Tuesday brief: CBN as 'Father Christmas', Gumi's dire warning & passport backlog
+ National Economic Summit opens
Good morning.
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It’s the CBN again!
It must have been busy at offices of the Central Bank of Nigeria on Monday. Amid the e-Naira launch, the bank also announced the start of a new program to financially support 100 targeted private sector companies every 100 days.
Tagged “The 100 for 100 PPP - Policy on Production and Productivity”, the program, according to CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele, is designed to boost productivity in the Nigerian economy.
“We believe that if we target and support the right companies and projects, we will see a significant, measurable and verifiable increase in local production and productivity, reduction in certain imports, increase in non-oil exports, and improvements in the FX-generating capacity of the economy,” Emefiele said.
But how these ‘local-oriented’ companies will be selected (I hope ‘export discipline’ is a priority) and how much they stand to gain from the scheme remains a mystery.
The program, under Emefiele’s direct supervision, is expected to kick off on November 1.
eNaira: Yes, the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) was eventually launched by President Muhammadu Buhari, who boasted that it would increase the country’s Gross Domestic Product by $29 billion over the next 10 years. The CBN has published a regulatory guideline for the digital currency.
Comment: Personally, I am cautious about my optimism for eNaira. It feels like a big deal - the first digital currency launched in Africa - but let’s see how it fares in the first few months. Will people use it? Will merchants accept it? How fast will technical hitches get resolved?
Related: The House of Representatives’ committee on privatisation and commercialisation on Monday organised a public hearing on the consideration of public assets reform bill, 2021. Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Ayuba Wabba, railed against the privatisation of public assets, describing the process as “rotten.” The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, also acknowledged that some privatisation deals might not have been beneficial to the nation and called for “an audit of all the assets that have been concessioned or privatised”.
Extra: The 27th National Economic Summit was opened by President Buhari, who was represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. The theme for this year’s summit is ‘Securing Our Future: The Fierce Urgency of Now’. At one of the panel sessions on Monday, the World Bank criticised Nigeria’s hefty spending on fuel subsidy, even as the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, said the petrol scheme may end by the second half of 2022.
What else is happening?
Killings: At least four people have been killed and three others injured following a bloody clash between some locals and herders in Kaduna State. In Niger State, gunmen killed at least 17 people during a raid on two villages on Monday.
Sheikh Gumi: The controversial cleric has warned that tagging bandits as terrorists may worsen the security situation in the North-West. And, if you ask me, I agree. I’m not quite sure (Tucano jets?) what has triggered the recent public masturbation over tagging bandits as terrorists, as if that would magically make the problem go away. The terorrists in the North-East have not been defeated, more than a decade after the first shots were fired, but we are so eager to mint more terrorists?
Anambra election: The National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, has been warning those with the intention to disrupt the November 6 poll to have a rethink. Meanwhile, a former Governor of the state, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife, believes those who say there will be no election are only trying to mislead people. IPOB, the outlawed secessionist group, has threatened to disrupt the poll if its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, isn’t released from government detention.
Missing journalist: Members of the press stormed the police headquarters in Abuja on Monday to protest the continued disappearance of their colleague, Tordue Salem, who reports for the Vanguard Newspapers. Mr Salem was last seen on October 13. The police said it was actively investigating the matter.
Passport backlog: Well, if you applied for an international passport in Lagos, you might consider checking in at the immigration office. A senior immigration official, Milka Musa, on Monday lamented that about 13,800 passports remain uncollected at its Lagos passport offices.
NBA Conference: Rivers state Governor, Nyesom Wike and eminent cleric Bishop Samuel Kukah were at the 61st annual meeting of the nation’s legal minds in Port Harcourt. The Chief Justice Of Nigeria, Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, was represented by Justice Mary Odili of the Supreme Court.
That’s it for this morning. Join me again tomorrow?