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  • Digital Economy Minister Commends Jumia Operations on its 9th Anniversary

    Digital Economy Minister Commends Jumia Operations on its 9th Anniversary

     

    …says e-commerce has been very supportive to businesses in Nigeria

     

    Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) has reiterated the enormous impact of e-commerce on Nigerian businesses, majority of whom are MSMEs.

     

    He made the disclosure in a congratulatory message to the leading e-commerce platform on the occasion of its 9th anniversary which is slated to be celebrated throughout the month of June 2021.

     

    “The operations of Jumia, as far as I am concerned, have been highly commendable. I know Jumia was launched in Nigeria in 2012 and has expanded to other Africa countries. A There is no doubt that e-commerce is supporting many businesses in Nigeria, majority of whom are MSME enterprises and are not income earners. Without e-commerce, it is difficult for them to do their businesses effectively because the profit they generate on their own without e-commerce is generally not a huge amount of money. E-commerce provides a certain form of support so that their businesses can be very successful,” Pantami said.

     

    Jumia Nigeria CEO, Massimiliano Spalazzi: “It has simply been an amazing journey. If I went back to how we started and where we are, being the number one e-commerce company in Africa and in Nigeria, it makes us very humble. We believe that e-commerce has played an even more important role in people’s life and to celebrate the achievement and to better serve our consumers and sellers, that is why the slogan for our 9th anniversary is ‘Celebrating You’. The anniversary will be celebrating you as our consumer, employee, seller, logistics partner, and those in the ecosystem and our environment for which we make their lives better every day.”

     

    In its nine years in Nigeria, Jumia has created thousands of direct and indirect employment opportunities, connected over 11,000 SMEs and brands to millions of consumers in Nigeria, boosted hundreds of independent logistics companies by incorporating them into the Jumia logistics network, and empowered many women-owned businesses through various empowerment initiatives.

     

    At the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jumia also provided support to the Nigerian government, its employees, and host communities. Some concrete examples of actions done are: donation of 100,000 CE mask to the Nigerian Ministry of health to protect the communities; partnership with MasterCard to encourage cashless transactions; partnerships with Coca-Cola, Nike, Reckitt Benckiser, Carrefour, Procter & Gamble to increase availability of sanitary and hygiene products.

  • FG Planning To Replace BVN With NIN – Minister

    FG Planning To Replace BVN With NIN – Minister

    The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, has said the Federal Government plans to replace Bank Verification Numbers with the National Identity Numbers.

     

    The minister said this while briefing newsmen after a facility tour and inspection of the ongoing NIN enrolment exercise at NIMC and other designated centres in Abuja.

     

    He said he had made a presentation to the National Economic Sustainability Committee and drew the attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Governor on the need to replace BVN with NIN.

     

    According to him, the BVN is a regulator’s policy, while NIN is a law.

     

    He said, “The strength of the law wherever you go is not the same with a policy of one institution.’’

     

    The minister noted that BVN was only applicable to those who had a bank accounts while NIN was for every citizen and legal resident in the country.

     

    “BVN is our secondary database, while NIN and the database is the primary one in the country that each and every institution should make reference to NIMC,” he said.

     

    Pantami boasted that Nigeria was at the forefront in Africa in regard to data protection regulations, claiming that the level of security in the entire database was 99.9 per cent.

     

    He said, “That is why we came up with the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation that we always enforce and this is applicable to the database at our disposal.

     

    “We take care of it and make sure that security is excellent and we don’t allow anybody to compromise the content because it is a trust from our citizens given to us.’’

     

    Giving reasons the government engaged private agents for the NIN enrolment, the minister said the move was in line with the global standard.

     

    He emphasised the need for NIMC to focus on regulatory work and set the standards for biometrics registration, measuring of heights, standard for data to be collected and general verification.

     

    In another development, Pantami has called on the organised private sector to enhance collaboration with government, adding that the economy of Nigeria is dependent on how it faired.

     

    Pantami said this in his address at National Directorate of Employment/Federal Government’s Special Public works programme commissioning where 11,000 unemployed youth in Gombe State were engaged with work tools.

     

    He said an enabling environment was key to harvesting the gains associated with private sector, stressing that the current dispensation had provided friendly atmosphere for businesses to thrive.

     

    The minister said, “The economy of Nigeria relies more on the private sector than the public sector.

     

    “If you look at our GDP collectively, it is approximately around $450bn which is the highest in Africa. If you compute, you will discover that the entire stage of government particularly the federal level is approximately around 8.5 per cent, while that of the private sector is more than 91.5 per cent. Government cannot do without collaborating with the private sector.

     

    “What government must do is to provide enabling environment for the private sector to thrive and this is what we have been doing every day to come up with policies for the private sector to thrive.

     

    “This is what brought about tax holiday, visa on arrival in Nigeria, online registration of companies by CAC.”

     

    While hailing the public works initiative, the minister said it would reignite social service.