Mohammed said this when he appeared on a Radio Nigeria call-in programme in Abuja today June 14.

“If you ask people to donate money via bitcoins for EndSARS protesters then you are vicariously liable for whatever is the outcome of the protests,” Mohammed said.

The Minister listed some of the losses incurred by the country saying “We have forgotten that EndSARS led to the loss of lives, including 37 policemen, six soldiers, 57 civilians while property worth billions of naira were destroyed.

“164 police vehicles and 134 police stations were razed to the ground, 265 private corporate organisation were looted while 243 public property were looted.

81 warehouses were looted while over 200 brand new buses bought by Lagos State Government were burnt to ashes’’ he said

The minister said it was unfair to conclude that the operation of Twitter was suspended indefinitely because it deleted President Muhammadu Buhari’s message.

Lai Mohammed alleged that the microblogging site has consistently provided its platform to secessionist groups bent at destroying the corporate existence of Nigeria.

Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of banned separatist group IPOB, often used Twitter to address his followers and spread his separatist agenda.

“Twitter has become a platform of choice for a particular separatist promoter. The promoter consistently used the platform to direct his loyalists to kill Nigerian soldiers and policemen, run down INEC offices and destroy all symbols of Nigeria’s sovereignty. Every attempt to persuade Twitter to deny its platform to this separatist leader was not taken serious’’ he said

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Twitter might have underestimated the influence of Nigeria’s ban on its operations as India has now told the company it has one last chance to comply with the county’s IT rules, or face ‘unintended consequences’ according to a copy of an official letter seen by Reuters.

Last week, Twitter got into trouble with the Nigerian government after the company deleted one of President Muhammadu Buhari’s post from its platform.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed announced that the country has suspended Twitter’s operations indefinitely, and a day later, internet service providers were ordered to restrict access to Twitter’s domain.

Now India might be planning to follow Nigeria’s example, the country told Twitter to follow its IT rules, or face “unintended consequences”

The new rules – which were announced in February and which became effective at the end of last month – are aimed at regulating content on social media and making firms such as Facebook, its WhatsApp messenger and Twitter more accountable to legal requests.

They also require big social media companies to set up grievance redressal mechanisms and appoint new executives to coordinate with law enforcement.

India’s technology ministry wrote to Twitter on May 26 and May 28 on the new rules, but the company’s responses “neither address the clarifications sought by this ministry nor indicate full compliance with the Rules,” said the June 5 letter from the technology ministry to Twitter deputy general counsel Jim Baker.

The letter, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, said that among other things, Twitter had yet to inform the ministry about its chief compliance officer, and its grievance officer and nodal contact person were not employees as mandated by rules.

It said such non-compliance would lead to “unintended consequences” including the possibility that Twitter could be held accountable for content posted on it, an exemption it currently largely enjoys.

It added, “However, as gesture of goodwill, Twitter Inc is hereby given one last notice to immediately comply with the Rules.”

Just like in Nigeria, activists have accused the Indian government of trying to gag social media after users took to the platform to organize huge farmer’s protests earlier this year. Many tweeps have also criticized Prime Minister Modi’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic on the platform.

Nigeria is estimated to have up to 40 million registered users on Twitter.

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American news publication, ForeignPolicy.com has assessed Nigeria’s situation under President Muhammadu Buhari and declared the country “a failed state”.

In an opinion piece co-authored by John Cambell, a former American ambassador to Nigeria the influential magazine writes:
“Nigeria has long teetered on the precipice of failure. But now, unable to keep its citizens safe… Nigeria has become a fully failed state.

“This designation…is not a knee-jerk, casual labelling using emotive and pejorative words. Instead, it is a designation informed by a body of political theory.

“(A failed state) lacks security, is unsafe, has weak rules of law, is corrupt, limits political participation and voice, discriminates within its borders against various classes and kinds of citizens, and provides educational and medical services sparingly.

“Most of all, failed states are violent… Nigeria now confronts six or more internal insurrections and the inability of the Nigerian state to provide peace and stability to its people has tipped a hitherto very weak state into failure.”

Can any of us really claim that Nigeria does not meet that definition for a failed state?

It states: “Buhari’s administration came to power in 2015 and won reelection in 2019 with promises to clean up corruption. But Nigeria is as corrupt at every jurisdictional level as it has been for decades…

The piece also highlighted Nigeria’s leadership role in West-Africa but warned even that role is now under threat from state failure. It wrote:

“Its economy is usually estimated to be Africa’s largest or second largest, after South Africa. Long West Africa’s hegemon, Nigeria played a positive role in promoting African peace and security. With state failure, it can no longer sustain that vocation, and no replacement is in sight. Its security challenges are already destabilizing the West African region in the face of resurgent jihadism, making the battles of the Sahel that much more difficult to contain. And spillover from Nigeria’s failures ultimately affect the security of Europe and the United States.”

The article opined that there are four kinds of nations: the strong, the weak, the failed, and the collapsed. There are three places that should be considered collapsed: Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen.

Nigeria made the failed states list due to the government’s inability to provide peace and stability for its citizens.

“According to political theory, the government’s inability to thwart the Boko Haram insurgency is enough to diagnose Nigeria as a failed state. But there are many more symptoms”, the article argued.

The article concluded by calling on president Muhammadu Buhari and the political class to restore security and a sense of safety to Nigeria’s citizens to prevent the nation from spiraling further into failure and despair.

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Another week, another set of devastating headlines for Nigeria.

It would be upsetting enough to read some of these stories in the same year. But just look at what we’ve had to read about in the last seven days.

The kidnapping of “at least” two hundred students in Tegina – taking the number of children held for ransom in our northern states this year alone to over 700.

International human rights pressure group Amnesty International launching a campaign to defend freedom of expression in our nation “as critics, journalists and individuals who express dissenting views face intimidation, threats and sometimes arrest.”

Crude oil prices slumping 98% between March and April – a very troubling sign for an economy in which 86% of exports are oil-related.

And in recent hours President Buhari has promised “a rude shock” for secessionists in the south as our nation continues to wage war against itself.

No wonder influential American observers such as the former US ambassador to Nigeria John Campbell came together this week to declare Nigeria “a failed state”.

An opinion piece in the influential Foreign Policy Magazine writes:
“Nigeria has long teetered on the precipice of failure. But now, unable to keep its citizens safe… Nigeria has become a fully failed state.

“This designation…is not a knee-jerk, casual labelling using emotive and pejorative words. Instead, it is a designation informed by a body of political theory.

“(A failed state) lacks security, is unsafe, has weak rules of law, is corrupt, limits political participation and voice, discriminates within its borders against various classes and kinds of citizens, and provides educational and medical services sparingly.

“Most of all, failed states are violent… Nigeria now confronts six or more internal insurrections and the inability of the Nigerian state to provide peace and stability to its people has tipped a hitherto very weak state into failure.”

Can any of us really claim that Nigeria does not meet that definition for a failed state?

It is time for us to be as honest with ourselves as a nation as other nations increasingly are with us.
This current administration came to power to fight corruption and end activities of terrorists. Neither has been achieved. But a simple change of government is not enough to solve the many problems facing our nation.

The first step towards tackling any of them is communication and co-operation. Only through dialogue can we hope to unite to tackle these issues as one, and face the future together.

Amnesty International’s campaign highlights how toxic, aggressive and intimidating our online discourse has become.

But this cuts both ways. Although the Amnesty campaign highlights many egregious abuses of power carried out by the authorities against people whose only crime is expressing dissenting opinions online, politicians and political institutions themselves are all-too-often also subject to online threats, misinformation and harassment from the people they are trying to serve.

We need to be honest with each other about what has gone so wrong for our nation. But shouting and threatening each other won’t make things any better. We need to come together to highlight problems, build bridges and collaborate on solutions.

The Foreign Policy article in particular highlights how corruption in our nation “always a problem in Nigeria, has remained endemic”.

It states: “Buhari’s administration came to power in 2015 and won reelection in 2019 with promises to clean up corruption. But Nigeria is as corrupt at every jurisdictional level as it has been for decades… calling out failure for what it is may induce the government of Nigeria itself.

What is the way forward?

Nigeria’s biggest security concern today is Nnamdi Kanu and the gang of marauders he has assembled. There needs to be some sorts of conversation with these Biafra agitators before they are completely out of hand.

As for the criminal gangs who engage in kidnap for ransom in the central and northeastern parts of the country, they also need to be negotiated with. Most of them have argued that they engage in criminality to survive which is why the country must come up with policies that will generate employment fast. Agriculture has always been Nigeria’s main stay of the economy. Our policy makers just have to figure out how to attract the right investors.

And of course, the country’s security architecture needs to be overhauled. We currently have one central police command which had proven to be inefficient. America has over 8,000 police units and departments, we also can restructure our police force in such a way that every local government controls its own security. Then we can have another police command controlled by states and an upgraded DSS and the military controlled by the federal government.

The current reality is Nigeria is a failed state, and this state of affairs won’t change unless Nigerians agree to do something about it.

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Soyinka made the call while speaking at the 2021 Obafemi Awolowo Lecture titled, ‘Whither Nigeria?’ organized by the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation.

He said: “There is a consensus that this country whether in terms of governance, economic relations, security, educational policy, cultural policy, etc, requires restructuring. Even the word ‘restructuring’ has been restructured in many directions, in cogent expression which will mean the same thing for everybody.

“For me, for instance, I emphasized decentralization, reconfiguration…We all know what we have now is not working, it’s obvious and we can’t continue along the same line and say that it will work, it is a sign of madness.

Many experts have argued that Nigeria needs to be decentralized with certain powers shifted from the president in Abuja to the 36 state governors in their various states. Soyinka seems to have bought into this idea saying: “I want to make a plea to all governors, stop being so timid. Push this federal envelope as far as it can go, even while we undertake the technical aspect of restructuring whether in terms of dialogue, evolving the constitution or whatever, something has to go on, after all, we’ve had so many of these confabs.

“My plea is to governors to start with: You are charged with the immediate responsibility of the welfare of your own people in whatever term and if you study the constitution carefully, I have done this with lawyers, and it seems that a lot can be done at this moment.

“You need a season of greater autonomy for your own states and that is what I mean by pushing the federal envelope as far as it can go even with this impossible document that we have to cease what power, what authority you can derive from the constitution.

The elder statesman further knocked the state governors accusing them of being too timid. “Consult with your lawyers, I have consulted with mine and they also expressed the view that the governors are too timid, there is too much-centralized mentality embedded in their minds and they are afraid to come out of their cocoons.

“Please remember that your primary responsibility is not the center but the people, the state. So, take in your hands any form of authority that you can even from this constitution as it stands while we are working on a more honest, a more people-oriented constitution.”

What will restructuring actually mean for Nigeria?

Currently, Nigeria is a federal republic modeled after the United States, with executive power exercised by the President. The President is also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, which means the President has complete control over the country’s security architecture.

Furthermore, the federal government controls the country’s natural resources including the oil in the Niger-Delta zone of the country, the mainstay of the Nigerian economy.

Restructuring, at least according to the leading voices on the debate is to have independent self-sustaining federating units. This means allowing each state to have and control its own police force.

The second major part of restructuring is to allow each state to control its natural resources and make contributions to Abuja to enable the federal government to pay for the military, national sports teams, diplomacy among others.

‘We must devolve more powers and resources from the federal government and de-emphasise federal allocations as the source of sustenance of states.

‘We need to start producing again and collecting taxes to run our governments in a more sustainable way with greater transparency and accountability.’ MR Akin Osuntokun, Political Adviser to former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, and a former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN told Vanguard as his definition of restructuring.

Problems with restructuring Nigeria

Restructuring Nigeria will be a very complex undertaking for any politician. States that have no oil are very unlikely to agree to it as it would mean they would lose their monthly allocations coming majorly from the oil fields in the Niger-Delta.

Only 9 out of 36 states are listed as oil-producing states in Nigeria. The remaining 24 states will have to find alternative sources of funding their budgets, although these states have an abundance of other natural resources besides crude oil.

The second problem with restructuring is that some proponents do not embrace the idea of the current 36 states forming federating units. Some have argued that the country should revert to the 12 states created by the former military ruler, Yakubu Gowon.

‘We already have geo-political zones. Why don’t we have say 6 or 8 Regions from that template, enable the Regions to exercise the functions presently being exercised by the FGN in the various States &  co-ordinate such functions & utilize economies of scale.

‘Each Region should be at liberty to create more States in their region as their constitution stipulates.

‘Minority rights will be entrenched in the Federal Constitution to protect minorities in the Regions & enable them to evolve into States’ CHIEF Supo Shonibare, a chieftain of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere told Vanguard.

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Age

1. Let’s start with Muhammadu Buhari’s age, he is 75 years old, he was born on 17 December 1942 in Daura, Katsina State, Nigeria. Buhari was born as the twenty-third child in his family. His father died when he was just four years old.

Muhammadu Buhari’s education:

2. Despite the political shenanigans around his educational status during the 2015 electioneering period, Buhari is actually quite educated. He graduated from primary school in Daura and continued his education in Katsina Provincial Secondary school. In 1962, at the age of 19, Muhammadu Buhari enrolled at Nigerian Military Training College. This was the beginning of his successful military career.

3. In 1963, Buhari graduated officer cadet training at Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot in England. At the age of 20 (1963), Buhari was appointed Platoon Commander of the Second Infantry Battalion in Abeokuta, Nigeria. In 1964 Buhari studied Mechanical Transport Officer’s Course at the Army Mechanical Transport School in Borden, United Kingdom. The education helped Muhammadu Buhari to achieve significant successes in his military career.

Military rule

4. Muhammadu Buhari became the military ruler of Nigeria in 1983 after overthrowing the then civilian presidency of Alhaji Shehu Shagari. He would go on to lead the country for 20 months, until 1985.

5. Muhammadu Buhari is known as an “anti-corruption leader.” During his 20 months rule, about 500 officials, politicians, and businessmen were arrested for corruption. Buhari also launched “war against indiscipline.” In 1984 the Nigerian law system started the fight against lawlessness in the country.

6. Buhari was overthrown in a military coup in 1985 by General Ibrahim Babangida. ironically, his government was accused of corruption the same reason why he had overthrown a civilian government 2 years earlier.

7. After he was overthrown, Buhari was detained for three years in a guarded bungalow in Benin city. he was released in 1988.

Muhammadu Buhari children and wives

8. The name of Buhari’s first wife is Safinatu Buhari, they had five children. Their names are Zulaihat (deceased daughter), Fatima, Musa (deceased son), Hadiza, and Safinatu. Buhari divorced his first wife in 1988.

9. After a year he married his current wife Aisha Buhari. They have five children, four girls, and one boy, their names are Aisha, Halima, Zahra and Amina, and Yusuf.

converted democrat

10. Muhammadu Buhari called himself “converted democrat.” This shows his political development from being a military dictator to a democrat.

11. Buhari ran for president unsuccessfully in 2003, 2007, 2011 before eventually winning in the 2015 general elections.

12. In 2003 Buhari ran as a candidate from All Nigeria People’s Party, in 2007 he ran under All Nigeria People’s Party, in 2011 as a candidate of Congress for Progressive Change, and in 2015 he was the candidate of All Progressives Congress party.

13. President Buhari is a winner of a number of notable awards and medals, among them, are: Congo Medal, Global Seal of Integrity, National Service Medal, Grand Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Loyal Service, and Good Conduct Medal.

2015 to date

14. Since becoming Nigeria’s president in 2015, Buhari has not had a single one on one interview with any Nigerian journalist.

15. In October 2016, Buhari stood next to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and said “I don’t know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room.”

16. in 2018, Buhari denied being a clone at a press conference saying ‘It’s the real me’.

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The farmers were killed at Kwashabe village, about 20 kilometers north of Maiduguri, Borno capital.

The assailants tied up the agricultural workers and slit their throats in the village of Kwashabe, Nasiru Usman, one of the farmers who escaped during the attack, told reporters.

Usman said trouble started after some farmers apprehended a Boko Haram insurgent who approached them with the request for food.

“Unknowingly, he was accompanied by dozens of other militants who were hiding inside the bush,” he said.

“So immediately they tied him and seized his gun, his other colleagues quickly stormed the scene, and opened fire on the farmers, while they took to their heels.

“At exactly 11 am, the group declared blanket killing against all the farmers harvesting their products. They began by abducting seven.

“So far, we have recovered up to 43 bodies. Our civilian JTF, police, and military are still searching for more bodies. We won’t know how many are missing so far for now since more bodies are still being found.”

Several bullet wounds were seen on the bodies of the deceased farmers, according to another source who helped in recovering the corpses and preparing them for burial.

history

The attack is one of the worst waged by the rival jihadist groups in the region since Boko Haram’s insurgency began in 2009.

Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, said through a spokesman in a tweet: “I condemn the killing of our hardworking farmers by terrorists in Borno state. The entire country is hurt by these senseless killings. My thoughts are with their families in this time of grief. May their souls rest in peace.”

Nigerian government officials have long insisted that jihadists were “technically defeated” and reduced to sporadic attacks. Refugees across the north-east have been urged to return home to a region the government has said is now safe.

But beyond major cities and garrison towns where military presence is strong, significant parts of north-east Nigeria remain acutely vulnerable, with people effectively occupied and governed by roaming jihadists groups. Attacks in the north-east – particularly targeting farmers, security forces and aid workers – have increased in recent years.

Last month Boko Haram militants slaughtered 22 farmers working on their irrigation fields near Maiduguri in two separate attacks.

Boko Haram and ISWAP, its IS-linked rival, have increasingly targeted loggers, herders and fishermen in their violent campaign, accusing them of spying and passing information to the military and the local militia fighting them.

At least 36,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which has displaced about two million since 2009.

The violence has also spread into neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the militants.

The attack took place as voters went to the polls in local elections in Borno State. The elections had been repeatedly postponed because of an increase in attacks by Boko Haram and ISWAP.

African publication HumAngle reported that the people of the village are refusing to bury the bodies of the 43 victims until the state governor has witnessed the atrocity.

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The scheme is part of the N2.3 trillion stimulus package the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan, Nigeria’s response to the economic devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) is broadly divided into two main categories, N60 billion MSMEs Survival Fund and N15 billion Guaranteed off-take schemes.

The Guaranteed off-take scheme was developed by the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development (FMYSD) as a built-in strategy to respond effectively to the youth employment challenge in Nigeria. The major objectives of the plan are to address the fragmentation of youth initiatives that prevent the assessment of impact and to provide Nigerian youth with investment inputs required to build successful businesses that can become sustainable employers of labor and contributors to Nigeria’s development. 

Eligibility Criteria

 Informal Business Enterprises (Individuals and Sole Proprietors)

A huge percentage of youth are engaged in the informal sector. Accordingly, the
NYIF will facilitate the transition of informal enterprises owned by youth into the
formal mainstream economy where they can be supported comprehensively, build
a bankable track record; and be accurately captured as active participants in
economic development. Eligible youth must fulfill the following conditions:

(i) Be a youth within the age bracket of 18-35 years.

(ii) Have business/enterprises domiciled and operational in Nigeria.

(iii) Has not been convicted of any financial crime in the last 10 years.

(v) Has a valid Bank Verification Number (BVN)

(vi) Possess Local Government Indigene Certificate.

Formal Business Enterprises (Youth Owned Enterprises)

These are enterprises that are legal entities duly registered with the Corporate
Affairs Commission (CAC).

Documents Required:
(i) Evidence of registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission (Certificate of
Incorporation and Form CAC 2A);
(ii) Business questionnaire;
(iii) List of Directors with BVN nos.;
(iv) Evidence of regulatory approvals (where applicable);
(v) Tax Identification Number (TIN).

Cooperative societies duly registered with the relevant government authorities and
members of Commodity Associations that fall within the eligible age bracket are
also eligible to participate.

Training

Applicants shall undergo a compulsory entrepreneurship training arranged or
approved by the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.

Eligible Activities/Businesses

Legally allowed activities in the sectors or focal areas listed below shall be eligible:
(i) Technology/ Innovation;
(ii) Agriculture and related value chain;
(iii) Green Economy and Renewable energy sector;
(iv) Manufacturing,
(v) Hospitality/Tourism;
(vi) Construction;
(vii) Logistics and supply chain;
(viii) Healthcare value chain,
(ix) Creative sector and
(x) Trading and Services.
(xi) Others as may be determined by NYIF/CBN from time to time.

However, preference shall be given to enterprises that will support the growth of
priority sectors, specifically those identified by the Economic and Recovery Growth
Plan ERGP and the Nigerian Youth Employment Action Plan.

Types of Facilities

 Term Loan (for asset acquisition/improvement)
 

(i) Individual (Unregistered business)
Shall be determined based on the activity/nature of project subject to the
maximum of N250,000

(ii) Registered Businesses (Business name, Limited Liability, Cooperative,
Commodity Association shall be determined by the activity/nature of the project
subject to the maximum of N3.0 million (including working capital).

Note: Immovable assets acquired with the loan must be registered with the
National Collateral Registry (NCR)
 

Tenor

Maximum of 5 years depending on the nature of the business and the assets
acquired.

Moratorium

A moratorium of up to 1 year may be allowed depending on the nature of the
business and the assets acquired.

Interest Rate

The interest rate under the intervention shall be at not more than 5% per annum (all
inclusive).

Loan Application Procedure

Application Procedure

The Ministry of Youths Sports Development will collaborate with relevant stakeholders to identify potential training
for training/mentoring.

The youths that are duly screened (and undergo the mandatory training where
applicable) shall be advised to log on to the portal provided by the NMFB to apply
for the facility.

Processing/Approval

Upon satisfactory appraisal of application, NMFB shall apply for the release of funds in
respect of approved individuals/enterprises from the NYIF and CBN.

Note: NMFB shall conduct credit checks on applicants and those with
unsatisfactory credit reports will be rejected.

 Collateral Requirement

The NMFB will leverage on the General Standing Instruction (GSI) as collateral.
Corporate guarantees will be acceptable where applicable.

 Principal Repayment

Repayment shall be made on an installment basis by the beneficiaries to the NMFB
according to the nature of the enterprise and the repayment schedule/work plan
provided and agreed upon at the application processing stage.

Equitable Participation

To ensure equitable participation and even access to finance by the youths across
the country, applications will be batched according to State and Local Government
Areas (LGA) of applicants. The Bank promotes gender parity, therefore the female
entrepreneurs are encouraged to apply.

The Nigeria Youth Investment Fund is an ambitious plan which aims to reach 500,000 youth annually between 2020 and 2023. 

The post Nigeria Youth Investment Fund, explained appeared first on AFRICA EXPLAINED.

The Survival Fund is a scheme created by the federal government of Nigeria to provide support to over half a million medium and small-scale enterprises MSMEs in meeting their payroll objectives.

The scheme became important in light of the economic devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic – thus, providing support to vulnerable MSMEs in meeting payroll obligations of between N30,000 andN50,000 per employee per month to safeguard the jobs of up to 10 employees in a 3 month period.

The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment runs the N75 billion Fund which also provides a no-refund grant of N50,000 for small businesses most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The scheme is part of the N2.3 trillion stimulus package under the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP) made up of N60 billion MSMEs Survival Fund and N15 billion Off-take Schemes.

A statement on the government’s website reads

The COVID-19 crisis and its attendant restriction on movement of people and border closures is causing all components of aggregate demand to fall. The fall in household consumption in Nigeria stems from restrictions on movement, thus causing consumers to spend primarily on essential goods and services; low expectations of future income and the erosion of wealth and expected wealth.

Movement restrictions have not only reduced the consumption of nonessential commodities in general but have affected the income-generating capacity of the population, thus reducing their own consumption expenditure.

Nigeria has a large informal sector which contributes about 65 percent of its economic output and a large proportion of the population is clustered around the poverty line thus making them highly vulnerable to falling into poverty due to shocks. The MSME Revolving Guaranteed Off-take Scheme is one of the Federal Government’s economic support measures to assist micro and small businesses affected by the pandemic.

The Payroll Support Scheme is aimed at MSMEs adversely affected by the pandemic. The scheme will provide Payroll Support to a maximum of 10 employees per qualifying MSME.

Read Also: List of ASUU Strikes Since 1999 up to Date

The scheme is expected to save at least 1.3 million jobs across the country while targeting an average of 35,000 individuals in each of the 36 states of the federation.

How is it going so far?

On November 18, 2020, the federal government announced that so far 101,567 verified employees drawn from 16,250 businesses have received their first monthly payment from the Survival Fund’s Payroll Support Scheme, which is designed to support vulnerable MSMEs by paying the salaries of their staff for a period of three months.

“Verification is still ongoing as the payroll support scheme targets supporting 500,000 beneficiaries with payment of up to N50,000 per employee during the duration of three months, starting from October.”

The Senior Special Assistant to Nigeria’s Vice-President on media and publicity, Laolu Akande, disclosed this in a statement titled, ‘ESP (Economic Support Program) in progress: FG commences payment of payroll support to beneficiaries’.

The statement added, “The commencement of payment for beneficiaries of the Survival Fund payroll support follows that of the ongoing N30,000 one-time grant payment to artisans nationwide.

“In the first stream of payments which started at the end of October, beneficiaries are being drawn from the FCT, Lagos, Ondo, Kaduna, Borno, Kano, Bauchi, Anambra, Abia, Plateau and Delta States. They form the first batch of applications for the scheme submitted between October 1 and October 10.”

Eligibility requirements for Survival Fund;

A. Employees’ company Must be registered in Nigeria under the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, and SMEDAN Unique Identity Number (SUIN)
B. Must have Bank Verification Number (BVN) by company CEO
C. Must have a staff strength of no less than 3 persons
D. Must be owned by a Nigerian

how to register for Survival Fund

Visit the official registration portal at www.survivalfund.gov.ng and click on ‘Sign Up’. Select your Registration Type, which is the MSME Payroll Support.

STEP 1 – Register your personal details to start the payroll support application. Instructions at the top of the form will guide you on the required fields that need to be filled to complete the initial registration. Enter your personal information (full name, email address, mobile number). Then, choose a password, enter your date of birth and residential address details.
If you have special needs, ensure you tick the special needs box. Accept terms and conditions to complete your registration.

STEP 2 – Activate your account – You will receive an activation code on the mobile number and email address you registered with. You will need this code to activate your account. Please ensure you have access to the phone number or email address you will register with in order to complete your initial registration.

STEP 3 – After you have successfully activated your account, you will need to login and register your Organisation. To complete this stage, you will need your CAC Number, SMEDAN Number, Tax ID (optional), and the organization’s bank account details.

STEP 4: You will receive an email address on the list of requirements needed to complete the application. These include the beneficiary employees’ details (not more than 10 employees), proof of previous salary payments to the beneficiary, and all other supporting documents.

Required Documents

All applicants are expected to make ready scanned copies of the following documents, they are expected to be available for upload online from Thursday, 1st October 2020.
• Company Registration Details (Reg. No. & TIN)
• Annual Turnover for the last 12 months
• Employee Account Numbers and BVNs
• Proof of last three (3) salaries paid to your employees.

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Nigeria’s federal government is currently in court fighting a lawsuit filed by Malcolm Omirhobo, a Lagos based lawyer, seeking the removal of Arabic scripts from the country’s Naira banknotes because they “represent Islam”.

This has generated a lot of controversies and is being debated in religious and political contexts.

Here are five reasons why the Arabic script should not be removed from Nigeria’s banknotes.

It’s actually not Arabic

The proper term for this Arabic script is Ajami. It is an Arabic-derived African writing system.

Long before the Europeans arrived in Africa, Africans would often transcribe their spoken languages into Arabic scripts. These forms of writing were used to preserve business records, tax records, and important historical events.

The Arabic script on the Naira banknotes is actually the Hausa language written in Arabic letters.

It will cost a lot of money to replace

One of the arguments being put forward by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) against the lawsuit is that it would cost a huge amount of money to discard the existing notes and print new ones without Arabic inscription.

Currently, there is Ajami script on N1,000, N500, and N200 banknotes. Replacing all these would cost billions in taxpayer money. The logistics of distribution, the design of new notes, all these would cost money that can be used in other sectors.

Nigeria’s history

The funny thing is, it was the colonialists who first put Ajami script on Nigeria’s currency as far back as 1945.

In pre-colonial Nigeria, the northern Hausa people took up Arabic writing, a product of their trans-Sahara trade with the Arabs.

A typical northerner can read Ajami even if they do not understand the Latin script that is used in English.

The northern part of Nigeria did not embrace Western-style education early, and there is still some resistance to it in many parts till today.

But most northerners are versed In Ajami, having undergone Arabic-based qur’anic education.

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Nigeria is not a monolith

One of the arguments of the plaintiff in the lawsuit is that he did not understand what the Arabic script on the naira note means.

Nigeria is a country of over 200 million people. More than 80 different languages are spoken by Nigerians. The scale of Nigeria’s diversity is enormous, and only through mutual respect and understanding can the people live together in peace and harmony.

Arabic is not equal to Islam

The argument against the Ajami script on the Naira Note is that it violates sections 10 and 55 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Section 10 of the 1999 constitution reads

The government of the federation or of a state shall not adopt any religion as the state religion

The notion is that Arabic and Islam are the same, and this has led to accusations that the Arabic writing on the Naira note connotes religion and promotes Islamisation.

Arabic is just a language of communication just like the Latin scripts we use in English. We must understand that Arabic does not mean Islam and Latin does not mean Christian.

The post 5 Reasons Why Arabic Script Should Not be Removed from Nigeria’s Currency appeared first on AFRICA EXPLAINED.