EU Report on the General Election, Decreased Confidence in INEC & more –29th June 2023

Bawo Ni from BA ! This is the Rorshok Nigeria Update from the 29th of June twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Nigeria.

The European Union election observation mission has presented its final report on the recently concluded general election.

On Tuesday the 27th, Barry Andrews, the chief observer, said that the election exposed deep flaws and weaknesses in the system that need to be corrected. He said that although there was a record-breaking amount of newly registered voters, factors like cash and fuel scarcity, violence, and intimidation by political thugs, all contributed to voter suppression. Andrews also said that public confidence in the Independent National Electoral Commission (best known as INEC) had drastically decreased because it didn’t keep its promise of accountability and transparency. Even though he said the electoral body introduced measures to ensure a seamless process, the chief observer said that they were not enough Another flaw that the EU election observation mission also pointed out was that there were low levels of inclusion as only one woman ran against eighteen men in the presidential election and none of the candidates had women as their running partners.

In response, Festus Okoye, INEC commissioner for voter education, said that democracy is not a 100 meter dash and that Nigeria is doing its best. He said that it was not expected that the country would get it right on the first try but that INEC would work towards improving on the lags that the EU noted.

For our business lovers, have you ever wondered how much Nigeria is owing other countries? Buckle up because you’re about to find out!

On Friday the 23rd, the Debt Management Office (best known as DMO) published its quarterly debt report and showed that Nigeria’s total public debt hit a little over forty-nine trillion naira (about sixty-four billion dollars) at the end of the first quarter of twenty twenty-three.

According to the DMO, the five countries Nigeria is indebted to are China, France, Japan, India, and Germany. The total amount owed to these countries as of March is about five billion dollars. China is the biggest creditor taking slightly above four billion dollars, next is France with over 500 million dollars, and Germany with around 144 million dollars. Japan and India come next with sixty-two million and twenty-six million dollars respectively.

Since we’re in the business sector, while receiving a delegation from the Republic of Korea on Monday the 26th, Vice-President Kashim Shettima said that Nigeria wants to create one million jobs for youths in the digital industry. The vice president said that by twenty thirty, there will be a sixty-five percent global talent deficit which puts Nigeria in a unique position to fill in those deficits because the jobs are for youths and seventy-five percent of the population is below the age of thirty-five. In response, the Korean delegation led by Jang Sungmin, special envoy to the Korean president, said that his country would continue to support Nigeria across different sectors.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria (best known as CBN) has set the new daily transaction limits to fifty thousand naira (about sixty-six dollars) for contactless payment while a one-time transaction limit stands at fifteen thousand naira (about nineteen dollars). Contactless payments are a safe and easy way of making transactions without physical contact between a payment device, such as pre-paid, debit, and credit cards, key fobs, mobile electronic devices, and wearable devices, and the receiving merchant. In a statement on Tuesday the 27th, the CBN said that authorization would be required for transactions above the limits. The announcement caused a stir on social media especially as the CBN had, on Saturday the 24th, directed banks to start collecting and verifying social media handles as part of their procedures in setting up accounts. According to the CBN, the new identification procedures will apply to all permanent and occasional customers.

A new report from the World Bank, published on Tuesday the 27th, said that Nigeria’s government would save a total of eleven trillion naira (about fifteen billion dollars) from the recent petrol subsidy removal policy. However, the World Bank said that more people would be pushed into poverty if the government does not provide measures to help the people that were affected the most by the subsidy removal. Over four million people have been pushed into poverty between January and May.

Heads up to vehicle owners in Lagos.

On Tuesday the 27th, Abdulhafiz Toriola, permanent secretary of the ministry of transportation, announced the state government will begin the implementation of the levy for annual proof of ownership certificates for vehicles in July. The permanent secretary said that the initiative is targeted at creating an efficient process of vehicle ownership verification.

Meanwhile, in Kano state, things don’t seem to be going so well.

Recall how Abba Yusuf, the new governor, began demolishing structures and monuments including a roundabout a few days into his administration. Traders lamented that they lost goods and property worth millions of naira and asked the governor to stop. Well, the demolition has entered its fourth week and on Monday the 26th, protests sparked in the state. Residents held banners that said that their “messiah” was hurting them and asked him to settle his issues with the former governor and to stop taking it out on innocent people. In another turn of events, Yusuf asked the state’s accountant general to stop paying the salaries of over ten thousand workers that the former governor allegedly illegally recruited. The move is the latest action that Yusuf has taken to roll back the “harmful” policies of the former administration.

But while things seem to be going haywire in Kano state, some positive things are happening in Anambra. The government has offered a scholarship to Nkechinyere Umeh, a student who scored the highest, 360, in the twenty twenty-three Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (best known as UTME). On Tuesday the 27th, the state’s commissioner for education said that Umeh has been granted the opportunity to study any course of her choice at any university in the state

In other positive news, the United Kingdom has announced plans to partner with Enugu state on power, education, and public health for mutual economic development. On Tuesday the 27th, Richard Montgomery, British high commissioner to Nigeria, told Peter Mbah, the Enugu governor, that the UK had partnered with the state for over twenty years on sector reforms and that it was willing to continue that partnership owing to the governor’s drive and ambition to put the state on the global map. On his part, Mbah said that the state is eager to engage in the partnership and is looking forward to boosting trade and investment.

On Saturday the 24th, the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (or AEDC) said that it would increase tariffs by forty percent from the 1st of July. AEDC is one of the eleven power distribution companies in the country and covers the federal capital territory, Niger, Kogi, and Nassarawa states.

The surge in the tariffs stems from the fluctuating exchange rate in the country and the increase in the pump price of petrol caused by the removal of subsidies. However, stakeholders such as the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and the Nigeria Labour Congress have condemned the proposed tariff increase, warning that it will have huge consequences on the consumers.

That’s it for this week! Thanks for joining us!

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O dabo!