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AFR Business

100m SIMs now locally produced, says NCC

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The Nigeria Communications Commission, NCC, says over 100 million Subscribers Identity Module, SIM, cards have so far been produced locally within a year of the first Nigeria Telecommunications Indigenous Content Expo.

This was made known by Aderonke Sola-Ogunsola, NCC’s head of Financing and Stakeholders Engagement Team at this year’s AFRICANXT on Thursday in Lagos.

Ms Sola-Ogunsola spoke on: Mandate and Strides Towards Full Digital Economy in Nigeria.

She said that through the Nigeria Telecommunications Indigenous Content of the NCC, the country could serve as manufacturer of SIM in West Africa.

According to her, over 100 millions of SIMs have been ordered by various telecommunications companies putting an end to the importation of SIM and an attainment of a fully digital economy in Nigeria.

Ms Sola-Ogunsola said that at the 2022 indigenous content expo in Lagos, the Federal Government banned the importation of SIMs.

She said that the Nigeria Telecommunications Indigenous Content was put in place to encourage innovation among the youths and promote the digital economy.

“There is the need to ensure individuals, businesses, and the nation harness derivable benefits and the opportunities offered by the emergent digital culture, to improve quality of life, grow businesses, and leapfrog the national economy.

“This remains the overarching objective of government policies, plans, and strategies,” she said.

The head, Digital Skills and Services, NCC, Freda Bruce-Bennett, said that Nigeria was rapidly becoming a digital economy.

Mr Bruce-Bennett said that out of seven unicorns in Nigeria, Nigeria had five which were Andela, Flutterwave, Interswitch, Jumia and Opay

According to her, NCC is working with campuses and the National Youth Service Corp, NYSC, on how youths could build their capacity.

Head, Spectrum Administration, NCC Abraham Oshadami said that digital economy could not exist without infrastructure because globally infrastructure was the bedrock for adequate broadband penetration.

Mr Oshadami said that Nigeria had taken the lead by providing wireless resources because there were policies to deploy the infrastructure and make them work.

According to him, Nigeria has done so well in the entire Africa by being at the forefront of making resources available to provide high dosed broadband leveraging on satellite and technology

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the ongoing AFRICANXT, formerly called Social Media Week, is an annual event held in February.

This year’s theme is: ‘’Cooperate. Collaborate. Innovate. Unlocking Our Potential, Ensuring Africa’s Prosperity”.

INEC seeks NBA’s support in handling election cases

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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has solicited the support of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in handling its numerous pre-electoral cases in courts across the country.

INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu made the call on Thursday when he hosted an NBA delegation led by its president, Yakubu Maikyau, at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

He said that as of February 6, INEC had been joined in 1,241 intra-party lawsuits in different courts of law, not on elections conducted by INEC but on primaries conducted by political parties for the nomination of candidates for the 2023 general elections.

He said some cases had gone to the Federal High Court, some were before the Court of Appeal, and others were before the Supreme Court.

“On pre-election litigation alone, as of Monday this week, February 6, INEC has been joined in 1,241 cases, making us one of the most litigated against agencies in the country. These cases have nothing to do with elections conducted by INEC. They are primary elections conducted by political parties,” the INEC chair revealed.

He added, “But each time they go to court, they join the commission, and we have to engage either our own in-house lawyers or we transfer the cases out to external legal firms to represent the commission. Out of these 1,241 cases, over 300 are right now before the Court of Appeal. And 155 before the Supreme Court as of Monday this week.”

He requested the support of the NBA in handling some of the cases, particularly pro bono service to the nation. The chairman said the commission was committed to free, fair, credible and inclusive elections and equally verifiable elections.

Mr Yakubu explained that was why the INEC, over time, had been working to deepen technology usage in Nigeria elections.

“It is not just those involved in the elections as a coalition or returning officers, but even citizens must have access to results of election on election day. That is what we have been working for sometime now, our hope is that citizens will even know the outcome of elections before we make a formal declaration of results,” Mr Yakubu explained. “This is what has been encouraging us to strengthen and deepen the use of technology in elections.”

NSA Monguno says naira swap will affect national security

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The National Security Adviser, NSA, Mohammed Monguno, has said that the change of currency and cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, if not well thought out, may affect the operations of troops in the field.

Mr Monguno made the observation when he appeared before an Ad hoc Committee of the House of Representatives on change of currency and cashless policy on Thursday in Abuja.

Represented by the Head of Defence Unit, Rear Admiral Abubakar Mustapha, the NSA said that even in advanced countries, such policies could affect the operations of troops if not well implemented.

“Because of the sensitivity of some of this information that will come and bordering on security, there are things we cannot say in the media.

“Globally, military operations, even in first world countries, such policies, if not well properly thought out, will affect some certain operations.

“Some of our soldiers are deployed in places where they cannot actually access digital means of paying for their daily subsistence; that is the main issue that NSA has been talking about.

“It is important that this committee sits down and articulates better ways of actually addressing these issues,” he said.

Earlier, the Chairman of the committee, Rep. Ado Doguwa (APC-Kano) said that the committee was interested in the implications of the policy on national security.

He said that the committee would interface with major stakeholders to determine the effect of the policy on the economy.

Mr Doguwa said that from what the committee had so far gathered, the policy posed a challenge to agriculture, economy and security.

According to him, it is unpopular among the people, it has caused hardship and it may affect the forthcoming election.

Mr Doguwa adjourned the meeting to February 10 for the committee to meet with the Minister of Finance and the leadership of Printing and Minting as well as the INEC boss.

Buhari approves new TV stations

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President Muhammadu Buhari has approved operational licenses for 67 new broadcast outfits, the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, said on Thursday in Abuja.

NBC Director-General Balarabe Ilelah disclosed this while briefing newsmen on the scorecard of the commission.

“President Buhari has approved hundreds of broadcast licenses; it is a demonstration of his intrinsic democratic values,” Mr Ilelah stated.

According to him, a total of 473 broadcast licenses were granted under Buhari’s administration.

“The breakdown of the licenses approved by Buhari showed that 210 were granted in 2018, 159 in 2021, 37 in 2022, while 67 have so far been granted in 2023.

“This gesture has shown that Buhari is actually a democrat and media-friendly; he is a leader who upholds media freedom and pluralism.

“It is important to note that we currently have 740 functional broadcast stations in Nigeria. The number is expected to grow with the anticipatory approval of additional licenses by the President soon.”

The NBC boss said that Mr Buhari had continued to grant total independence from any political interference for the NBC in the exercise of its regulatory functions, particularly with respect to the issuance and withdrawal of broadcasting licenses.

This, according to him, has helped to reduce violations by broadcasters as was the case in the past.

Mr Ilelah called on broadcasters to continue to cooperate with the commission by abiding with the provisions guiding broadcast operations in Nigeria.

He also disclosed that the commission was acquiring some state-of-the-art broadcast monitoring equipment.

“The acquisition of the equipment is in progress; when they all arrive, the commission will get to have Ultra-Modern Artificial Intelligence-driven Central Monitoring Infrastructure,” he said.

On the forthcoming general elections, Mr Ilelah revealed that the commission had deployed all the technical and operational facilities for nationwide monitoring.

According to him, in order to ensure quality broadcast, no locality in Nigeria where a broadcast station exists will be left unmonitored.

He said that a Central Monitoring Committee had been constituted to provide rapid response to unethical broadcasting and violations on election days.

The NBC boss appealed to licensees yet to pay their outstanding debts to settle the dues immediately.

BOI announces collaboration with AFD to fight climate change

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The Bank of Industry (BOI) and the French Development Agency (AFD) have signed a grant agreement of 2.5 million Euros, delegated by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which will further their partnership to fight climate change in Nigeria.

Aïssatou Kumagangue, AFD project manager, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday.

According to the statement, AFD country director in Nigeria Xavier Muron, and BOI MD Olukayode Pitan, met under the patronage of Emmanuelle Blatmann, the ambassador of France to Nigeria and ECOWAS, to fight climate change in Nigeria.

Because France committed more than €1.5 billion to the Green Climate Fund since 2019, it was only natural that the meeting was held at the French Embassy.

It stated that on August 23, 2022, BOI and AFD signed a €100 million credit line to expand green finance in Nigeria.

This was approved under AFD’s Transforming Financial Systems for Climate (TFSC) Programme with the Green Climate Fund (GCF), a $650 million programme developed in 17 countries for 100 per cent climate investment projects.

The TFSC programme focuses on financing investments that contribute to climate change mitigation, specifically projects focused on renewable energy, low carbon and efficient energy generation, climate-smart agriculture technologies, clean urban transportation and others.

According to the statement, BOI and AFD understand the importance of mainstreaming Climate Finance within BOI’s strategy and operations.

Mr Pitan said it would contribute significantly to reducing Nigeria’s carbon footprint, specifically regarding gender equality, signalling support for BOI in developing and implementing professional gender equality and gender lens investing policies.