President Muhammadu Buhari has boasted about his cordial relationship with neighbouring country Niger Republic.

Buhari, whose tenure ends in six days, attributed his confidence in the country’s defence to the cordial relationship he enjoys with them. He said if Nigerians make the country difficult to live in after the handover ceremony scheduled for May 29, Niger will come to his aid.

The president made this known during the inauguration of the N19.6 billion Nigeria Customs Service Corporate Headquarters in Abuja, on Tuesday.

Buhari, during his speech at the inauguration ceremony, also noted that he plans on relocating to his country home in Daura, which is far away from Abuja and closer to the Niger Republic.

He said, “I said these few things about my personal belief because I have only six more days to go.

“And I try to plan to be as far away from Abuja as possible. I came from an area that is far away from Abuja.

“I said if anybody with force moves, I have a good relationship with my neighbours. Niger people will defend me.”

According to him, if one fails to secure confidence in his neighbour, he or his grandchild will be in trouble.

Buhari also stated that he intentionally appointed women to be Ministers of Finance in his eight years in office to combat disruptions from people looking for the award of contracts and payment of contract sums.

The president noted that the egos of most men will stand in the way of them seeking favours from a woman as Minister of Finance.

Buhari’s first finance minister was Kemi Adeosun, who resigned after the NYSC scandal of 2017.

After Adeosun’s resignation, the President appointed another woman, Zainab Ahmed, to head the finance ministry.

He said, “I deliberately appointed ladies so that it will give me a lot of peace.

“I made sure I gave the ministry of finance to a lady to exploit the cultural behaviour of all Nigerians: once ladies are in charge, people feel too big to go to ladies.

”So, I was sure peace would be allowed in the Ministry of Finance, where people will go and lobby for their contracts to be paid, and so on. So, they feel too big to go to the ladies.”

Punch

The presidential election petition court (PEPC) has concluded pre-hearing in all three petitions filed against Bola Tinubu, president-elect.

Tinubu, standard bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was declared winner of the February 25 election after scoring 8,794,726 votes.

Aggrieved by the outcome, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) candidate, are challenging Tinubu’s victory.

The Allied Peoples Movement (APM) is also challenging Tinubu’s election.

At the court session on Tuesday, the five-member panel consolidated all the petitions because of the time-bound nature of the case.

The court issues a trial schedule to aid the speedy dispensation of the petitions.

According to the electoral act, the tribunal has 180 days to determine the petitions. The court is expected to round up all its activities on or before September 16, 2023.

OBI AND LP

In the petition filed by Obi and the Labour Party, a total of 83 witnesses would be called by both the petitioners and the respondents.

The petitioners indicated that they would call 50 witnesses, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) listed five witnesses, Tinubu and Shettima listed 21 witnesses and the APC listed seven witnesses.

All the parties indicated that they would call experts and subpoenaed witnesses asides from those already listed.

Tinubu, Shettima and the APC said they would require the services of interpreters to translate from English to any other Nigerian language as required.

All parties were opposed to a settlement out of court.

The tribunal said it would distil all the cases for determination since parties were unable to agree on the issues to be determined in the petition.

In its ruling, the court held that the petitioners must present their case within three weeks (May 30 – June 23) as opposed to the seven weeks they had sought.

The court held that in line with paragraph 41(3) of the first schedule of the electoral act, there shall be no oral examination of witnesses. Instead, they will only adopt their witness statement on oath.

For star witnesses, the examination in chief shall be for a maximum period of 30 minutes while cross-examination and re-examination shall be for 20 and five minutes each.

As for other witnesses, the court allotted a maximum of 10 minutes each for examination in chief and five minutes for cross-examination.

If respondents are cross-examining each other, they shall have five minutes to do so.

The first, second and third respondents have five days each to present their respective cases while the fourth respondent has three days.

Haruna Tsammani who led the five-member panel said the time given shall be strictly enforced “and for that purpose, we will appoint a Timekeeper”.

The court fixed May 30 to June 23 for Obi and LP to prove their case, June 24 to June 29 for INEC, and June 30 to July 5 for Tinubu and Shettima while the APC would present its case between July 6 to July 10.

August 5 is fixed for the adoption of final addresses.

ATIKU AND PDP

The PDP and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, have also been directed to prove their case against Tinubu within three weeks.

The court said the 100 witnesses the petitioners intended to call would not be going through an oral examination. Rather, they would adopt their written witness statements on oath.

A total of 166 witnesses (including respondents’ witnesses) are expected to be called in Atiku’s petition.

All the parties in the petition also indicated that they would call expert witnesses.

Like LP, the court also allowed that star witness would be examined for 30 minutes while cross-examination and re-examination would be for 20 and five munies each.

While INEC has two days to present its case, Tinubu and the APC have five days each to prove their cases.

The petitioners are expected to start presenting their cases from May 30 to June 20.

The close of cases would be July 16. The respondents’ address would hold on July 26 while the petitioners’ address would be on August 2.

The court fixed August 8 for the adoption of addresses.

APM

The Allied Peoples Movement (APM), INEC and the second respondent said they had one witness each to present before the court.

The third and fourth respondents said they would call two out of the five witnesses they initially listed. The fifth respondent has one witness. In all, there are six witnesses to be called in the petition filed by the APM.

The witnesses are also not expected to give oral evidence but adopt their written depositions on oath.

Similar to the other petitions, the star witnesses are allowed examination in chief for 30 minutes while cross-examination and re-examination shall be for 20 and five minutes each. 

The first and second respondents have one day each to prove their respective cases, the third and fourth respondents shall have two days while the fifth respondent shall have one day to present the case.

The petitioners have to present their cases on May 30.

The first respondent will be on May 31 while the second respondent will be on June 1. The third and fourth respondents are to be from June 2 to June 5 and the fifth respondent on June 6.

Close of evidence shall be on June 6. Addresses by the respondents are scheduled for June 17 while that of the petitioners will be on June 26.

The court fixed July 3 for the adoption of final written addresses.

The Cable

President-elect Bola Tinubu hosted ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair at Defence House, Abuja, on Tuesday.

Tinubu’s spokesman, Tunde Rahman, who disclosed this, did not provide details.

However, he released pictures with caption, “President-elect Bola Tinubu and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair after a meeting this Tuesday afternoon at Defence House, Abuja.”

Tinubu will be inaugurated as 16th President of Nigeria on May 29.

Last week while in France, US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, telephoned him to assure Tinubu of US support for Nigeria.

Earlier on Tuesday, President Joe Biden unveiled the delegation due to attend Tinubu’s inauguration.

Daily Trust

A Federal High Court in Abuja has slated Friday for ruling on a suit seeking the disqualification of Nigeria’s president-elect, Bola Tinubu, as a candidate in the 25 February presidential election.

The suit, by implication, also seeks to stop Tinubu from taking the oath of office on 29 May.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court had on Monday fixed Friday for judgement in a suit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party challenging Tinubu’s victory on account of the alleged double nomination of Kashim Shettima as his vice-presidential pick and as a senatorial candidate for the 2023 general elections.

The case at the Supreme Court is different from PDP’s petition challenging Tinubu’s victory at the 25 February presidential election. In total, there are three petitions against Tinubu’s election pending at the election petition court, where the alleged inappropriate nomination of Shettima is part of the issues raised.

The petitioners are Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, the Labour Party’s Peter Obi and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).

The applicants in the case before the Federal High Court – Praise Isaiah, Paul Audu and Anongu Moses – urged the judge, James Omotosho, to stop Tinubu’s inauguration pending the conclusion of proceedings at the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja.

But the Presidential Election Petition Court has a statutory 180-day period to hear and determine all pending petitions before it.

The court has only concluded its pre-hearing session of the three petitions on Tuesday, setting the stage for the trial of the substantive petitions, which commences on 30 May.

Fresh suit to scuttle Tinubu’s inauguration

In the fresh suit, which came up before the judge, Omotoso, on Tuesday, the court asked the applicants’ lawyer, Oliver Eya, to address it on three key issues on Friday, 26 May.

Specifically, Omotosho asked Eya to address the court on whether it has the requisite jurisdiction to hear and determine the case.

The judge also ordered the lawyer to explain to the court whether the plaintiffs have the right to file the suit and whether they have any legal right they seek to protect with the case.

Prayers

In their requests, they urged the court to issue “an order of interim injunction restraining” Tinubu “from being sworn-in as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice already filed.”

The plaintiffs are praying for an order compelling the AGF, the IGP and the DG, SSS to arrest and prosecute Tinubu for the alleged offences.

In the substantive suit, they claimed that Tinubu had false information about his citizenship status and date of birth.

In their court filings, the plaintiffs named the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mr Tinubu, All Progressives Congress (APC), the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), the Director-General of the State Security Services (SSS), Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In an affidavit filed supporting the request, one of the plaintiffs, Isaiah, urged the court to accede because Tinubu is scheduled to be inaugurated president of Nigeria on 29 May – in less than one week.

Allegations

The plaintiffs alleged that Tinubu, contrary to the affidavit he deposed to in FORM EC9 of INEC claiming to hold the citizenship of only Nigerian, is also a citizen of Guinea Republic. The alleged failure by Tinubu to fully disclose the countries he holds citizenship amounts to perjury.

“The act of perjury is not a minor case in Nigerian Law, as it is a deliberate and willful act of deceiving the court or the judges by telling lies and stating facts on oath contrary to what the deponent knows to be the truth” the plaintiffs argued in their filings.

Citing Section 117 of the Nigerian Criminal Code, the offence of perjury attracts a punishment of 14 years imprisonment.

Furthermore, the plaintiffs argued that if Tinubu “is sworn in as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he will be clothed with immunity from prosecution.”

The plaintiffs arguing as Nigerian elections said, “Irreparable damage will be caused to both the plaintiffs and Nigerians if the 2nd defendant/respondent is not restrained from presenting himself to be sworn in as President of Nigeria.”

“In another document, obtained under subpoena from Chicago State University, tagged ‘Academic Record,’ it was reliably discovered that the Tinubu in question was born in 1954. Meanwhile, Mr Tinubu had claimed in his official documents that he was born in 1952.

“The real and original Bola Tinubu, who enrolled in the Chicago State University, was actually a female, and not a male,” the plaintiffs alleged.

“An order nullifying the candidacy of the 2nd defendant as fielded by the 3rd defendant (APC) as its political party flag bearer for the presidential election of the 25th of February, 2023.

“An order directing the 4th, 5th and 6th defendants to ensure that the 2nd defendant is detained and prevented from being sworn in as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, pending the determination of the presidential election petition before the Court of Appeal to determine the rightful winner of the 25th February 2023 election conducted by the 7th defendant.”

PT

Central Bank of Nigeria has revoked operating licences of 132 microfinance banks, four primary mortgage banks, and three finance companies in the country.

The revocation exercise was disclosed in the official gazette of the Federal Government published on the website of the CBN on Tuesday.

According to the gazette, licences of the financial institutions were revoked because they ceased to carry on in Nigeria, the type of business for which their licences were issued for a continuous period of six months.

They were also alleged to have “failed to fulfil or comply with the conditions subject to which their licences were granted; or failed to comply with the obligations imposed upon them by the Central Bank of Nigeria in accordance with the provisions of Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020, Act No. 5.”

The four primary mortgage banks whose licences were revoked are Resort Savings & Loans, Safetrust Mortgage Bank, Adamawa Savings & Loans and Kogi Savings & Loans.

The finance companies whose licences were revoked include HHL Invest & Trust Limited, TFS Finance Limited and Treasures & Trust Limited.

Meanwhile, some of the microfinance banks listed include Bluewhales Microfinance Bank, Igangan Microfinance Bank, Mainsail Microfinance Bank, Everest Microfinance Bank, Merit Microfinance Bank, Musharaka Microfinance Bank, Nopov Microfinance Bank, among others.

The gazette showed that the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, revoked the licences in the exercise of the powers conferred on the Central Bank of Nigeria under Section 12 of BOFIA 2020, Act No. 5.

PT

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia coming together, national pride overflowing, says Putin

Russia is coming together as a country at this important moment in history, and national pride is on the rise, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.

"Yes, Russia is going through difficult times now; things have never been easy, but, still, today we are seeing a moment of our common consolidation, with our national pride being sharpened, when we are striving at all costs to strengthen the foundations of our spirituality, to create the conditions in the economy, manufacturing, and education of our young people in order to ensure the unconditional future of our country," he said at an awards ceremony.

The recipients of the state awards contribute greatly to this work, Putin noted, expressing his gratitude to them.

The head of state pointed out the remarks made by former head of Tatarstan, current head of the region’s state council Mintimer Shaymiyev, awarded with the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called about "the direction the country has been going in recent years."

"We have become much more self-sufficient. Without self-sufficiency, there can be no sovereignty, and self-sufficiency is being achieved in all areas: in art, in science, in industry and, of course, in the military," Putin said.

** US struggles to explain images of its destroyed hardware inside Russia

President Joe Biden’s administration has suggested that contrary to the footage shared by the Russian military and many other images posted on social media showing US-made military vehicles destroyed in the Belgorod Region, the equipment used by Ukrainian militants in their latest attack on Russian soil wasn’t likely supplied by Washington or its Western allies.

“We’ve seen some of the reports circulating on social media and elsewhere making claims that US-supplied weapons were used in these attacks,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on Tuesday in Washington. “I will say that we’re skeptical at this time of the veracity of these reports.”

Miller suggested that footage of the destroyed vehicles might be fake. 

“We’ve seen a lot of reports on social media and fuzzy pictures on social media and a lot of kind of armchair intelligence analysts making claims,” he said. “We’re skeptical that they’re accurate.”

The images appear to clearly show the disabled US-made equipment, including Humvees and at least one MaxxPro MRAP armored fighting vehicle. Nevertheless, when questioned on why US officials haven’t made a definitive assessment, Miller stood by his claim.

“We don’t have perfect clarity on the information,” he told reporters. “We’re looking at the same pictures you see, the same fuzzy images, and at this time, we are skeptical of their veracity.”

Monday’s attack by a Ukrainian saboteur group targeted the Belgorod district of Grayvoron, where at least one resident was killed and several others injured. The Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday published an aerial footage purporting to show its destruction of the Ukrainian militant group, which left US-made armor on fire.

Another higher quality video showed multiple damaged and destroyed US-made vehicles scattered around in the aftermath of the attack. The Kiev regime has resorted to launching “terrorist actions” against civilian targets after its forces suffered defeat in Artyomovsk (known as Bakhmut in Ukraine), the ministry said.

US officials denied any responsibility for attacks in Russian territory. “We do not encourage or enable strikes inside Russia, and we’ve made that clear, but as we’ve also said, it’s up to Ukraine to decide how to conduct this war,” Miller said on Monday.

The Pentagon’s press secretary, Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder, said the US government hadn’t approved any transfers of equipment to paramilitary organizations outside the Ukrainian armed forces. He added that US officials “regularly communicate to Ukraine” that Washington’s security assistance must be used only inside the country to defend its sovereignty.

Like Miller, Ryder tried to cast doubt on the footage of US-made armored vehicles. “When you see imagery like that – you know, again, something we’ll look into –I don’t know if it’s true or not in terms of the veracity of that imagery.”

** Drone bombs Belgorod street – governor

A civilian vehicle was damaged in yet another suspected Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian city of Belgorod on Tuesday evening, according to the governor of the border region which suffered a deadly militant raid the day before.

“In Belgorod, an explosive device was dropped from a UAV onto the roadway… Bomb experts and emergency services are working at the scene,”Gladkov wrote on Telegram shortly after midnight.

There were no casualties in the attack, according to preliminary information, but at least one civilian car was damaged in the explosion, the official added, sharing a photo of the aftermath. Other footage posted by several Telegram news channels also showed what appeared to be debris of an improvised explosive device.

Some 30 minutes later, Gladkov wrote that the air defenses engaged and shot down a drone above the city. It was unclear if he was talking about the same device that dropped the bomb, but earlier on Tuesday he announced that several more drones had been intercepted in the area.

The incident follows a deadly cross-border raid by Ukrainian militants, which had forced the governor to briefly impose “anti-terrorism operation” regulations in the region.

A group of Ukrainian raiders crossed the border into the Grayvoron district, west of Belgorod city, on Monday, killing at least one villager and injuring several others in their attack. The Russian military described them as a “sabotage-reconnaissance group” and estimated their strength at around 50-200 men, using US-made armored cars. 

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine says Russia prevents Black Sea grain deal port operating

Ukraine accused Russia on Tuesday of effectively cutting the Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi out of a deal allowing safe Black Sea grain exports as Russia complained that it had been unable to export ammonia via a pipeline to Pivdennyi under the pact.

The Black Sea deal - brokered last July by the United Nations and Turkey and extended last week for two months - covers the wartime export of food and fertiliser from the Ukrainian ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi.

The U.N. expressed concern on Monday that Pivdennyi had not received any ships since May 2 under the deal.

Ukrainian Deputy Renovation Minister Yuriy Vaskov accused Russia of a "gross violation" of the agreement. All ships are inspected by a joint team of Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and U.N. inspectors, but Vaskov said the Russian inspectors had refused to inspect ships bound for Pivdennyi since April 29.

"They (Russia) have now found an effective way to significantly reduce (Ukrainian) grain exports by excluding the port of Pivdennyi, which handles large tonnage vessels, from the initiative," Vaskov said in written comments on Tuesday.

Pivdennyi is the largest port included in the deal in terms of throughput. Restoration ministry data show it is storing about 1.5 million tonnes of food items for future export to 10 countries, with 26 ships due to come for them.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Tuesday that Russia's actions were "a clear violation of their commitments" under the grain deal, calling on Moscow to "stop holding global food supplies hostage."

The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Miller's remarks.

AMMONIA

The Black Sea grain deal was agreed to help tackle a global food crisis aggravated by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The pact also covers ammonia, which Russia transported to Pivdennyi via pipeline for export before the war.

Russia had threatened not to renew the Black Sea deal unless a list of demandsrelated to its own food and fertiliser exports was met. Restarting the ammonia pipeline is one of those demands, which the United Nations has been trying to broker.

Russia used to pump up to 2.5 million tonnes of ammonia annually for export via the pipeline from Togliati. Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia on Tuesday said that amount of ammonia could "produce 7 million tonnes of fertilisers."

"This amount of fertiliser would allow to produce enough food to supply to 200 million people. These deliveries should have started at the same time as those of Ukrainian food. However this never happened," he told the U.N. Security Council.

"The deficit of ammonia on the world markets stands at 70% due to the shortfall in volumes," Nebenzia said.

A Ukrainian government source told Reuters on Friday Kyiv would consider allowing Russian ammonia to transit its territory for export if the Black Sea grain deal was expanded to include more Ukrainian ports and a wider range of commodities.

Uralchem, Russia's biggest potash and ammonium nitrate producer, expects the opening of an ammonia export terminal near the Black Sea to make the pipeline across Ukraine much less important, the company's CEO said.

While Russian exports of food and fertiliser are not subject to Western sanctions, Moscow says restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have amounted to a barrier to shipments.

Ukraine accused Moscow of slowing ship inspections under the Black Sea deal, which Russia denies.

"It is not working as it should. Russia continues to slow it down as much as possible," Vaskov said.

According to U.N. data, more than 30 million tonnes of food products have been exported so far under the Black Sea deal.

Tass/RT/Reuters

Sudan ceasefire brings some respite after weeks of heavy battles

Artillery fire could be heard in parts of Khartoum and warplanes flew overhead on Tuesday, residents said, though an internationally monitored ceasefire appeared to have brought some respite from heavy fighting in the Sudanese capital.

Night-time airstrikes were reported in at least one area after the ceasefire started late on Monday, but residents otherwise reported relative calm.

The truce was agreed at talks in Jeddah on Saturday after five weeks of fierce battles between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). It is being tracked by Saudi Arabia and the United States and is meant to allow for the delivery of humanitarian relief.

The two countries said in a joint statement late on Tuesday that preparations had begun for urgently needed humanitarian relief operations.

Sudanese activists wrote to the United Nations envoy to Sudan welcoming the ceasefire agreement but complaining of severe human rights abuses against civilians that they said took place as the fighting raged and should be investigated.

Volunteer groups that have been at the forefront of local aid efforts in the capital were preparing to receive supplies, though much of the aid that has arrived in Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast is yet to be distributed as agencies wait for security clearance, activists and aid workers said.

Medical humanitarian group MSF, which runs projects in 10 states in Sudan, said there had been violence in parts of the country including several cities in the western region of Darfur.

Sudan's health ministry said in a statement that the RSF raided and occupied the Ahmed Qassim hospital in Bahri just before the ceasefire and had stationed itself in another Bahri hospital, Alban Jadeed, on Tuesday morning. The RSF accused the health ministry of publishing "lies".

The ceasefire deal has raised hopes of a pause in a war that has driven nearly 1.1 million people from their homes, including more than 250,000 who have fled to neighbouring countries.

"Our only hope is that the truce succeeds, so that we can return to our normal life, feel safe, and go back to work again," said Khartoum resident Atef Salah El-Din, 42.

Although fighting has continued through previous ceasefires, this was the first to be formally agreed following negotiations and the first to include a monitoring mechanism.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the monitoring mechanism would be "remote", without giving details.

CEASEFIRE VIOLATIONS

"The Jeddah talks have had a narrow focus. Ending violence and bringing assistance to the Sudanese people. A permanent resolution of this conflict will require much more," Blinken said in a video message.

The U.S.-Saudi joint statement said the two Sudanese factions had failed to abide by commitments not to seek military advantage in the days before the truce began, and the monitoring committee was seeking to verify reported violations since it went into effect on Monday.

The U.S. will press the combatants to "stop the violence when we see violations of the ceasefire" and will use unspecified "additional tools" if appropriate, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington.

Since the start of the conflict on April 15, Sudanese activists have complained of indiscriminate shelling and airstrikes against residential areas as well as the taking of civilians as human shields, extrajudicial killings, torture and sexual violence.

MSF said violence, looting and administrative and logistical challenges had continually hampered efforts to increase its activities.

"We are experiencing a violation of humanitarian principles and the space for humanitarians to work is shrinking on a scale I've rarely seen before," said Jean-Nicolas Armstrong Dangelser, MSF's emergency coordinator in Sudan.

The crisis is also putting pressure on Sudan's neighbours.

Sudanese refugees are streaming into Chad so quickly that it will be impossible to relocate them all to safer places before the start of the rainy season in late June, a senior Red Cross official said on Tuesday, flagging the risk of a disaster.

Some 60,000-90,000 people have fled into neighbouring Chad, the U.N. refugee agency said this week.

Reuters

Africa has witnessed increased mobile internet coverage. The GSMA reports that “by the end of 2021, 22% of the total population in Sub-Saharan Africa was using mobile internet (and 40% of adults over 18 years of age).” The association also states that during the past five years, the proportion of the population covered by a mobile broadband network has more than doubled.

Today 3G, 4G and 5G mobile handsets make up over half of all connections in the region, according to the GSMA. This means greater connectivity across Africa and with the rest of the globe. But this easier access enables connections for fraudsters and scammers, making it easier for corrupt actors to swindle telcos and consumers. 

The bad news is that telecoms fraud occurs in diverse ways, making detection and prevention difficult. 

For the past six months, I have been getting one-ring calls from several international numbers from different nations: The Netherlands, Spain, Mozambique, Great Britain, South Africa and Morocco. 

Caught by the con

Two weeks ago, I woke up to another missed call from an international number. This time, it was Belgium (+32) and seemed legit, much like all the others before it. I didn’t have any friends based in this European nation, though. I took a chance, went with my instinct and dialled the number. Someone answered after the first ring but kept silent.

Previous calls lasted about 10 seconds before I ended it. But with the Belgium call, I held on for a full minute. After hanging up, I realised for the first time that my network provider charged me a higher-than-usual amount for this call. 

It was then that I realised I had fallen victim to the Wangiri scam. A common telecoms fraud tactic, careful inspection of my billing showed that the con artists had been running the scam for half a year before I noticed.

In 2020, Kenya experienced a surge of Wangiri calls. Essentially, the trick is to ring someone using an international number and hope their curiosity to return this foreign call kicks in. But calling back means unsuspecting victims may get billed a high charge instantly that the scammers cash in on because they claim this fee.

Reporting Wangiri calls in Africa rarely yields a positive outcome. The premium rate numbers scammers use are typically obtained from the dark web. But if the African-based telcos offered a call-block service, consumers would have a fighting chance against the con artists. 

Technology is a double-edged sword 

Africa is no stranger to technological advancements. We live in an age of mobile money payments, digital healthcare and emerging digital innovations that increase collaboration and connections. 

Africa’s burgeoning telecoms industry has grown into a multi-billion dollar sector, changing and opening up infrastructure. But this also makes this continent a prime target for telecoms fraud. This is because criminal minds now leverage the self-same technology propelling this continent’s growth.

Gavin Stewart, Vice President of Sales at telecoms software technology company Oculeus, explains technological growth helps scammers bypass existing defence systems more quickly than usual. “Advances in technology allow fraudsters to access the required tools to commit abuses. Bad actors now employ artificial intelligence (AI) innovations to outwit the traditional countermeasures telcos rely on.”

With AI-led tech, how can telcos possibly keep up with these scammers? 

Stewart offers insight: “As a society, the mechanics of daily life become more digitised, criminals also switch to the online world. Telecoms infrastructure provides a perfect access channel to the identities and riches in this digital world.”

Account Takeovers and Smishing/SMS Phishing are two other methods criminals use to acquire subscriber information and target potential victims.

Africa’s telecoms fraud threats 

Although telecoms fraud manifests in many ways, a few have standard features in Africa. According to Stewart, “Africa has special conditions which leave it even more exposed to the growing telecoms scam.” 

Below are three rising telecoms fraud issues on the continent today that businesses and consumers would be wise to familiarise themselves with:

1. International bypass fraud. Otherwise known as SIM Box Fraud, this happens when swindlers mask international calls as local calls to enjoy lower termination rates. “This is achieved by either pushing the traffic down illegitimate routings or impersonating a local caller ID, or both,” explains Stewart.
2. Exploiting Africa’s vast mobile money ecosystem. Based on the GSMA’s 2022 State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money, the continent has the highest number of registered users. 
   It’s understandable, given how many Africans were previously unbanked. As it is a viable market for telcos to extend coverage, scammers can exploit this to defraud users. 
   Stewart believes the mobile money system is easy to hack because it lacks the many security layers and controls in more formal banking sectors. “A mobile money fraudster needs only access to a mobile network to appropriate funds,” he says.
3. Africa’s overreliance on prepaid subscriptions. This model invites specific petty-fraud schemes that seek to empty a subscriber’s credit. 

Stewart shares a typical instance where the fraudster provides premium services like sports updates or romantic tips without consent from the customer. The victim is usually oblivious until they later realise they have a low or even empty account balance.

How to fight off fraud attacks

We must admit that telecoms fraud can’t be entirely eradicated, especially because fraudsters will always find loopholes to exploit and evolve new tactics. However, we can stop them dead in their tracks by being one step ahead. 

Telcos should invest in innovative technologies and lean into AI-led tools that mitigate risk. Although such commitments may require new investments, the gains can’t be overemphasised. 

Stewart reveals that telcos’ biggest mistake is “failing to continually review and refresh their anti-fraud solutions.” Fraudsters constantly reinvent their strategies to defraud the victims and escape without leaving a trace. He stresses that subscribers must play their part by exercising caution at all times and protecting their personal information.

Kolawole Samuel Adebayo is a content strategist and technology writer specialising in the software-as-a-service space. Adebayo explores emerging technologies and investigates the digital trends that drive business today and in the future.

Inc

The creators of ChatGPT say AI could surpass humanity in most domains within the next 10 years as "superintelligence" becomes more powerful than any technology the world has seen.

Cofounders of ChatGPT developer OpenAI, including CEO Sam Altman, said in a blogpost on Monday that it was conceivable AI could exceed the "expert skill level" of humans in most areas, and "carry out as much productive activity as one of today's largest corporations."

"Superintelligence will be more powerful than other technologies humanity has had to contend with in the past," the OpenAI executives said. "We can have a dramatically more prosperous future; but we have to manage risk to get there."

Since the release of ChatGPT, industry leaders have issued increasingly serious warnings about the potential for powerful AI to disrupt society by displacing jobsand helping fuel a wave of misinformation and criminal activity. 

In particular, concerns have grown as the release of generative AI tools like ChatGPT has fueled an AI arms race that has put companies such as Microsoft and Google in direct competition with each other. 

The concerns have prompted calls for AI to be regulated. OpenAI's leaders said in the blog post that "given the possibility of existential risk," there needed to be a proactive approach to managing the technology's potential harms.

"Nuclear energy is a commonly used historical example of a technology with this property; synthetic biology is another example," they said. "We must mitigate the risks of today's AI technology too, but superintelligence will require special treatment and coordination."

Last week, Altman made his first appearance before Congress to address concerns from lawmakers about the lack of rules in place to govern the development of AI. 

In the post, Altman and his colleagues suggested that there would eventually need to be an organization like the International Atomic Energy Agency to oversee the advancement of AI "above a certain capability," through measures such as audits and safety compliance tests. 

OpenAI did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside of normal working hours.

Business Insider

When it comes to leading yourself and others, emotional intelligence – the ability to understand and manage our own emotions and understand and influence the emotions of others – is just as important as IQ, if not more.

Here's why: When you get good at being aware of your emotions and the emotions of others, you can connect with others much more effectively to reach solutions faster. A person's IQ, while certainly required in the role of a leader, cannot travel the same road as fast. It needs to partner with EQ.

Interviewing and Hiring for Emotional Intelligence

Organizations looking for an edge in hiring top performers should put more emphasis on EQ during the hiring process. Previous research conducted with more than 600 HR managers and over 800 office workers adds proof that emotional intelligence is critically important in work settings where professionals interact with a wide range of people. 

For example: 

• Nearly all of the more than 600 human resources managers (95 percent) and 800 workers (99 percent) surveyed said they think it's important for employees to have emotional intelligence.
• More than one in five employees (21 percent) believe EQ is more valuable in the workplace than IQ. Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) said the two are equally important.
• Most workers (92 percent) think they have strong emotional intelligence; slightly fewer (74 percent) believe their bosses do.
• Three in 10 HR managers (30 percent) feel most employers put too little emphasis on emotional intelligence during the hiring process.
• HR managers identified increased motivation and morale (43 percent) as the greatest benefit of having emotionally intelligent staff.
• Eighty-six percent of workers said when a colleague doesn't control his or her emotions, it affects their perception of that person's level of professionalism.

3 Questions to Ask

If you're in a management or HR role, and you'd like to evaluate whether your potential new hires have the EQ you need for top performance, scrutinizing candidates' answers to specific questions can reveal more than you think. Asking the following questions can help assess a potential hire's EQ: 

• How did you handle a day when everything went wrong for you?
• How comfortable are you asking for help at work?
• How well do you handle stress and pressure?

Candidates with high emotional intelligence will demonstrate how they've implemented the best solutions to their problems while keeping the dialogue positive and not blaming other people.

They also have extreme comfort in asking for help and are excellent at handling stress and pressure.

On the other hand, the following answers to the same questions above are clear signs that a job candidate may lack emotional intelligence:

• After a bad day, they couldn't stop thinking about how terrible things were and/or lashed out and blamed others for the things that were happening.
• They are not at all or are only slightly comfortable asking for help at work.
• They handle stress and pressure only fairly or worse and could not come up with concise examples of how they managed stress or conflict effectively at work .

When it comes to asking more open-ended questions about your job candidates' strengths and weaknesses, pay close attention: Those who demonstrate personal attributes like positivity, confidence and diligence in their abilities will typically have higher than average emotional intelligence than those who speak to different attributes.

Finally, a substantial shift (and learning curve) is needed for organizations to be introduced to the idea of an emotionally intelligent-driven work culture.

As more organizations adopt and embed the approach to hiring and growing employees with EQ, the upside over the long term will ultimately result in better team members, better leaders and better performance.

Inc