported cost of $19 billion. But Wariboko says it might also provide Dangote with an opportunity to reclaim his position as Africa's wealthiest individual.
“So he’s going to have a monopoly on [refining oil in Nigeria] and also be able to sell at a higher market price,” said Wariboko. “So this fall seems temporary.”
Representatives for Rupert and Dangote did not reply to a request for comment.
By Jemima Denham, Forbes
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Peter Obi supports the Japa movement
The former Anambra governor who gained massive support from Nigerians, especially on Social media in the just concluded electioneering campaign for being “a prudent and incorrupt politician”, stated that today’s brain drain will be Nigeria’s brain gain tomorrow.
Ex-governor Obi, in a series of tweets, Thursday, supported Bill Gate’s opinion on the migration wave hitting Nigeria, noting in the tweet that “Nigerians leaving the country will be critical in the building of the New Nigeria”.
“I read and agree with Bill Gates’s recent comment on the ‘japa syndrome, where, according to reports, he stated that the recent surge of Nigerian professionals leaving the country for greener pastures is good and healthy for our country.”
Obi noted that “I have always preached and maintained this same position that ‘Our brain drain today will be our brain gain tomorrow’.”
“Nigerians leaving the country may look like a loss today, but when we start doing the right things and taking the governance of our nation more seriously, the knowledge and resources from them will be critical in the building of the New Nigeria, as it happened in China, India, Ireland and other developing countries,” Peter Obi noted.
Peter Obi’s comments are coming on the heels of a clarification by the British Envoy to Nigeria on the UK visa policy believed to be targeted at Nigerian students who depart the country in droves with their families.
By Idowu Bankole, Vanguard
Barcelona basketball team condemn racist abuse of Nigerian player
The incident on Tuesday comes as Spanish sport wrestles with the global outcry sparked by racism aimed at Real Madrid’s Brazilian football star Vinicius Jr. The 22-year-old Brazilian forward called out racist abuse in the Spanish football league in May, which he had been subjected to since moving to Spain five years ago.
On Wednesday, it was the turn of Spanish basketball.
“Barcelona strongly condemns the racist insults suffered by first-team basketball player James Nnaji before game three of the final,” the team said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The club expects a firm response from the ACB [Spanish basketball league] against any racial or verbal insults.”
Images of the arrival of the Barcelona team bus at the WiZink centre in Madrid, where Tuesday’s match took place, showed several Madrid fans hurling insults at the Barcelona players.
According to local media, Nnaji was the target of racist insults.
“I want to talk about what happened here with James Nnaji. I think it’s regrettable. I hear a lot about Vinicius, and now it’s us who have to talk about what’s going on,” Barcelona basketball coach Sarunas Jasikevicius said later.
“It has to stop now. It doesn’t fit, I guess, with the values of Real Madrid and its supporters, and we have to be very angry about that,” he said.
Nigeria’s online media outlet Pulse Sports said the 18-year-old Nnaji played for just eight minutes and 35 seconds in the final but had a “pivotal role” in his team’s win.
Barcelona beat Real Madrid in 93-82 on Tuesday after winning the first two games of the final for the club’s 20th Spanish league title.
Esports in Nigeria
Whipped up by an emcee, crowds of young spectators cheered all day in front of the competitors whose games were interspersed with concerts of local Afrobeats stars, Victony and Crayon.
Competitors battled it out in popular eSports games like "Call of Duty: Mobile", "Street Fighter" and "FIFA".
The bling of the "Nigerian-style" show lived up to the ambitions of Africa's leading economy as it looks to establish itself as an eSports –- electronic sports –- leader despite the economic and logistics problems the country faces.
South Africa is now crushing the African eSports scene, thanks to numerous investments, followed by Egypt and Morocco, then to a lesser extent by Senegal, Ivory Coast and Kenya.
But Nigeria has something to make its neighbours swoon because its strengths -- and its challenges -- are immense.
Immense especially in size: it is the most populous country in Africa with more than 215 million inhabitants, renowned for being competitive in business, sports and music. And three-quarters of the population is under 25.
In Lagos, in the midst of the din of the tournament he was supervising, Kunmi Adenipebi explained it was almost impossible to know exactly how many players there are in Nigeria.
"Some say there are 60 million players in Nigeria. We did a survey and we know one thing for sure: there are at least 3 million players," said Adenipebi, chief of operations at Gamr, which organised the event.
Feet of clay
The potential pool of Nigerian players is enormous: broadband internet penetration has reached 48 percent, almost all via smartphone, and it continues to grow.
This is only the beginning, however, as Nigeria will be the second most populous country in the world at the end of the century with nearly 790 million inhabitants, just behind India, according to Lancet projections.
But, between widespread poverty, power cuts and the poor quality network, Nigeria remains a colossus with feet of clay.
It has few professional players even if there are more and more since the global Covid pandemic, Adenipebi said.
"Esport is a beautiful opportunity for our youth and to pull people out of poverty. We want it to become a means of living," said Chike Okonkwo, co-founder of Gamic, which promotes eSport.
A few metres from the main hall, Akintoye Arogunmati, who goes by the name "The_Arogs", was participating in the tournament.
Eyes glued to the screen, the 25-year-old, one of Nigeria's best professional players on "FIFA", says he earns an average of 300,000 naira (420 euros) per month. This is 10 times the minimum wage of 30,000 naira.
Last November, he participated in the Paris Games Week, which he called "a dream".
But "there are so many challenges to overcome" before he can get ahead, he said, laughing, his controller in his hands.
"Being a gamer in Nigeria comes with so many challenges. For an average Nigerian, equipment and generators are very expensive. There is no constant electricity in Nigeria. And the network," he said.
Nightmare
To play online, a gamer must obviously have a good internet connection but also a low "ping", a nightmare for many Africans.
Ping is the reaction time between when a player presses a key and when that action actually takes place in-game. It is the round-trip time between the player and the server they are on.
African players are at a disadvantage in online competition because the servers for almost all games are hosted in Europe, North America or Asia. That means it takes longer for African players' actions to register in the system.
"It is so frustrating, you know that the guy is not as good as you but because of the ping, you can't do anything. You can't compete," said Arogunmati.
In the room drenched in purple and blue neon lights, players compete on state-of-the-art giant screens. In the VIP area, the whisky flows freely.
The glitzy scene contrasts with the reality facing pro players, because even when you are a champion, life has "nothing fun" and the rewards are too low, said pro player "K.I.D".
"For a tournament like this one, they can pay you in three months or more," said Kevin Durst, a pro competitor in "Street Fighter".
"The reality is that without my sponsors I wouldn't have anything to eat."
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