Economy
13 Million African Children Malnourished – Emefiele
By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele has warned of the dire consequences of continued food malnutrition presently ravaging millions of children in the African countries.
Emefiele who spoke at the opening of a seminar for African Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Abuja on Monday said, “we must stop romanticizing food malnutrition in Africa, because it is evident that malnourished children today will lead to malnourished economies tomorrow”.
Represented by the CBN Director of Public Communications, Mr Isaac Okorafor, the governor pointed out that, “malnutrition is abnormal and affects millions of children in Africa. These children are either underweight or stunted, wasted or micronutrient deficient”.
The two-day seminar, with the theme, “Agriculture and Food Policies for Better Nutrition Outcomes in Africa”, was organized by the African Economic Consortium (AERC) in partnership with the CBN.
Alluding to a recent Global Report, Emefiele disclosed that “an estimated 57.9 million or 36% of children under the age of five in sub-Saharan Africa have abnormal physiological condition resulting from inadequate food intake or a recent bout with illness that may hinder appropriate intake and absorption of nutrients required for an active, healthy life”.
Accoding to him, this situation may constitute a threat to the lives of 13.1 million children in the region, adding that, the effects of which include, “vulnerability to illness, difficulty In school, and eventually reduced adult labour capacity”.
The governor said, “Binding constraints, such as limited access to technology, markets, infrastructure, finance, amongst others – also need to be addressed, as these challenges continue to limit agriculture across the continent and reduce its potential as a wealth- creating endeavour.
“Access to and secured ownership of land remain major challenges particularly for women and smallholder farmers in general because they lack eligible collateral.
“The absence of policies to encourage the use of movable collaterals, rather than fixed assets continues to constrain attempts to scale-up requisite financing to smallholder farmers in the region”.
He however stated that in Nigeria, the CBN has adopted some measures to redress the trend, by forging alliances with financial and non-financial institutions to improve smallholder farmers’ access to finance in furtherance of its developmental mandate.
“In recent years the Bank has set up two major vehicles – The Nigeria Incentives-based Risk Sharing for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and the National Collateral Registry (NCR), and currently leverages both in the implementation of intervention programmes in the agricultural sector such as the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), Agriculture Credit Guarantee Scheme (ACGS), Agribusiness Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS).
“Across the country, these programmes have been implemented with resounding success – expanding credits with single digit interest rate to about 1.5 million smallholder farmers cultivating over 1.6 million hectares of various agricultural commodities.
“The programmes have also helped to reduce the nation’s food import bill from about US $3.40 billion as at 2014 to US $0.59 billion in 2018”, he added.
The governor also stressed the need for governments in Africa to urgently develop innovative policies to unlock the wealth in agriculture, which market size in terms of food and agribusiness, could be worth US $1 trillion by 2030 according to the African Development Bank (AfDB).
In his welcome address, Executive Director, AERC, Professor Njuguna Ndung’u noted there is a dearth of quality data to properly inform policies on nutrition and called for combine forces to achieve the best nutrition outcomes.
“Global Panel of Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition point out, there is a dearth of quality data to properly inform policies on nutrition. This has tended to limit the effectiveness of agricultural policies in improving nutrition outcomes”, he said.
Speaking on data challenges, Ndung’u said there has been lack of high-quality policy analyses that explore the effect of agricultural policies on nutrition.
He further said AERC’s mission is to strengthen local quality for conducting independent, rigorous into problems Pertinent to management of economies to enhance the capacity of locally based researchers to conduct policy relevant economic inquiry context.
“Our vision is to sustain development in Sub Saharan Africa grounded in sound economic management and an informed society”.
Top policy makers present at the opening ceremony included, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sani Nanono; his Industry, Trade and Investment, counterpart, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo and Executive Director of AERC, Prof Njuguna Ndungu as well as eminent paper presenters.
By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has activated plans to double foreign-currency remittance flows through formal channels by granting 14 new International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) Approval-in-Principle (AIP).
This was disclosed in Abuja on Wednesday, by the Bank’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Mrs.
Hakama Sidi Ali, who stated that the initiative will help increase the sustained supply of foreign exchange in the official market by promoting greater competition and innovation amongst IMTOs to lower the cost of remittance transactions and boost financial inclusion.She said, “This will spur liquidity in Nigeria’s Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), augmenting price discovery to enable a market-driven fair value for the naira.
“It will be recalled that the CBN Governor, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, had recently declared: “We’ve set ourselves a target to double remittance flows into Nigeria within a year, a goal I firmly believe is within reach.
“We are wasting no time driving progress to remove any bottlenecks hindering flows through formal channels permanently. We have a determined pathway and a sequenced approach to tackling all challenges ahead, working hand in hand with key stakeholders in the remittance industry,” she stated.
Continuing, Sidi Ali, said that the CBN viewed increasing formal remittance flows—one of the major sources of foreign exchange, accounting for over 6% of GDP—as a means of reducing the historical volatility in Nigeria’s exchange rate caused by external factors, such as fluctuations in foreign investment and oil export proceeds.
The increase in the number of IMTOs is one of the primary actions initiated by the CBN’s remittance task force, overseen by Governor Cardoso as a collaborative unit pulling together specialists to work closely with the private sector and market operators to facilitate the ease of doing business in the remittance ecosystem in Nigeria.
The task force was established as a direct result of an executive learning session with IMTOs during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings held in Washington DC, United States of America, in April 2024. The task force will meet regularly to implement strategy and monitor the impact of its measures on remittance inflows.
By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Federal government is committed a tax culture that will ensure the continuous flow of revenues into government coffers, the Accountant General of the Federation, Dr Oluwatoyin Madein has said.
Madein stated this at the 26th Annual Tax Conference of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) in Abuja, with the theme: “Sustainable Tax Culture and Economic Roadmap for Nation Building”.
Madein said, “Like the CITN, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation is committed to a sustainable tax culture that will ensure the continuous flow of revenues even at an improved level.
“Tax revenue as at today is the highest source of revenue accruing to the federation.
Therefore at the Federation Account Allocation Committee meetings we eagerly await the numbers coming from the FIRS because the performance keeps on increasing and brings succour to all tiers of government.”She charged tax practitioners to work harder in getting more revenue from taxes, stressing that tax revenue is currently the highest income source for the federation.
The government noted that based on the current high revenue from taxes, members of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee were always looking forward to the figures from the Federal Inland Revenue Service every month, in order to have funds to share to the three tiers of government.
“Tax revenue as at today is the highest source of revenue accruing to the federation. Therefore at the Federation Account Allocation Committee meetings we eagerly await the numbers coming from the FIRS because the performance keeps on increasing and brings succour to all tiers of government”, she added.
FIRS exceeded its 2023 revenue target by N816bn, as its total actual revenue collection for last year stood at N12.37tn, outperforming the N11.56tn target.
This is contained in a presentation by Amina Ado, Coordinating Director of Special Tax Operations Group at the FIRS.
The accountant-general tasked tax practitioners to step up efforts in collecting taxes, so as to shore up more revenue for the government to provide infrastructure and other amenities.
Madein said, “Let us remain steadfast in our commitment to building a better future for all. Together we can harness the transformative power of taxation to create a more prosperous, equitable and sustainable world.
“Like I said earlier, at FAAC we eagerly look forward to tax numbers because at the moment revenue from non-oil has been a great revenue source to the federation.
“Therefore, to tax practitioners, you are doing so well, but we need more of this to be able to deliver on all the areas that the citizens are looking forward to, because for even infrastructure development, it is only through funds that we can get it done.”
She further stated that it was her strong belief that “the conference will go a long way to deepen the collaboration between our organisations in building capacity for all the professionals, experts and tax payers for better understanding of the tax laws, rules and regulations.”
In his remarks, the President/Chairman of Council, CITN, Samuel Agbeluyi, pointed out that the withdrawal of subsidies on fuel and electricity had reduced the purchasing power of the masses.
He noted that raising electricity tariff for a selected band after fuel subsidy was withdrawn “is going to reduce the purchasing power of the masses. So we urge govt to consider these actions on the masses.
He, however, stated that the institute was happy to know that President Bola Tinubu had asked the Central Bank of Nigeria to slow down on the recent cybersecurity levy that was approved by the apex bank.
“We will continue to advise the govt on its policies, considering how these polices affect the citizens,” Agbeluyi stated.
Access Holdings Plc has awarded 23.8 million ordinary shares worth N427.13 million to its senior executives and those of its subsidiary, Access Bank.
This was disclosed in a notice sent to the Nigerian Exchange Ltd.(NGX) in Lagos.
The notification was sent in line with the disclosure requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the NGX.
It is also in pursuant of the terms of its shareholders’ approved Employees Performance Share Plan.
The group said that Ms Bolaji Agbede, Acting Group Chief Executive Officer, Access Holdings, Mr Roosevelt Ogbonna, Managing Director/CEO, Access Bank, and six others were vested with 23,883,790 shares worth N427.
13 million in total.According to the filings, Ogbonna got the highest amount of shares, totalling 12,345,679 and valued at N220.37 million, having been traded at N17.85 per share.
Agbede was vested with 2,216,992 shares, valued at N39.795 million.
Other directors who had shares vested on them include: Mr Seyi Kumapayi, Executive Director, African Subsidiaries, Access Bank, with 1,234,568 shares worth N22.16 million.
Ms Iyabo Soji-Okusanya, Executive Director, Commercial and Investment Banking Division, Access Bank, got 1,691,308 shares at N17.95 per share, valued at N30.36 million.
Mrs Chizoma Okoli, Access Bank’s Deputy Managing Director, Retail South, also got 1,728,395 shares valued at N30.85 million.
Dr Gregory Jobome, Executive Director, Risk Management, and Hadiza Ambursa, Executive Director, Commercial Banking, were vested with 1,728,395 shares each,valued at N30.85 million and N31.02 million respectively.
Also, Access Holdings’ Company Secretary, Mr Sunday Ekwochi, was vested with 1,210,058 shares worth N21.72 milion.
The group stated that the shares were vested on May 3 and May 6.
It noted that the vesting of the shares was not a purchase or sale transaction in the context of the Exchange’s rules.(NAN)
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