The consumer price index (CPI), which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services, rose to 22.22 percent in April 2023, up from 22.04 percent in the previous month.

The inflation rate data is contained in the latest CPI report released on Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The April increase comes across as the fourth consecutive surge in the country’s inflation figure since the year began.

“Looking at the movement, the April 2023 inflation rate showed an increase of 0.18% points when compared to March 2023 headline inflation rate,” the report reads.

“Similarly, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 5.40% points higher compared to the rate recorded in April 2022, which was 16.82%. 

“This shows that the headline inflation rate on a year-on-year basis increased in April 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., April 2022).”

NBS said items such as food and non-alcoholic beverages; housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuel contributed largely on the divisional level to the increase in the headline index.

“The contributions of items on the divisional level to the increase in the headline index are presented below: food and non-alcoholic beverages (11.51 percent); housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel (3.72 percent),” the agency said.

“Clothing and footwear (1.70 percent); transport (1.45 percent); furnishings, household equipment and maintenance (1.12 percent); education (0.88 percent); health (0.67 percent); miscellaneous goods and services (0.37 percent); restaurant and hotels (0.27 percent); alcoholic beverage, tobacco and kola (0.24 percent); recreation and culture (0.15 percent) and communication (0.15 percent).”

FOOD INFLATION RISES TO 24.61%

The report said food inflation rose to 24.61 percent in the month under review, an uptick compared to the 24.45 percent recorded in the preceding month.

The rise in the food index, NBS explained, was caused by increases in prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, fish, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fruits, meat, vegetable, and spirits.

“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in April 2023 was 2.13%, this was 0.06% points higher compared to the rate recorded in March 2023 (2.07%),” the report further reads.

“The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending April 2023 over the previous twelve months average was 23.22%, which was 4.35% points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in April 2022 (18.88%).”

The Cable

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has launched its Financial Literacy e-Learning Platform, called “SabiMoni” in its efforts to upscale Financial Inclusion in the country.

According to the CBN Governor, Godwing Emefiele, who launched the platform in Abuja on Monday, the apex bank was determined to achieve the 95 percent Financial Inclusion target next year.

He said that the “SabiMoni” would significantly impact the drive as more members of the Nigerian public key into the platform.

Emefiele promised that the CBN would urgently resolve the squabble between Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and telecommunication companies over the sharing of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) income.

According to him, USSD has been very useful as a part of the mechanism for Financial Inclusion and would not be allowed to have its services disrupted over the sharing of the income between banks and telecommunication companies.

Vanguard

Nigerian tycoon Tony Elumelu’s family raised its stake in the nation’s biggest conglomerate after warding off a takeover threat from a rival. 

Elumelu’s wife, Awele Elumelu, acquired 5.1% of Transnational Corp. of Nigeria Plc, according to a regulatory filing on Friday. That boosts the family’s holding to at least 30%, which according to Nigerian takeover rules is the threshold for triggering an open offer. Transcorp didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment. 

Before the latest acquisition, the tycoon spent about $65 million to buy 11.7 billion shares of the company known as Transcorp at various price levels starting April 27. Elumelu began boosting his share days after rival Femi Otedola accumulated a 5% stake in the company, making him the largest single shareholder. Otedola has since sold his stake to Elumelu, according local media reports. 

Transcorp controls about 16% of Nigeria’s electricity generating capacity, runs hotels and explores for oil. That gives Elumelu an avenue to expand in areas that are crucial for Africa’s most-populous nation. A Transcorp-led group earlier this month acquired Abuja Electricity Distribution Co. in a move to expand into power distribution.

The fight for control has helped Transcorp’s shares advance 86% since April 1, making them the second-best performing on the NGX All Share Index.

Elumelu began his buying spree through his wholly owned investment firm HH Capital, raising his stakes in Transcorp to 25.58% from 2.07%. Elumelu rejected an offer from Otedola, who wanted to acquire Transcorp for 250 billion naira ($538 million), according to online newspaper Premium Times, citing a statement from Otedola. 

Lagos-based Transcorp owns three power plants, with a combined installed generating capacity of 2,000 megawatts. It also owns hotels in the capital, Abuja, the commercial hub of Lagos and the southern city of Calabar.

Nigeria’s Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who leads the National Council on Privatization, last week said that a consortium led by Transcorp has been given approval to acquire Abuja Electricity, without disclosing financial details. 

United Bank for Africa Plc, a lender headed by Elumelu, put Abuja Electricity on sale in 2021 to recoup $122 million in debt that it had defaulted on. UBA declined to comment. 

Bloomberg

Oil companies including Shell Plc and Eni SpA should pay $12 billion to repair environmental devastation in Nigeria’s crude-rich Niger Delta, a new report said.

More than six decades of pumping oil has left Bayelsa state “in the grip of a human and environmental catastrophe of unimaginable proportions,” according to research published by a panel set up by the state government. The extraction of crude is “the overwhelmingly evident cause of this disaster” in the state, home to more than 2 million people, it said.

Bayelsa State Oil & Environmental Commission, established in 2019 by a former governor of the southern state, released its final report on Tuesday. British lawmaker and former Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, chaired the London-headquartered commission, whose research was conducted by a group of international experts.

The area that is today Bayelsa was the first place in West Africa to produce commercial quantities of oil in the late 1950s. Since then, firms — mainly Shell and Eni — have pumped billions of barrels of crude from beneath the state’s land, swamps and waterways. Spills from their infrastructure have transformed the region into “one of the most polluted places on Earth,” according to the commission’s report.

A spokesman for Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary declined to comment on the report, saying the company is not “privy” to the commission’s allegations and recommendations. Eni did not respond to a request for comment.

The oil companies say outside interference — by thieves and saboteurs — rather than equipment failure is to blame for the overwhelming majority of leaks from their facilities.

But the firms have failed to “properly invest in, maintain, manage and protect pipelines” that develop spills at a rate “unparalleled when compared to other major oil producing countries,” the report said. There are also “strong reasons to believe that the official statistics significantly and systematically over-state the number of leaks caused by sabotage while downplaying those attributable to other causes,” it said.

‘Fundamentally Compromised’

About one-fifth of Nigeria’s oil output comes from Bayelsa — with almost all the rest is pumped from other states in the Niger Delta or off the country’s shores. While international majors for decades produced most of the nation’s crude in partnership with the state energy company, they have been selling onshore and shallow-water licenses to local companies in recent years.

The oil majors that have extracted crude in Bayelsa and the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Co. should invest $12 billion to restore impacted areas, create new jobs, provide drinking water and treat health problems, according to the report. The fund’s work will require a “parallel bureaucracy” involving both domestic and international oversight, it said.

The commission also recommended an overhaul of the regulatory and legal regime to allow heftier penalties, introduce a fast-track arbitration body and remove the influence of producers from the “fundamentally compromised” spill inspection process. The government departments tasked with enforcing environmental standards lack “capacity, independence and influence,” it said.

NNPC, National Oil Spill Detection & Response Agency and Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission did not respond to requests for comment.

An environmental assessment published by the UN Environment Programme in 2011 led to the establishment of a $1 billion fund backed by Shell and the NNPC to clean up pollution in Ogoniland, a kingdom about 20% of Bayelsa’s size in the neighboring Rivers state. Internal documents prepared by the UN agency and reported by Bloomberg last year indicate the project is marred by wastefulness and mismanagement that could be making the region even dirtier.

Studies conducted for the commission found that “toxins from hydrocarbon pollution are present at often dangerous levels in the soil, water and air” across Bayelsa and “have been absorbed into the human food chain,” according to the report.

By tolerating what “they would never contemplate in their home jurisdictions,” the multinationals have displayed “many of the hallmarks not just of gross negligence but of environmental racism,” it said.

Bloomberg

Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has declared a five-day warning strike following failure of the Federal Government to meet its demands.

This was made known after an extraordinary National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held virtually on Monday.

According to the doctors, the strike will begin on Wednesday, May 17, and end on Monday, May 22.

On April 29, NARD issued a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to implement the agreements or face industrial action.

The ultimatum, however, ended on Saturday, May 13, 2023.

The doctors are demanding an immediate increment in the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure to the tune of 200 per cent of the current gross salary of doctors and the new allowances included in the letter written by the association to the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, on July 7, 2022, on the review of CONMESS.

They demanded the immediate payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF), which aligns with the agreements reached at the stakeholders’ meeting convened by the Federal Ministry of Health.

Also, they demanded the commencement of payment of all salary arrears owed to its members including 2014, 2015, and 2016 salary arrears as well as areas of the consequential adjustment of the minimum wage.

The Guardian

The United States of America has accused Nigeria of severe violations of religious freedom.

This was contained in the Annual Report of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom published in April 2023 and obtained by our correspondent on Monday.

The commission stated that criminal activity and violent armed group incidents impacting religious freedom worsened.

The commission cited instances, such as “A Shari’a court sentencing Sheikh Kabara to death for blasphemy. Judicial authorities sentenced humanist leader Mubarak Bala to 24 years in prison for blasphemy and other charges,” among others.

According to USA, “in 2022, religious freedom conditions in Nigeria remained poor, with both state and non-state actors committing particularly severe violations of religious freedom.

“While some officials worked to address drivers of religious freedom violations, others actively infringed on the religious freedom rights of Nigerians, including by enforcing blasphemy laws. Criminal activity and violent armed group incidents impacting religious freedom worsened.”

It added that “rampant violence and atrocities across Nigeria continued to impact freedom of religion or belief, including militant Islamist violence; some forms of identity-based violence; mob violence; and criminal, political, and vigilante violence impacting worship.”

The US said it noted that the federal authorities accelerated efforts to address violence impacting religious freedom, including by institutionalising harsher punishments against perpetrators, improving military efforts to neutralise Islamist fighters in the North, and strengthening efforts to investigate and arrest perpetrators of the most egregious attacks.

It, however, said, “The effectiveness of these efforts remained in question, while in some regions state and local officials failed to fully prosecute individuals who incited mob violence against alleged blasphemers.

“Security and judicial sector reform aimed at deterring and providing redress for religious violence remained stagnant, with such efforts largely absent from or peripheral to leading politicians’ policy priorities.”

It added that despite continued religious freedom challenges in the country, “In November, the U.S. Department of State failed to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern for engaging in particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”

The Commission advised the U.S. government to “Designate Nigeria as a CPC, for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act, and redesignate Boko Haram and ISWAP as ‘entities of particular concern,’ or EPCs, for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, as defined by IRFA.”

Punch

No fewer than twenty persons have been reported killed following a clash between two ethnic groups over kingship in Taraba State.

This development comes on the heels of a coronation held for the traditional ruler of Wurkun Chiefdom.

Sources reveal that the ceremony which was put together by Governor Darius Ishaku, turned out to be a decision that was not welcomed by other tribes.

Houses, vehicles and farmlands were not spared in the carnage that ensued.

Prior to the clashes, Governor Ishaku had said that the essence of creating the chiefdom was to bring government closer to the people, and to give the masses a sense of belonging.

He added that the desired goal was not to balkanize the people along ethnic or religious lines.

This admonition however did little or nothing to forestall the violence.

It was gathered that some residents of Karim Lamido Local Government showed their outright rejection by burning of tyres which later degenerated into full blown crisis leading to the death of at least 20 persons and properties destroyed.

According to the Karimjo speaking tribe, the coronation was an injustice done to them, in that the kingship was supposed to be handed to an individual from their extraction and not the Wurkun speaking tribe who have ruled for decades before the demise of the last traditional ruler.

The Karimjo speaking tribe argued that they are the first settlers and true owners of Karim Lamido Local Council, adding that they only accepted the Wurkuns to reside as slaves, however, the enslaved later dominated and took over the land and kingship.

The Karimjo people allege that the Wurkuns who are educated and occupy several positions in the armed forces, called on the military and other sister agencies to brutalize, chase them away from their lands and set their houses on fire in the wake of the crisis.

Wurkuns on the other hand say the kingship is theirs and claim that the crisis was triggered by the Karimjo tribe who want to rule over them.

They denied any involvement in asking the military to intervene.

While noting that they have asked the feuding youths to sheath their swords, the Wurkuns say that should the karimjo speaking tribe continue attacking their people, they would be forced to retaliate.

Local government authorities say the military and other security agencies have taken control of activities in the area for peace to return, even as it was disclosed that a grenade was discovered at the new chief’s palace.

As the attacks and counter attacks rage on, at least over three hundred persons have so far been displaced in the wake of the crisis and should this linger, rice production which the area is known for will be grossly affected.

This is the second crisis the area is seeing, with the first one recorded in 1996 between the Karimjo speaking tribe and the Fulanis.

CTV

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia launches air raid on Kyiv 'exceptional' in intensity

Russia launched an exceptionally intense air attack on Kyiv in the early hours of Tuesday, using drones, cruise and probably ballistic missiles, city officials said, as the Ukrainian capital suffered its eighth air raid this month.

"It was exceptional in its density - the maximum number of attack missiles in the shortest period of time," Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's city military administration, said in comments posted on the Telegram messaging app.

"According to preliminary information, the vast majority of enemy targets in the airspace of Kyiv were detected and destroyed!"

It was not immediately known how many objects were shot down over the city and if any of them managed to hit their target.

After a weeks-long hiatus, Russia in late April resumed its tactic of long-range missile strikes and has launched a flurry of attacks in recent days, often targeting Kyiv. Ukraine has been able to repel vast majority of the attacks so far.

On Tuesday, falling debris was reported in Kyiv's Obolonskyi, Shevchenkivskyi, Solomyanskyi and Darnytskyi districts, officials said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said falling debris set several cars on fire and damaged a building in the Solomyanskyi district in the capital's west. Three people were injured.

Klitschko said that south of Boryspil, air defence systems were repelling a drone attack. Boryspil, a city just southeast of Kyiv, is home to the capital’s main passenger airport, which is now closed.

The damage in other districts was not significant and there was no immediate information on potential casualties there, the military administration said.

Air raid sirens blared across nearly all of Ukraine in the early hours of Tuesday, and were heard over Kyiv and its region for more than three hours.

** Kremlin Distances Itself From Mercenary Leader After Damning Report

The Kremlin on Monday attempted to downplay an explosive new report suggesting Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevegeny Prigozhin told a Ukrainian intelligence service that he would give them the positions of Russian troops in exchange for withdrawing from the besieged city of Bakhmut.

“It looks like another duck,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, employing a Russian idiom for a hoax or a media stunt, lamenting that a “respected news organization” would buy into it.

But, ultimately, he declined to comment on the substance of the report.

Peskov faced questions about the damning story in The Washington Post, based on recent U.S. intelligence assessments leaked through the online gaming platform Discord, that detailed Prigozhin’s machinations, apparently in an attempt to bolster his forces’ position around the strategic city in eastern Ukraine.

Several U.S. and Ukrainian officials confirmed to the Post on the condition of anonymity details of Prigozhin’s apparent offer but declined to say whether they believed the proposed trade was genuine. Prigozhin reportedly made the offer to Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate, with which he has maintained secret contact during the war, according to the documents. Intelligence services commonly maintain back-door contact with enemy forces during conflicts.

It remains unclear whether Prigozhin was, indeed, willing to trade the lives of uniformed soldiers for his own mercenary forces in their attempt to follow through on his pledges to seize Bakhmut before Russia’s Victory Day last Tuesday. Latest assessments indicate Russian forces control roughly 95% of the city, though Ukrainian troops have mounted surprising counterattacks in recent days.

But the latest report comes amid a growing feud between Prigozhin and the uniformed leaders of the Ministry of Defense – and with other top elements of Russia’s administration.

Monday’s exchange at the Kremlin represented only the latest time in recent days that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government has had to distance itself from the leader of the paramilitary force on which it has increasingly relied in Ukraine. Peskov similarly declined to comment late last week on several expletive-laden rants Prigozhin published on his Telegram channel insulting the Russian Ministry of Defense for not supplying him with sufficient ammunition and criticizing Putin himself as a “grandfather” who is part of the problems facing Russia in Ukraine.

Prigozhin issued several more critical rants through his Telegram channel on Monday morning. In response to questions from the Post, he openly acknowledged maintaining lines of communication with Ukrainian intelligence, saying, “Yes of course I can confirm this information, we have nothing to hide from the foreign special services.”

The growing rift and deepening dysfunction among Russia’s fighting forces comes at a critical time as international powers await a pending spring offensive from Ukraine in an attempt to break the battlefield deadlock there. Ukrainian officials have suggested it could begin in a matter of weeks, or even days.

Yet it remains unclear if Russia is ready to defend against it.

British intelligence over the weekend assessed that forces loyal to the Kremlin in Ukraine still comprise 200,000 personnel on the ground formed into 70 combat regiments – about the same size as the army that first invaded Ukraine.

“However, in February 2022 it consisted of professional soldiers; was largely equipped with reasonably modern vehicles; and had been regularly exercised, aspiring to complex, joint operations,” according to the U.K. military intelligence assessment on Sunday. “Now the force is mostly poorly trained mobilized reservists and increasingly reliant on antiquated equipment, many of its units severely under-strength.”

It has been relegated to “very simple, infantry-based operations,” the assessment adds, instead of the complex maneuvers involving all of its fighting power working in concert as a modern military would operate.

And it concludes that Russia is likely unable to “generate a large, capable, mobile reserve” to respond to new challenges it may face in Ukraine, or organize itself to launch a large-scale military counter operation along the roughly 750 miles of front lines that Ukraine is currently challenging.

** Germany's Scholz: Some nations see Western double standards on Russia

Influential countries such as India, Vietnam and South Africa balk at criticizing Russia's invasion of Ukraine because they believe international principles are not applied equally, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a speech on Monday.

"When I talk to leaders from those countries, many assure me that they are not questioning the underlying principles of our international order. What they are struggling with is the unequal application of those principles," he said.

"What they expect is representation on equal terms, and an end to Western double standards."

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Wagner boss denies talking to Kiev about selling out Russian troops

Head of Russia's Wagner private military company, Evgeny Prigozhin, has claimed it would have been “physically impossible” for him to meet with Ukrainian military intelligence agents in Africa to make a treasonous proposal to them. The alleged contacts were reported by the Washington Post based on purported leaks from the Pentagon.

The outlet claimed on Sunday that classified US documents, which made their way to the public through a Discord server, claim there had been communication between Prigozhin and Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR). 

The Wagner head allegedly sought to have Ukrainian troops withdraw from the area around the bitterly contested city of Artyomovsk (known in Ukraine as Bakhmut) in order to ease the pressure on his own troops for a while, in exchange for information on Russian troop positions elsewhere. The alleged contacts were said to take place by phone and an in-person meeting in Africa, where the Wagner Group is also active.

Prigozhin dismissed the report as “speculation dumped by the Washington Post”and insisted he had not been to Africa since months before the hostilities in Ukraine broke out in February 2022. He suggested that the newspaper was overstating the supposed intel or had fallen victim to planted disinformation.

The Post said two Ukrainian officials confirmed the contacts between Prigozhin and the GUR, but when the newspaper asked Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky about them, he appeared to be angered and demanded to know who the sources in his government were.

“Who is talking about the activities of our intelligence? Because this is the most severe felony in our country,” he said, before accusing the newspaper of trying to help Russia. The Post later redacted this portion of the interview on its website.

In a statement, Prigozhin alluded to the apparent act of self-censorship, calling into question the Post’s reliability.

** US money for Ukraine running out – Politico

US aid for Ukraine could completely run out as early as mid-summer, Politico reported on Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter. That’s as Washington has already spent most of the $48 billion aid package approved by Congress in December.

According to the outlet, the US only has some $6 billion left to spend on arms and supplies for Kiev, meaning that American aid to Ukrainian forces could soon come to a halt.

Members of Congress are reportedly alarmed that the White House could soon be unable to quickly deliver military aid to Ukraine, especially as Kiev plans a much-hyped counteroffensive against Russia.

“It is critical that the administration provide Ukraine with what it needs in time to defend and take back its sovereign territory,” Susan Collins told Pentagon leaders last week.

Politico reports that the White House is now discussing a brand new aid package designed to keep supplies flowing to Ukraine, according to a senior administration official, who noted that it is unclear what Kiev’s needs might be during or after the counteroffensive. The source added that the administration of President Joe Biden is “fully committed” to supporting the government in Kiev “for the long haul.”

The Pentagon announced its latest aid package for Kiev last week, valued at some $1.2 billion, which is intended to go to the military industry to produce artillery and air-defense ammunition. US military officials said these munitions are meant to meet Ukraine’s “most urgent requirements” and provide “critical near-term capabilities.”

Discussions of a new aid package for Ukraine, however, are expected to spark fierce congressional debate in the coming months and will face resistance from Republicans who have called for cuts in government spending on Ukraine, citing looming domestic issues.

The Biden administration is already engaged in a standoff with the Republican-majority House of Representatives over raising the US debt ceiling. Washington is currently running a national debt estimated at over $31 trillion, risking a default.

Moscow, meanwhile, has repeatedly slammed the US and its Western allies for continuing to pump weapons into Ukraine. By Russian estimates, the West had supplied some $100 billion worth of weapons, ammunition and supplies to the Ukrainian military by the end of 2022. The US and its allies, however, have continued to insist that they are not directly involved in the conflict.

Reuters/USA Reports/RT

Sudan grandmother's death shows struggle to help those stranded in war

As she tried to save her ailing grandparents stuck amid fighting in central Khartoum, Azhaar Sholgami put in calls from New York to Sudan's two warring factions, aid workers, and embassies near her grandparents' home, but her efforts were in vain.

Sholgami's grandmother died alone, her body still lying unburied at the family home. Her grandfather was shot three times while out seeking supplies and remains stranded with his wounds in Khartoum.

Her story echoes those of other desperate members of Sudan's diaspora and those outside the capital struggling to evacuate loved ones trapped under bombardment with little access to food or water as the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) battle in Khartoum.

"The process has been exhausting," said Sholgami, a student living in New York, as she detailed the family's increasingly frantic efforts to help the elderly couple, Alaweya Reshwan and Abdullah Sholgami, who were married for 60 years.

"My grandmother died alone and that breaks my heart because she'd always tell me that she's scared of being alone," she said.

Much of her anger and frustration is directed at the British embassy and what she sees as its reluctance to help her grandfather, a British citizen, because he also holds Sudanese nationality.

"The British embassy is four steps from my grandparents' house… My grandfather is also a British citizen. Every time we called or filled in a form, we would get asked if he had dual citizenship. How does that make him any less of a priority?" she said.

A British government spokesperson said Britain had carried out the longest and largest evacuation of any Western country from Sudan, and that its evacuation was open to British nationals and eligible family members.

A week into the conflict Britain and other Western countries began evacuatingdiplomats and other citizens. Sholgami's grandparents were not included. Living in a business district with no neighbours nearby and unable to charge their phones because the power was cut, they were alone.

RSF fighters took over their house - as Khartoum residents say they have done to homes across the city, though the group denies this.

After 10 days her grandfather drove out for supplies but was injured - shot in the hand, the chest and the lower back. An army soldier took him to hospital, leaving his wife alone at home.

The family did not learn he had been shot until days later and had to phone around Khartoum's few remaining hospitals to find out he was still alive. Sholgami intensified her efforts with the embassy.

"We wanted to see if they could just send them food or water. We tried at least 30 times to get them evacuated, but nothing worked," she said.

Eventually it was a Turkish diplomat that notified Azhaar of her grandmother's death, contacting her via Twitter and asking for her number.

"I thought he was going to tell me that they were about to evacuate my grandmother, but instead I found out she had passed away," she said.

Meanwhile the family are trying to arrange travel documents for her grandfather to come to Cairo as his passport remains in his office and impossible to reach.

"That she died of starvation, in the heat with no electricity... to this moment we are still unable to reach her body," she said.

"We're begging the RSF, begging anyone to just at least bury her in her own backyard."

Reuters

At the end of 2022, the Central Bank of Nigeria launched new banknotes. At the same time, it also capped the withdrawal of the new banknotes. The rollout of the currency change was shambolic. But it also led people to turn to digital financial services such as the use of point of sale (PoS) machines for payments in their transactions. 

Digital financial services are financial services that rely on digital technologies for their delivery and use by consumers. The Conversation Africa’s Wale Fatade asks Iwa Salami, an expert in financial technology and financial regulation in emerging economies, to explain the increase and its implications.

How did the botched currency changeover affect how Nigerians used the banking system?

The Central Bank set a deadline of 31 January 2023 for all old notes to be deposited in banks in exchange for new ones. The country was plunged into a currency crisis when all old notes were out of circulation, and the new notes were hardly circulating. The ensuing scarcity of cash made life unbearably hard for Nigerians.

One outcome was that Nigerians sought alternative ways to pay for goods and services using digital alternatives, such as point-of-sale machines. Between 2017 and 2022, the number of point-of-sale terminals in Nigeria grew significantly.

In 2017, there were around 155,000 terminals, and this number has increased to roughly 1.1 million as of April 2022. Merchants and PoS operators handle the machines. Their operations are regulated by the Central Bank.

It also resulted in a surge in point-of-sale transactions in Nigeria. There was a 40.69% year-on-year increase from the N573.72 billion (US$1.24 billion) transactions that were done in January 2022 to N807.16 billion (US$1.75 billion) in January 2023. Total cashless transactions also rose by 45.41% year-on-year to N39.58 trillion (US$85.96 billion) in January 2023.

What are the most developed forms of electronic transacting in Nigeria?

Point-of-Sale (PoS): These devices are installed both by traditional banks as well as by payment service banks. They are now ubiquitous throughout Nigeria - in supermarkets, large retail outlets as well as in small-scale businesses set up for this purpose only.

Payment Service Banks: These are technology-driven companies licensed by the Central Bank to engage in banking activities. Examples are Hope and MoneyMaster.

FinTechs: This includes any app, software, or technology that allows people or businesses to digitally access, manage, or gain insights into their finances or make financial transactions. A number of companies offer these services in Nigeria. They include Flutterwave, PiggyVest, OPay, Interswitch, Kuda and Remita.

Online Banking Offered by Traditional Banks: All Nigerian banks offer online services. However, the services aren’t always reliable. During the currency crisis, for example, platforms collapsed and customers were unable to transact. Digital platforms couldn’t cope with the deluge of online transactions.

Mobile Money: Financial services offered by a mobile network operator can be independent of the traditional banking network. A bank account is not required to use mobile money services – the only prerequisite is a basic mobile phone.

Those offering this service include MTN and Airtel Africa. As with most other countries on the continent, mobile money uptake in Nigeria has been slow. The exception has been Kenya, where the launch of MPesa in 2007  led to a massive uptake in mobile financial services.

In 2022, the Central Bank of Nigeria issued MTN the first license to operate mobile money services. It started operations in May. MTN is the largest mobile network operator in Nigeria.

Can you paint a picture of the banking landscape?

In 2021 Nigeria had 122.3 million active bank customers. According to February 2022 data, only 39% of Nigerians use the formal banking system.

As has been shown elsewhere, mobile money offerings, as well as other digital services, can extend banking to the unbanked.

In 2022 the volume of transactions performed electronically in Nigeria surged to the highest in five years. The total volume of the Inter-Bank Settlement Scheme Instant Payment Platform transactions rose by 613.1% to 5.2 billion in 2022 from 729.2 million in 2018. Its value also increased by 381.5% from N80.4 trillion (US$174.6 billion) in 2018 to N387.1 trillion (US$840.67 billion) in 2022.

In my view, the spike in the value of transactions carried out at point-of-sale devices in Nigeria in January 2023 – they went up by 40.7% higher compared to the same month in 2022 – shows a wider adoption of digital payments. It is also an indication of the huge opportunities that mobile money operators and other forms of digital payments have in Nigeria.

How does Nigeria’s digital currency eNaira fit into the picture?

The eNaira was launched by the Central Bank in October 2021. However, less than 0.5% of Nigerians were recorded as using it a year after its launch.

The Central Bank didn’t have an adoption strategy for the eNaira planned ahead of the currency changeover. This was clearly a missed opportunity.

Although the aim of the currency was to facilitate financial inclusion and shrink the size of the informal market, it’s fallen short of the mark. It is currently only accessible to those with bank accounts. So, despite a reported increase in the number of e-Naira wallets to 13 million since October 2022 and an increase in the value of transactions in 2023, a lot still needs to be done to drive widespread adoption by the financially excluded.

Rethinking its architecture and policies to drive its adoption could include:

• making it accessible to all with a mobile phone
• incentivising people to use it, such as granting significant discounts when used to pay taxes and for other public services, and
• embedding mobile network or payment apps into Central Bank Digital Currency wallets for the wallets to be interoperable with mobile network operators’ infrastructure.

A lesson of the currency crisis is that fintech offers a solution to the limitations of legacy financial institutions. At the same time, they can help address the financial exclusion challenge in Nigeria.

Had Nigeria appreciated the value of digital finance and particularly the key role to be played by mobile money operators, the impact of the crisis would not have been as painful.

** Iwa Salami is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Law, University of East London. This article was originally published in The Conversation. 

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