June 2020
1st June 2020

30 June 2020
The Africa Report
Replacing CFA with Eco ‘challenges the sovereignty’ of Nigerian naira
The Francophone countries coming together to replace the colonial currency, the CFA Franc with the Eco, may be “a major step forward and a positive thing,” says Andrew S. Nevin, Chief Economist, Nigeria Clients and Markets Leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). But for Nigeria, the eventual uniformed adoption of the single currency challenges the sovereignty of its naira…
The Cable
Rivers of blood and matters arising
An often-used Igbo proverb says that a man who does not know where the rain began to beat him cannot say where he dried his body. Looking over at Nigerian society historically, there seems to be little appetite for finding out where the rain started falling, not to talk of even drying the body, for that matter…
Guardian Nigeria
Report paints grim picture of gang violence in Rivers State
In the last few decades, Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta has had to battle many problems: damaged environment, lax security that made militancy and kidnapping thriving businesses for a select few, dwindling livelihood occasioned by oil spillages, and bad governance…
28 June 2020
Financial Times
Nigeria oil chief promises more transparency at state producer
The head of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation promised “a new season of transparency and accountability”, pushing back against critics calling for the break-up of the state oil company as the country struggles to manage the fallout from battered oil prices…
27 June 2020
Bloomberg
Nigeria’s behemoth state oil company sheds cloak of secrecy
Nigeria’s powerful state oil company, whose finances and operations have been shrouded in secrecy for decades, is opening itself up to greater public scrutiny. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. on June 14 published its 2018 annual report, which contained an audited account of all its 20 units for the first time in its 43-year history. The 2019 figures are set to be divulged in “coming months” and the company has pledged to make their release a tradition…
26 June 2020
BusinessDay
African resource nationalism: A very old idea posing as new information
When I got married in 2015, I was deluged with congratulatory messages from friends and acquaintances. One of these messages, from a Togolese friend of mine still stands out in my memory five years later. It read, “Congratulations David. Now please make sure to make lots of African babies.” This was not your bog standard “We are expecting twins” tongue-in-cheek message. The sender genuinely meant every word of it, because in his view, expanding Africa’s population was crucial to ensuring the long term survival of this continent and its inhabitants…
Premium Times
Nine travellers kidnapped in Ondo
At least nine persons were kidnapped by unknown gunmen in Ondo State, on Friday. The victims were on their way to Lagos from Abuja, Ondo police spokesperson, Tee-Leo Ikoro, told PREMIUM TIMES…
25 June 2020
Silverbird N24
Breaking down the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Report
SBM Intelligence’s head of research, Ikemesit Effiong, spoke with Silverbird Television’s Mercy Frank on Today’s Business, to explain the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Report published by the Vice President’s Office…
24 June 2020
Ozy
This tiny Nigerian state has driven half the country’s human trafficking for centuries
In March 2018, HRH Oba Ewuare II, the traditional ruler and spiritual leader of the Benin Kingdom in the southern Nigerian state of Edo, summoned 500 juju priests across his domain to an emergency meeting. There he laid a powerful curse on human traffickers and on native doctors who convince victims to take an oath of secrecy…
21 June 2020
The Cable
Over 100 cult groups in Rivers spilling blood of residents
More than 100 cult groups in Rivers are fueling violence which has led to the loss of numerous lives, according to a report by SB Morgen (SBM) Intelligence…
Premium Times
How poor naira lowers real value of Nigeria’s budgets – Report
Contrary to the claim that Nigeria’s 2020 budget is the largest since the return of democratic rule in 1999, that of 2013 was actually the largest when adjusted using the average official and parallel exchange rates of the naira to the dollar within the period…
Vanguard
New report details how over 100 cult groups have held Rivers hostage
A new report by geopolitical research firm, SBM Intelligence says more than 100 cult groups in Rivers are fueling a rise in violence which has caused “incalculable human and economic loss in the process.” The report traced the origin of cult groups in the state to the founding of the De Norsemen Club of Nigeria, popularly known as the Supreme Vikings Confraternity at the University of Port Harcourt in 1984 and said cult groups have since expanded to every part of the state, causing both destruction to lives, property and the environment…
18 June 2020
BusinessDay
Reducing the cost of oil production
Cutting the cost of oil production reported by Nigerian oil companies, which is among the highest in the world after shale oil producers in the US, is now a matter of survival but the government’s firebrand approach neglects its own role in the problem…
17 June 2020
BusinessDay
Nigeria’s mega-budget falls behind 2019 spending plan in dollar terms on naira value erosion
Nigeria’s 2020 budget has been dubbed the country’s biggest since at least its return to civilian rule but a recent currency adjustment means the true value of country’s spending plan is lower than was earmarked for 2019…
15 June 2020
Ozy
Can Africa’s truth and reconciliation commissions teach America how to heal?
In the 1990s, trauma came uninvited alongside the triumphant entry of democracy into parts of Africa, Latin America and elsewhere, along with the Soviet Union’s collapse. The oppressive machinery that eccentric dictators fine-tuned through human rights abuses continue to wreak havoc today…
12 June 2020
Sahara Reporters
Why Nigeria cannot enforce tax against Facebook, Google, others—Expert
Nigeria will find it impossible to place taxes on the transactions of foreign tech companies like Netflix, Facebook, Google, Youtube and other virtual firms without foreign help, Head of Research at SBM Intelligence, Ikemesit Effiong, has said. It will be recalled that the federal government announced its intent to tax OTT’s in the Finance act the president signed earlier in the year…
6 June 2020
Punch
Amid insecurity, families, friends keep alive memories of slain pastors
Life without his twin brother has not been easy for Raphael Nnadi, a 100 Level student of a private university in Ondo State. Sometimes he tries to forget about the incident that led to Michael’s death but the memories keep returning. He wants them to stay regardless for the memories keep his late twin brother alive in his heart…
5 June 2020
CGTN Africa
Securing the Sahel region
Western nations in new push to tackle terrorism in Sahel…
HumAngle
3 brothers busted in Abuja for kidnapping, killing mother of 5
The police has arrested three brothers suspected to have kidnapped and murdered a mother of five in Abuja. They added that the deceased’s body has been exhumed for forensic examination…
4 June 2020
BusinessDay
How Nigerians bear brunt of fading foreign direct investments
Nigeria is finding out that attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) into a country that has a larger population than France (65 million), Italy (60 million) and Spain (46 million) combined isn’t always straight-forward…
3 June 2020
Arise TV
Millions of dollars flow through Nigeria’s kidnapping industry
Ikemesit Effiong, Head of Research at SBM Intelligence, reviews their latest report documenting the millions of dollars flowing through the kidnap industry in Nigeria. Which states make the top 10? What are the solutions?
1 June 2020
HumAngle
Government must address Nigeria’s flourishing kidnapping for ransom industry
At least 18.34 million dollars was paid to kidnappers as ransom between June 2011 and the end of March, 2020, says Lagos based SBM in a report shared on Thursday, titled ” The economics of Nigeria’s kidnap industry”. It said the government must address factors that have helped the practice to flourish…
NewsWire NGR
$18.34 million paid as ransom between June 2011 and March 2020: Inside Nigeria’s lucrative kidnap industry
August 20, 2019, the Nigerian Police arrested alleged notorious kidnap Lord, Hamisu Bala popularly known as Wadume in his hideout at Layin Mai Allo Hotoro area of Kano state. For months, the Police had trailed him and earlier arrested him on August 6, 2019. But the first arrest turned messy as some military officers attached to Battalion 93, Takum on the orders of a Nigerian Army Captain, Mr Tijani Balarabe attacked and killed the three Police officers. Wadume to the surprise of many was spared from the shootout and released…
The Nigerian Lawyer
Sokoto: Different ships, same boat
While many celebrated Eid-al-Fitr, residents of Kuzari, Katumi, Masawa, and Dan-Aduwa were thrown into mourning. Over 100 menacing armed men tore into these towns in Sokoto state and left in their trail a sea of human blood as over 74 people were reportedly killed leaving thousands of displaced persons…