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CBN suspends eNaira launch
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday night suspended the launch of its Digital Currency (CBDC) – the eNaira, earlier scheduled for October 1, 2021. The CBN Spokesman Osita Nwanisobi, said the planned unveiling was suspended due to other key activities lined up to commemorate the country’s 61st Independence Anniversary.“The CBN took the decision to postpone the launch, which had been initially planned to coincide with the Independence anniversary, in deference to the mood of national rededication to the collective dream of One Nigeria,” Nwanisobi noted in a statement.Assuring that there was no cause for alarm, he said the CBN and other partners are committed to ensuring a seamless process that will be for the overall benefit of the customer, particularly those in the rural areas and the unbanked population.
Rivers leads top 5 states in 2021 fiscal performance ranking
Rivers State has again topped the overall 2021 Fiscal Performance Ranking in BudgIT’s annual state of states report titled Fiscal Options for Building Back Better. Other states include Ebonyi, Lagos, Anambra and Kebbi. BudgIT is a foremost civic-tech organisation leading the advocacy for transparency and accountability in Nigeria and three other African countries. The ranking indicates that the fiscal fundamentals of Rivers State, compared to others in the country, are more prudently managed. In the overall ranking, two states – Ebonyi and Kebbi – made it as new entrants to the top 5 category. This was driven largely by growth in both states’ IGR as recorded by the NBS. Ebonyi State grew its IGR by 82.3 percent from N7.5bn in 2019 to N13.6bn in 2020, while Kebbi State grew its revenue by 87.02 percent from N7.4bn in 2019 to N13.8bn in 2020. Meanwhile, Ogun (now 19th) and Kano (now 22nd), dropped out of the top 5 category due to a sharp decline in their IGR in 2020.
Nigeria approves paternity leave in first civil service reform in 13 years
The Nigerian government has approved two weeks of paternity leave for new fathers in its first civil service reform in 13 years. This was disclosed by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Folasade Yemi-Esan, at the end of Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council meeting. Yemi-Esan said the approval of paternity leave is one of the major reforms introduced to the Nigerian civil service. Asked to explain more on the paternity leave and those qualified to benefit from it, the Head of Civil Service of the Federation said, “Paternity leave is the leave that is approved for men, when their spouses or wives have given birth to a newborn baby, or if the husband and wife have just adopted a baby of less than four months, then the man is entitled to paternity leave of about 14 days.
Read also: Aviation sector to benefit as CBN mulls N15tn fund
Buhari orders conditional lifting of twitter ban
During President Muhammadu Buhari October 1 independence anniversary speech he ordered that the ban on microblogging site, Twitter, be lifted. However, the President said, the lifting of the ban is based on Twitter meeting the conditions set by the Presidential Committee (and its Technical Team) over which they engaged with Twitter. “Social media is a very useful platform that has enabled millions of Nigerians to connect with loved ones, promote their businesses, socialise, and access news and other information. However, recent events have shown that the platform is not just an innocuous platform for information dissemination. Rather some users have misused the platform to organise, coordinate, and execute criminal activities, propagate fake news, and promote ethnic and religious sentiments,” Buhari said. The Federal Government of Nigeria suspended the operations of Twitter in Nigeria on June 5, 2021,
Romdhane named Tunisia’s first female during troubled times
Tunisian President Kais Saied has named Najla Bouden Romdhane, a little-known university engineer who worked with the World Bank, as the country’s first female prime minister, nearly two months after he seized most powers in a move his foes call a coup. Romdhane will take office at a time of national crisis, with the democratic gains won in a 2011 revolution in doubt and as a major threat looms over public finances. Saied dismissed the previous prime minister, suspended Parliament and assumed wide executive powers in July, and has been under growing domestic and international pressure to form a new government. Romdhane will be Tunisia’s tenth prime minister since a 2011 uprising overthrew longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, sparking the Arab Spring revolts.
COVID-19 wipes out $5.5bn from value of Africa’s top brands
The COVID-19 pandemic wiped out $5.5 billion from the value of Africa’s top brands between 2020 and 2021, according to a study by South Africa-based Brand Finance Africa, a brand valuation consultancy. The 150 top African brands surveyed in the report saw their valuation decline $5.5 billion to $40 billion in 2021 from $45.5 billion in 2020, a 12 percent decline due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The brand valuation report also reveals that Nigeria’s top brands account for only 6 percent of the total brand value on the continent, a ranking that puts it behind South Africa even though the latter is second to Nigeria in terms of economic size and even farther behind in terms of population. The study notes that some top Nigerian brands are yet to make inroads in the continent, a development analysts say limits both their market share and the country’s sphere of influence. The report ranks 33 Export Lager Beer, Nigeria’s most valuable brand at 43rd in the overall ranking, but the brand declined 8 percent to $292 million. Access Bank emerged as Nigeria’s fastest growing brand, according to the report, following an 8 percent increase in brand value to $262 million, a growth that has bucked global trend for the banking sector this year.
