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Post-lockdown: Nigeria to expand scope of SIP, prioritises informal sector

Gideon Remigius-Iwu
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Post-lockdown: Nigeria to expand scope of SIP, prioritises informal sector

As Nigeria begins to gradually open up the economy after about a month of lockdown on some states, the government is considering support to the informal sector a priority, expanding its Social Intervention Programme, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

The VP reportedly made this disclosure while speaking in a webinar organised by Africa.com on how Africa’s informal sector reacts to COVID-19.

According to his Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, the vice president said the informal sector would be considered a priority, adding that the Federal Government was working at expanding its social investment policies.

Osinbajo is quoted to have said, “Perhaps, we have the advantage of being able to manage our problems in smaller measures, or by dividing them. Of course, we run a federation, which means that Governor Nasir el-Rufai could do some very excellent work there in Kaduna; Lagos could do some excellent work; Ogun and others could do some excellent works.

“But of course, by the very nature of this pandemic, it also means that you run the risk of everything going south, if some states are not doing as well as they ought to. I think in the end, we have the advantage that we are able to almost isolate responses, and even look at best practices across the various states and try to ramp up wherever we find that there are deficiencies.

“We have done a lot on conditional cash transfers, especially within the context of our social investment policies. But we are now looking at how to possibly enlarge the scope of that and do more.”

The government, the professor added, was looking beyond using cash transfers as if it were some incentive for staying at home. “We are trying to see whether this can address some of the problems of increasing poverty that we are likely to find now given the disruptions in the economy.”

CBN readies $100m weekly for SMEs, school fees

Gideon Remigius-Iwu
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CBN readies $100m weekly for SMEs, school fees

The Central Bank of Nigeria has said it will provide $100m weekly to cater to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises import funding and school fees, as the West African country sets to gradually get back to some form of normalcy.

President Muhammadu Buhari had last Monday announced a “gradual easing” of the coronavirus disease-induced lockdown on Lagos and Ogun states, as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, from Monday, May 4, 2020.

In a statement on Thursday, CBN’s Director of Corporate Communications, Isaac Okoroafor, disclosed that the resumption of dollar sales became necessary to revamp economic activities across the country, while also enabling parents to access Foreign Exchange to pay their wards’ school fees.

The statement read in part: “In view of the gradual easing of the COVID-19 lockdown both globally and in Nigeria, CBN has resumed provision of Forex to all commercial banks for onward sales to parents wishing to pay school fees and SMEs wishing to make essential imports to revamp economic activities across the country. In particular, the CBN is resuming the provision of over $100m per week for those categories.

CBN also assured that complete arrangements were in place to resume Forex sales to bureaux de change for onward sales to travellers as soon as international flights resume.

The apex bank further reiterated that it had the capacity to meet the needs of legitimate users and that there should be no need for panic purchases of Forex in order not to cause hike in Forex rates.

“The CBN wishes to reiterate that it is adequately meeting the needs of all legitimate users, and our continued capacity to do so should not be in doubt. There is therefore no need for panic buying by any end-user that could necessitate recourse to illegitimate sources and hike in Forex rates.

“Given this, the bank has ramped up its surveillance of the Forex markets for speculators, smugglers and other illegal users, and will take decisive actions against anyone/institution involved in such nefarious activities.”

Nigerian banks, manufacturers, others to resume operations on Monday

Gideon Remigius-Iwu
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Nigerian banks, manufacturers, others to resume operations on Monday

Following the gradual easing of lockdowns in Nigerian states of Lagos and Ogun as well as the Federal Capital Territory, the government has directed banks, manufacturing companies, government offices among others to resume work on Monday, May 4, 2020.

The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 gave the directive on Wednesday during an update on the pandemic situation across the country.

Making this known to journalists at a media briefing in Abuja, the National Coordinator of the PTF, Dr. Sani Aliyu, also gave guidelines for getting the economy back to life, albeit gradually.

According to Aliyu, banks are to operate between 8a.m. and 2p.m., while federal offices, food processing companies within the manufacturing sector and construction firms are allowed to open for business.

He stated, “Government offices will be allowed to resume from May 4, but it will be based on specific grade levels and specific days, so that we can reduce the amount of congestion that we might have in our government offices. We will be discussing further with state governments to make sure that we have a common approach to this.

“Banks will be allowed to open, but there will be a restriction in the opening hours to between 8a.m. to 2p.m. and together with all the preventive measures I have already mentioned.”

From the point of agriculture and rural development, he added, companies involved in food processing can commence operation.

“For the manufacturing and the pharmaceutical industries, we will encourage shift work and limiting staff to only 30 per cent to 50 per cent to maintain social distancing, and pharmacy shops may remain open overnight.”

BUA gives more to Nigeria in fight against COVID-19

Gideon Remigius-Iwu
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BUA gives more to Nigeria in fight against COVID-19

President of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, has redeemed his pledge to Nigeria’s Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 through the BUA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the group.

The foundation, in a press statement on Thursday, announced the release of N900m to the PTF to aid in its logistics and operations.

It also announced the release of N100m each Kwara, Ekiti, Kaduna and Rivers states, while Lagos ¬– the epicentre of COVID-19 infections – got N200m. Lagos had been given N1bn health infrastructure intervention grant to equip a permanent health facility in the state.

According to the statement, the group had also made N100m donations each to Ogun, Sokoto and Edo states to help in the fight against the pandemic.

Commenting on the group’s interventions, Samad said it was important for private sector players to form a bond to support the government’s fight against COVID-19 where possible. He also took announced N3bn Health Infrastructure Intervention Grant for Lagos, Rivers and Kano.

He said “the foundation is already working closely with the PTF, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and other stakeholders on how best to deploy these funds to immediately equip the selected facilities in Kano especially and Lagos within the next few weeks. These grants will be disbursed and monitored in line with globally accepted best practice.”

Nollywood and Piracy

Ufuoma McDermott
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Nollywood and Piracy

Despite the giant strides of the Nigerian movie industry, piracy remains a clog in the wheel, impeding the economic fortunes of the industry in general and the actors’ earnings in particular.

From World Bank website, it is estimated that for every legitimate copy sold, nine pirated copies are also sold. This means little or no earning to the filmmakers and none to the government. If in doubt, check Lagos traffic everyday, you see hawkers waving pirated movies at commuters, who purchase these intellectual property at ridiculously low prices. Commuters, who are ignorant of the negative impact of piracy, keep on patronising the pirates.

On May 14, 2019, Nigerian actress, Omoni Oboli, raised the alarm over piracy in Nigeria. The actress confronted a man who was hawking the movie, Big Daddy in the traffic jam. Later, she lamented in a video, “Help!!! Piracy is killing us! Don’t patronise them pls!”

But the hawker said that he was just a trader, claiming to know nothing about piracy.

Also, Nollywood actor, Mike Ezuruonye, decided to confront merchants of pirated Nollywood movies. He shared a clip on Instagram where he caught one of the hawkers who tried to sell pirated copies of Nigerian movies to him. He seized them and threatened to arrest the hawker for illegal sale of intellectual property.

Despite the success of Nollywood, the incomes of the producers and actors remain abysmally low. The estimated cost of production for each of the popular and high-grossing movies is between a paltry $10,000 and $300,000. Worse still, illegal downloads and bootleg digital versatile discs have continued to deal a heavy blow to the revenue of Nollywood.

Confronting these challenges plaguing the industry, the backbone of cartels in different parts of the country needs to be broken. There is great need to take advantage of existing legal instruments that criminalise piracy and related crimes through diligent and sustained enforcement by the Federal Government. Those liable should not only be arrested, but should also be made to face the punishment they deserve, if found guilty. This will serve as a deterrent to potential pirates.

The Federal Government and the industry urgently need to collaborate, like what obtains in other countries, to nip the problem of piracy in the bud.

However, even amid piracy, resilient professionals are breaking boundaries with movies like Chief Daddy, King of Boys, Wedding Party and Merry Men.

AfDB approves $40m for Angolan bank to support SMEs

Chika Onwuji
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AfDB approves $40m for Angolan bank to support SMEs

To boost local production and create jobs through a portfolio of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, the African Development Bank has approved a $40m financial package to support Angola’s Banco Millennium Atlântico.

Banco Millennium Angola and Banco Privado Atlântico merged in 2016 into BMA, the fifth largest Angolan bank by assets.

According to the Communication and External Relations Department of AfDB, Amba Mpoke-Bigg, the package consists of a $32m line of credit from AfDB and $8m in parallel financing from the Africa Growing Together Fund, a co-financing fund sponsored by the People’s Bank of China and administered by AfDB.

In a statement on Wednesday, Mpoke-Bigg noted that the facility would provide the long-term financing required by BMA to support the expansion needs of growth-oriented SMEs operating mostly in agriculture, agro-industry and domestic manufacturing.

Against the backdrop of the coronavirus disease and the dip in oil prices, the package will also help to create direct and indirect jobs, contribute the needed foreign exchange savings through import substitution, and lay foundation to boost exports to neighbouring countries.

Financial Street gathered that by fostering local production and stimulating job creation through a diversified pipeline of projects, the funds would ultimately contribute towards Angola’s efforts to achieve inclusive and sustainable growth as well as economic diversification in a country heavily reliant on oil export revenues.

BMA, one of the largest commercial banks in Angola and a leading financier of domestic firms, especially SMEs, is headquartered in the capital city, Luanda, with a country-wide network of branches.

COVID-19: Private donors raise N27bn for Nigeria

Gideon Remigius-Iwu
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COVID-19: Private donors raise N27bn for Nigeria

Money realised by the Coalition Against COVID-19 is reported to be N27.160bn, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The disclosure was made in a document released by the CBN’s Director of Communications, Isaac Okoroafor, on behalf of the coalition in Abuja on Tuesday. The coalition had been able to raise the sum as at April 23.

The document showed the list of donors – individuals and corporates – into the fund and their contributions, with the CBN and founding partner of the coalition, Aliko Dangote, making the highest contributions of N2bn yet.

Co-founder of CACOVID, Herbert Wigwe, leads other contributors like Abdul Samad Rabiu of BUA Sugar Refinery, Segun Agbaje of Guaranty Trust Bank, Jim Ovia of Zenith Bank, Tony Elumelu of United Bank for Africa, Oba Otudeko of First Bank, Femi Otedola of Amperion Power Distribution who donated t least N1bn each to the fund. Chairman of Pacific Holdings Ltd, Deji Adeleke, donated N500m.

Other contributors to the fund include Union Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, CitiBank, Sterling Bank, Stanbic IBTC, First City Monument Bank, Fidelity Bank, Ecobank and African Steel Mills who donated N250m each, while MultiChoice Nigeria put in N200m.

The document also recorded smaller donations made by some Nigerians between N1000 and N100,000.

The CBN, while expressing gratitude to contributors to the fund, called on others to help provide the needed support in the fight against the pandemic.

“We urge others to consider contributing to this national solidarity to provide not only medical equipment and materials, but also to render urgently needed palliatives to the poor and vulnerable segments of our society. We pledge to continually ensure full disclosure and accountability for all donations made,” he said.

P&ID ruling: Nigeria to probe bank accounts of Jonathan, Alison-Madueke

Gideon Remigius-Iwu
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P&ID ruling: Nigeria to probe bank accounts of Jonathan, Alison-Madueke

Nigerian government has written to 10 foreign and local banks to furnish it with bank statements of some former public office holders over the judgement granted in favour of the Process and Industrial Development Limited (P&ID) gas deal.

After being hit with a ruling totalling $9.6bn, including interest over a breach in contract, is seeking documents as part of the internal investigation into the contract and arbitration proceedings to help it launch an appeal in the UK.

Some of the banks include the Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and the New York branches of the United Bank for Africa and Deutsch Bank AG.

Among those affected by the bank statement requests are former President Goodluck Jonathan, whose name only appeared alongside the former ministers of petroleum, and his wife, Patience. The former ministers are Dr. Rilwanu Lukman, who died in July 2014, and Diezani Alison-Madueke, who is reportedly battling with cancer.

It is reported that the Federal Government through the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, would be looking into all the documents concerning any transactions, to, from, or for the benefit of Jonathan and his wife since 2009.

Malami had said in court filing submitted in March, “There is good reason to believe that ministers at the highest level were involved in a corrupt scheme to steal money from Nigeria. He also disclosed that the P&ID had neither the capacity nor intention of ever performing the contract, which required the company to build a gas processing plant with the government supplying the gas.

A United States district judge, Lorna Schofield, granted Nigeria the permission to send copies of its application to the banks. Although, the court is yet to decide on giving Nigeria access to the documents, eight of these applications had been served by April 15.

Although, Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, has yet to link any evidence of fraud between P&ID and public officers, it said the 10 banks were “likely to have processed U.S. dollar transactions connected to P&ID’s operations as either correspondent banks or the New York branches of foreign lenders.”

Leveraging technology for business growth

Ifeoma Okonji
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Leveraging technology for business growth

In this era of rapid digital transformation, the primacy of information technology has initiated an unprecedented opportunity in business activities, boosting productivity and improving operating models, customer strength, work environment and work flow. More importantly, this dependence on and growth towards digitisation has also led to the speedy growth of businesses, increase in sales and profits, as well as strong customer network.

The range, span and intricacies of business technology are advancing at exponentially. The availability of sophisticated technology has resulted in a thriving digital culture. If well utilised, it has the potential of being highly beneficial across all business functions, including recruiting, training, manufacturing, sales, logistics, marketing, project and personnel management, sourcing, promotions, disbursement of funds and salaries.

A welcome development in the performance of business-related tasks, the significance of technology cannot be overemphasised while navigating the business terrain. A report noted that 55 per cent of start-ups had already adopted a digital business strategy compared to 38 per cent of traditional enterprises. With the expanding access to technology, more companies are adopting digital strategies in the performance of their day-to-day business activities as a result of its benefits. For them to stay relevant, small and large-scale organisations need technology to drive growth and remain competitive.

One way through which a business can benefit from technology is in its ability to boost productivity. Many businesses are now embracing cloud technology because of the unlimited benefits, including data backup, mobile working, flexibility, easy access to files, bulk file storage, time-efficient, automation of business services and logistics.

Cloud-based technology makes business activities more efficient and faster, easily accessible and guarantees a safe storage system for information. Embracing cloud-based tech ensures effective delivery.

Also, technology can be very beneficial for selling businesses, especially with increasing globalisation. Not only can new customers be gained, existing customers can be sustained.

According to the Nigerian Communications Commission, the number of internet users rose to 15,938,255m in March 2019 from 92.3m in 2018. This implies that a growing increase in the time people spend online has been noticed and the chances that the number of people going online to research on a particular product or service is equally high.

Forbes reported that 82 per cent of consumers conduct online researches before going for a product or service. Also, Tech Crunch reported that 79 per cent of people shop online

Marketing, more generally, is concerned with connecting with customers at the right time and place, and since people now spend most of their time online, it becomes important to connect with them there. As a result, online marketing is gradually becoming more popular than offline marketing and, consequently, businesses are now in demand of digital marketing to move along with the trends of the digital world.

Besides, engagement with customers and potential ones online, through social media channels, would enable businesses gather relevant customer data, which helps to determine preferences, demographics, strengths and weaknesses of the business. Technology, therefore, affords businesses the opportunity to improve customer relations.

In addition, virtual working has been incorporated into the scheme of things, which makes work easier and convenient. Virtual meetings can be held. Sales and dispatch are made easy through technology. In truth, the benefits of technology are inexhaustible; no wonder businesses are deploying technology.

As a result of the many benefits of business technology, individuals and bodies are effectively utilising the opportunities provided. To ensure equitable distribution of information to all categories of business personnel and ensure that the business remains competitive, certain organisations have tasked themselves with educating different segments of the population on the prospects afforded by business technology.

Noteworthy is the activities of the Women Economic and Leadership Transformation Initiative, an organisation dedicated to channelling the prospects of women for their self-development in different segments such as business, technology, education among others. Its innovative programme, Business Meets Tech, is an impressive opportunity to impact the lives of women in business and enlighten them on the significance of technology for business growth.

Organised by WELTI, the programme is an annual event that brings together women of all ages and enlighten them on how business technology can impact their businesses positively. The event holds in specific states across the country and various economic experts are invited to shed light on the prospects of technology in businesses. The last edition of the programme held in Lagos and Calabar, with numerous attendees who learnt a lot at relatively no cost.

IMF approves Nigeria’s emergency funding request

Gideon Remigius-Iwu
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IMF approves Nigeria’s emergency funding request

As reported by the Financial Street on Monday, the Executive Board of International Monetary Fund on Tuesday approved Nigeria’s request for $3.4bn loan.

Nigeria had requested earlier in April applied for an emergency financial assistance of the said sum which is made up of the country’s whole quota to the Fund under the Rapid Financing Instrument, to meet the urgent balance of payment needs arising from the outbreak of the coronavirus disease.

Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, Mr. Mitsuhiro Furusawa, stated, “The COVID-19 outbreak, magnified by the sharp fall in international oil prices and reduced global demand for oil products, is severely impacting the economic activity in Nigeria.

“These shocks have created large external and financing needs for 2020. Additional declines in oil prices and more protracted containment measures would seriously affect the real and financial sectors and strain the country’s financing.”

While commending the countries immediate response to the crisis, Furusawa advised that Nigeria could focus on the medium-term macroeconomic stability and implement the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan reform proposals.

He also stated that more funding would be needed to shore up financing gaps, and called for an independent audit of the funds to ensure proper appropriation.

“The emergency financing under the RFI will provide the much-needed liquidity support to respond to the urgent BOP needs. Additional assistance from development partners will be required to support government’s efforts and close the large financing gap.

“The implementation of proper governance arrangements – including through the publication and independent audit of crisis – is crucial to ensure emergency funds are used for their intended purposes,” Furusawa added.

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