May 2022

31 May 2022
Guardian Nigeria
Nigerian states’ over-reliance on tax killing businesses
With Federal allocations proving to be grossly insufficient for running a state in Nigeria, many sub nationals have turned to taxes and levies to survive. Still, many of them are barely surviving because the tax systems in many of these states are a mess…

30 May 2022
BusinessDay
How surging prices impact cost of living in Lagos
Within the period of one year, food, a basic necessity for human survival, is going out of reach for many Nigerians. According to the April 2022 inflation data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), prices of nearly all staple food items from egg to rice, garri and maize have surged, resulting in higher cost of living and worsening living standards…

The Cable
391 mob killings recorded in Nigeria in four years
At least 391 persons have been killed by mobs across several states in Nigeria between 2019 and May 2022, according to a report by SB Morgen (SBM) Intelligence. This is contained in SB Morgen’s latest report titled ‘Mob Justice in Nigeria, 2019 to Date’…

Punch
Tax from ICT firms falls by 43% in three months
Tax from firms in the information and communication sector fell by ₦21.7bn from ₦51.05bn in the fourth quarter of 2021 to ₦29.35bn in the first quarter of 2022…

Sun Nigeria
Southern Nigeria records highest death rate from ‘mob lynching’ in 4 years
Southern Nigeria has recorded the deadliest mob lynching in the country in the last four years, reports have revealed. In data collated by SBM Intelligence, from January 2019 until the violence in Dei Dei, Abuja on May 18, 2022, there have been 279 reported incidents of mob violence which left 391 people dead…

29 May 2022
Energy Focus
The Fuel Subsidy Break: Between Legality and Pragmatism
Nigeria spends about 1.4 trillion naira per year to subsidize the price at which PMS is sold in Nigeria. Removal of subsidy means massive savings for the government enabling investment in other key sectors of the economy. Deregulating petrol pricing will also lead to competition, profitability and investment in the petroleum downstream sector…

28 May 2022
AFP
Nigeria’s opposition names former VP as 2023 election candidate
Nigeria’s main opposition People’s Democratic Party on Saturday voted in primaries to chose its candidate for the 2023 election to replace President Muhammadu Buhari…

The Nigerian Voice
Expediency Of Creating A Violence-Free Environment For Nigerian Children
If there is any psychological postulation that will make anyone to be afraid about the future of children in Nigeria amidst the rising rates of crime and killing across the length and breadth of the country, it is unarguably the one posited by Diane Gordon, a former kindergarten teacher…

27 May 2022
Al Jazeera
Nigeria: Ruling party, top opposition hold presidential primaries
This weekend, the governing party and leading opposition in Nigeria, Africa’s largest democracy, are holding presidential primaries as the race to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2023 general elections heats up…

26 May 2022
AFP
Nigeria parties set to name candidates for 2023 election
Commuters driving through Lagos’s wealthy Ikoyi district have been greeted for months by the face of Bola Tinubu whose Nigeria presidential campaign posters are scattered around the city he once ran…

BBC
Nigeria’s kidnapping crisis: Should ransom payments be banned?
Having paid a ransom three times to secure the freedom of his loved ones, Nigerian businessman Lawal Ado is not impressed by moves to outlaw payments to kidnappers…

Blueprint
Nigeria’s telcos suffering from multiple taxation, report reveals
The telecom industry in Nigeria appears to suffer disproportionately from multiple taxation in Nigeria, a report released by SB Morgen has revealed…

Financial Times
Nigerian banks tap pent-up demand for retail services
While the coronavirus pandemic and falls in the price of oil have pushed Nigeria into recession twice in the past six years, the country’s financial services companies have expanded at breakneck speed…

Nairametrics
Nigeria’s multiple taxations of telcos is the cause of bad network
Nigeria’s multiple and aggressive implementation of taxation on telecommunications companies is the cause of bad network quality. This was disclosed in a report released by SB Morgen titled “Inside Nigeria’s Subnational Fiscal Crisis”…

25 May 2022
Bloomberg
Most Accurate Economist Sees Nigeria Raising Key Rate to 14%
The economist who most accurately predicted the Nigerian central bank’s blockbuster interest rate hike on Tuesday reckons there are more to come as election season ramps up in Africa’s biggest democracy…

Morning Express
Turkey-Africa Media Summit
At the Turkey-Africa Media Summit, the historical roots of the negative image of the African continent in the international media and its reflections on today were discussed…

24 May 2022
Dataphyte
Only 2 States in Nigeria generated Revenue that matched their allocation from the Federation Account
A report by SBM Intelligence has revealed that between 2017 to 2020, Lagos and Ogun were the only states out of 36 in Nigeria that made more Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) than the allocations received from the federal government…

Leadership
As Insurgents Berth In Kaduna
It is no news that terrorists and bandits have been having a field day in parts of the North west. The situation took a frightening turn with the revelation by the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufa’i, that Boko Haram elements and Ansaru insurgents have established bases in Birnin Gwari and Chukun local governments of Kaduna state. The governor also expressed concern over the high incidences of the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the state…

Punch
How phones can help security agencies track kidnapped victims —Experts
Kidnapping, the action of abducting someone and holding them against their will, has been on the ascendancy in Nigeria. In the four months of 2022, about 1,827 kidnap cases were reported, according to the Nigeria Security Tracker…

23 May 2022
Al Jazeera
How has Nigeria’s digital currency fared since its launch?
James Ndubuisi, in-house lawyer at Lagos-based entertainment firm SoundHive Group, is certain he has no need for the eNaira – Nigeria’s official digital currency – or its app…

21 May 2022
Premium Times
Insecurity: Bandits killed 360, kidnapped 1,389 persons in Kaduna in three months
Armed Bandits killed at least 360 persons in the first quarter of 2022 (January – March) in Kaduna State, a security report by the state government has revealed…

20 May 2022
Nairametrics
Kaduna State says 360 people killed, 1,399 kidnapped in Q1 2022
The Kaduna State Government has revealed that in the first quarter of 2022, 360 people were killed through banditry and communal clashes. This was disclosed by the state Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr Samuel Aruwan while presenting the 2022 First Quarter Report on security to the state governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, on Thursday in Kaduna…

Rock City FM
Ogun One of the States Leading in IGR Generation in 4-Year Study
Ogun state has been rated as one of the two states which led in IGR generation than the allocation received from the federation account in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020…

19 May 2022
BusinessDay
Nigeria’s fiscal, FX woes set to linger beyond 2022
Despite worsening fiscal and foreign exchange (FX) woes, Nigeria is no closer to restoring its oil production capacity lost to abandoned pipelines, lack of investment and unbridled crude theft, according to senior executives in the industry…

18 May 2022
Pulse
Abuja-Kaduna train to resume services next week amid insecurity
The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has announced that the Abuja-Kaduna train services will resume on Monday, May 23, 2022. Mr Yakub Mahmoud, the NRC Deputy Director, Public Relations, disclosed this in a statement issued on Monday…

17 May 2022
Guardian Nigeria
FG faces tough choices to stabilise economy as inflation bites harder
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) could bite the bullet next week when it reconvenes and adjusts the policy rate for the first time since September 2020 as resurging inflation concerns and interest rate hike across the world put Nigeria in a difficult position…

ThisDay
Of Senate and ransom payments
The Senate recently passed a bill criminalising payments of ransom to kidnappers. The proposed law, which amends the 2013 Terrorism Prevention Act, says anyone who pays ransom to kidnappers would face up to 15 years in prison. While this legislation may be good on the face value, we do not believe that the Senate applied any rigour in arriving at their decision…

16 May 2022
Al Jazeera
Inflation rises in Nigeria amid fuel scarcity and insecurity
Inflation in Africa’s most populous country soared to 16.8 percent in April, driven by fuel price increases and accelerating costs for food, including bread and cereals, newly released data from Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown…

Bloomberg
African Central Banks to Put Brakes on Hiking to Prop Recovery
Central banks in five of eight major African nations will likely hold interest rates in the next two weeks to shore up their sickly economies, even as inflation pressures build…

Money Central
The Lagos Visionscape Garbage Scandal and Attempts at a Cover-up
It is perhaps a scandal that Lagos taxpayers are still paying for the misadventure called Visionscape some four years after the controversial waste management firm unceremoniously exited operations in the state…

13 May 2022
Pulse NG
Gumi tells FG steps to free kidnapped victims of Kaduna train attack
Popular preacher, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has told the Federal Government to give whatever the terrorists want to them to ensure the release of the 62 kidnapped passengers of the Abuja-Kaduna train…

12 May 2022
CAJ News
‘Nigeria world’s scariest country to be a Christian’
At least 896 civilians have been killed in violent attacks in Nigeria in the first three months of the year. This, according to Open Doors, includes “hundreds” of Christians who were murdered because of their faith…

Nairametrics
Lagos, Ogun only states that generate more IGR than FAAC allocation
Lagos and Ogun are the only two states out of 36 that made more Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) than the allocations received from the Federal Government in four years (2017-2020)…

11 May 2022
Guardian Nigeria
Experts urge data-driven approach to end insecurity
Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Sylvester Alabi, and security experts have called for adoption of a data-driven approach to tackle security and developmental challenges in the country…

Reuters
Nigeria’s Buhari tells cabinet ministers planning election runs to resign
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that any cabinet ministers seeking to run in next year’s elections should resign before May 16, the minister of information said on Wednesday…

World News Group
Racking up ransoms in Nigeria
Heavily armed gangs in the northwest Zamfara state attacked three villages over the weekend, killing at least 48 people. Criminal gangs have terrorized northwest and central Nigeria for years. In addition to raiding and looting villages, they target schools and large groups for mass abductions…

10 May 2022
BusinessDay
Public-private partnership vital to curb Nigeria’s insecurity- experts
Security experts have advocated for increased public-private partnerships (PPP) to check Nigeria’s rising insecurity challenges…

The Nation
Ransom payment: Jail or death?
The Senate, on April 27, passed the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2013 (Amendment) Bill 2022, into law to prohibit the payment of ransom to kidnappers…

Open Doors UK
896 Nigerians killed in violent attacks in 2022
It’s difficult to get your head around how many Nigerians have been killed already in 2022. You might hear about individual events – like a bomb and gun attack on a train in north west Nigeria – but it’s hard to get a sense of the scale…

9 May 2022
Bloomberg
Central Banker’s Nigerian Presidency Bid Caps Unorthodox Tenure
Nigeria’s central bank governor wants to run for president of Africa’s most populous country — and keep his position while on the campaign trail. Godwin Emefiele asked a court last week to allow him to retain his apolitical post while running to replace Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s president in elections scheduled for next February…

Blueprint
Of banditry and a shared sovereignty
In the book The Impact of Banditry on Nigeria’s Security in the Fourth Republic: An Evaluation of Nigeria’s Northwest by Rosenje, Musharafa Olapeju (PhD) and Adeniyi, Oluwatobi Peter, both of the Department of Political Science, Tai Solarin University of Education, first published on 30/04/2021, the authors posited that “Banditry is fast becoming alarming in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic to the extent that it poses a serious security threat not only to the Northwest region but to Nigeria as a whole…

The Nation
Revisiting Nigeria’s fuel subsidy conundrum
Next to insecurity in Nigeria today, the other issue that is causing persistent concern and anxiety to the government is the retention (or removal) of fuel subsidy. Even the law of the land that stipulated the ending of fuel subsidy by mid-2022, had to be ‘suspended’ in the heat of the brouhaha and social upheavals generated by the import of the enactment…

6 May 2022
Open Doors US
Is the violence in Nigeria about to get even worse?
“Boko Haram is attacking Guyaku!” were the yells from the street. When Pastor Andrew walked out his front door, rows of houses were already on fire…

The Whistler
Why Kaduna Train Services Cannot Resume Now
The pressure from the families of the abducted Abuja-Kaduna passengers may have forced the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) to put a hold on the resumption of train services within that route, THE WHISTLER has learnt…

World News Group
Nigerian government seeks to ban ransom payments
Jennifer Saleh’s brother, Stephen, was one of 39 students kidnapped from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization in north-central Nigeria’s Kaduna state in March 2021. It took protests, prayers, and a ransom payment of an undisclosed amount before the students were released nearly two months later. For Jennifer, healing from the experience took much longer…

5 May 2022
Agusto & Co.
The Economics of Insecurity: Nigeria’s Rough Patch
Nigeria’s insecurity challenge has grown beyond the activities of Boko Haram (the extremist terrorist group) into what is now a hydra-headed monster that is chronic in many areas and exacerbated by rising inflation and worsening unemployment (estimated at 33% as at Q4 2020)…

African Business
Dangote’s timely fertiliser plant pays off as prices soar
What better time to launch a fertiliser plant than when global prices are at their record highs? That’s exactly what Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, did…

BusinessDay
Nigeria’s revenue problem lingers as tax reforms stall
Only Somalia and Yemen’s governments are expected to earn less money relative to their economic size than Nigeria in 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) estimate…

Tax authorities play catch-up as millions shift to remote work
Globally, tax systems were designed on the understanding that people are physically where they carry out their work, today many are shifting to remote work and tax authorities have inadequate structures to deal with this trend that could foster revenue losses…

Financial Mail
Nigeria’s presidential power plays
Along the streets of Nigeria’s capital Abuja, presidential hopefuls look down at passers-by from posters and supersized billboards. They’re competing for attention with those promoting charismatic preachers and advertising smart new housing developments…

The Republic
The Reality of Press Freedom in Nigeria
On 20 October 2021, several Nigerians held a procession at the Lekki tollgate in Victoria Island, Lagos, to memorialize the one-year anniversary of the Lekki toll shooting. For many both in Nigeria and abroad, it was a day of remembrance and sober reflection, and an opportunity to demand justice over the events of the previous year. In October 2020, what began with nationwide protests against police brutality culminated in Nigerian soldiers shooting unarmed protesters…

4 May 2022
Foreign Policy
Can Nigeria Ever End Its Kidnap-for-Ransom Industry?
Nigeria’s Senate passed a bill on Wednesday imposing jail terms of at least 15 years for anyone paying a ransom to free someone who has been kidnapped. The bill also made abducting an individual punishable by death in cases where the victims die…

National Daily
Revisiting Nigeria’s fuel subsidy conundrum
Next to insecurity in Nigeria today, the other issue that is causing persistent concern and anxiety to the Government is the retention (or removal) of fuel subsidy. Even the law of the land that stipulated the ending of fuel subsidy by mid-2022, had to be ‘suspended’ in the heat of the brouhaha and social upheavals generated by the import of the enactment…

3 May 2022
Daily Trust
Is Outlawing Ransom Payment The Best Way To Proceed?
In a bid to “discourage the rising spate of kidnapping and abduction for ransom” the Senate recently passed a bill imposing 15 years imprisonment for anyone found guilty of paying for the “release of any person who has been wrongfully confined, imprisoned or kidnapped”. According to a report by SB Morgen (SBM) Intelligence, at least $18.24m was paid to kidnappers between June 2011 and March 2020…

1 May 2022
ThisDay
Will Senate’s Ransom Prohibition Bill Stem Kidnapping Scourge?
The Senate last week passed a bill seeking to amend the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2013, to prohibit the payment of ransom to kidnappers in Nigeria. The word kidnap is associated with the criminal activity in which a person is taken away usually against the his/her will, and this is usually done for ransom. Kidnapping has become a serious threat to Nigeria…