The report that rising debt has pushed Nigeria up the World Bank’s top 10 International Development Association borrowers’ list is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday.
The Punch reports that rising debt has pushed Nigeria up the World Bank’s top 10 International Development Association borrowers’ list.
The World Bank Fiscal Year 2021 audited financial statements, known as the IDA financial statement, showed that Nigeria was rated fifth on the list with $11.7bn IDA debt stock as of June 30, 2021.
However, the newly released World Bank Fiscal Year 2022 audited financial statements for IDA showed that Nigeria has moved to the fourth position on the list, with $13bn IDA debt stock as of June 30, 2022.
This shows that Nigeria accumulated about $1.3bn IDA debt within a fiscal year, with the country taking over the fourth top debtor position from Vietnam.
This debt is different from the outstanding loan of $486m from World Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
The top five countries on the list slightly reduced their IDA debt stock except Nigeria.
India, which is still the first on the list reduced its IDA debt stock from $22bn in the previous fiscal year to $19.7bn, followed by Bangladesh from $18.1bn to $18bn.
The newspaper says that Nigerian population in the Diaspora remitted $60.22bn in the three years to boost economic activities and the nation’s external reserves.
This is according to data from the World Bank and Budget Office of Nigeria.
The World Bank revealed that Diaspora remittances into Nigeria were estimated at $23.81bn in 2019. In its 2023 – 2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper, the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, disclosed that Diaspora remittances were $17.21bn in 2020 and $19.2bn in 2021.
Prior to 2020, Nigeria’s remittance inflows had only fallen below $20bn once, when it fell to $19.7bn in 2016.
According to the budget office, Diaspora remittances were among top sources of non-oil foreign exchange for the nation. It explained that a string of policies from the Central Bank of Nigeria was responsible for increased inflows of Diaspora remittances into the nation in 2021.
It stated that the nation was banking on improved Diaspora remittances in 2022 to reverse the decline in its foreign reserves and strengthen its current account balance. The office clarified that the continuous decline in the nation’s external reserves level was because the CBN was intervening in the official market in a bid to stabilise the exchange rate. Another reason was the nation’s failure to meet its crude oil production quota, the office noted.
It further explained that improving the nation’s external reserves was dependent on increased remittances. As of June 16, the nation’s external reserves were out at $38.66bn.
The Guardian reports that in line with its commitment to bridge the digital gap in Africa, West Africa’s pioneer solar-based Internet and voice service provider, Tizeti, is set to expand its operations within Nigeria and Ghana, and into new neighboring Cote d’Ivoire and Togo in addition to exploring listing its Nigerian subsidiary.
With over 2.8 million subscribers on its platform, a revenue of over N11 billion over 10 years, and no debt, the firm is exploring an Initial Public Offer (IPO) in the stock market for investors/shareholders, while setting its eyes on expanding its footprints across the Francophone and Anglophone countries in West Africa.
Speaking at the second edition of Tizeti’s yearly event tagged ‘NeXTGEN 2.0: The Next Frontier’, at the weekend, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Tizeti, Kendall Ananyi, stressed that the broadband gap in Africa is still very high and operators like Tizeti must expand to ensure that more Africans have access to reliable, affordable and truly unlimited internet from Tizeti.
According to him, Tizeti has been providing affordable unlimited Internet service in Nigeria and Ghana using solar towers, which has brought about 30 per cent to 50 per cent cost savings on data cap plans and made it the preferred option to its competitors.
“This expansion is very strategic for us and for the continent. We have grown significantly within the last few years, being profitable in three out of the last four years and paid our first dividend this year. We currently have over 3884 hotspot locations and built 1 tower every month since we started, with 2.8 million users in Nigeria.
“Today, Tizeti delivers over 190TBPS of data a day, which is about 20 per cent of what large Nigerian telcos with coverage in 36 states deliver. Using publicly available data on the website of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and our internal data, we are the number one fixed Internet Service Provider by users and active users in Nigeria today and the ISP of the year 2022. And there’s still so much room for growth.
“Internet users in Africa are still about 26 per cent of the total population, with almost 900 million people unconnected. We are now exploring the public markets for equity/debt to fund our next growth phase. We have reserved our ticker at NASDAQ, and are exploring the London Stock Exchange as we are an LSE-Companies to Inspire, as well as the Nigerian Exchange NGX,” Ananyi said.
The newspaper says that the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide, has criticised President Muhammed Buhari for being unduly selective in his comment on insecurity as it concerns the South East geopolitical zone.
Ohanaeze was reacting to a recent statement by Buhari on alleged killing of Nigeriens by unknown persons in Imo State wherein leaders of the zone were blamed.
In a statement signed by National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze, Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia, the group accused the President of singling out what happens in the South East while turning a blind eye to horrors in other parts of the country, including his native Katsina State.
While condemning the attack, Ohanaeze, nevertheless, frowned at the statement by the Presidency “which is nuanced against the South East as a haven for terrorists that attack non-indigenes and law enforcement officials; implying that the insecurity persists because the leaders have not forcefully spoken.
“This is very unfair to the Igbo, especially when the Presidency knows the root cause and nature of the insecurity in the South East. It needs to be added that the solution to the insecurity in the South East lies in the enormous powers of the Presidency.
“The remarks by the Presidency appear to have ignored the prolonged open war with Boko Haram in the North East; banditry in the North West, especially in Katsina State; Fulani herdsmen invasion of several communities in the Middle Belt region; the Church massacre at Owo; daily kidnappings on highways; the Kaduna-Abuja train abduction, etc.”
Also, pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, yesterday, expressed dismay over the level of insecurity in the country, wondering if the President is aware.
In a statement by National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Jare Ajayi, Afenifere said the situation appears to suggest there is no authority that can chain the monster.
It said, according to the Constitution, Buhari, as Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the Armed Forces, is responsible for the security of Nigerians.
“Unfortunately, we have not seen veritable indications that the C-in-C is aware of the enormity of the situation or is putting up any strategy to arrest it.”
GIK/APA