August 2021

31 August 2021
Inside Mainland
Lagos set to miss anti-grazing law deadline
Emerging reports have confirmed that the Lagos State Government is on the verge of missing the deadline set for the anti-grazing law amongst the Southern Governors…

Nairametrics
Grazing Routes: What the Land Use Act says
The farmer-herder attacks in Nigeria entered a new phase of policy direction between the federal government and state governors as the Presidency revealed it is reviewing the grazing routes across the country to reduce trespassing on plantations by herders which have greatly affected Nigeria’s food production capacity as more farmers keep away from their farms to protect themselves from marauding herdsmen attacks…

Premium Times
Can criminalisation of ransom payment stop kidnapping in Nigeria?
Security experts and analysts generally do not think highly of a bill before the National Assembly that seeks to criminalise payment of ransom to kidnappers…

30 August 2021
Al Jazeera
Is Nigeria’s kidnapping crisis out of control?
Nigeria’s government is struggling to tackle criminal gangs who have stepped up concerted attacks against village communities, schools, and colleges in northern states over the last eight months…

Premium Times
What recent surrender of Boko Haram members means for Nigeria’s fight against insurgency
Since Abubakar Shekau, the longtime leader of Boko Haram, died three months ago, hundreds of members of the sect have been reported to have left the group…

29 August 2021
BusinessDay
Wanted: Courageous Nigerian soldiers
In the early 80s and late 90s when the military was in power, many parents wanted their children to be soldiers because of the orderly manner the military used to go about their activities and the general aura around soldiers then…

27 August 2021
Nairametrics
Manufacturers Association of Nigeria laments double taxation in Lagos
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has decried the rate of double taxation in Lagos State which affects efficient service delivery of manufacturing operations in the state…

Punch
FG should rescue abducted pupils fast
Indefensively, Nigeria is fast losing its capacity to rescue the groups of schoolchildren being held captive by kidnappers. This monumental negligence persists as pupils kidnapped at schools in Kaduna, Zamfara and Niger states remain in kidnappers’ dens for weeks on end. Although some are being released in batches, many of the victims remain in the clutches of their abductors. Being that children are involved, this should push the authorities and the security agencies to act more strongly and decisively…

25 August 2021
Punch
Ministry, research body disagree on 12.3 million out-of-school children
An analytical statistics organisation, SBMorgen Intelligence, has put the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria at 12,320,529…

24 August 2021
Nairametrics
VAT: Which states will benefit from court ruling?
The battle to restructure Nigeria took an interesting turn of events this month as a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt ruled that the Federal Inland Revenue Service should not be responsible for collecting Valued Added Taxes in Rivers State…

Reuters
Desperate Nigerians sell homes and land to free kidnapped children
After armed men snatched seven of Abubakar Adam’s 11 children in northwestern Nigeria, he sold his car and a parcel of land and cleaned out his savings to raise a ransom to free them…

23 August 2021
ThisDay
2023: How will PIA shape elections in Niger Delta?
More circumstantial evidence are emerging that the outcome of the 2023 national elections in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria may be influenced by perception arising from the Petroleum Industry Act recently signed by President Muhammadu Buhari…

22 August 2021
New Telegraph
Kidnappers, Bandits Rake In ₦20bn In 500 Attacks –investigation
Governments and relations of kidnap victims may have paid over ₦20billion as ransom in various parts of the country in the last two years, Sunday Telegraph can now reveal. Information gleaned from an Intelligence Tracking Company in Nigeria also revealed that no part of the country was spared by the activities of the criminals…

21 August 2021
OWP
Kidnapping: Northern Nigeria’s most lucrative industry
The international attention of kidnappings labelled #BringBackOurGirls in 2014, and #BringBackOurBoys in 2020 may have started a chain reaction in Northern Nigeria…

20 August 2021
AP
Nigerian parents excited by return of 2 abducted schoolgirls
The news this month that two Nigerian schoolgirls had made it to freedom, more than seven years after they were kidnapped by Boko Haram extremist rebels, has kindled new hope among parents whose daughters are still missing…

19 August 2021
Nairametrics
Taliban control of Afghanistan: What are the implications for Nigeria?
It is no longer news that the Taliban took over the Afghan seat of power after the U.S President announced a planned withdrawal of American and NATO forces in August…

The Republic
Dealing with national health emergencies in Nigeria
In 2012, after a national vaccine rollout programme had suffered years of setbacks, President Goodluck Jonathan declared polio as a national health emergency in Nigeria. By 2020, increased efforts to eradicate polio had resulted in Nigeria finally being declared free of the virus. ‘Polio is no longer endemic in Nigeria,’ the World Health Organization announced. But in 2020, too, however, the Buhari administration declared another national health emergency: COVID-19…

18 August 2021
Nigeria Info
Why do tax collectors harass informal sector businesses?
Here’s today’s Business Hard Fact: The IMF estimates that the Informal Sector accounts for 65% of Nigeria’s economy. Why Do Tax Collectors harass Informal Sector Businesses..?

17 August 2021
BusinessDay
NNPC refineries lose ₦473.3 billion in 6 years, operated below 10% capacity
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation lost ₦473.3 billion from operating its four refineries in Port-Harcourt, Warri, Kaduna within 6 years, a report has said. Research findings according to SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based consultancy said that Nigeria’s refineries are becoming an increasingly expensive pastime…

Nairametrics
Does political ideology exist in Nigeria?
Since the return of democracy to Nigeria in 1999, the country has been ruled by four Presidents, and with elections approaching in 2023, Nigeria is set to elect a fifth successive President in a democratic hand-over, a success for the fragile democracy in Nigeria’s history and Sub-Saharan Africa…

Stears Business
Four shocking Nigerian statistics
I started doing a rough count a couple of weeks ago, and it turns out that I read or write over 200 statistics on Nigeria every week. Given that I have been editing full-time for two years, it is tempting to extrapolate and say that I have now seen over 20,000 data points…

16 August 2021
BusinessDay
Nigerians hurting as food inflation exceeds global record
A United Nations (UN) report reveals that global food prices have declined a second consecutive time in July 2021. In the report, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) price index, which tracks changes in international prices of the most globally traded food commodities, recorded 123 points for July 2021, shedding 1.2 percent of June’s numbers…

Health and Jara
Dealing with information overload in the crisis
How much of the news do you consume? Who or what is your go-to source? Do you even realize how much the internet is shaping and influencing our living? My guest, SBM Intelligence’s Ikemesit Effiong and I discussed all these and more, in this episode…

Plus TV Africa
The Economic Implications Of Diezani’s Asset Forfeiture
SBM Intelligence’s Head of Research Ikemesit Effiong spoke about the legal and economic implications of asset forfeitures by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in light of the recent announcement of new seizures from former Nigerian petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke…

Tribune
PIB, inadequate funding as bane of Nigeria’s energy transition
Recently, the National Assembly passed the contentious Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). The passage which had been anticipated for so long — given that the bill had been on lawmakers’ table for some years — was received with fanfare, especially by rights groups and advocates who had expended time and resources calling for its passage…

15 August 2021
ThisDay
Things are not getting better
Khalifa Musa Muhammad writes that the government has not lived up to its promises of securing the nation…

Vanguard
Nigeria records 111 kidnapping cases in eight months
Since April 2014 after the Boko Haram terrorists abducted 276 schoolgirls from their dormitories in Chibok, Borno State, mass kidnapping for ransom has gradually, become the other of the day in Nigeria…

14 August 2021
Punch
Hushpuppi: Abba Kyari’s alleged role intensifies calls for police reform
The alleged corrupt acts of police officers like the suspended Commander of the Intelligence Response Team of the Inspector General of Police, Abba Kyari, are going to further batter the already dwindling image of the Nigeria Police Force if the needed reform doesn’t happen…

13 August 2021
Nairametrics
Cholera: 146 confirmed dead in Kebbi State
The Kebbi Epidemic Rapid Response Team confirmed on Thursday that 126 people have died in the state so far following the cholera outbreak this year…

Premium Times
Is Nigeria a failing state?
Is Nigeria a failing state? Has Nigeria become a failed state already? These questions and others with the same form and pointers have invaded the Nigerian space in recent times…

12 August 2021
The Cable
Cholera outbreak: Death toll hits 28 in Plateau
No fewer than 28 persons have now died from a cholera outbreak in Plateau state. According to the Punch, this was indicated by the epidemiology data of cholera outbreak in the state shared by Philip Dasun, chairman, house committee on health, during a plenary session presided over by Ayuba Abok, the speaker of the state house of assembly on Wednesday…

Daily Independent
Upgrading tax compliance policy to boost businesses in informal sector
Taxes remain the most sustainable and reliable source of public revenue of any modern state. According to recent estimates from the International Center for Tax and Development, tax revenues account for more than 80% of total government revenue in about half of the countries in the world and more than 50% in almost every country…

Proshare
Moribund refineries: Time to separate from an unproductive past?
Based on a recent report from SBM Intelligence, the three refineries at Kaduna, Warri, and Port Harcourt have incurred a combined loss of ₦473.3bn between 2015-2021. Interestingly, the three refineries have yet to refine any crude product since 2019 and have made c. ₦185.0bn in losses in the period…

Punch
NNPC incurred ₦473bn loss operating moribund refineries
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation incurred a loss of ₦473.3bn in operating moribund refineries between January 2015 and February 2021, a new report by SBM Intelligence, a geopolitical and socioeconomic research firm has claimed…

11 August 2021
Leadership
Remembering kidnap-for-ransom victims still in captivity
On May 29 this year, armed bandits kidnapped 13 year old Umar (not his real name) along with 155 pupils from the Islamic school he regularly attends in Tegina, a densely populated town in Niger State…

Nairametrics
98% of Nigerians operating in the informal economy pay taxes
A recent report revealed that up to 98% of Nigerians operating in the informal economy pay taxes daily, with some businesses paying taxes 3 times a day…

10 August 2021
Punch
Surveillance gulps ₦476bn, insecurity fuels 22% food inflation
The Federal Government may have spent ₦475.8bn on surveillance to curtail the high level of insecurity threatening both the economy and lives of Nigerian citizens…

9 August 2021
BusinessDay
Five things to know to start your day
The informal sector has business activities that operate outside of government regulation and are largely unregistered…

The Cable
Multiple levies responsible for low tax compliance in Nigeria’s informal sector
SBM Intelligence, a geopolitical research firm, says multiple and arbitrary levy payment is the cause of low tax compliance by the informal sector in Nigeria…

Daily Independent
Why global food prices declined in July for second consecutive month
The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) in its latest food price index (FPI) report, stated that the global food prices declined further for the second month in a row in July 2021, as a result of the decline in prices of cereals, dairy products and vegetable oils which more than offset increases in meat and sugar quotations for the second consecutive month…

8 August 2021
The Cable
98% of businesses in Nigeria’s informal sector pay taxes — but to non-state actors
SBM Intelligence, an Africa-focused geopolitical research firm, says 98 percent of businesses in Nigeria’s informal sector paid their taxes — but to non-state regulated actors…

Punch
Buhari’s defence allocations hit ₦5tn, over 11,420 Nigerians killed in six years
Since the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), took office on May 29, 2015, his regime has allocated approximately ₦5.081tn for defence, including the appropriation of ₦4.669tn to the Federal Ministry of Defence from 2016 to date and $1bn (₦412bn) for the purchase of military equipment…

Silverbird TV
Implication of another lockdown
SBM Head of Research, Ikemesit Effiong spoke with Silverbird News 24 about the socioeconomic effects of another lockdown in Nigeria…

Vanguard
38 DAYS OF HORROR: 50 policemen dead, kidnappers demand ₦1bn …for 321 victims
No fewer than 50 police officers were gruesomely murdered by bandits and other criminal elements in the last 38 days while about 211 other Nigerians were killed during the same period…

7 August 2021
Silverbird TV
Rising cost of food items
SBM analyst, Glory Etim, joins Silverbird TV’s Mercy Frank to discuss the rising cost of food items in Nigeria…

6 August 2021
ICIR Nigeria
Buhari’s govt ignores warning, mobilises nearly $3bn for badly-managed refineries
The government of Muhammadu Buhari has refused to allow the private sector to take over Nigeria’s badly-managed refineries, mobilising nearly $3 billion instead for the companies it cannot run…

The Cable
FAO: Global food prices declined in July for second consecutive month
The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) says global food prices declined further for the second month in a row in July 2021. FAO disclosed this in its latest food price index (FPI) report released on Thursday…

4 August 2021
The Cable
Cholera kills ’30 people’ in Zamfara
Thirty people have reportedly died of cholera in Zamfara state. According to PremiumTimes, sources at the state ministry of health said its health agencies have been battling to contain the outbreak, with many persons hospitalised over the disease…

Katsina confirms cholera outbreak, says situation under control
The Katsina government has confirmed the outbreak of cholera in some LGAs in the state. Shamsuddeen Yahaya, executive secretary, Katsina State Primary Health Care Development Agency (PHCDA), disclosed this on Wednesday…

The Nation
Whither Nigeria’s manifest destiny to lead Africa?
There was a time when Nigeria’s leadership role in African affairs was taken for granted. Nigeria was deemed Africa’s bellwether, a notion that gave credence to her “manifest destiny” – an inherent right to speak for and be listened to on African issues…

3 August 2021
The Nation
Cholera killed over 400 people in July
Cholera killed 441 people across Nigeria in July 2021, a report by SB Morgen (SBM) Intelligence has said. The report was based on data collected from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) from July 1 to July 27…

Plus TV
NARD set for strike amid rising COVID 19 cases, cholera
Nigeria’s 2021 cholera outbreak peaked up steam in July with 451 fatalities in 13 states recorded by the NCDC…

2 August 2021
The Cable
123 in Kano, 86 in Sokoto — how cholera killed over 400 people in July
In July 2021, cholera killed 441 people in Nigeria, according to a report by SB Morgen (SBM) Intelligence. The report was based on data collected from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) from July 1 to July 27…

Nigeria’s food prices surged 400% in 12 years
A new report by SBM Intelligence, a geopolitical research firm, says the prices of food items have risen by a factor of 4.25 in more than 12 years — further worsening already cash-strapped consumers who are battling with sluggish economic growth and rising unemployment rate…

Nairametrics
Cholera outbreak: 441 fatalities in July, only 2 of 13 states in top health preparedness – SBM
Only two of the 13 states with cholera outbreaks – Bayelsa and Kogi – are top-ranked in Nigeria’s Health Preparedness Index. 11 of the bottom 18 states are also hotspots for the outbreak that killed 441 Nigerians in the month of July…

Reuters
Nigeria hit by deadly cholera surge focused on north
Nigeria has been hit by a surge in cholera cases in recent weeks, focused on the country’s north and adding to a public health crisis accompanied by a rise in COVID-19 cases…