kelechi friday

A lot of people wonder, why some football viewing centers are always filled with people, is it that they cannot afford to buy a cable TV and watch in the comfort of their homes? The answer is that over 60% can watch those live matches live inside their living room but prefer to watch it at a viewing center because it is much more fun and enjoyable. Infact when it comes to watching live football match, some Nigerians are ready to spend their last cash. During the weekends, there are always a lot of matches, there are also midweek matches, although not every week. The cost of viewing a match in most places in Nigeria is low, most times its N100. Imagine if you start this business and your viewing centre is sufficiently spacious enough to accommodate 100 people, you will stand to make roughly N10, 000 per match. In situations where there are matches at various time, say; Arsenal vs. Chelsea 1 pm, Man united vs. Liverpool 4 pm, Barcelona vs. Real Madrid 9 pm. That will mean a sum of N10, 000 multiply by 3 = N 30,000 on a single day. Isn’t that a good small scale business? Now let's get down to business STARTING A FOOTBALL VIEWING CENTER How do you go about Starting a football viewing center in Nigeria? It is simple, we have compiled some practical steps and tips to follow. Here are they: 1. FIND A SUITABLE LOCATION The talk about getting a good location is basically no news when starting a business. Because it’s a must for most business if not all. Get a decent and well-spaced area for your viewing centre .It could be a shop or a field. If it’s an open space like a football field, you may have to get a carpenter to make a shed by making use of zinc and ensure that the structure is wide enough to contain a good number of people (say 100 to 500 sitting capacity). Note: Capacity is a key success factor in the football viewing center business. The more people you viewing center can accommodate the more money you will make. 2. CONSTRUCT OR GO FOR CONFORTABLE CHAIRS If you have a low start-up capital, what you need to do is to get wooden seats. This will minimize start-up cost and will be able to accommodate a significantly large number of individuals. But if you have enough capital, you can opt for single plastic chairs as they are more comfortable. 3. MAKE PROVISION FOR PROPER VENTILATION You must ensure that your viewing center is properly ventilated; so as to make your customers feel comfortable. If they don’t feel comfortable watching football matches in your viewing center, then there’s a high chance they will patronize your competitors. I guess you don’t want that. You should provide fans (standing or ceiling) to enable a cooler atmosphere. 4. PURCHASE A GOOD TELEVISION SETS I would recommend two or three – big – flat screen – coloured televisions with good graphics (HD). A new television with good sound and graphics makes the match more enjoyable. But if you’re working on a tighter budget, you can actually get fairly used televisions with the above qualities. Multiple TVs enable you to give viewers the opportunity to watch any match of their choice when there are different matches going on at the same time. 5. PURCHASE DSTV DECODERS DSTV decoder is the best to purchase as they have right to cover most popular matches all over the world. 6. GET APPROPRIATE SUBSCRIPTION PLAN(S) DSTV has the right to cover directly the majority of football competitions such as: 1. UEFA champions league 2. Spanish La Liga 3. English Premiership 4. Italian Seria A 5. French Ligue 1 and so on. To be able to watch all these competitions, you need to subscribe to the premium DSTV plan. 7. PURCHASE A STANDBY GENERATOR Because of the epileptic power supply in Nigeria, you must have a standby generator in other to smoothly run this business. Football matches are always interesting that viewers are glued to their TV sets during the 90 minutes of the match. As a result, viewers would always be attracted to a viewing center that guarantees them uninterrupted power supply especially within the 90 minutes of the match. This can only be achieved by having a standby generator. 8. UPS This is used to keep the decoder running in case of power outage. That way, you can easily switch to generator or public power without having to reboot the decoder all over again. 9. GET A WRITING BOARD Writing boards publicize your viewing center and this will enable you to notify customers of the date and time of coming matches. 10. PRINT TICKETS Get a printed ticket to identifying paying customers. The ticket is a small piece of receipt to certify that a certain customer has paid for the service to be rendered. HOW TO EARN EXTRA INCOME FROM YOUR FOOTBALL VIEWING CENTER 1. SALE OF FOOD AND DRINKS Another way to earn from this business is to sell food, snacks, drinks, etc. As people watch their favourite team play, they love to wash it down with snacks and cold drink. Most individuals usually come with a friend, girlfriend or relative. Not selling most of these is like hindering the full potential of your business. 2. BETTING One of the reason why most people watch football is to know whether the game they played entered or not, that’s is, whether they won or lose. You can set up an account with betting companies like Bet9ja, Bet360, NairaBet etc. so that people can come and buck for games. 3. INCORPORATE GAMES CENTER Matches do not go on every day. They go on at regular during Local Leagues, World cup, Nations Cups and European Football Leagues. Whenever there’s no match, the center can be converted to a gaming center where game fanatics can come and compete with each other, most especially PES. This will earn you additional revenue. 4. SALE OF RECHARGE CARDS Source: https://www.billionairezmindset.com.ng/2019/02/how-to-make-money-starting-football.html

In Lagos, Nigeria, truckloads of electronic waste illegally imported from developed countries is causing problems for human health and the environment. It’s a towering mountain of waste that greets the eyes as cars zip by on nearby highways and head into the central area of Lagos. Formerly Nigeria’s capital city, this commercial nerve centre is one of Africa’s fastest growing economies and is its most populated urban centre, with an estimated 21 million residents. But for all of Lagos’ appeal, the megacity is drowning in rubbish. It is mostly plastic waste, which threatens the environment in no small measure. Yet, growing piles of another kind of waste could prove to be far more dangerous. Overwhelming amounts of electronic waste are piling up in landfills across the port city. Also referred to as Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) or simply e-waste, it involves discarded items that have power or battery supplies. Old electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) such as computers, phones, printers, televisions and refrigerators, commonly end up as e-waste. As demand for new technology grows nationwide, and Lagos’s tech scene expands, so does the problem of mounting levels of e-waste, and the dilemma of recycling it. Although it states otherwise on its website, the Lagos Waste Management Agency (LAWMA) does not, in practice, specially treat e-waste by collecting and sorting it before it arrives at dumpsites. E-waste is one of the fastest growing types of waste in the world. But globally, the eco-friendly recycling of e-waste is optimally low: more than half of almost 50 million metric tonnes of e-waste generated worldwide ends up in landfills or is illegally transported, according to the United Nations Environmental Programme. As trendier technologies emerge, the lifespans of consumer electronics are getting even shorter, worsening the issue. The world is currently generating e-waste faster than it can be recycled or repurposed. Developed nations are responsible for more than half of that. In 2014, the United States alone generated 11 million metric tonnes of e-waste, 80 percent of which was exported to poorer countries where they are either sold for re-use, mined for raw materials or abandoned in landfills. African countries like Nigeria bear the brunt: An estimated 500 containers, each carrying about 500,000 used computers and other electronic equipment, enter the country’s ports every month from the United States, Europe and Asia. A ready market for used EEE encourages the importation, 80 million Nigerians live on less than $2 a day, yet more than 90 million use internet enabled-gadgets. “Most people will buy used phones and computers rather than spend all their money on new ones,” says Bello Ibrahim, a small-scale gadget trader and repairer based in Lagos. It’s a market that yields quick returns he says, perhaps more so than selling only brand new products. Big EEE sellers often have both new and fairly-used options available for their customers. Ibrahim, 28, works out of a small space in Computer Village, the largest information technology (IT) market in West Africa and confirms that most of the businesses here trade in used EEE. Around 18,300 metric tonnes of used EEE arrive Lagos in shipping containers annually, originating mainly from Germany, the UK and Belgium, according to a United Nations-funded study. The United States contributes some 20 percent to the EEE importation figures. Apart from computers and phones, the e-waste also include air conditioners and LCD TVs, which contain mercury. However, more than half of used EEE imported to the country is near end of life or completely damaged. European countries shipped up to 60,000 metric tonnes of used EEE to Nigeria in 2016 alone and almost a third of these products were unuseable. It is illegal to import end-of-life EEE, which is basically e-waste, into the country according to national laws, but weak testing systems at Lagos ports mean smugglers can sneak their consignments in. A large percentage of used EEE shipped into Lagos finds its way to Computer Village. Located in Ikeja, central Lagos, the IT market is the main destination for thousands of Lagosians who troop here to buy used phones and laptops or to repair old ones. E-waste is generated on a large scale daily. But Lagos lacks an e-waste collection process, so Ibrahim, the phone trader, and other business owners here dispose of their bad gadgets by selling them off to scavengers in the city. They come every morning, Ibrahim tells TRT World, and cart away loads of old computers, printers and phones in exchange for some money. Ibrahim is not sure what they use the old equipment for but is fairly certain they resell the parts to manufacturers. In reality, the e-waste from Computer Village and all over Lagos ends up in three landfills scattered around the city. One of them is Olusosun, the biggest dumpsite in Africa, measuring up to 42.7 hectares and sitting right in the heart of Lagos. It is the sky-high heap of waste that most people notice upon entering the city centre. Although e-waste statistics from Lagos are unavailable, the dumpsite alone receives up to 10,000 metric tonnes of garbage daily according to LAWMA. A fair amount of it is e-waste, workers here tell TRT World. Shamsudeen Muraino, 50, has worked here as a scavenger for over a decade. The waste here is never sorted, Muraino confirms, and both plastic and e-waste are handled in the same manner. Every day, Muraino and a hundred others dig through the piles of waste deposited at Olusosun with bare hands. More companies buy plastic waste, but metal parts and old computers prove valuable too, the scrap worker says. Often, some of the equipment needs some repair work. But when they are totally damaged, they are burned and broken apart to be mined for precious metals like gold: A metric tonne of electronic scrap from used computers contains more gold than can be extracted from 17 tonnes of gold ore, according to the Environmental Justice Atlas. Cables and wires are useful too, Muraino says. Thousands of bundles of wires are burnt every day to get to the copper. All of which is then sold to manufacturers to make new bundles. It’s the only work Muraino knows, and he doesn’t plan on retiring soon. Muraino and his colleagues are unaware of how dangerous their work is. The men tear apart the burned gadgets with crude tools and then remove their treasure with bare hands. This dismantling process releases harmful metals like lead and mercury - heavily present in e-waste - into their systems, the soil and surrounding water bodies too, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The burning activity also releases toxic fumes into the air, affecting the scavengers and residents in the area. Burning radioactive material has already proven devastating for Muraino and his colleagues once. Last March, Olusosun was engulfed in a massive fire that raged for weeks, sending blankets of soot over the area. Muraino and hundreds of other scavengers, who had built tented living quarters at the dumpsite, had their homes razed. Residents in the area had to deal with dark clouds for weeks and Lagos waste authorities were forced to shut down operations in the site temporarily. The fire only contributed to an already heavily polluted ecosystem. Underground water around the Olusosun dump site has been studied and found to be heavily concentrated in lead levels, above the recommended standards for drinking water by Nigeria’s standards organisation. Exposure to toxic e-waste substances has been linked to thyroid dysfunction and spontaneous abortions in pregnant women. Long-term results include DNA damage. Children are most vulnerable according to the WHO, with exposure causing irreversible damage to their central nervous, immune, reproductive and digestive systems. Yet, importing e-waste continues to be a lucrative business in Nigeria, despite the West African giant’s ratification of the Basel Convention - an international framework regulating the global movement of hazardous waste - 24 years ago. At a national level, the National Environmental Standards and Regulation Agency (NESREA) is making efforts to tackle the e-waste problem by enforcing a number of laws and policies regulating the importation of used EEE. The National Environment Act of 2011, for example, stipulates a life term for persons who carry or generate hazardous waste. The organisation is working with Interpol, the United States Environmental Protection Agency and sister agencies to apprehend e-waste importers. But there has been little progress. Containers carrying vehicles filled with e-waste - a trick employed to mislead port officials since importing vehicles is legal - continue to dock in Lagos from the US, China and Europe, according to the Global E-waste Monitor. Lagos is unequipped to handle the burden: Although e-waste recycling businesses are springing up in Nigeria, it remains largely unregulated and in the informal sector, managed by untrained and unprotected scavengers like Muraino. “People are not aware that there are hazardous elements in their e-waste,” says Belinda Osarugue Osayemwen, an official at Hinckley Group, the first e-waste recycling company to operate in Lagos. Although the company has been operating for over two years, it faces serious competition from scavengers who buy off instead of simply collecting e-waste, a model that is unsustainable for recyclers. “Those guys give (clients) a higher value than what a formal recycler will ever give because they are not incurring any cost,” explains Osayemwen. Rising levels of internally generated e-waste, as well as a lackadaisical attitude towards recycling in general, adds to the burden. Nigeria generates 1.1 million metric tonnes of e-waste annnually (imported e-waste included) and although there are no numbers to indicate how much is being recycled, all evidence suggests that very little is. E-waste dumping is not new or limited to Nigeria. In 1988, Italy shipped 18,000 barrels of toxic waste marked to a village in Delta State. In 2016, an explosive investigation showed that GPS-tracked e-waste dropped off at American recycling companies ended up in Kenya. Every year, Ghana groans under the weight of 40,000 metric tonnes of imported e-waste. It will only get worse: the International Telecommunications Union estimates that 52 million metric tonnes of e-waste will be generated globally by 2021; a good percentage will be from the global West, and only 20 per cent will be properly recycled. Environmental experts are urging the Nigerian government to ratify the Bamako Treaty, a continental framework which aims to place an outright ban on the importation of hazardous waste. Many agree that tighter law enforcement is needed at the ports to stop e-waste from coming in. An outright ban on used EEE would be too harsh and would put “most of us out of business”, Ibrahim says, besides worsening already bad employment figures in the country. “In developed climes, you’d have an extended producer responsibility (EPR) system, where producers take responsibility for the recycling and processing of the equipment,” says Osayemwen of Hinckley. “We don’t have that structure here. It’s every man for himself.” By Sola Lawal Source: https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/nigeria-has-become-an-e-waste-dumpsite-for-europe-us-and-asia-24197

Nigeria is largely a consumption-based economy with a very low manufacturing base. Most local and multinational businesses rely on imports for sourcing a significant percentage of raw materials, with minimal value addition (mostly packaging) taking place in Nigeria. With purchasing power still low to help many firms break even, one of the options being explored by many is to design such products locally and produce from China. FEMI ADEKOYA writes. Beyond patriotism, encouraging domestic production aids business for the manufacturer, the supply chain, the end-user, and the economies, large and small, that it exists within. However, the appeal to produce locally is easily threatened by challenges of infrastructure, low disposable income, unchecked competition from foreign goods, mostly sub-standard but appealing because of price, quality and access to cheap finance. Considering that key economic factors like labour, population and capacity to buy, used by any investor to determine the availability of a market favour Nigeria, the concerns remain that the Nigerian manufacturing sector is operating below capacity due to several challenges. For local footwear designers like Afolabi and Emmanuel (not real names), producing for the local market requires ability to scale quickly in order to meet consumers’ specification in terms of sizes and design, constant electricity and newer technology to aid the processing of the raw leather and finishing of the final product. To compound their woes, they have to also compete with imported and smuggled shoes from China and neighbouring African countries. For Chinese exporters, saturation in traditional markets means looking for greener pastures elsewhere, particularly in the emerging markets of South America, including Brazil, with its 300-million-strong population, and Africa, especially Nigeria with population estimated to be rising to 200 million. To compete, many of the local designers have had to resort to designing the footwear and then send them to China for mass production with their labels to make it look ‘proudly Nigerian.’ Indeed, the World Bank trade statistics for 2017 showed that 88.2 per cent of total footwear imports come from China, accounting for $115 million, while the highest export for footwear within the period was to United States valued at a paltry sum of $8,461.68. For the textile sector, the Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association estimates a yearly bill of $1.2 billion from smuggled apparel. There are concerns around the recent signing of the pact forming the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in Kigali. Stakeholders within Nigeria’s textile, apparel and footwear industry are convinced that if the Federal Government signs the agreement, it would have an adverse effect as it could accelerate the importation of cheaper imported textiles and garments. Why the sector is still in the doldrums According to industry stakeholders, operators in the sector lack funds to re-tool and upgrade their machines to newer models that can aid efficiency and profitability. With access to local raw materials (cotton in the case of textiles and garments) becoming limited as a result of insurgency in some parts of the Northeast, which has reduced growing of cotton in the region, many operators have resorted to using other variants available through petrochemicals. Similarly, they alleged that the special intervention fund by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is not reaching the real stakeholders as modalities to receiving the funds were yet to be determined. Industry players raise concerns about patronage The Chairman of Textile Apparel and Footwear Sectoral Group (TAFSG) of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Alhaji Muhammad Kabir Haruna, who is also a Director of the FAMAD footwear manufacturing company, stated that apart from having to deal with infrastructural challenges that limit competitiveness in Nigeria, many firms do not get patronised by the government nor its agencies. According to him, getting government agencies, especially those under the ministry of interior to procure their footwear from local manufacturers remain herculean as preference for imported footwear remains high. “When you are manufacturing in Nigeria, you have so many things to consider— power, water, roads among others. In other countries, these are even taken for granted, because they are available. For the footwear industry, we also have to deal with the influx of foreign-made footwear, especially those from China. “Despite the Executive Order 003, government agencies find it difficult to patronise local manufacturers. We have exhibited our products, which went through various checks and quality control, and we came out top; yet, they are not open to patronising us. “Now in production of army footwear, there are so many parameters and standards by the United Nations, and you have to meet them. “So, for example, if the army goes on the war front, and a soldier is pierced and injured by a thorn, it affects his capacity to perform optimally, so for that, they need leathered soles and everything, something we can produce in Nigeria, but they took it to Aba, so that if they say they patronise some people in Aba, and they failed, they will say it is the Nigerian manufacturers’ fault”, he added. Beyond challenges with local patronage, he explained that competition with second-hand imported shoes is another problem faced by manufacturers. “Beyond textiles and clothings, there is the influx of second-hand shoes, you may not know it but, in some places, the second-hand shoes imported from God knows where, are even retailed higher than our own brand new locally produced footwear, that is in spite of the health hazards that is inherent in these second-hand shoes. “It is easy in second-hand clothes, you can boil your water, put all the disinfectants and everything and sanitise them before you start wearing, but in the case of footwear, you just have to dust them, shine, and wear them. You don’t know the last user neither his health status”, he lamented. For textile manufacturers, it is not so much of a different story as many institutions, especially primary and secondary schools opt for foreign apparels, while some textile materials are simply designed and mass produced in China. Until the recent intervention of the Federal Government with regard to gas pricing for electricity used by textile manufacturers and the Central Bank’s forex restriction on imported textiles, the industry has continued to operate below 40 per cent of its capacity. According to the Chairman of MAN Gas Users Group, Dr Michael Adebayo, the growth of the manufacturing sector is being hampered by the huge burden of energy crisis caused by power outages and high cost of petroleum products, adding that many factories have stopped production due to the exorbitant and dollarisation pricing of gas. He expressed optimism that the revised gas policy would aid improved productivity in the textile and other allied industries. “Within this year, we plan to increase our shifts and employ more people. A lot of companies have shut down operations due to the high cost of running their plants, coupled with the effects of smuggling on the business”, he added. Similarly, the Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association (NTMA), also urged the Federal Government to review some of its incentives to foreign investors, in order to promote growth of local manufacturers and a sustainable economy. Hamma Kwajaffa, the Director-General of NTMA said that some of the incentives set to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) to the country were detrimental and posed a threat to the survival of many local textile manufacturers. “We decry the proposal that operators, who invest a minimum of 10 million dollars in local cotton, and textile garment industry and employ 500 direct Nigerian workers, can import fabrics worth 50 per cent of their operation levy free for a period of five years. “We textile manufacturers in the country have set a target to boost our production and also a 100 per cent off-take of locally produced raw cotton. “What happens to our own cotton produce? Will the farmers wait for you for these five years? With the proposed policy, that means you are discouraging cotton production and invariably the value addition to the textile industry. “After all, there are investors in the country with more than one billion dollars investment such as Sunflag Ltd., UNTL Ltd., which have above that in the textile industry. “The investors that are being encouraged to come in with finished fabrics would kill local manufacturers and hinder our quest to attain global competitiveness. “If new investors are allowed to import fabrics duty free and vat free, it will infringe on the planned 1.7 billion metres of finished fabric sector target programme for the textile industry,” he said. CBN’s monetary policy to the rescue The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) earlier in March, placed a ban on access to foreign exchange to importers of textile materials in the country. “Effective immediately, the CBN hereby place the access to FX for all forms of textile materials on the FX restriction list. Accordingly, all FX dealers in Nigeria are to desist from granting any importer of textile material access to FX in the Nigerian foreign exchange market”, CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele said. According to the CBN governor, Nigeria currently spends over $4 billion annually on imported textiles and ready-made clothing. He said the potential market size of the domestic textile industry is over $10 billion. The erstwhile textile industry – which had companies such as United Textiles in Kaduna, Supertex Limited, Afprint, International Textile Industry (I.T.I), Texlon, Aba Textiles, Asaba Textile Mills Ltd, Enpee and Aswani Mills – was the largest employer of labour in Nigeria after the public sector, contributing over 25 per cent of the workforce in the manufacturing sector, according to Emefiele. The industry was supported by the production of cotton by 600,000 local farmers across the country. He said various operational challenges led to the decline of the sector, leaving only the current 25 textile factories, which are operating below 20 per cent of their production capacities with a total workforce of less than 20,000 people. The apex bank governor said a range of strategies would be put in place to check the activities of smugglers, stating the menace of smuggling is a threat to efforts towards achieving self-sufficiency in textiles manufacturing in the country. Wrong approach, says LCCI Citing the consequences of using a one-size fits all solution to address trade issues, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has stated that the N5 trillion textile industry needs a combination of trade and monetary policies to function efficiently. According to the chamber, the starting point is to strengthen the capacity of domestic industries, enhance their competitiveness, considering that the textile industry has been a beneficiary of several fiscal incentives and protectionist measures over the years, yet remains in stagnation. “The starting point is to strengthen the capacity of domestic industries, enhance their competitiveness, and reduce their import dependence as espoused in the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan [NIRP]. “More importantly the power issue needs to be addressed. It is almost impossible to achieve rapid industrialisation without resolving the issue power and the deficit in key infrastructures. Textile production is energy intensive. This is a high energy cost environment and it is very difficult for any energy intensive sector to survive”, the chamber’s Director-General, Muda Yusuf said. To aid the growth of the sector, the LCCI urged the implementation of the executive order of the president, that all uniforms of military and paramilitary institutions should be made from textiles produced in Nigeria, saying this is a low hanging fruit that could be explored while the issue of high production cost is being addressed.“Compelling the citizens to pay exorbitantly for systemic inefficiency is not an appropriate policy option. Such disposition imposes high welfare cost on the citizens, promotes unethical practices in the economy, promotes the growth of underground economy, leads to the loss of revenue to government, and results in job losses. It is an economic management model that is repressive and not sustainable. “There should be collaboration and coordination between the CBN, the Finance Ministry, Budget and Planning and Trade and Investment on trade policy issues. The boundaries of monetary policy need to be properly defined. Exclusion of sectors from the forex market is not a monetary policy issue. It is a trade policy matter. “Monetary policy is about managing liquidity [or money supply] to influence the direction of credit, exchange rate and inflation. Trade policy formulation is not within the remit of the CBN. It is an inter-ministerial responsibility involving the Finance, Budget and Planning, Industry, Trade and Investment Ministries”, Yusuf added. While it may appear that China is losing the competitive edge in mass production due to lingering trade war as well as rising production and labour costs, according to the Textile Industry Chamber of Commerce (CCOIC), there is the need for Nigeria to review its trade strategy with agenda focusing on addressing key infrastructure needed to drive manufacturing. As the LCCI noted, the Nigerian manufacturer will neither compete favourably nor get a chunk of consumers’ disposable incomes irrespective of incentives given if issues of infrastructure as well as patronage by government itself remain unresolved. Source: https://guardian.ng/business-services/footwear-textile-made-in-nigeria-by-chinese-companies/

Nigeria’s road network, the system of roads which connects the entire country, stretches to 193,200km. Of this, barely 28,980km (15%) is paved. Compared to 80% in Malaysia and 13% in Ethiopia. Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Malaysia are ranked as the 27th, 32nd and 66th largest countries in the world by landmass. Though the data is inconclusive, one would imagine that larger countries would have more roads – and more paved roads. What data does show is that 12 out 18 countries with 100% paved roads have landmasses less than the size of Malaysia (329,750 km2 ). There are many consequences of a poor road network, the most grievous being the danger it poses to human lives. In July 2017 alone, 13 people died from car accidents each day, with over 1,200 vehicles involved in accidents during the month. While numerous causal factors are at play, frequent road travellers would finger the deplorable state of Nigerian roads as chief among them. And beyond the health hazards, the poor quality of Nigerian roads acts as a stumbling block to development in the country. The Not Silk Road A World Bank assessment showed that road users bear the true cost of poor road maintenance. Essentially, bad roads mean that drivers spend more on their cars and road users spend more on transport fares. Transporting goods across the country also becomes more expensive, contributing to Nigeria's long-term inflation problem. The effect is lower consumption of goods and services, especially in rural areas; and with a little over 50% of the population situated in rural areas, the effect on trade cannot be favourable. So, increased investment in paving and maintaining roads would help mitigate high transport costs and pass through to lower prices in the economy, particularly in hard-to-reach rural areas. A World Bank working paper points to this precise effect, showing that by upgrading the primary road network connecting major cities, countries in Sub-Saharan Africa can increase regional trade by $250 billion in 5 years. Poverty & Social Exclusion Many rural areas are already hard to reach because they are far away from central cities and state capitals. Such areas risk being cut off because of the distance needed to cover to reach them, and also because the roads leading to these areas are not paved and so making it much harder to access them. Consequently, these areas have challenges and limitations in getting essential goods, commodities, and services delivered to them. The difficulty in accessing these areas also reduces their chances for commercialisation and industrialisation. Two extreme examples come via the populations in Koma Hills, Adamawa State and the Jibu in Taraba State. Both groups are excluded from society such that they are living as primitive people. We know that developing rural roads could have impacts across different dimensions of poverty: in Madagascar, lower transport costs resulted in increased household income; and in China, rural areas saw increases in per capita consumption as a result of increased road investments which opened rural areas to domestic and international markets. Invest Bad Roads Away, Or Not It is difficult to estimate how much Federal and State governments have invested in Nigeria's roads. A quick look at the 2018 Budget suggests that the FG plans to spend at least ₦295 billion on road construction, expansion, and maintenance. You may recall that last year, the FG raised a debut sovereign Sukuk of ₦100 billion to fund the construction and rehabilitation of 25 high-impact roads across the country. However, deserved scepticism of government spending – or the ‘Nigerian factor’ – encourages questions about the release of these funds and whether or not they will be used for the proposed projects. Interestingly, government spending will not be enough. The World Economic Forum has highlighted approaches to addressing challenges in developing road networks. These policy strategies ought to complement financial investments. Price instruments such as taxes (e.g. toll gate fees) and subsidies (reduction in the cost of public transport) can be effective in influencing consumer behaviour, depending on the desired outcomes. With taxes, the revenues generated can be used to fund road maintenance, whereas subsidies are effective at decongesting roads. Of course, these approaches, if implemented, will be met resistance by road users. However, we ultimately stand to benefit the most, assuming that the revenues generated will be used efficiently. Road Ahead With only 15% of its roads paved, Nigeria has a lot of ground to cover here. The adverse effect of poor roads on human lives would rightfully continue to command attention, but we must be wise to the long run development costs of bad roads. Monetary investments are necessary, especially given the massive deficit of paved roads, but moving forward, Nigeria needs to employ other policy strategies that can ensure quality roads so that our lives are not otherwise wasted on these roads. By Martha Sambe Source: https://www.stearsng.com/opinion/devonomics/rethinking-roads-in-nigeria

Cybercrime has become the greatest threat to companies and countries globally, just as about 54 per cent of companies globally experience at least one cyberattack every year. In Nigeria, the rate of cyberattack on organisations is on the rise, as 60 per cent of firms suffer cyberattack every year, according to a recent survey jointly carried out by Sophos Nigeria Limited and Sidmach Technologies. According to the report, only 38 per cent of global organisations claim they have the infrastructure to handle a sophisticated cyber-attack, yet up to 43 per cent of cyberattack is targeted at small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs). But, it disclosed that only 14 per cent of these SMEs have effective infrastructure to mitigate cyber risks, vulnerabilities and attacks. The figures showing the rate of attacks were revealed at a one-day Sidmach/Sophos Lunch and Learn event, which held in Lagos recently. According to the Country Manager of Sophos Nigeria, Mr. Jimi Falaiye, businesses were often concerned about security of data, but unfortunately, 95 per cent of security breaches were caused by human error. "Cyber-criminals and hackers will infiltrate your company through your weakest link, which is almost never known in the Information Technology (IT) department," he said, adding that it takes organisations an average of 191 days to identify data breaches. He further revealed that 92.4 per cent of malwares are delivered via email, even as total cost for cybercrime committed globally added up to over $1 trillion dollars in 2018. Sharing more facts about cybercrimes, particularly as ransomware affects Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) in Nigeria, the Market Intelligence and Research Analyst at Sidmach Technologies Nigeria Limited, Nathanael Odofin, said 22 per cent of organisations had to cease business operations immediately because of ransomware. The report revealed that 81 per cent businesses have experienced ransomware; 66mer cent have suffered a data breach and 35 per cent were victims of ransomware. It however said anti-virus was not enough to mitigate such attacks because most of them are reactive in nature. "Antivirus protects you from classic dangers like known viruses, Trojans, and worms - 'known' being the operative word here. Antivirus cannot protect without a signature database for detection. "But most antivirus programs are reactive. A study has found that a typical antivirus will only stop 30-50 per cent of new malware when it first appears. Unless the antivirus software has seen a particular threat in the past, it won't necessarily protect your computer," Odofin said. Referring to Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report, he reminded businesses in Nigeria that over half of all cyber breaches in 2017 included the use of malware. He described malware activities as stealing credit card details, revealing passwords and spreading spam. "This is why the fortification of antivirus merely is not enough. You need to bolster this layer of defence with another layer of an anti-malware," Odofin added. The organisers advised participants and other organisations in Nigeria to deploy software security solutions, which Sophos has developed to keep a very close eye on what is happening inside computer and network systems, by blocking both known and unknown malware threats and safeguards against any potential harmful programs. The Managing Director of Sidmach Technologies, Mr. Peter Arogundade, said the event was aimed at assisting IT experts in different organisations to understand cost effective security dynamics, and tools that mitigate latest threats, while receiving insights to have complete visibility and control of their IT Infrastructure. The MD, who spoke through the Head of Marketing at Sidmach, Olanrewaju Adelanwa, described the sessions as crucial as they offered the experts new perspective on better architectures for end-to-end networks threats management with a one-stop-solution that Sophos brings. By Emma Okonji Source: https://allafrica.com/stories/201903070015.html

As part of its efforts to extend financial inclusion the Nigerian government has created a scheme that allows small traders and artisans to access business loans via their phones. Writes Linus Unah. On a sweltering Monday afternoon in early September last year, the vice-president of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo, visited a major market in Iwo, a town in the southwestern Nigerian state of Osun. Speaking from a raised surface, Osinbajo told the crowd that a new government programme known as TraderMoni would provide collateral-free loans to them. “The policy of the federal government is to support businesses, not just big businesses but small, medium-sized businesses and micro businesses,” he said. “We recognise the hard work of traders who wake up everyday and toil in the markets with a dream to become financially independent and secure a future for themselves and their children.” Since August last year, he has been travelling to different markets in Nigeria’s 36 states to chat with traders while announcing the loan scheme. Under the TraderMoni programme, the government is offering interest-free loans of between N10,000 and N100,000 ($27.5 to $275) to small traders and artisans, including food sellers, hairdressers, tailors, carpenters, tricycle drivers, and secondhand clothing sellers. “Moni” is the word for money in Pidgin English, which is widely spoken in West and Central Africa. TraderMoni loosely means “the trader’s money”. Simiat Kasali, a widow in Osun, has been struggling to cater for her four children. Most of what she makes from selling rice, garri and sugar at a small roadside store is used to support her family. The items in her store are worth about N20,000 combined. “The loan from the government has helped me to buy more rice and sugar since that is what most of my customers wants,” Kasali says. Nigeria’s informal economy is largely cash-based, meaning most small-scale businesses barely consider having a bank account. This sector, which includes traders like Kasali, accounts for about 60% of the entire economy or about $240bn. It creates much-needed new jobs (more than 80% of workers are informal), offering more chances to people than the formal sector. But access to finance remains a major barrier to expansion. Banks often do not only have high interest rates but also include collateral requirements when providing credit facilities. Most small businesses struggle to meet these demands, cutting them off from the capital they need to grow. TraderMoni is one of three micro-credit schemes under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) launched in 2016. The other components of the GEEP, which works with over 20 partner companies, are FarmerMoni (which offers loans to farmers) and MarketMoni (which cater to market associations, women cooperatives, artisan groups, trade associations and cooperatives). All of these programmes are executed by the Bank of Industry. “These hardworking Nigerians are not ‘interesting’ to the traditional lenders: they have little to no financial track record, they have no collateral, some barely have formal identities,” Uzoma Nwagba, chief operating officer of GEEP, told Nigerian newspaper Business Day in an interview. Some 4,000 TraderMoni agents, usually local people within the state, visit markets or other places of business with their computer tablets. To help traders and artisans identify them easily, these agents often wear caps or hats and yellow T-shirts with TraderMoni embossed on the front. They collect the recipients’ biographical details, phone number, GPS location of their point of trade, what they sell, and take photos of them – all of which are uploaded to a central server. Within two weeks, artisans and traders who qualify receive a text message informing them that their loans have been automatically credited to a mobile wallet account on their phones. They can transfer the money from the wallet to a bank account, withdraw it from ATMs, or obtain cash from local mobile money agents. The loans must be repaid within six months at about 10 designated banks across the country. This includes an option to repay daily or weekly. Initial loans are 10,000 naira but beneficiaries who repay their first loan within three months are automatically eligible for a second loan of N15,000. Essentially, the amount they can borrow grows as they repay, until it reaches the N100,000 ($275) cap. “I used the loan I got in October to buy sewing cloth, and I will work very hard to repay so I can get more next time,” says 37-year-old Muktar Suleiman, a tailor in the northern Nigerian city of Kano. With TraderMoni, the government is aiming to provide at least 30,000 loans in each of the country’s 36 states and the capital Abuja. So far, some 1.5m beneficiaries have received the loans. With an unbanked population of about 60.1m (only 39.8% adults out of a total adult population of 99.6m have a bank account), part of the larger target for the government is to push for financial inclusion. FarmerMoni and MarketMoni participants wanting to collect loans must have a Bank Verification Number (BVN), a centralised biometric identity for each Nigerian banking customer. For TraderMoni loan receivers, the second loan usually comes with a BVN requirement, meaning they have to be banked. Despite the progress recorded by the TraderMoni initiative, there are fears that it could suffer setbacks that have afflicted government-funded programmes in the past, including corruption and the tendency for new administrations to abandon existing programmes amid changing priorities. In addition, people often think government loans are “free”, and might be reluctant to pay back. In response the GEEP is deploying BVN as “digital collateral”. Loan receivers who default on repayment after several warnings won’t be able to use their bank accounts as their BVNs would be blocked. But it helps to tread carefully in this area, particularly as the government is aiming to promote financial inclusion. Nwagba of GEEP is optimistic about loan repayments. “When you bring credit, real funding, to people who have historically not had such access, they tend to use it judiciously and repay, especially when repayment guarantees a higher amount in loans, almost automatically,” he told Business Day.