News
SERAP Sues 36 Govs over Failure to Account for N72Bn Subsidy Palliative
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) says it has filed a lawsuit against the 36 state governors in Nigeria over “their failure to account for the spending of the N72 billion palliative collected from the Federal Government, including details of the beneficiaries and the reliefs provided with the money.”
Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP deputy director, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.
Recall that in September, the Federal Government said it had disbursed N2 billion out of the N5 billion palliative package to each state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to address the impact of the removal of fuel subsidy.
Governors across states confirmed receiving the N2 billion subsidy palliative.
To ensure accountability, SERAP, in suit number FHC/L/CS/1943/2023 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court in Lagos, sought to compel the 36 state governors to account for the spending.
“An order of mandamus to direct and compel each of the 36 state governors to disclose details of the beneficiaries and the reliefs provided to the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerians with the money.
“Government secrecy is fundamentally anti-democratic. Secrecy in the spending of the N72 billion collected by the 36 state governors would create distrust or suspicion of the government. The failure by the governors to account for the public funds is both legally and morally wrong.
“There is no democratic freedom without accountability, and the basic postulate of accountability is that the people should have information about the functioning of the government.
“Compelling and directing the governors to account for the spending of the N72 billion would increase government transparency and enhance an open and democratic society.
“A functioning democracy rests upon participation and accountability. Citizens cannot fully participate in a democracy unless they can effectively enjoy the right to know what their government is doing in their name.
“The right of access to information also lets in light and allows the public to scrutinise the workings of the government and find truth in them. Nigerians have the right to know how their states spend fuel subsidy relief funds. It is part of their legally enforceable human rights.
“Transparency and accountability in the spending of the N72 billion and any subsequent disbursement to the governors would help to reduce the risk of corruption, mismanagement, diversion, or opportunism,” it read.
Meanwhile, the group said no date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.
Three weeks ago, SERAP had issued a seven-day ultimatum to the 36 governors to disclose details of the N72 billion subsidy palliative spending.
News
Mutual Benefits Decries Low Insurance Penetration, Seeks Policy Changes
Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc has decried the low insurance penetration in the country, calling for policy changes to increase insurance uptake by Nigerians.
Mr. Femi Asenuga, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Mutual Benefits, who made the call at a workshop for insurance journalists, advocated for media support in ensuring policy changes, shaping public understanding of insurance and deepening insurance penetration in Nigeria.
While emphasizing the important role of the media in educating the insuring public on how insurance contributes to economic resilience, he said the ability of insurance journalists to communicate the complexities of insurance in a relatable and impactful way is vital in building public trust and confidence in the industry as well as encouraging more people to embrace insurance.
Asenuga said: “We are far from where we are supposed to be as a country. Nigeria with a population of over 200 million and as the giant of Africa should not only be in theory. As the press, you have a major role to play in changing the narrative of insurance penetration in the country.
The change is not only expected at the consumer level but also at policy making because that is where everything starts from.”
In her presentation “The Role of Insurance in National Development,” Head, Technical Department, Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc., Mrs. Titilayo Akinsiku, highlighted some of the roles insurance plays in national development.
They include, according to her, Risk Mitigation and Financial Stability; Business Continuity and Resilience; Social Welfare and Inclusivity; Risk Management and Sustainable Development as well as Investment and Capital Formation.
News
Thabo Mbeki Tells African leaders to Emulate Relationship Between Nigerian and South African Musicians
Thabo Mbeki, former President of South Africa has advised current African presidents to emulate the impressive relationship between Nigeria and South African musicians.
Mbeki said the African artists have managed to forge a formidable relationship and strong collaborative strategies which has seen them popularise both countries’ entertainment sectors and create wealth for the industry’s participants but the political leaders in Africa are locked in baseless egocentrism and territorialism which prevents generation of wealth amongst African countries.
Mbeki said before now that Africa used to be feared due to a strong pan-Africanism consciousness among leaders and deliberate policy formulations directed towards giving it a force of power.
He, however, regretted that today’s leaders lack such political will, are more Eurocentric and lack clear direction on how Africa should remain a liberated continent.
“Political will to manage diversity is central to the survival of all of the African states because there’s no African state which is not characterized by the diversity of its population now,” Mbeki said at his Thabo Mbeki Foundation premises, Johannesburg while hosting the third cohort of the MTN-MIP Fellows
“And so if you want to keep a continent or a country together, there’s got to be a conscious political decision. There is one outstanding example in this regard – Tanzania.
“When Tanzania was known as Tanganyika, there were two very important decisions under Julius Nyerere to keep the whole country together. One of them was to have one central language.
“Nyerere decided that everybody must speak Swahili and abandon tribal or regional languages. So, everybody speaks Swahili. The second decision was the abolition of the institution of chieftaincy ship. So there’s no chief of this tribe or that tribe.
“These were conscious decisions taken by the political leadership. They wanted to build one nation out of the Tanganyikans, and it’s worked.
“So, because the people of Tanzania have gotten used to being one, even some few years back when some political people, in Tanzania, started resurrecting this matter about tribal identity in order to advance their own political futures, the consciousness one united Tanzania, was strong enough to defeat them.
“So, that’s why I’m saying it’s a political decision here. South Africa is very fortunate in that respect, because you know, the diamond mines, which were first discovered in the 19th century, attracted people from Southern Africa, from as far as Angola among others to South Africa.
“Then a bit later, gold mining came and domestically, there was a lot of movement of people, and social economic development.
“Recall that at the formation of the African National Congress in 1912, one of its principal slogans was to bury the demon of tribalism.
“So since the beginning of the 20th century, you’ve had a political organization whose task was to make sure that all of this algorithm come together so that you see you got to a point before liberation here, if you said in 1960 to the African community here, wherever you are in the country, you say, who’s your national leader? They would say Alberto.
“So, what has happened on the continent is a regression from the kind of pan-Africanist commitment that we had with other earlier leaders on the continent, and the weakening of that resolve has negative consequences like the frosty relationship between South Africa and Nigeria.
“Another is the poor Visa regulation which has made it very difficult for cross border trade.
“And now addressing the challenge is to address the larger political problems. The point is always being made about the relationship between the artists, Nigerian, South African artists, and what they are able to do,” he added.
News
World Bank says 40% Nigerian MSMEs are Owned by Women
A report by the World Bank has established that 40 per cent of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria are owned by women, with most of the businesses growing at a remarkable rate.
In the World Bank latest report released on Wednesday, the global bank, through its Nigeria Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), partnership with the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) and two commercial banks in Nigeria – Access Bank and Sterling Bank, established development of innovative credit solutions that expanded access to finance for women entrepreneurs.
The report summarizes key lessons, which include initial diagnostic; an assessment of demand for business loans; analysis of SMEs who applied to and/or received Access Bank cash flow loans, and administrative data from Access Bank’s cashflow loan programme.
“Our objective is to provide insights into the successes and challenges of disbursing loans to women-led SMEs (WSMEs) in Nigeria.
This research is being conducted in partnership with the World Bank’s Africa Gender Innovation Lab (GIL), which is also carrying out an impact evaluation that will capture how cashflow-based lending impacts male- vs female-led firms’ access to credit and business performance,” the report added.
- News2 days ago
World Bank says 40% Nigerian MSMEs are Owned by Women
- Telecom1 day ago
Coker Urges Africa to Close Digital Infrastructure Gap for Prosperity
- News2 days ago
Bridging the Digital Divide: Governor Soludo Empowers Disability Rights Commission
- E-Business2 days ago
Allison, BHM Partner to Host ‘Africa Breakfast Convos’ @UNGA79
- Telecom2 days ago
Trump’s Crypto-business: What Does it Portend for American People if he Wins the Election?
- News2 days ago
FG Launches Digital Quality Assurance Platform For Basic Education
- Broadcasting2 days ago
NIPR Appoints Rasheed Bolarinwa As Chairman of FinanceHub Committee
- News1 day ago
Thabo Mbeki Tells African leaders to Emulate Relationship Between Nigerian and South African Musicians