Social media giant Twitter has agreed to pay “applicable tax” and establish a legal entity in Nigeria in the first quarter of 2022, a senior government official said on Wednesday.
Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, the director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency, who headed the Nigerian team that negotiated with Twitter, said in a statement while announcing the lifting of the more than six-month-long suspension of the social media platform in the country.
Twitter will also appoint a “designated country representative to interface with Nigerian authorities” by 2023 and register with the Corporate Affairs Commissiion, Abdullahi said.
The platform is also expected to enroll Nigeria in its Partner Support and Law Enforcement Portals. The Law Enforcement Portal provides a channel for the law enforcement agencies to submit a report with a legal justification where it suspects that content violates Nigerian Laws.
“Twitter has agreed to act with a respectful acknowledgement of Nigerian laws and the national culture and history on which such legislation has been built and work with the FGN and the broader industry to develop a Code of Conduct in line with global best practices, applicable in almost all developed countries,” Abdullahi said.
Nigeria suspended Twitter in June 2021, days after the platform deleted a remark from Buhari’s account, provoking outcry over freedom of expression in Africa’s most populous country.
Nigerian officials defended the suspension saying Twitter was used to promote fake news and for destabilising activities, especially by separatists in the southeast.
Buhari’s government and Twitter have been in talks over a list of conditions for ending the suspension, including discussions on taxes, content, and registering locally in Nigeria.
“The issues are being addressed and I have directed that the suspension be lifted, but only if the conditions are met to allow our citizens to continue the use of the platform for business and positive engagements,” Buhari said in a speech marking Nigeria’s independence day.
The Federal Government has reinstated Emirates’ winter flight schedule to Nigeria.
The schedule consisted of 21 weekly passenger flights to Nigeria, comprising two daily flights to Lagos airport and one daily flight to Abuja airport.
This was contained in a letter dated December 21 and signed by Musa Nuhu, director-general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
The letter was addressed to the country manager, Emirates Airlines, Nigeria.
Emirates is the largest airline and one of two flag carriers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – – the other is Etihad Airways.
“Following further consultations with various stakeholders and the letter from Dubai CAA with reference number DCAA/JASA/N-3/016 dated 17″ December 2021 offering Air Peace Airlines daily slots at Dubai Airports (DXB), I wish to inform you the reinstatement of the Ministerial approval of Emirates Airlines Winter Schedule,” the statement read.
“This approval is predicated on compliance with the Dubai Travel Protocol as released by Dubai Auports on Friday 26th November 2021 as it affects passengers traveling from Nigeria to UAE.”
Air Peace had requested a slot of three weekly flights from Nigeria to Sharjah Airport in UAE, but only one was granted.
The UAE’s GCAA blamed the airline for pulling out of Sharjah Airport and “so should not expect to retain its flight frequency there” — a claim Air Peace has denied.
In retaliation to the UAE’s treatment of Air Peace, the Federal Government cut Emirate’s slots from 21 to just one, causing Emirates to pull out of the Nigerian route indefinitely.
Last week, the UAE conceded six slots to Air Peace, both at the Dubai and Sharjah airports.
The Chief Executive Officer of Ecogas Energy Resources Limited, one of the major processors and distributors of LPG in Nigeria, Chief Shina Luwoye FCA, has identified import dependency of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) also known as cooking gas in Nigeria as the major reason the price has continued to skyrocket.
Luwoye said about 60 percent of the LPG being consumed in Nigeria is imported.
The Ecogas Energy boss, who disclosed this in an interview, maintained that this factor and worsened by the introduction of 7.5 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT), devaluation of Naira as well as scarcity of inflow dollar, are responsible for the surge in the prices of the product.
Expressing concern over the high price, Luwoye maintained that Ecogas has steadily pursued LPG adoption and penetration within the localities of her gas refilling plants and has aggressive pursued cost and margin cutting measures aimed at making the product more available and affordable in its catchment areas. The company currently serves up to 500, 000 families on monthly basis.
Luwoye
“The Federal Government’s efforts to deepen adoption of LPG have been yielding results. We can boldly see this through the high demand for the product. Even my aged mother who hitherto forbid her tenants from using cooking gas now uses LPG for cooking. The gains we have recorded, which now make more people to demand for gas shows that we have done well as a country in terms of gas. Unfortunately, the recent uncontrollable north pole movement in LPG market price curve is a major threat to the domestic LPG market
What we are now experiencing with gas also has elements of general price increase / inflation in Nigeria that is affecting the nation in general and other petroleum products. And, because just 40 per cent of demand for LPG is being supplied locally while 60 per cent is sourced through importation, a lot of other external factors have come to affect the price. Chief among these is the 7.5 Value Added Tax (VAT). The NPSC LPG terminal at Apapa had played salutary roles in bringing down the price of LPG for many years. This critical facility with 8000MT capacity had been unproductive for over 6 months because of a protracted maintenance, that could have taken private sector to carry out in less than 30 days. Apart from losing over half a Billion Naira revenue, the unavailability of the facility has marginally contributed to the price increase.
“The devaluation of Naira is another cause of the cooking gas price surge, forex (foreign exchange) is another. The amount of dollar inflows is far less than outflow and this shortage has become a serious issue for importers of the LPG who need dollars to effect their importations,” the helmsman for Ecogas Energy Resources Limited declared.
Debunking insinuations that marketers of cooking gas are profiteering, Luwoye maintained that on the contrary the businesses of the marketers and off-takers are at risk.
“The operators are now complaining bitterly because of the situation on ground and its effect on patronage. And, if the price goes beyond the reach of the consumers, they will definitely look for alternatives. We have observed this dangerous trend at Ecogas and that is why we have kepy looking out for ways to keep making gas available and affordable for people in our catchment areas.
“Asides this, we have noticed that the information that the people have about safety and handling of cylinders is poor and we are doing a lot in this regards too. The people are not aware that this cylinder has expiry dates, they area also not aware that other adjoining materials to cylinders like hose, clips and others, have life spans too. Asides our plan to deepen our market share in the entire Southwest states from serving 500, 000 daily to 3 million people, we have continued to sensitise the populace about the need for them to be aware of the expiry dates and life spans of cylinders, hose, clips and other materials. To us, we see this and other services as something key not only to the existence of Ecogas as a business but also to humanity.
“We do not only educate and inform our customers about safety, we also test the integrity of all cylinders brought to our plants before we dispense product. There are times we turned customers down, we refused to fill the cylinders when we discover leaks or any threat to the integrity of the cylinders,” Luwoye said.
He blamed the gas explosion, which recently rocked Abeokuta on what he called; mishandling or illegal mixing of gas, a situation he said, has nothing to do with LPG supply in the Ogun state capital.
“The government is doing its best and we are sure the government cannot do everything alone. At Ecogas Energy, we make sure that we do all within our power to lessen burden this LPG price surge must have caused the people. Unfortunately, we too cannot do everything, other businesses too should play their roles, and when this is done life becomes better for everyone,” he said.
“On our part at Ecogas Energy Resources Limited,” he continued, “We are dedicated to administering products and services that lead the industry with safety and the environment in mind while operating our business for the benefit and well-being of our employees, customers, the general public, and the countries where we work. On our turnkey projects, we undertake the design, fabrication, importation and installation of all sizes of LPG tanks in Nigeria. We build gas plants of various capacities.
“The company is also a leader in LPG retailing and bulk supply. We sell LPG at a competitive price to individuals and industrial customers through our plants in various locations in Nigeria. We sell LPG tanks and accessories at moderate and affordable prices. Our foreign and local tanks and accessories are certified by SON, DPR,” he concluded.
Pat Utomi, a Professor of Political Economics has warned that Nigeria runs the risk of entering another debt trap if it keeps borrowing to fill the needs of recurring expenditure spending.
He urged that Nigeria develops a clear national strategy, which looks at how growth can take place in a sustainable manner in this economy.
Utomi disclosed this in an interview with Channels TV on Sunday, following President Muhammadu Buhari’s letter to the Senate requesting to borrow over $4 billion from external lenders.
Utomi said, “Our country is going through a very trying period. This is a time for statesmen to emerge, not people arguing partisan position on things.
“The Nigerian economy, is not growing in any way or shape that can accommodate its needs, population growth, rates, location on scale of poor countries. It means that in terms of absolute numbers of people living in poverty, that this is one of the most terrible places to live in on earth.”
Utomi said that even though the borrowings are sometimes justifiable, there was cause for concern seeing how much of Nigeria’s revenue goes into debt servicing.
“In terms of statistic’s being said, yes, in an absolute sense, the fact of borrowing $4 billion is not necessarily something that will kill Nigeria, even though if you look at how much of our revenues going into servicing debt, you have to worry.
“However, there is a converse point here. This country needs to grow like crazy, and it cannot grow unless you invest. The real issue is the targeting of borrowed funds.
“Am I convinced that the targeting is enough to drive the kind of growth that will facilitate the economy to grow in a sustainable manner? I have not been given enough information to believe that it is the case.”
He added that Nigeria has been in this position before, back in the 70s, when General Obasanjo was head of state.
“One of the reasons Nigeria is where it is today, is that oil price dropped during the heat of last year, compounded by supply chain challenges brought about by the lockdown, which led to revenue shortfall of a significant nature because we have failed to do something we said we are doing, which is to diversify the base of the Nigerian economy.
“Do I see the plans that these borrowings will facilitate the diversification of the economy? My straight answer is No, I do not see the plan.
“We need to develop a clear nation strategy, which looks at how growth can take place in a sustainable manner in this economy, then we can borrow, twice or three times as much as we are borrowing, and I won’t be afraid,” he explained.
President Muhammadu Buhari has last week sent a letter to the Senate requesting to borrow over $4 billion from external lenders to fund infrastructure development.
The President sent the letter to the Senate on Tuesday citing European banks including Credit Suisse Group and Standard Chartered Bank as private lenders.
The loans range from a grant of $125 million to a 710 million Euros loan will be sourced from the World Bank, French Development Agency, China-Exim Bank and International Fund for Agricultural Development.
“The projects listed in the external borrowing plan are to be financed through sovereign loans from the World Bank, French Development Agency, EXIM Bank and IFAD in the total sum of $4,054,476,863 and €710 million and grant components of $125 million,” Buhari said.
The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige, has said the rising rate of unemployment portends danger for the country.
He attributed this on Tuesday and lack of education to the problems bedevilling the country, warning that if not tackled the country might be “completely wiped out.”
The minister said this at the inaugural partnership economy summit organised by the Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs in Abuja.
The summit was tagged, ‘Translating Sustainable Development Goals to local businesses in Nigeria.’
Ngige said, “We are in trouble as a country. We are in trouble and anybody who tells you he doesn’t know we are in trouble is lying to himself and once you lie to yourself.
“We are facing a problem that is cyclic, one begat the other. It is left for you and me the elite to decide to save ourselves, save our children and save our country.
“If we keep on with these symptoms; buy ammunition, bomb these people, bomb kidnappers, bomb Boko Haram, you will be wasting resources.
“If you had prevented it, it would cost you less. We must give education to these people at the grassroots.
“Those who can’t get an education, we must provide them jobs so that they can fend for themselves. They can put a roof over their heads.”
Harping on the need to provide quality education to people at the grassroots, he said the inability to provide such was responsible for why the people were lured to partake in separatist agitations, terrorism among others.
He added, “If you don’t kill ignorance, you are breeding people would be brainwashed to believe that with Biafra all their problems will go away; Oduduwa, all their problems will go, Boko Haram.
“If we don’t tackle them, we will continue like this until this country might be wiped out completely; we don’t pray for that. We must give education to the people at the grassroots.”
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who was represented by the Minister of Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, described Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises as the backbone of Nigeria’s economy.
Agrolog General Services Limited in collaboration with the Mastercard Foundation will support 60,000 smallholder farmers in vulnerable indigenous ginger farming communities in Kaduna State.
The partnership will provide immediate materials, capacity, and structural support to boost ginger production and increase work opportunities for young people and adults in Nigeria.
Agrolog has been investing in the development of the ginger value chain since 2018.
The Managing Director of Agrolog Limited, Dr. Manzo Maigari, explained that in addition to improving yields of ginger from 18 metric tons per hectare (MT/ha) to 25MT/ha, the intervention will also create 60,000 on and off the farm jobs that will benefit the farmers and their communities by providing economic recovery, growth, and social stability.
According to Dr. Maigari, only smallholder farmers that belong to existing organized cooperatives within these local government areas can participate in the initiative.
Farmers who are selected will receive support ranging from training to farming implements that they can immediately use on their farms to cultivate ginger and food crops.
“The ginger value chain, if well harnessed can transform livelihoods. Ginger products such as ginger spices, powder, oil, medicine, tea, and tonic confectioneries hold massive opportunities for smallholder farmers, young people, and women across the entire value chain. From planting, harvesting, cleaning, cutting, processing, bagging, storage, and sales, this initiative offers a ray of hope to thousands of families in their local communities who have been further paralyzed by the pandemic. Now, they will be able to rely on a steady and sustainable income stream through ginger farming and processing,” Dr. Maigarisaid.
The partnership unlocks a multitude of benefits to farmers and the farming community, including mechanization, training and capacity building, farm mapping, standardization of measures, increased yields, improved processing, access to organized markets, and financial inclusion.
A participant in the initiative, Kakuta Irimiah, lauded the partnership between the Mastercard Foundation and Agrolog saying that the fertilizers and farm inputs they provided have helped to expand her business.
“The Agrolog fertilizer I received helped me to produce more bags of ginger. I used to produce 30 bags per hectare and now I produce between 50 to 100 bags. I have also received training on how to apply the fertilizers and how to construct drainages to prevent my farm from being washed away by erosion. Before this time, the colour of my produce was yellowish but now, it is greenish which is a sign of healthy and quality produce,” she said.
Speaking on the initiative, Chidinma Lawanson, Country Head, at the Mastercard Foundation said; “Our partnership with Agrolog is poised to drive immense production of ginger and create work opportunities for youth across the ginger value chain. It also will alleviate the impending threat to food security and livelihoods, which has worsened with the ongoing pandemic.”
Ginger farm
The intervention is being supported through the Mastercard Foundation COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Program, which is targeted at offering timely support to mitigate the impending economic crises among the vulnerable indigenous communities.
The intervention is also aimed at averting further disruptions to the ginger supply chain because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The BUSINESS BELLS reports that Agrolog Limited is a newly established agribusiness company specialized in the production and trade of agricultural commodities, agro logistics, various agricultural investments and farm management.
The company seeks to entrench a culture of operational excellence that guarantees transparency from farm to table.
Agrolog has contrived partnerships through Innovation Platforms (IPs) that bring farmers and investors together enabling ecosystems that allow for collaborations that build farmers capacities, provision of quality inputs and standardization of practices that ensure high productivity and quality outputs.
The Mastercard Foundation works with visionary organizations to enable young people in Africa and in Indigenous communities in Canada to access dignified and fulfilling work.
It is one of the largest, private foundations in the world with a mission to advance learning and promote financial inclusion to create an inclusive and equitable world.
The Foundation was created by Mastercard in 2006 as an independent organization with its own Board of Directors and management.
The World Bank has listed Nigeria and nine other countries as nations with high-debt risk exposure.
In a financial statement for the International Development Association (IDA) released on Monday, the World Bank pegged Nigeria at number five with a $11.7b IDA debt stock.
“As of June 30, 2021, the ten countries with the highest exposures accounted for 66% of IDA’s total exposure,” it explained in the document.
“IDA’s largest exposure to a single borrowing country, India, was $22 billion as of June 30, 2021. Monitoring these exposures relative to the SBL, requires consideration of the repayment profiles of existing loans, as well as disbursement profiles and projected new loans and guarantees.”
India tops the list with an IDA debt stock of $22b. Bangladesh – with $18.1b – is second and followed by Pakistan ($16.4b), and Vietnam with $14.1b.
Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Uganda complete the top 10 list in that order.
“IDA faces two types of credit risk: country credit risk and counterparty credit risk,” the World Bank further explained.
“Country credit risk is the risk of loss due to a country not meeting its contractual obligations, and counterparty credit risk is the risk of loss attributable to a counterparty not honoring its contractual obligations. IDA is exposed to commercial as well as noncommercial counterparty credit risk.”
As of September 2020, Nigeria had taken a $31.98b worth of loans from the World Bank Group, International Monetary Fund (IMF), African Development Bank (AfDB), according to the Debt Management Office (DMO).
A new report by a UK-based think tank, the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), has placed Nigeria as the second poorest country in the world in terms of food affordability.
The report, which was compiled through a publicly available global cost-of-living database, Numbeo, was used in creating a “cost of food basics” analysis that compares the monthly minimum recommended spend on food per adult and monthly average wage in 107 countries across the world.
The minimum recommended amount of food is based on 12-14 basic items that together would account for 2,100 calories per adult per day which is the level recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for energy needs.
The Cost of Food Basics found that more than one year since the outbreak of COVID-19, there is vast disparity between countries in terms of the proportion of average wages needed to afford enough food.
The top 10 countries where basic food is least affordable are Syria, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Indonesia, Algeria, Iran and Uzbekistan.
Basic food is least affordable in Syria, where the minimum recommended monthly spend would account for 177 per cent of average wage income per adult, followed by Nigeria where 101 per cent of the average wage is spent on food.
Last month, a survey carried out by a news media in markets across the country showed that the cost of basic food items such as beans, tomatoes and rice had recorded worrying hikes of 253 per cent, 123 per cent and 51 per cent respectively within a year period.
A report last year by data firm Statista, pegged the average living wage in Nigeria at N43,200 which is 30.60 per cent higher than the minimum wage set at N30,000, a figure which several states are yet to meet up with.
The immediate past Director General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Dr. Muda Yusuf has called on the Nigerian authorities to create an enabling environment that will encourage export business and attract foreign exchange (forex).
Nigerian economy, according to him, has the capacity to attract a lot of foreign exchange because of its size, stressing that there are potentials and opportunities that are still hidden.
Speaking at the monthly forum of the Finance Correspondents Association (FICAN) on Thursday, Yusuf stated that foreign exchange earning is all about creating the environment for more inflows to come in the form of diaspora remittances, foreign direct investment inflows, foreign portfolio investment, export proceeds among others.
The theme of the forum is : “Post COVID-19 Economy in H1:2021 and Outlook For Financial Services Sector.”
Specifically, the former DG observed that the exporters are passing through a lot of difficulties, adding that the way to attract foreign exchange is to export but ” if you go to the ports and see what exporters are going through, you feel sorry for them and the Nigerian economy in general.”
According to Yusuf, “We say we don’t have foreign exchange but the way to attract foreign exchange is to export. However, exporting is almost a nightmare in Nigeria.
“For instance, the process for export cannot begin until an exporter has loaded the truck and paid the truck owner.
“After paying the truck owner, he would go through about two weeks of inspection and documentation. After which he will also face the traffic gridlock and before they could finish the inspection and documentation some of the products must have gone bad especially the ones that are perishable,” he emphasized.
He also said that the policy of exchanging export proceeds at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange (NAFEX) rate is not fair to the exporters because of the gap between the official and unofficial exchange rate windows.
This, he revealed, is one of the reasons why some of the exporters hide their export proceeds.
“Exporters should have free access to their export proceeds and be incentivised, just like the Nigerian diaspora were encouraged with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s naira 4 dollar exchange rate policy for remittances.
Yusuf further stated that looking back in to the last six months, the monetary policy makers retained policy parameters as the committee tried to maintain a balance between boosting growth recovery and curbing the monetary component of inflationary pressure.
The CBN, according to him, sustained its developmental finance intervention in the first half as part of efforts in stimulating local production.
Similarly, “The bank employed administrative measures including Open Market Operation (OMO) auctions, Loan to Deposit Ratio (LDR)/ Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) debit and special bill auctions to control excess liquidity in the banking system as a way of tackling the monetary inflationary drivers.
“The banking industry demonstrated resilience amid disruptions associated with the pandemic, attributable to the policy intervention of the CBN,” he said.
Going by key ratios, Yusu added that the banking industry is financially stable and sound with industry capital adequacy and liquidity ratios above regulatory threshold while non-performing loan ratios is slightly above the five percent prudential guideline.
A report by International Finance Corporation (IFC), alongside the European Commission and Kantar Public has found out that over a third of businesses on the Jumia platform in Côte d’Ivoire and over 50% in Kenya and Nigeria are owned by women.
The report titled Women and e-commerce in Africa, which is the first research of its kind in Africa, covering entrepreneurs in Nigeria, Kenya and Ivory Coast, found out that increasing the number of women selling on online platforms such as Jumia by providing them with training and financial support can lead to more inclusive growth on the continent.
“It is absolutely essential for women to be factored into the future of e-commerce.” said Juliet Anammah, Jumia Group Head of Institutional Affairs.
“Africa is at the start of its e-commerce growth trajectory. Now is the time to ensure women entrepreneurs are at the forefront of Africa’s digital journey.”
Jumia is uniquely positioned to support women-owned businesses in Africa to reach consumers online, providing them with the necessary tools, technology and training to operate their businesses online. IFC’s research found that e-commerce supported women entrepreneurs by helping them grow their businesses, enter male-dominated sectors, access training, and achieve personal goals and increased flexibility.
“E-commerce in Africa is thriving, yet we are already seeing a widening gender gap in the sector. IFC’s report not only highlights the gap, but also shows how it might be addressed so that women entrepreneurs can succeed in this important and rapidly growing marketplace,” said Sérgio Pimenta, IFC Vice President for the Middle East and Africa
On the Jumia platform, over a third of businesses in Côte d’Ivoire and over 50% in Kenya and Nigeria are owned by women. The company aims to further drive the penetration of women-owned businesses across all countries where it operates. E-commerce is particularly attractive for women because it gives women the unique opportunity to sell to consumers in an environment without any of the gender related biases that may exist in physical markets
“Initially it was hard to get physical retailers to take my hair products on board, but joining Jumia was simple and after registering with them I immediately had direct access to thousands of customers.” says Wacu Mureithi Founder of Mosara Ltd (Natural hair products) in Kenya.
Beyond providing them with a digital route to market, Jumia aims to further support women-owned businesses by helping them access credit to fund the growth of their ventures. Historically women have taken less advantage of emerging fintech offerings such as in-platform loans compared to their male counterparts, a situation that Jumia intends to change by raising awareness on financial services and credit with women sellers.
“Through the loans received from the Jumia lending program, my business has grown bigger with time.” said Jumoke Akinsanya, founder of an online store in Lagos, Nigeria, Deeski.com. “We started with two staff members and a smaller warehouse. Now we have a bigger warehouse and fourteen staff members.”
Supporting women entrepreneurs has taken on renewed urgency since the outbreak of COVID-19.
In the first year of the pandemic, women-owned businesses in the three countries studied in the report experienced a 7% drop in sales, while male owned businesses recorded a 7% rise in sales.
Targeted support initiatives towards women are key to addressing this inequality and ensuring inclusive economic recovery.
