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News Agency Of Nigeria

<h2>President Muhammadu Buhari recently sent a request to the National Assembly to approve 800 million dollars loan meant to cushion effect of the proposed removal of fuel subsidy.</h2>

Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said that Nigeria secured the World Bank facility as a first tranche of palliatives for disbursement through cash transfers to about 50 million most vulnerable Nigerians.

Findings by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) revealed that the financing agreement is between Nigeria and the International Development Association (IDA), a part of the World Bank group that helps the world’s poorest countries.

This loan request is coming shortly after the Red Chamber of the legislature approved another request from the President to securitise the pending N22.7 trillion Ways and Means Advances of the Central Bank of Nigerians (CBN).

The Ways and Means, when securitised, with the proposed borrowing plan in the 2023 budget, and this new World Bank loan are expected to increase the current debt stock of 46.25 trillion naira to about N77 trillion.

According to the Director of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Muda Yusuf, borrowing to fund post-fuel subsidy removal palliatives is not the best option.

Yusuf said that in the past, fuel subsidies did not involve borrowing, adding that palliatives should be funded from the savings from the subsidy removal.

He, however, said that the fuel subsidy removal and palliatives should be left for the incoming administration of Sen. Bola Tinubu to handle.

“First, any conversation on subsidy removal and palliatives should be left for the incoming administration.

“We have had subsidy-related palliatives in the past, and none involved borrowing.

“The practice had been that palliatives were funded from the savings from subsidy removal, which makes the current proposition rather strange,” the media recently quoted him as saying..

Some other stakeholders faulted the idea of the government dispensing monetary handouts to some categories of Nigerians in the name of palliatives or poverty alleviation.

Concerned Nigerians and financial experts have advised on the need for the Federal Government to improve revenue generation to reduce dependence on borrowings.

An economist, Dr Tope Fasua, said that it was not advisable to alleviate poverty by sharing money.

According to him, in all history about poverty alleviation, it has never been about sharing money.

“Yes, I think we have gotten to the point where we should remove the subsidy on petrol.

“We have seen that there seems to be some black hole of between three trillion Naira to five trillion naira every year that we are pumping into this.

“But providing N5,000 to 10 million households for a period of six months will do little to lift them out of poverty.

“While it is necessary to eliminate fuel subsidy, the deployment of the 800 million dollars World Bank loan will likely lead to inflation rather than foster economic development,” he said.

He suggested an amendment to Personal Income Tax Act, providing tax breaks for average Nigerian income earners under the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) programme as a way of cushioning the effect of subsidy removal on Nigerians.

“The PAYE law can be amended slightly such that every worker in the private and public sector gets something in the pocket apart from those who are top-earners.

“You can also work on the Company Income Tax where you will be achieving two things; you are putting more money back into the hands of companies which are then able to retain staff or employ new staff.

“Also, they are now able to promote their businesses. People will also be encouraged to pay taxes because you are reducing their economic burden.

“When such burden is reduced, the government will then have the impetus to enforce tax collection,” he said.

Fasua advised that every state needed to take concrete steps to improve revenue generation for the economy to grow sustainably.

“Although debt-to-GDP ratio is not high compared to other countries, Nigeria needs to start spending wisely and generating more revenues,” he said.

The Debt Management Office (DMO) recognises this and has suggested that government could reduce its dependence on borrowings to finance budget deficits by improving its revenue drive.

DMO is the Federal Government agency established to centrally coordinate the management of national debts.

DMO Director-General, Patience Oniha, said that Nigeria had operated deficit budgets for many decades, which made borrowings from local and external sources imperative..

“The financing of the deficits through borrowing from local and external sources is the principal reason for the growth in debt stock and debt servicing.

“One way to reduce budget deficits is to grow revenues; the other way is to prioritise expenditure and cut waste and leakages”, she told participants at an executive course on budgeting and fiscal responsibility organised by the Fiscal Responsibility Commission in Abuja.

How much revenue is Nigeria generating? Statistics show that relative to other countries, Nigeria’s generation revenue is low.

“The World Bank World Economic Outlook for 2020 showed that Nigeria, with a revenue-to-GDP ratio of 6.3 per cent, was ranked 194 out of 196 countries covered,’’ she said.

She said that a strong and comparable revenue base would reduce the need for relatively large amounts of new borrowing as Nigeria has witnessed, and will also reduce the debt service to revenue ratio.

“Revenue is the way to go and that is how countries develop and use borrowing to augment revenue shortfalls now and again.

“Nigeria has been running budget deficits for decades; it is about time to shift to balanced budget and even surplus budgets,’’ she said.

Dr Ayo Abina, chairman of AACS,&nbsp;an international consulting and investment company, said rather than continued borrowing, Nigeria could generate extra 134.3 billion dollars in revenue to fund government’s expenditure.

“Nigeria can earn additional $53bn by raising the tax-to-GDP collection ratio to 15 per cent without raising taxes…and save $4 billion by tackling oil theft”, he said in a publication.

It has become obvious that Nigeria has to reduce dependent on oil receipts and diversify revenue generation channels if it would meet expectations on public expenditure.

According to the Director of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Muda Yusuf, borrowing to fund post-fuel subsidy removal palliatives is not the best option.

Buhari’s $800m World Bank loan request and effect on revenue generation

But the phenomenal rise in popularity of all forms of digital currencies, like crypto in recent times posed a threat to that authority, control and power of Central banks over the circulation of currency.&nbsp;

Over the years, bitcoin, dogecoin, and many other cryptocurrencies had become strong attraction to people, mostly youths across the globe.&nbsp;

The popularity and wide acceptance of cryptocurrencies stemmed from the high returns that they seemed to attract over a short period of investment.&nbsp;

However, over time, it became clear that cryptocurrencies were susceptible to certain financial vulnerabilities and abuse.&nbsp;

This informed the initiative of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) by financial regulatory bodies across countries.&nbsp;

The Central Bank Nigeria (CBN)&nbsp;announced&nbsp;a ban on cryptocurrency transaction within the Nigerian banking system in February, 2021, while revealing plans to float its own CBDC, the eNaira.&nbsp;

Mr Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor, had explained that&nbsp;cryptocurrencies promoted the risk of loss of investment, money laundering, terrorism financing, illicit funds flows and other criminal activities.&nbsp;

Emefiele announced the introduction of the eNaira, which was eventually launched by President Muhammadu Buhari in October 2021.&nbsp;

The apex bank described eNaira as the Nigerian digital currency that is issued and regulated by it.&nbsp;

“Its functionality delivers speedy, safe, and simple trading and transactional opportunities to customers and end-users,” CBN stated.&nbsp;

It disclosed that all transactions conducted on the newly-launched digital currency platform would be free for 90 days.&nbsp;

The CBN also said that Ministries, Departments and Agencies could make payments and collect revenues using the eNaira wallet.&nbsp;

According to Emefiele, the eNaira would open up a whole new market of digital currency users for financial institutions to increase their customer base and add value to their account owners.&nbsp;

He assured financial institutions in the country that eNaira was not a subtle scheme to take away bank customers.&nbsp;

He said the plan was to grant access to more financially excluded people.&nbsp;

“The framework of eNaira is such that it entrenches many pipelines of collaboration and further strengthens financial institutions core service delivery.&nbsp;

“By its very nature with regards to its mandates, eNaira enhances the structures of these institutions instead of replacing same.&nbsp;

“It opens up a whole new market of digital currency users for financial institutions to increase their customer base and add value to their account owners,” he said.&nbsp;

During the launch in Abuja, the CBN governor announced that 33 banks were fully integrated and lives on the eNaira platform.&nbsp;

“Since the eNaira platform went live, there has been overwhelming interest and encouraging response from Nigerians and other parties across the world with over 2.5 million daily visits to the website.&nbsp;

”N500 million has been successfully minted by the CBN, N200m has been issued to financial institutions, over 2,000 customers have been on boarded and over 120 merchants have successfully registered on the eNaira platform,” he said.&nbsp;

President Buhari said that the e-currency would help increase remittances, foster cross-border trade, improve financial inclusion, make monetary policy more effective, and enable the government to send direct payments to citizens eligible for specific welfare programmes.&nbsp;

According to him, the digital currency would help move many more people and businesses from the informal into the formal sector, thereby increasing the country’s tax base.&nbsp;

“In recent times, the use of physical cash in conducting business and making payments has been on the decline.&nbsp;

“This trend has been exacerbated by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resurgence of a new digital economy.&nbsp;

“Alongside these developments, businesses, households, and other economic agents have sought for new means of making payments in the new circumstances,” he said.&nbsp;

Meanwhile, economic and financial experts have said that the eNaira would not change or affect the value of the Naira in the foreign exchange market.&nbsp;

They also expressed concern over the risk of cyber-attacks on the eNaira accounts of Nigerians.&nbsp;

A financial analyst and Senior Lecturer at the Pan Atlantic University, Dr Olalekan Aworinde, said there was a need to do more to sensitise the public on the risks of the CBDC.&nbsp;

He said, “I think that the CBN should be aware of the fact that there is the risk of cyber-attacks with the introduction of the eNaira.&nbsp;

“As a result, the CBN needs to properly educate the masses on how to use the eNaira in a way that would not put their safety and the safety of their funds at risk”.&nbsp;

A Financial Expert and Past President of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) Mr Okechukwu Unegbu, urged the CBN to consider the impact eNaira might have on the economy.&nbsp;

Unegbu advised the CBN to involve stakeholders from CIBN, ICAN,&nbsp;and other professional bodies to ensure that the financial sector does not get affected negatively as a result of the introduction of the digital currency.&nbsp;

Unegbu said, “eNaira is another form of cryptocurrency which the CBN has banned, and it seems that the apex bank is trying to imitate what it banned.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“There is the need to do a thorough research and robust stakeholder engagement, with the CIBN, ICAN, and other relevant professional bodies, and also create adequate sensitisation on the eNaira.&nbsp;

“If you bring out a product which the people cannot understand they will not be able to use it.”&nbsp;

An Economist, Dr Tope Fasua, described the idea of eNaira as a welcome development.&nbsp;

Fasua, who is the Chief Executive Officer of a consulting firm in Abuja,&nbsp;said that the idea of eNaira was commendable because all currencies would eventually become digital over time, adding that the Naira should not be left behind.&nbsp;

He noted that by creating the digital Naira, the apex bank was ensuring that it was not rendered irrelevant in the foreseeable future.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“In actual fact, the Naira is already digital as it is because, you can send money through Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) or through electronic transfer without the need to touch cash.&nbsp;

“But with the eNaira, digitalisation is going to higher level, where we will increase focus on electronic financial transactions, which will come with its own type of innovations and improvements.&nbsp;

“But only those who get on board will benefit from the advantages of the digital currency,’’ he said.&nbsp;

According to Fasua, electronic currencies, like the eNaira, allows central banks to print and manage less physical currencies, thereby saving huge revenue.&nbsp;

“It will benefit the Nigerian economy by saving huge cost of managing physical cash, and including more Nigerians in the financial sector.&nbsp;

“It will promote financial inclusion, as those who do not have bank accounts can easily key into the eNaira.&nbsp;

“It will also, eventually, help in tracking money laundering and fraud because it is all about documentation of what people are doing.&nbsp;

“The data that will be generated will enable authorities do their work better in preventing money laundering and fraud,’’ he said.&nbsp;

Some stakeholders, however, suggested that adequate sensitisation by government would improve the low acceptance level of the digital currency.&nbsp;

Others suggested that government should pave the way by using eNaira to pay existing welfare programmes.&nbsp;

“The Nigerian government should shift social welfare programmes and NYSC payments to eNaira for a start. That way, use will spike. They shouldn’t just expect us to start using it,” one user advised.&nbsp;

They, however,&nbsp;agree that the CBDC was still&nbsp;in its infancy and has a lot of growing to do.

L-R: Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; President Muhammadu Buhari; and CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele at the launch of e-Naira [Presidency]

Central Banks across the world have the mandate to control the circulation and supply of currencies, and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is not an exception.&nbsp;

CBN and “endless possibilities” of its eNaira

<h1>Top on the government’s list of diversifiable alternatives was agriculture. Government’s intention was to ensure that the country developed the agriculture sector to a point where it will complement crude oil receipts with huge exportation of agricultural products.&nbsp;</h1>

The idea was for the country to<a href="https://www.pulse.ng/news/local/food-security-buhari-orders-naseni-to-deploy-refurbished-tractors-to-farmers/5v5xjph"> boost agricultural production</a> and for Nigeria to reverse its negative balance of payment on food.

The first step, however, will be for the nation to achieve self sufficiency in food by, at least, “growing what we eat,’’ and then, put a stop to the reckless importation of food items. This was supposed to help save scarce foreign exchange which can then be used for other more pressing needs.

Critical to achieving food security was the need to support Nigerian farmers, majority of whom were involved in small scale, subsistence farming, to explore large scale, mechanised and commercial agriculture. This led to the idea of an Anchor Borrowers’ scheme which was driven by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

The Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) which was launched on November 17, 2015 by President Buhari, was designed to provide farm inputs in cash and kind to Small Holder Farmers (SHFs).&nbsp;The programme was intended to create a linkage between Anchor Companies involved in food processing and SHFs of the required key agricultural commodities through the commodity associations.

The President went ahead to stop the CBN from providing foreign exchange to food importers, so as to encourage local food production, which he said, was a step towards food security.

Buhari recently reiterated his premium on agriculture during a meeting with members of his economic team, where he told Nigerians that dependence on receipts from crude oil sale could no longer sustain the nation’s economy.

“We will continue to encourage our people to go back to the land. Our elite is indoctrinated in the idea that we are rich in oil, leaving the land for the city for oil riches.

“We are back to the land now. We must not lose the opportunity to make life easier for our people. Imagine what would have happened if we didn’t encourage agriculture.

“Now the oil industry is in turmoil.&nbsp;We are being squeezed to produce at 1.5 million barrels a day as against a capacity to produce 2.3 million.&nbsp;At the same time, the technical cost of our production per barrel is high, compared to the Middle East production,’’ he said.

CBN’s Anchor Borrowers Programme and Nigeria’s march towards economic diversification. [bizwatchnigeria]

At the inception of the present regime on May 29, 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari expressed his intention to diversify the Nation’s economy and move it away from sole dependence on crude oil.

CBN’s Anchor Borrowers Programme and Nigeria’s march towards economic diversification

<h1>The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) says it has discovered and confiscated a large quantity of counterfeit medicines valued at N1.8 million in some communities in Taraba.</h1>

A statement by Prof. Moji Adeyeye, Director General of NAFDAC said that officials of the agency traced the marketers and distributors of the counterfeit medicines to their hideouts following information by members of the communities.

She urged residents of the state to increase their cooperation with NAFDAC to help identify more marketers of unregistered medicines.

“The Taraba office of NAFDAC confiscated assorted counterfeit medicines valued at N1.8 million in Gembu, Sardauna Local Government Area of Taraba.

”Counterfeit products confiscated included Codeine containing cough syrup valued at N42, 300, Chakapain tablets valued at N400,000, Really Extra tablets, valued at N335,000, different brands of sex enhancing drugs valued at N200,000 and other assorted medicines.

“The locations were discovered after NAFDAC carried out a Post Marketing Surveillance Inspection following information from patriotic members of the community,” Adeyeye stated.

She urged members of the communities to keep assisting NAFDAC by identifying marketers of banned and unregistered medicines.

According to the statement, the Taraba State Coordinator of NAFDAC, Mr Suleiman M.F vowed that the agency would not relent until Taraba was rid of unwholesome and counterfeit medicines.

A statement by Prof. Moji Adeyeye, Director General of NAFDAC said that officials of the agency traced the marketers and distributors of the counterfeit medicines to their hideouts following information by members of the communities.

NAFDAC seizes fake, substandard drugs worth N1.8m in Taraba

<h1>A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Women’s Right Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA) has advised parents to work towards a violence-free Nigeria by raising their children to detest violence.</h1>

Mrs Anisa Ari, the Senior Programme Coordinator of WRAPA, gave this advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja.

According to Ari, violence usually impacts negatively on parents and their children, and can deter progress in the household, if not checked.

“It is important for both men and women to take steps to end the cycle of violence in Nigeria because it is moving from one generation to the other.

“In a home where there is no peace, the mother is unhappy, and the children grow up to be dysfunctional because they were raised in a dysfunctional environment.

“The impact of violence is not just on women and children, it also affects men because the man will be disorganised and find it difficult to make progress,’’ she said.

She said an average of five women came to WRAPA daily to complain about domestic violence and other abnormalities and advised women to always respect men and not to be the cause of violence in their homes.

“We get an average of five women, who come here to complain about violence and other abnormalities in their families daily.

“We are, however, able to draw the line between when a woman steps out of line and when she provokes violence.

“Though, we advocate equal opportunities for men and women, we do not support women, who disrespect their husbands,’’ she said.

The coordinator said that her organisation had developed a counseling model, especially for men in the Northern part of the country, on how to treat their wives better.

“WRAPA has been able to develop something we call “the Khutba’’.

“It is a compilation of Quranic teachings about issues concerning women, their husbands and their families, used for sermons in the Mosques on Fridays.

“This has reduced the spate of quarrels, violence and divorce in those communities,’’ she said.

She said that the NGO had created a “WRAPA Rescue Centre’’ in Abuja, and was also building a transit centre to assist women, who are traumatised.

Work towards violence-free Nigeria, NGO advises parents

Mrs Anisa Ari, the Senior Programme Coordinator of WRAPA, gave this advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja.

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