Medical tourism spending by Nigerians rises by over 40 percent

Nigerians spent at least 1 million U.S. dollars on medical tourism in the first few months of 2023. Medical experts attribute the increase to the mass exodus of medical personnel abroad and poor healthcare systems at home. Those experts say Nigeria's government needs to increase its spending on the health sector to encourage more people to get treatment in the country.

CGTN

20,000 to be trained by Google for digital skills in Nigeria

Google plans to train 20,000 Nigerian women and youth in digital skills and provide a grant of 1.2 billion naira ($1.6 million) to help the government's create one million digital jobs in the country, its Africa executives said on Tuesday.

Nigeria plans to create digital jobs for its teeming youth population, Vice President Kashim Shettima told Google Africa executives during a meeting in Abuja. Shettima did not provide a timeline for creating the jobs.

Google Africa executives said a grant from its philanthropic arm in partnership with Data Science Nigeria and the Creative Industry Initiative for Africa will facilitate the programme.

Shettima said Google's initiative aligned with the government's commitment to increase youth participation in the digital economy. The government is also working with the country's banks on the project, Shettima added.

Google director for West Africa Olumide Balogun said the company would commit funds and provide digital skills to women and young people in Nigeria and also enable startups to grow, which will create jobs.

Google is committed to investing in digital infrastructure across Africa, Charles Murito, Google Africa's director of government relations and public policy, said during the meeting, adding that digital transformation can be a job enabler.

By Felix Onuah, Reuters

20 new charges filed against suspended central bank chief of Nigeria

Nigerian prosecutors have filed a 20-count indictment against suspended and detained central bank governor Godwin Emefiele on Tuesday, one of them accusing him of “conferring unlawful advantages”, a government lawyer says.

President Bola Tinubu, who has embarked on the boldest reforms in Africa’s biggest economy in more than a decade, has launched a probe of the central bank under Emefiele after criticising its policies at his inauguration in May, especially moves to prop up the naira currency.

It was not immediately clear what the new charges were. But court documents submitted by the Attorney General’s Office last month showed that Emefiele faced criminal breach of trust and criminal misappropriation of funds charges, among others, which carry long jail terms.

Emefiele, who made an unprecedented run for the Nigerian presidency last year, was suspended by Tinubu on June 9 and has been held in detention by the secret police since June 10.

The suspended bank chief pleaded not guilty to a charge of possessing a firearm. A judge granted him bail following his plea on July 25 but he was immediately rearrested.

“We have filed a matter with comprehensive charges” and “we are withdrawing the [firearm] case at the Federal High Court in Lagos,” a government lawyer told the Reuters news agency.

Emefiele has challenged his detention and filed an application for bail but has not publicly commented on the accusations.

He introduced a multiple exchange rate policy to keep the currency artificially strong, which Muhammadu Buhari, Tinubu’s predecessor, had viewed as a matter of national pride.

Appointed by Buhari for a second five-year term in 2019, Emefiele was due to retire next year. He was the second-longest-serving governor of the central bank and oversaw the biggest economic downturn of Africa’s largest economy.

Al Jazeera

Related stories: Suspended Nigeria central bank governor Godwin Emefiele charged

Former Central Bank Chief of Nigeria charged with Illegal Firearm Possession

Eurobonds drop from Nigeria as government says no need for petrol price rise

Nigeria's international dollar-denominated bonds fell on Wednesday, after the president's spokesman said petrol prices did not need to rise more, and blamed foreign exchange shortages on "gross mismanagement" at the central bank.

The 2051 maturity dropped as much as 1.7 cents on the dollar to 68.894 cents, its lowest since June 2, before recovering to trade 0.57 cents lower at 1045 GMT.

President Bola Tinubu axed a popular but costly petrol subsidy after coming to power in late May and soon after devalued the naira currency, both of which were long demanded by investors, driving a rally in Nigeria's overseas bonds that peaked at the beginning of August.

Nigeria, reliant on fuel imports, is still suffering dollar shortages and petrol retailers have called for further price increases due to the weakening of the exchange rate making fuel more expensive to import.

"The slowdown to the pace of reform in Nigeria, and the potential for even the reversal of some reforming steps already taken, in combination with data released by the central bank, has weighed on investor sentiment, causing a reversal of some of the outperformance of Nigerian eurobonds against its peers," said Yvette Babb, an emerging market fixed income investor at William Blair.

The scrapping of the fuel subsidy saw petrol prices more than triple and pushed already double-digit inflation to an 18-year high in July, data showed on Tuesday.

Tinubu rejects further petrol price increases, his spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, told reporters, adding that Nigeria did not need an "upward movement of pump price in order to accommodate the market-driven reality".

The decision is disappointing for investors, Carlos de Sousa, an emerging market debt portfolio manager at Vontobel, told Reuters.

"President Tinubu hit the ground running since day one of his presidency in terms of progressing fast with reforms, and now it seems like further progress will be more gradual."

The fuel subsidies had been widely criticised for eroding the government's finances and ability to service debt, Ayodeji Dawodu of investment bank BancTrust said in an emailed note.

"The presidency may be bowing down to pressures from labour unions and manufacturers," he added.


Tinubu launched an investigation into the central bank under suspended and detained governor Godwin Emefiele after criticising its policies at his inauguration in May, especially steps to prop up the naira.

Authorities are now seeking ways to stem the fall of the currency, which has hit record lows on the black market.

Acting central bank governor Folashodun Shonubi met Tinubu on Monday to discuss ways to improve liquidity after the bank revealed it had a $19-billion derivatives commitment as of 2022.

By Rachel Savage and Jorgelina Do Rosario, Reuters

Niger junta is open to diplomacy according to Nigerian delegation

Coup leaders in Niger are open to diplomacy to resolve a standoff with West Africa's regional bloc, a group of senior Nigerian Islamic scholars said on Sunday after meeting the junta in Niamey.

Their visit comes as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) explores its options to restore civilian rule in Niger, including potential military intervention, following the July 26 ouster of President Mohamed Bazoum - the seventh coup in West and Central Africa in three years.

In a sign the bloc is still pushing for a peaceful resolution, ECOWAS chairman and Nigerian President Bola Tinubu approved Saturday's mission to Niamey by the delegation of Islamic scholars, who had vowed to promote dialogue.

The group's meeting with junta leader General Abdourahamane Tiani lasted several hours, said Sheikh Abdullahi Bala Lau, who led the delegation.

"He said their doors were open to explore diplomacy and peace in resolving the matter," Lau said in a statement on Sunday.

Tiani reportedly emphasised the historic ties between Niger and Nigeria, saying the countries "were not only neighbours but brothers and sisters who should resolve issues amicably".

There was no immediate comment from the junta on the meeting, but Tiani's reported comments are one of few recent signs he is open to negotiation.

The coup leaders' previous rebuffs of diplomatic efforts by ECOWAS, the United States and others had raised the spectre of further conflict in the impoverished Sahel region of West Africa, which is already dealing with a deadly Islamist insurgency.

With diplomacy faltering last week, ECOWAS activated a standby military force it said would be deployed as a last resort if talks failed.

For now, the bloc is pursuing efforts for further negotiations. On Saturday, the bloc's parliament said it would ask Tinubu, who holds the bloc's revolving chairmanship, to get his permission to go to Niger, its spokesperson said.


SHORING UP SUPPORT

Any military intervention by the bloc could further strain regional ties as juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea have voiced support for Niger's new military authorities.


On Saturday, Tiani sent a delegation, led by his defence chief General Moussa Salaou Barmou, to the Guinean capital Conakry to thank leaders there for their support - a sign of the junta's desire to affirm alliances as it stands up to regional and other powers.

"We are pan-African. When our people have problems, we are always present, and we will always be there," Guinea's interim president, Mamady Doumbouya, said at the meeting, according to a video shared late on Saturday night by the presidency.

In the footage, Doumbouya - who led a coup in Guinea in September 2021 - did not say whether Conakry's support for the Niger junta would include military backing if ECOWAS decided to use military force. Mali and Burkina Faso have already said they would help defend Niger.

At stake is not just the fate of Niger - a major uranium producer and Western ally in the fight against the Islamists - but also the influence of rival global powers with strategic interests in the region.

U.S., French, German and Italian troops are stationed in Niger, in a region where local affiliates of al Qaeda and Islamic State have killed thousands and displaced millions.

Meanwhile, Russian influence has grown as insecurity increases, democracy erodes, and leaders seek new partners to restore order.

Western powers fear Russia's clout could increase if the junta in Niger follows Mali and Burkina Faso, which ejected the troops of former colonial power France after coups in those countries.

By Felix Onuah and Sali Samb, Reuters

Related story: Nigeria envoys meet with Niger junta