Tuesday brief: Northern Governors, eNaira launch & Covid's unending journey
+ Fayemi's meeting with Tinubu
* The Naira/Dollar rate was calculated by averaging buying rates from several Nigerian FinTech startups.
Good morning
Welcome to the Tuesday briefing. This newsletter keeps you updated with the latest news from Nigeria. Don’t forget to subscribe to receive it in your email before 7 am (WAT) every weekday.
Today, we are focused on the Northern Governors’ response to their southern counterparts and the launch of the eNaira website.
Northern Governors roar back
After an emergency meeting in Kaduna on Monday, Northern Governors said it was unconstitutional for Southern Governors to have insisted that the next Nigerian President must come from the South.
The Northern Governors also concluded that pushing for states to collect Value Added Tax (VAT) could lead to double taxation, an increase in prices of goods and services, and also create interstate trade barriers.
Southern Governors, meeting in Enugu last week, had resolved for the Presidency to be zoned to the South and had also backed the collection of VAT by states.
Analysis: True, zoning is not in the constitution but many Nigerians expect the Presidency to be alternated between the North and South. Still, the Fourth Republic is still so young for unwritten rules to be sacrosanct and the Northern Governors’ resolution could make the 2023 presidential permutations much trickier.
Atiku Abubakar: The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed December 6 to hear a suit challenging the citizenship of the former Vice-President.
eNaira website goes live
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has launched a website - www.enaira.com - for the operations of eNaira, the country’s first digital currency.
The pilot scheme of the digital currency’s rollout is expected to begin on October 1.
A Barbados-based company, Bitt Inc., is the CBN’s technical partner for the digital currency.
The word on the street is that the eNaira will transform money transfer in Nigeria and beyond but I am curious to figure out how the adoption rates would look like after a year.
In-depth: This explainer is a good place to start in understanding what the CBN plans to achieve with the eNaira.
‘Covid here to stay’
The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Chikwe Ihekweazu, believes people will eventually have to “learn to live safely with” the virus.
Ihekweazu, speaking at the national briefing of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19 in Abuja on Monday, said Nigerians must continue to take responsibility.
Quote: “The pandemic has continued over the past 19 months and now it is quite easy to become desensitised to numbers, however, we must not forget that the cases and deaths are not just numbers but family members, loved ones, friends and even colleagues,” Ihekweazu said.
Ehanire Osagie: According to the Health Minister, taking the Covid vaccine was a matter of civic duty.
Related: The federal government says it is investigating reports of corrupt airport officials who take bribes from travellers and help them evade Covid quarantine requirements.
What else is happening?
Kaduna state: About 34 people were killed after a fresh attack by gunmen on Madami village in Kaura Local Government Area.
Sokoto state: Bandits have attacked a joint military camp in Sabon Birni Local Government Area.
Arms proliferation: The Navy has accused soldiers in the Chadian Army of illegal sale of arms whenever the latter is broke.
Backlog: The Ikoyi office of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) says 3,000 passports are ready for collection.
Kayode Fayemi: The Ekiti Governor said he visited APC chieftain, Bola Tinubu in London recently to show support for the ailing politician.
Ohanaeze Ndigbo: The top socio-cultural organisation has called on IPOB to stops all forms of “anarchy” in the South-East.
Yemi Osinbajo: The Vice President believes all Nigerians will be at a disadvantage if the country breaks up.
And that’s it for this morning. See you tomorrow.