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Peace in Dakar critical for economic prosperity

NJ Ayuk
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Peace in Dakar critical for economic prosperity

The world woke to unusual images on their television screens last week with looting, vandalism and rioting portrayed on the streets of Dakar, the Senegalese capital. The worst civil unrest in Senegal in decades was short-lived, but has left a distinct mark on the country’s international image.

After all, Senegal has presented itself as the shining star of West Africa in recent years. In addition to the country being an oil and gas hub, Senegal is also a centre for renewable energy investment, business development, and for galvanising growth in sectors such as tourism and fishing. Accordingly, it is not surprising that images of burning cars and stone-throwing protestors caused concern, particularly when they are followed by shots of destroyed supermarkets and fuel stations, all of which are symbols of well-established foreign companies in Senegal. It is curious that a story about a political leader being taken to court on rape charges, who is then arrested for inciting civil unrest, translated into violence against foreign companies. It is curious that popular dissatisfaction be directed in this manner: to undermine businesses and wealth-generating enterprises.

Senegal is undergoing a veritable economic revolution that has the power to lift millions out of poverty and provide jobs, wealth and prosperity for the whole nation. Through the exploitation of its energy resources, both renewable and non-renewable, Senegal is witnessing a renaissance that will open myriad new development opportunities, power the country and offer the next generation of youth choices that no Senegalese has had in the past. However, for this potential to be fulfilled, the country needs foreign investment, know-how, training, skill-transfer and, above all, stability. No foreign company is interested in investing in a destination where its offices are at risk of being vandalised every time an opposition leader is unwilling to face the country’s legal system and uses social fears to distract the public debate.

President Macky Sall has done a tremendous job in attracting investors and opening opportunities in the Senegalese market in which business is already producing jobs, wealth and growth in the economy, particularly through the country’s vast energy resources. These efforts must be supported by all and maintained through a stable, business-friendly and transparent environment.

If we turn on ourselves through violence to express our grievances, we will end up driving away the very opportunities to address the problems behind those grievances, be it poverty, unemployment, social inequality or access to education. We need to stand together behind the political leaders that are driving our country and our continent forward, and support those companies that are developing our resources, so that together we can create value, jobs and wealth for all.

Africa Oil and Power will unite leaders from Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mauritania and the wider West Africa region with global energy dealmakers, for the first-ever MSGBC Oil, Gas and Power 2021 conference and exhibition on October 26 and 27 in Dakar, Senegal.

*Ayuk is Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber

How next generation platforms drive global financial inclusion

Andy Jury
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How next generation platforms drive global financial inclusion

With the World Economic Forum warning of a deepening digital divide that will ultimately exacerbate global inequality, the role of intuitive digital financial services platforms in bridging this divide is becoming more important than ever. Indeed, next generation tools that provide essential financial services (savings accounts, global money transfers, loans, etc) to customers in an accessible way are becoming a powerful force for change by driving financial inclusion in developing economies.

The global health crisis and national lockdowns have illustrated this point – and revealed that when informal cash out services became less accessible to communities, for instance, people were able to turn to intuitive digital financial services platforms, supported by physical distribution infrastructure, to send and receive money when they needed it most. And having interacted with these digital channels for the first time, many users discover that they can fulfil other financial aspirations and needs simply by following the user journey and providing ongoing feedback.

Today, it is these seamless and increasingly digitised user journeys, supported and driven by incremental, customer-led fintech innovation, that are disrupting the financial services ecosystem, effectively banking the unbanked…and elevating financial literacy where it is most needed.

 

Beyond Fintech: Empowering journey to financial freedom

Simply by looking at recent trends in remittance flows, one can grasp the growing role of digitised banking services in empowering marginalised communities and people with new financial tools. For instance, despite predictions by the World Bank that global remittance flows would dramatically decline in the wake of the Coronavirus Disease, evidence in countries such as South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia suggest that formal remittance flows across African borders have actually increased – and, in fact, are proving to be more resilient than many other financial services. The GSMA also stated that “remittances are expected to retain or even exceed their current levels of importance with Foreign Direct Investment flows into LMICs expected to decline by as much as 35 per cent over 2020.”

Yet remittances are only the beginning of a digitised and customer-led journey to financial inclusion and uplift in many of these economies. Importantly, when fintech banking platforms are able to not only provide multiple channels  –an app, WhatsApp, live chats, etc  – whereby customers can transact, but also the ability to sign up without having to physically interact with a bank or branch, then the opportunity for self-empowerment and financial emancipation is further amplified.

At Mukuri we listened to customer feedback and provided this opportunity in the form of self-sign-up channels. This was met with a phenomenal surge in interactions with Mukuru’s next generation financial services platform: in South Africa, up to 30 per cent of users are engaging with the platform by signing up to the service via self-help channels, up from zero per cent this time last year. Added to this, over 86 per cent of money transfers generated on the Mukuru platform are self-service-initiated transactions. The Mukuru app, which has recently been relaunched with new features and capabilities, demonstrates the way in which digitised user journeys are a powerful and equalising force within global financial services.

 

Meeting customers where they are

As we have seen across our own digital banking channels, grassroots financial services innovation is about meeting customers where they are – and providing intuitive ways to transact, save and send on various channels, and with any device. When users engage with an app or tool that provides a highly visual, multi-stranded presentation of financial information, they are immediately empowered by the decision-making capabilities that this type of engaging interface engenders.

Over the long term, this is essentially about going beyond fintech and providing an ecosystem which empowers users on a gradual but progressive journey to financial inclusion. For instance, as customers embrace elements such as self-sign-up and digital onboarding, they begin to build up a comprehensive and detailed financial transaction profile. Over time, diaspora remittances and this increasingly robust digital footprint can be harnessed as a strong indicator of creditworthiness – and in many instances, these profiles could be leveraged to gain access to credit for capital accretion (vs consumption).

The security aspect of emerging digital banking platforms is also becoming more of a focal point as financial crime and cyber theft spikes worldwide. Mobile money electronically records all transactions, which radically improves the security of payments as well as their transparency (the consequences of which are far-reaching for every economy). Providing this layer of safety, transparency and accountability to users for everyday transactions is paramount to both financial uplift kin the short term, as well as the longer term goal of greater financial inclusion.

*Jury is the Chief Executibe Officer of Mukuru

UPDATED: Nigeria’s food inflation rises to 21.79%, highest on record

Ehime Alex and Bukola Idowu
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UPDATED: Nigeria’s food inflation rises to 21.79%, highest on record

Flood inflation in Nigeria rose from 20.57 per cent in January to 21.79 per cent in February, the highest level since the National Bureau of Statistics began the Consumer Price Index series in 2009.

Financial Street had earlier reported that the country’s inflation rate rose to 17.33 per cent, its highest level since February 2017, from 16.47 per cent in January.

The inflationary pressure was expected to rise, going by the political instability and economic headwinds in the country.

According to the NBS, headline inflation, on a month-on-month basis, increased by 1.54 per cent in February, compared to 1.49 per cent recorded in January.

The urban inflation rate increased to 17.92 per cent (year-on-year) in February from 17.03 per cent in January, while the rural inflation rate increased to 16.77 per cent from 15.92 per cent.

The NBS said the rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, meat, food products, fruits, vegetable, fish and oils and fats.

It said the average annual rate of change of the food sub-index for the 12-month period ending February 2021 over the previous 12-month average was 17.25 per cent, compared to 16.66 per cent in January.

Medbury deploys tech to ease Covid-19 testing for individuals, corporates

FS Partners
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Medbury deploys tech to ease Covid-19 testing for individuals, corporates

Medbury Medical Services is an accredited Coronavirus Disease testing centre and a notable member of the Lagos State Laboratory Consortium

 After opening testing centres at Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja; Lekki Phase 1, Medbury has deployed technology to ease testing for its clients.

Its latest is the use of the Google Playstore, which will be operational soon.

From February 24, 2021, COVID-19 testing began at the new facility and residents that visited reportedly enjoyed the service at the facility.

Clients can walk in or drive through and get tested within 15 minutes.

As characteristic of Medbury in delivering excellence, the new centre is clean, well-organised with well-trained staff and sample collectors, to ensure extremely fast service with nil waiting time.

“We will continue to improve our services with the use of feedback from our clients and technology to deliver superb customer experience for our clients. This will also encourage more people to test and bridge the current gap in the population of Nigerians that have tested for COVID-19,” said the Managing Director of Medbury Medicals, Dr. Itunu Akinware.

Results of tests taken at Medbury are delivered next day via e-mail, though clients are advised to plan for results within 48 hours.

In June 2020, Lagos State accredited seven private laboratories to boost its testing capacity and three private hospitals for case management.

Facilities accredited alongside Medbury included Total Medical Services, Synlab, 54gene, Biologix Medical Services, 02 Medical Services and Clina Lancent Laboratory.

Individuals can also track results on the website by following the steps below:

 •        Log on to https://medburymedicals.com/covid-19-test/

 •        Click on track your result under COVID-19 Testing

 •        Enter the e-mail address you used for the reservation and click to proceed.

 •        Enter the code sent to your e-mail address

 •        Click on personal test result/all test result as the case may be

 •        Click on download result.

 

Test Verification and Tackling Fake COVID-19 Test Results

For travellers, results from Medbury can be confirmed on the verification platform designed by Medbury to curb spread and use of fake test results. This is being used by airlines, embassies and other stakeholders to authenticate results taken at all Medbury.

This effort has drastically reduced the incidence of fake COVID-19 test results, as all results by Medbury can be easily confirmed on the Medbury website or through the Medbury lab App that can be downloaded on Google Playstore in the coming days.

Results from Medbury COVID-19 Tests can be verified by following the steps below.

 For individuals,

 •        Log on to https://medburymedicals.com/covid-19-test/

 •        Click on Verify Result under COVID-19 Testing

 •        Input document ID and Verify

 

For agencies,

•        Log on to https://medburymedicals.com/covid-19-test/

 •        Log in with the Username and Password

 •        Input document ID and verify

 •        Click on download report to download pdf

Medbury Services Limited is a company building businesses across the healthcare value chain; Medbury Laboratories provides COVID-19 Testing and Laboratory Services across Nigeria; while Medbury Medical Services is a Corporate Health Advisory and

Management company, which assists organisations to achieve their Workplace Health and Wellness goals.

Medbury’s vision is to provide holistic “end-to-end” services that cover the healthcare needs of Nigerians.

How to create security culture in your organisation

FS Partners
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How to create security culture in your organisation

KnowBe4, a provider of security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, says in this piece that organisations should invest in the technology, embed the security, but should not forget that people are their most important asset

Security. This is a word that can make a grown Chief Financial Officer tremble and an entire Security Operation Centre crumble. It is the word that captures a complex landscape littered with complexity, cybercriminals and technology. It defines how well an organisation adheres to a growing body of legislation – GDPR, POPIA and other data protection regulations – and how its reputation fares when a breach is revealed and information exposed. Security should be on every boardroom agenda, in ongoing employee training, and in investment into the right tools and solutions. But, perhaps most importantly, security should be an inherent part of the company’s culture because it is this factor that ultimately determines its security risk and posture.

“There is a clear link between security culture and secure behaviour and that, in itself, correlates to a clear reduction in risk for the organisation,” said Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy and Evangelist, KnowBe4 Africa. “By improving your security culture, you are immediately improving employee behaviour and potentially plugging one of the biggest security gaps in every business – people. People are often the weakest link. The ones who click on the link, who open the phishing email, who share their company passwords and who accidentally create vulnerabilities within the organisation.”

A recent study undertaken by KnowBe4 examined the behaviour and security culture of more than 97, 000 employees across 1, 115 organisations worldwide. The study dug down into the components and building blocks of security culture and unpacked how this has become a critical component for any robust security structure in a detailed whitepaper.

“IT leaders have always known exactly how important people are to the perfect security triumvirate – people, process and technology,” Collard said. “But, over the years, process and technology have been pushed to the forefront of investment and conversation, leaving the human element wide open and the business at risk. The reason for this shift is multi-fold – it’s hard to engage with a diverse workforce and the security message is not always that exciting.”

Yet, the research found a very clear proof that a robust security culture reduces the risk of credential sharing and improves the entire organisation’s security posture. In fact, it found that there was a 52x difference between the behaviours of people sharing credentials in a poor security class and the best which highlighted how a focus on security culture can significantly change the way employees adopt secure practices and behaviours. This again underscores the value of setting up a security culture programme that explores the seven dimensions of security culture and how these can be improved within the organisation.

These seven dimensions include: attitude, behaviour, cognition, compliance, communication, norms and responsibility. And they provide the organisation with a solid framework within which to build an equally solid security culture that has longevity and relevance.

“The more that the business focuses on security culture, the more likely it is that employees will follow secure practices and adopt more secure behaviours,” Collard said. “This groundbreaking research has provided a very clear and measurable link between security culture and secure behaviour and emphasises the value of investing into people, training and security communication best practice to ensure that this link is always maintained.”

Rivers gov laments inability to access CBN agric loans

Ehime Alex
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Rivers gov laments inability to access CBN agric loans

The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has accused the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria of playing politics and denying the state access to agricultural loans offered by the apex bank.

The governor made the accusation in a statement signed by his Special Assistant, Kelvin Ehiri, on Monday.

“I think, I am one of those states that nobody gives loans for agriculture. I don’t know what hatred the central bank governor has for us? We do not know.

“We have been hearing of Anchor borrower this and Anchor that. But when it concerns Rivers State, you will hear a lot of things.”

Wike, who pleaded with the CBN governor, noted that the state had applied for the loan for more than one year.

“They said we should bring the cooperative societies and I say this is where politics come from. If I want to eat government money, I can sit here and write about cooperative societies.

“The previous administration took loans and said they gave them to cooperative societies of over N3bn. Who are these cooperative societies? And the money went off like that,” Wike added.

Concerns as Nigeria’s unemployment rate rises to 33.3%

Ehime Alex
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Concerns as Nigeria’s unemployment rate rises to 33.3%

The unemployment rate in Nigeria rose from 27.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2020 to 33.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020, says the National Bureau of Statistics.

The statistics office disclosed this in its ‘Labor Force Statistics: Unemployment and Underemployment Report (Q4 202)’ released on Monday.

In the reference quarter, however, the underemployment rate decreased to 22.8 per cent from 28.6 per cent in Q2.

While the unemployment rate rose by 6.2 per cent, the underemployment rate declined by 5.8 per cent.

A further analysis showed that a combination of both the unemployment and underemployment rate gave a figure of 56.1 per cent.

It indicated that 33.3 per cent of the labour force in the country or 23,187,389 persons either did nothing or worked for less than 20 hours a week, making them unemployed by the country’s definition.

Imo State reported the highest rate of unemployment with 56.6 per cent, followed by Adamawa and Cross River states with 54.9 per cent and 53.7 per cent, respectively, while Osun state recorded the lowest rate in the South-West with 11.7 per cent.

Benue State recorded the highest rate with 43.5 per cent in underemployment rate, while Lagos State recorded the lowest, with 4.5 per cent in Q4 2020.

The data further disclosed that the number of persons in the working age population, that is between 15 – 64 years of age, during the reference period of the survey, was 122,049,400, or 4.3 per cent higher than 116,871,186 recorded in Q2, 2020.

Reacting to the latest development, a Nigerian politician, Reno Omokri, said on his Twitter handle, “In 2015, Nigeria’s unemployment rate was eight per cent according to the NBS and General @MBuhari said it was unacceptable. Today, Nigeria’s unemployment rate is 33.3 per cent. Is Mr Buhari now satisfied? Has any area of life in Nigeria improved under Buhari?”

On his part, a tax expert, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, tweeted, “We need urgent actions to reverse the trend.”

A researcher, Chief Bode Ayo, said, “The increase in the unemployment rate figures can be attributed to the after-effect of the COVID-19-induced lockdown, which caused my organisations to reduce their work force as a means to cope amidst the pandemic.”

Naira strengthens against dollar at I&E window

Ehime Alex
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Naira strengthens against dollar at I&E window

The Nigerian currency appreciated against the United States dollar at the Investors’ and Exporters’ window by 0.50 per cent to close at N408.90/$1 on Monday.

During the day’s trading, the naira was high at N412.00/$1 and low at N390.00/$1, with a recorded daily turnover of $50.67m.

At the parallel or black market, the naira traded flat at N485.00/$1 to start the week, maintaining the figure it closed at in the second week of March.

However, as at March 15, 2021, the Central Bank of Nigeria official exchange rate stood at N379/$1.

FG bans Emirates over PCR test for air passengers

Anozie Egole
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FG bans Emirates over PCR test for air passengers

The Federal Government, on Monday, announced the suspension of inbound and outbound flights by Emirates Airlines from midnight of Wednesday.

This suspension follows the insistence of the Dubai-based airline to have Polymerase Chain Reaction tests for passengers embarking from Nigeria within 72 hours of their flights in addition to Antigen Rapid Test at Nigerian airports and another PCR test on arrival in Dubai.

The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, announced the suspension while giving updates at the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing in Abuja.

He said Nigeria considered as unacceptable and devoid of any sense of reasoning the grounds advanced by Emirates, adding that there was no logic to take within 72 hours the PCR and a rapid antigen test 72 hours before flight as the coronavirus itself would incubate at least in or after 72 hours.

He added that the decision to suspend Emirates’ operations in Nigeria had been communicated to the airline since Sunday.

Sirika also said that KLM Royal Dutch Airlines had accepted the conditions spelled out by the Federal Government to bring passengers in and out by having a PCR Test within 72 hours. He added that the airline had agreed to start flying immediately.

“Emirates did not accept that position, so we have asked Emirates to be banned for operations midnight of Wednesday and that has been communicated to them since yesterday (Sunday),” Sirika said.

Curbing plastic waste in Mauritius

Karen Van Der Wath
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Curbing plastic waste in Mauritius

The government of Mauritius has proposed bold new measures to curb plastic waste. While the intentions behind the mooted regulations are commendable, we are firmly of the view that the proposed new policies for the management of Polyethylene Terephthalate Plastic Waste, if implemented as per the timelines, logistics and technicalities, could have a negative impact on manufacturers, importers, retailers and consumers at large.

Non-biodegradable pollution is a serious problem the world over, and regulators are finding ways to address this. The European Union says that by 2030, all plastic packaging within the trading bloc must either be reusable or recycled in a cost-effective manner. According to authorities, demand for recycled plastics in Europe has grown four-fold since 2015, leading to the creation of 200,000 new jobs.

Corporates all over the world are taking action too. Nestlé, one of the world’s largest food and beverages company, plans to make 100 per cent of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025, while also reducing its use of virgin plastics by one-third over the same period. They are also committed to bringing sustainable packaging to preserve purity to their consumers, always taking into consideration the innovation and sustainability of their packaging.

For instance, the S.Pellegrino product portfolio features a variety of different packaging materials for different purposes, favouring recyclable materials such as PET, glass and aluminium. To increase the sustainable sourcing of their bottles, they are supporting the use of recycled PET, where it is technically feasible and when the feedstock is available. S.Pellegrino is committed to using 35 per cent rPET by 2025.

South African retailer, Woolworths, is working to ensure that all of its packaging is either reusable or recyclable by 2022.

However, Mauritius on the other hand, is seriously considering bringing an end to plastic waste on the island, and rightly so. Nevertheless, the regulations in the pipeline are out of step with global best practices and might have serious unintended consequences.

A few weeks ago, the Ministry of Environment, Solid Waste Management and Climate Change published draft regulations for the management of PET bottles and containers generated by the food and beverages industry.

From as soon as October this year, a very complex deposit-refund system will come into effect, if the legislation is passed. This will entail surcharges on products that rely on PET packaging, with a rebate given to the consumer when the bottle or container is returned.

We-Recycle agrees with the deposit-refund system as part of ‘extended producer responsibility’. By placing a reasonable economical value on each piece of used PET packaging, linked with a proper collection system for used PET bottles, the country’s plastic waste collection and recycling rates will vastly improve by creating a mindset shift among consumers – as has been observed in other markets all over the world.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is a strong advocate of this approach.

Meanwhile, with effect from February next year, authorities will ban the use of PET for beverages where the bottle or container has a capacity of less than one litre.

In the long term, the use of High-Density Polyethylene for packing in the food and beverages industry will be banned altogether.

This roadmap gives food and beverages producers, importers and retailers just a few months to achieve what other nations hope to achieve within a decade.

The rules would be seriously difficult to adhere to. For one, small shops, most of which do not have the resources needed to comply with the deposit-refund system or the logistics for it, dominate the country’s retail sector.

The collection infrastructure for both imported and locally produced PET bottles subject to the deposit-refund system also need to be carefully planned and put in place, as the current informal recycling collection system in Mauritius will not be able to cope with the increased volume of PET bottles available for recycling.

The deposit-refund system will negate the need to ban PET bottles with a capacity of less than one litre, as all PET bottles will be recycled, irrespective of size or whether it is imported or not.

As other countries and regions have shown, there is no quick fix when it comes to plastic packaging. The shift from HDPE requires the establishment of new packaging facilities and manufacturing processes, and this will take time.

In our view, the best solution to the worldwide plastic problem would be to ramp up our recycling industry and create a sustainable circular economy, in which waste is eliminated by reusing resources. This will require a targeted nationwide education programme – with the private sector playing an important role – as well as financial incentives that prompt changes in consumer habits. This is why we are in favour of an expansion of the ‘extended producer responsibility’ framework.

Recycling groups across Africa, Europe and Asia are taking innovative approaches to the creation of a circular economy. In Tanzania, Arena Recycling collects plastic waste from beaches in Dar es Salaam to produce building materials for the construction of affordable houses, toilets and other amenities.

Encouragingly, progress is already being made in Mauritius. Non-governmental organisations such as We-Recycle, Mission Verte and New Invaders Club have reported a significant increase in the volumes of PET bottles collected from their bins. This shows that public awareness is on the rise.

Make no mistake, the private sector, government and the society at large are all aligned on the need to reduce and ultimately eliminate plastic waste by recycling more. The move towards a circular economy, with recycling and the reuse of resources at the core, would accelerate the shift to a low-carbon economy and create jobs.

*Wath, a carbon and energy management consultant, is the President of We-Recycle, Mauritius.

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