Oil companies including Shell Plc and Eni SpA should pay $12 billion to repair environmental devastation in Nigeria’s crude-rich Niger Delta, a new report said.

More than six decades of pumping oil has left Bayelsa state “in the grip of a human and environmental catastrophe of unimaginable proportions,” according to research published by a panel set up by the state government. The extraction of crude is “the overwhelmingly evident cause of this disaster” in the state, home to more than 2 million people, it said.

Bayelsa State Oil & Environmental Commission, established in 2019 by a former governor of the southern state, released its final report on Tuesday. British lawmaker and former Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, chaired the London-headquartered commission, whose research was conducted by a group of international experts.

The area that is today Bayelsa was the first place in West Africa to produce commercial quantities of oil in the late 1950s. Since then, firms — mainly Shell and Eni — have pumped billions of barrels of crude from beneath the state’s land, swamps and waterways. Spills from their infrastructure have transformed the region into “one of the most polluted places on Earth,” according to the commission’s report.

A spokesman for Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary declined to comment on the report, saying the company is not “privy” to the commission’s allegations and recommendations. Eni did not respond to a request for comment.

The oil companies say outside interference — by thieves and saboteurs — rather than equipment failure is to blame for the overwhelming majority of leaks from their facilities.

But the firms have failed to “properly invest in, maintain, manage and protect pipelines” that develop spills at a rate “unparalleled when compared to other major oil producing countries,” the report said. There are also “strong reasons to believe that the official statistics significantly and systematically over-state the number of leaks caused by sabotage while downplaying those attributable to other causes,” it said.

‘Fundamentally Compromised’

About one-fifth of Nigeria’s oil output comes from Bayelsa — with almost all the rest is pumped from other states in the Niger Delta or off the country’s shores. While international majors for decades produced most of the nation’s crude in partnership with the state energy company, they have been selling onshore and shallow-water licenses to local companies in recent years.

The oil majors that have extracted crude in Bayelsa and the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Co. should invest $12 billion to restore impacted areas, create new jobs, provide drinking water and treat health problems, according to the report. The fund’s work will require a “parallel bureaucracy” involving both domestic and international oversight, it said.

The commission also recommended an overhaul of the regulatory and legal regime to allow heftier penalties, introduce a fast-track arbitration body and remove the influence of producers from the “fundamentally compromised” spill inspection process. The government departments tasked with enforcing environmental standards lack “capacity, independence and influence,” it said.

NNPC, National Oil Spill Detection & Response Agency and Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission did not respond to requests for comment.

An environmental assessment published by the UN Environment Programme in 2011 led to the establishment of a $1 billion fund backed by Shell and the NNPC to clean up pollution in Ogoniland, a kingdom about 20% of Bayelsa’s size in the neighboring Rivers state. Internal documents prepared by the UN agency and reported by Bloomberg last year indicate the project is marred by wastefulness and mismanagement that could be making the region even dirtier.

Studies conducted for the commission found that “toxins from hydrocarbon pollution are present at often dangerous levels in the soil, water and air” across Bayelsa and “have been absorbed into the human food chain,” according to the report.

By tolerating what “they would never contemplate in their home jurisdictions,” the multinationals have displayed “many of the hallmarks not just of gross negligence but of environmental racism,” it said.

Bloomberg

Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has declared a five-day warning strike following failure of the Federal Government to meet its demands.

This was made known after an extraordinary National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held virtually on Monday.

According to the doctors, the strike will begin on Wednesday, May 17, and end on Monday, May 22.

On April 29, NARD issued a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to implement the agreements or face industrial action.

The ultimatum, however, ended on Saturday, May 13, 2023.

The doctors are demanding an immediate increment in the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure to the tune of 200 per cent of the current gross salary of doctors and the new allowances included in the letter written by the association to the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, on July 7, 2022, on the review of CONMESS.

They demanded the immediate payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF), which aligns with the agreements reached at the stakeholders’ meeting convened by the Federal Ministry of Health.

Also, they demanded the commencement of payment of all salary arrears owed to its members including 2014, 2015, and 2016 salary arrears as well as areas of the consequential adjustment of the minimum wage.

The Guardian

The United States of America has accused Nigeria of severe violations of religious freedom.

This was contained in the Annual Report of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom published in April 2023 and obtained by our correspondent on Monday.

The commission stated that criminal activity and violent armed group incidents impacting religious freedom worsened.

The commission cited instances, such as “A Shari’a court sentencing Sheikh Kabara to death for blasphemy. Judicial authorities sentenced humanist leader Mubarak Bala to 24 years in prison for blasphemy and other charges,” among others.

According to USA, “in 2022, religious freedom conditions in Nigeria remained poor, with both state and non-state actors committing particularly severe violations of religious freedom.

“While some officials worked to address drivers of religious freedom violations, others actively infringed on the religious freedom rights of Nigerians, including by enforcing blasphemy laws. Criminal activity and violent armed group incidents impacting religious freedom worsened.”

It added that “rampant violence and atrocities across Nigeria continued to impact freedom of religion or belief, including militant Islamist violence; some forms of identity-based violence; mob violence; and criminal, political, and vigilante violence impacting worship.”

The US said it noted that the federal authorities accelerated efforts to address violence impacting religious freedom, including by institutionalising harsher punishments against perpetrators, improving military efforts to neutralise Islamist fighters in the North, and strengthening efforts to investigate and arrest perpetrators of the most egregious attacks.

It, however, said, “The effectiveness of these efforts remained in question, while in some regions state and local officials failed to fully prosecute individuals who incited mob violence against alleged blasphemers.

“Security and judicial sector reform aimed at deterring and providing redress for religious violence remained stagnant, with such efforts largely absent from or peripheral to leading politicians’ policy priorities.”

It added that despite continued religious freedom challenges in the country, “In November, the U.S. Department of State failed to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern for engaging in particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”

The Commission advised the U.S. government to “Designate Nigeria as a CPC, for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act, and redesignate Boko Haram and ISWAP as ‘entities of particular concern,’ or EPCs, for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, as defined by IRFA.”

Punch

No fewer than twenty persons have been reported killed following a clash between two ethnic groups over kingship in Taraba State.

This development comes on the heels of a coronation held for the traditional ruler of Wurkun Chiefdom.

Sources reveal that the ceremony which was put together by Governor Darius Ishaku, turned out to be a decision that was not welcomed by other tribes.

Houses, vehicles and farmlands were not spared in the carnage that ensued.

Prior to the clashes, Governor Ishaku had said that the essence of creating the chiefdom was to bring government closer to the people, and to give the masses a sense of belonging.

He added that the desired goal was not to balkanize the people along ethnic or religious lines.

This admonition however did little or nothing to forestall the violence.

It was gathered that some residents of Karim Lamido Local Government showed their outright rejection by burning of tyres which later degenerated into full blown crisis leading to the death of at least 20 persons and properties destroyed.

According to the Karimjo speaking tribe, the coronation was an injustice done to them, in that the kingship was supposed to be handed to an individual from their extraction and not the Wurkun speaking tribe who have ruled for decades before the demise of the last traditional ruler.

The Karimjo speaking tribe argued that they are the first settlers and true owners of Karim Lamido Local Council, adding that they only accepted the Wurkuns to reside as slaves, however, the enslaved later dominated and took over the land and kingship.

The Karimjo people allege that the Wurkuns who are educated and occupy several positions in the armed forces, called on the military and other sister agencies to brutalize, chase them away from their lands and set their houses on fire in the wake of the crisis.

Wurkuns on the other hand say the kingship is theirs and claim that the crisis was triggered by the Karimjo tribe who want to rule over them.

They denied any involvement in asking the military to intervene.

While noting that they have asked the feuding youths to sheath their swords, the Wurkuns say that should the karimjo speaking tribe continue attacking their people, they would be forced to retaliate.

Local government authorities say the military and other security agencies have taken control of activities in the area for peace to return, even as it was disclosed that a grenade was discovered at the new chief’s palace.

As the attacks and counter attacks rage on, at least over three hundred persons have so far been displaced in the wake of the crisis and should this linger, rice production which the area is known for will be grossly affected.

This is the second crisis the area is seeing, with the first one recorded in 1996 between the Karimjo speaking tribe and the Fulanis.

CTV

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia launches air raid on Kyiv 'exceptional' in intensity

Russia launched an exceptionally intense air attack on Kyiv in the early hours of Tuesday, using drones, cruise and probably ballistic missiles, city officials said, as the Ukrainian capital suffered its eighth air raid this month.

"It was exceptional in its density - the maximum number of attack missiles in the shortest period of time," Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's city military administration, said in comments posted on the Telegram messaging app.

"According to preliminary information, the vast majority of enemy targets in the airspace of Kyiv were detected and destroyed!"

It was not immediately known how many objects were shot down over the city and if any of them managed to hit their target.

After a weeks-long hiatus, Russia in late April resumed its tactic of long-range missile strikes and has launched a flurry of attacks in recent days, often targeting Kyiv. Ukraine has been able to repel vast majority of the attacks so far.

On Tuesday, falling debris was reported in Kyiv's Obolonskyi, Shevchenkivskyi, Solomyanskyi and Darnytskyi districts, officials said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said falling debris set several cars on fire and damaged a building in the Solomyanskyi district in the capital's west. Three people were injured.

Klitschko said that south of Boryspil, air defence systems were repelling a drone attack. Boryspil, a city just southeast of Kyiv, is home to the capital’s main passenger airport, which is now closed.

The damage in other districts was not significant and there was no immediate information on potential casualties there, the military administration said.

Air raid sirens blared across nearly all of Ukraine in the early hours of Tuesday, and were heard over Kyiv and its region for more than three hours.

** Kremlin Distances Itself From Mercenary Leader After Damning Report

The Kremlin on Monday attempted to downplay an explosive new report suggesting Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevegeny Prigozhin told a Ukrainian intelligence service that he would give them the positions of Russian troops in exchange for withdrawing from the besieged city of Bakhmut.

“It looks like another duck,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, employing a Russian idiom for a hoax or a media stunt, lamenting that a “respected news organization” would buy into it.

But, ultimately, he declined to comment on the substance of the report.

Peskov faced questions about the damning story in The Washington Post, based on recent U.S. intelligence assessments leaked through the online gaming platform Discord, that detailed Prigozhin’s machinations, apparently in an attempt to bolster his forces’ position around the strategic city in eastern Ukraine.

Several U.S. and Ukrainian officials confirmed to the Post on the condition of anonymity details of Prigozhin’s apparent offer but declined to say whether they believed the proposed trade was genuine. Prigozhin reportedly made the offer to Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate, with which he has maintained secret contact during the war, according to the documents. Intelligence services commonly maintain back-door contact with enemy forces during conflicts.

It remains unclear whether Prigozhin was, indeed, willing to trade the lives of uniformed soldiers for his own mercenary forces in their attempt to follow through on his pledges to seize Bakhmut before Russia’s Victory Day last Tuesday. Latest assessments indicate Russian forces control roughly 95% of the city, though Ukrainian troops have mounted surprising counterattacks in recent days.

But the latest report comes amid a growing feud between Prigozhin and the uniformed leaders of the Ministry of Defense – and with other top elements of Russia’s administration.

Monday’s exchange at the Kremlin represented only the latest time in recent days that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government has had to distance itself from the leader of the paramilitary force on which it has increasingly relied in Ukraine. Peskov similarly declined to comment late last week on several expletive-laden rants Prigozhin published on his Telegram channel insulting the Russian Ministry of Defense for not supplying him with sufficient ammunition and criticizing Putin himself as a “grandfather” who is part of the problems facing Russia in Ukraine.

Prigozhin issued several more critical rants through his Telegram channel on Monday morning. In response to questions from the Post, he openly acknowledged maintaining lines of communication with Ukrainian intelligence, saying, “Yes of course I can confirm this information, we have nothing to hide from the foreign special services.”

The growing rift and deepening dysfunction among Russia’s fighting forces comes at a critical time as international powers await a pending spring offensive from Ukraine in an attempt to break the battlefield deadlock there. Ukrainian officials have suggested it could begin in a matter of weeks, or even days.

Yet it remains unclear if Russia is ready to defend against it.

British intelligence over the weekend assessed that forces loyal to the Kremlin in Ukraine still comprise 200,000 personnel on the ground formed into 70 combat regiments – about the same size as the army that first invaded Ukraine.

“However, in February 2022 it consisted of professional soldiers; was largely equipped with reasonably modern vehicles; and had been regularly exercised, aspiring to complex, joint operations,” according to the U.K. military intelligence assessment on Sunday. “Now the force is mostly poorly trained mobilized reservists and increasingly reliant on antiquated equipment, many of its units severely under-strength.”

It has been relegated to “very simple, infantry-based operations,” the assessment adds, instead of the complex maneuvers involving all of its fighting power working in concert as a modern military would operate.

And it concludes that Russia is likely unable to “generate a large, capable, mobile reserve” to respond to new challenges it may face in Ukraine, or organize itself to launch a large-scale military counter operation along the roughly 750 miles of front lines that Ukraine is currently challenging.

** Germany's Scholz: Some nations see Western double standards on Russia

Influential countries such as India, Vietnam and South Africa balk at criticizing Russia's invasion of Ukraine because they believe international principles are not applied equally, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a speech on Monday.

"When I talk to leaders from those countries, many assure me that they are not questioning the underlying principles of our international order. What they are struggling with is the unequal application of those principles," he said.

"What they expect is representation on equal terms, and an end to Western double standards."

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Wagner boss denies talking to Kiev about selling out Russian troops

Head of Russia's Wagner private military company, Evgeny Prigozhin, has claimed it would have been “physically impossible” for him to meet with Ukrainian military intelligence agents in Africa to make a treasonous proposal to them. The alleged contacts were reported by the Washington Post based on purported leaks from the Pentagon.

The outlet claimed on Sunday that classified US documents, which made their way to the public through a Discord server, claim there had been communication between Prigozhin and Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR). 

The Wagner head allegedly sought to have Ukrainian troops withdraw from the area around the bitterly contested city of Artyomovsk (known in Ukraine as Bakhmut) in order to ease the pressure on his own troops for a while, in exchange for information on Russian troop positions elsewhere. The alleged contacts were said to take place by phone and an in-person meeting in Africa, where the Wagner Group is also active.

Prigozhin dismissed the report as “speculation dumped by the Washington Post”and insisted he had not been to Africa since months before the hostilities in Ukraine broke out in February 2022. He suggested that the newspaper was overstating the supposed intel or had fallen victim to planted disinformation.

The Post said two Ukrainian officials confirmed the contacts between Prigozhin and the GUR, but when the newspaper asked Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky about them, he appeared to be angered and demanded to know who the sources in his government were.

“Who is talking about the activities of our intelligence? Because this is the most severe felony in our country,” he said, before accusing the newspaper of trying to help Russia. The Post later redacted this portion of the interview on its website.

In a statement, Prigozhin alluded to the apparent act of self-censorship, calling into question the Post’s reliability.

** US money for Ukraine running out – Politico

US aid for Ukraine could completely run out as early as mid-summer, Politico reported on Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter. That’s as Washington has already spent most of the $48 billion aid package approved by Congress in December.

According to the outlet, the US only has some $6 billion left to spend on arms and supplies for Kiev, meaning that American aid to Ukrainian forces could soon come to a halt.

Members of Congress are reportedly alarmed that the White House could soon be unable to quickly deliver military aid to Ukraine, especially as Kiev plans a much-hyped counteroffensive against Russia.

“It is critical that the administration provide Ukraine with what it needs in time to defend and take back its sovereign territory,” Susan Collins told Pentagon leaders last week.

Politico reports that the White House is now discussing a brand new aid package designed to keep supplies flowing to Ukraine, according to a senior administration official, who noted that it is unclear what Kiev’s needs might be during or after the counteroffensive. The source added that the administration of President Joe Biden is “fully committed” to supporting the government in Kiev “for the long haul.”

The Pentagon announced its latest aid package for Kiev last week, valued at some $1.2 billion, which is intended to go to the military industry to produce artillery and air-defense ammunition. US military officials said these munitions are meant to meet Ukraine’s “most urgent requirements” and provide “critical near-term capabilities.”

Discussions of a new aid package for Ukraine, however, are expected to spark fierce congressional debate in the coming months and will face resistance from Republicans who have called for cuts in government spending on Ukraine, citing looming domestic issues.

The Biden administration is already engaged in a standoff with the Republican-majority House of Representatives over raising the US debt ceiling. Washington is currently running a national debt estimated at over $31 trillion, risking a default.

Moscow, meanwhile, has repeatedly slammed the US and its Western allies for continuing to pump weapons into Ukraine. By Russian estimates, the West had supplied some $100 billion worth of weapons, ammunition and supplies to the Ukrainian military by the end of 2022. The US and its allies, however, have continued to insist that they are not directly involved in the conflict.

Reuters/USA Reports/RT

Sudan grandmother's death shows struggle to help those stranded in war

As she tried to save her ailing grandparents stuck amid fighting in central Khartoum, Azhaar Sholgami put in calls from New York to Sudan's two warring factions, aid workers, and embassies near her grandparents' home, but her efforts were in vain.

Sholgami's grandmother died alone, her body still lying unburied at the family home. Her grandfather was shot three times while out seeking supplies and remains stranded with his wounds in Khartoum.

Her story echoes those of other desperate members of Sudan's diaspora and those outside the capital struggling to evacuate loved ones trapped under bombardment with little access to food or water as the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) battle in Khartoum.

"The process has been exhausting," said Sholgami, a student living in New York, as she detailed the family's increasingly frantic efforts to help the elderly couple, Alaweya Reshwan and Abdullah Sholgami, who were married for 60 years.

"My grandmother died alone and that breaks my heart because she'd always tell me that she's scared of being alone," she said.

Much of her anger and frustration is directed at the British embassy and what she sees as its reluctance to help her grandfather, a British citizen, because he also holds Sudanese nationality.

"The British embassy is four steps from my grandparents' house… My grandfather is also a British citizen. Every time we called or filled in a form, we would get asked if he had dual citizenship. How does that make him any less of a priority?" she said.

A British government spokesperson said Britain had carried out the longest and largest evacuation of any Western country from Sudan, and that its evacuation was open to British nationals and eligible family members.

A week into the conflict Britain and other Western countries began evacuatingdiplomats and other citizens. Sholgami's grandparents were not included. Living in a business district with no neighbours nearby and unable to charge their phones because the power was cut, they were alone.

RSF fighters took over their house - as Khartoum residents say they have done to homes across the city, though the group denies this.

After 10 days her grandfather drove out for supplies but was injured - shot in the hand, the chest and the lower back. An army soldier took him to hospital, leaving his wife alone at home.

The family did not learn he had been shot until days later and had to phone around Khartoum's few remaining hospitals to find out he was still alive. Sholgami intensified her efforts with the embassy.

"We wanted to see if they could just send them food or water. We tried at least 30 times to get them evacuated, but nothing worked," she said.

Eventually it was a Turkish diplomat that notified Azhaar of her grandmother's death, contacting her via Twitter and asking for her number.

"I thought he was going to tell me that they were about to evacuate my grandmother, but instead I found out she had passed away," she said.

Meanwhile the family are trying to arrange travel documents for her grandfather to come to Cairo as his passport remains in his office and impossible to reach.

"That she died of starvation, in the heat with no electricity... to this moment we are still unable to reach her body," she said.

"We're begging the RSF, begging anyone to just at least bury her in her own backyard."

Reuters

At the end of 2022, the Central Bank of Nigeria launched new banknotes. At the same time, it also capped the withdrawal of the new banknotes. The rollout of the currency change was shambolic. But it also led people to turn to digital financial services such as the use of point of sale (PoS) machines for payments in their transactions. 

Digital financial services are financial services that rely on digital technologies for their delivery and use by consumers. The Conversation Africa’s Wale Fatade asks Iwa Salami, an expert in financial technology and financial regulation in emerging economies, to explain the increase and its implications.

How did the botched currency changeover affect how Nigerians used the banking system?

The Central Bank set a deadline of 31 January 2023 for all old notes to be deposited in banks in exchange for new ones. The country was plunged into a currency crisis when all old notes were out of circulation, and the new notes were hardly circulating. The ensuing scarcity of cash made life unbearably hard for Nigerians.

One outcome was that Nigerians sought alternative ways to pay for goods and services using digital alternatives, such as point-of-sale machines. Between 2017 and 2022, the number of point-of-sale terminals in Nigeria grew significantly.

In 2017, there were around 155,000 terminals, and this number has increased to roughly 1.1 million as of April 2022. Merchants and PoS operators handle the machines. Their operations are regulated by the Central Bank.

It also resulted in a surge in point-of-sale transactions in Nigeria. There was a 40.69% year-on-year increase from the N573.72 billion (US$1.24 billion) transactions that were done in January 2022 to N807.16 billion (US$1.75 billion) in January 2023. Total cashless transactions also rose by 45.41% year-on-year to N39.58 trillion (US$85.96 billion) in January 2023.

What are the most developed forms of electronic transacting in Nigeria?

Point-of-Sale (PoS): These devices are installed both by traditional banks as well as by payment service banks. They are now ubiquitous throughout Nigeria - in supermarkets, large retail outlets as well as in small-scale businesses set up for this purpose only.

Payment Service Banks: These are technology-driven companies licensed by the Central Bank to engage in banking activities. Examples are Hope and MoneyMaster.

FinTechs: This includes any app, software, or technology that allows people or businesses to digitally access, manage, or gain insights into their finances or make financial transactions. A number of companies offer these services in Nigeria. They include Flutterwave, PiggyVest, OPay, Interswitch, Kuda and Remita.

Online Banking Offered by Traditional Banks: All Nigerian banks offer online services. However, the services aren’t always reliable. During the currency crisis, for example, platforms collapsed and customers were unable to transact. Digital platforms couldn’t cope with the deluge of online transactions.

Mobile Money: Financial services offered by a mobile network operator can be independent of the traditional banking network. A bank account is not required to use mobile money services – the only prerequisite is a basic mobile phone.

Those offering this service include MTN and Airtel Africa. As with most other countries on the continent, mobile money uptake in Nigeria has been slow. The exception has been Kenya, where the launch of MPesa in 2007  led to a massive uptake in mobile financial services.

In 2022, the Central Bank of Nigeria issued MTN the first license to operate mobile money services. It started operations in May. MTN is the largest mobile network operator in Nigeria.

Can you paint a picture of the banking landscape?

In 2021 Nigeria had 122.3 million active bank customers. According to February 2022 data, only 39% of Nigerians use the formal banking system.

As has been shown elsewhere, mobile money offerings, as well as other digital services, can extend banking to the unbanked.

In 2022 the volume of transactions performed electronically in Nigeria surged to the highest in five years. The total volume of the Inter-Bank Settlement Scheme Instant Payment Platform transactions rose by 613.1% to 5.2 billion in 2022 from 729.2 million in 2018. Its value also increased by 381.5% from N80.4 trillion (US$174.6 billion) in 2018 to N387.1 trillion (US$840.67 billion) in 2022.

In my view, the spike in the value of transactions carried out at point-of-sale devices in Nigeria in January 2023 – they went up by 40.7% higher compared to the same month in 2022 – shows a wider adoption of digital payments. It is also an indication of the huge opportunities that mobile money operators and other forms of digital payments have in Nigeria.

How does Nigeria’s digital currency eNaira fit into the picture?

The eNaira was launched by the Central Bank in October 2021. However, less than 0.5% of Nigerians were recorded as using it a year after its launch.

The Central Bank didn’t have an adoption strategy for the eNaira planned ahead of the currency changeover. This was clearly a missed opportunity.

Although the aim of the currency was to facilitate financial inclusion and shrink the size of the informal market, it’s fallen short of the mark. It is currently only accessible to those with bank accounts. So, despite a reported increase in the number of e-Naira wallets to 13 million since October 2022 and an increase in the value of transactions in 2023, a lot still needs to be done to drive widespread adoption by the financially excluded.

Rethinking its architecture and policies to drive its adoption could include:

• making it accessible to all with a mobile phone
• incentivising people to use it, such as granting significant discounts when used to pay taxes and for other public services, and
• embedding mobile network or payment apps into Central Bank Digital Currency wallets for the wallets to be interoperable with mobile network operators’ infrastructure.

A lesson of the currency crisis is that fintech offers a solution to the limitations of legacy financial institutions. At the same time, they can help address the financial exclusion challenge in Nigeria.

Had Nigeria appreciated the value of digital finance and particularly the key role to be played by mobile money operators, the impact of the crisis would not have been as painful.

** Iwa Salami is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Law, University of East London. This article was originally published in The Conversation. 

Inc

When Polly Arrowsmith needed to take time off from her IT company to care for her dying mother, she asked one of her workers to help out in her absence. She had one big task for him to take care of while she was gone: Let go an underperforming member of staff before a certain date, when redundancy payments would become mandatory.

He initially agreed, but failed to mention one thing: He was in a secret relationship with the employee.

When Arrowsmith returned to work a few months later, she was shocked to find that the firing hadn’t happened. Her employee couldn’t bring himself to fire the woman he loved — which meant that Arrowsmith needed to do it, and stump up thousands of pounds for a redundancy payout, too.

“It was a big betrayal of trust and I felt like an idiot because a lot of my staff knew and I didn’t,” said Arrowsmith. 

Why we love office romances

Despite the delicate and potentially difficult consequences of love at work, office romances became common in the 20th Century as women moved into the workplace, and as jobs became a more significant part of people’s lives and identities.

As many as one in four American workers had been in an office romance by the mid-1990s according to a poll quoted in a research paper by researchers then at the University of Northern Colorado. In 1995, the Los Angeles Times called office romances “a fact of company life,” noting that AT&T had more than 8,000 married couples among its 250,000 US employees.

And not all office romances were within marriages — offices became the “danger zone” for illicit affairs, according to one relationship counsellor in her 2004 book. She wrote that in the years leading up to 1990, 38% of the cheating wives she treated were seeing someone from work. That figure rose to 50% in the 1990s.

It’s not so different in the UK. A 2022 survey found that one in four admitted to having a “romantic encounter” with a colleague. “Collecting the stats made me realize it’s not something that’s isolated to a particular industry or sector, it happens everywhere,” said Tina Chander, head of employment law at Wright Hassall, a law firm based in Royal Leamington Spa that compiled the numbers.

When the relationships go well, there may even be reasons for businesses to encourage them — research shows that finding love at work can make people enjoy their jobs more, improve morale and boost productivity.

This happy prevalence of office romances is echoed by Emma Hollingsworth, 36, who met her husband Richard, 37, on the third day of their accountancy graduate scheme in the City of London 15 years ago. “We were sat next to each other in a training course and I thought he was really funny,” she said.

Working together over the next few years made her job far more pleasant, as the couple — who today have three children — could talk over their work instant message system and sync up their schedules. “We could get up, go to the gym together, have breakfast and then go into the office together,” she said. “It made the commute so nice and you could have lunch together.”

However, there are signs that the office romance might be fading in popularity. While 21% of Americans aged 50-64 met their partner at work, just 13% of people 18-29 did so, according to the Pew Research Center. Perhaps this is not a surprise, given today there are myriad ways to meet a date. Indeed, a fifth of the younger age group met their partner online, according to the study.

Cultural changes have shaken office relationships, as well. The MeToo movement challenged perceptions of what’s acceptable in the workplace, and even consensual relationships are now deemed inappropriate on many occasions. Cases in point: McDonald’s Corp. CEO Steve Easterbrook was fired in November 2019 over a consensual worker relationship as it violated company policy. In February 2022, CNN President Jeff Zucker quit after a years-long consensual relationship with a colleague was unveiled.

Think through the risks first

Horror stories about workplace romances are common enough that there are entire companies set up to help mitigate the business risk of trysts. Andy Coley runs Professional Boundaries, a training organization that does most of its business by mopping up after something has gone badly wrong in a relationship at work.

In one case, he was brought in by a charity to deal with the aftermath of an office love triangle: a woman married to one coworker — but pregnant with the baby of another.

“People can have affairs if [they] want, but when all three people work in the company, and one about to go off on maternity leave, then the two others left behind?” he said. “You could lose 20% of your workforce in one go from that love triangle.”

The biggest piece of advice in his sessions is encouraging staff to think through the potential pitfalls of acting on an office crush, and making sure the connection is strong enough to warrant pursuing it. He asks them to consider questions of themselves, including: “What is it about this person that I’m really attracted to? And would it be true if we weren’t working together?”

As long as they pass those tests, Coley isn’t against dating someone you encounter at work — after all, that’s how he met his wife. 

Can I stop my employees dating?

Coley said that relationships at work are basically inevitable, given the long periods of time you spend together, and the occasionally difficult situations.

“In organizations with lots of staff you just will get relationships,” he said. “I’m doing [a course] at a school in July with 120 staff and I guarantee you that some of the people in that room will be in relationships with each other.”

If you’re a boss concerned about the risks of workplace love, it might be tempting to wish that you could stamp them out entirely. But this is difficult to do legally in the UK, says Matt Gingell, an employment lawyer. “It’s important to be aware of the Human Rights Act,” he said. “People do have a right to privacy and family life, and employers need to be aware of that right.”

But it might be “proportionate” to have a disclosure policy, where employees are asked to tell their bosses about significant intimate relationships with colleagues, as long the situation is handled carefully and fairly. He gave an example: “If a senior male manager was having an affair with the junior female employee, they can’t be discriminatory in trying to force the woman to change [her job].”

Gingell added that any negative effects of office romances can be managed under existing policies. “If an employee’s performance is suffering and is maybe because of, for example, relationship issues, then an employer is entitled to go down performance procedures,” he said.

The difficulties of dating your employee — or your boss

Dating someone you manage, or someone who manages you, is very likely to cause problems, said Rachael Gunn, an operations consultant who works on conflict of interest policies, because it can lead to perceived unfairness. 

“There have been instances where we’ve had to sit down with them and say because of the nature of the relationship you have it’s not appropriate to continue in those roles, and we’d encourage them to come up with solutions,” she said.

However, simply forcing people out of roles because of a relationship would be very difficult unless you could prove the unfairness, she said. 

Arrowsmith’s experience with her errant worker showed how far those issues of unfairness can go when a boss and an employee get together. But that might not matter in the long run for that couple, she said.

“They ended up getting married and they’re still together as far as I’m aware,” she said. “It must have been worth it if you find your life partner that way.”

Bloomberg

The United States on Monday announced that it had taken steps to impose visa bans on persons who disrupted the recent general elections in Nigeria.

In a statement on the US State Department website, Secretary of State Antony Binken said “the United States is committed to supporting and advancing democracy in Nigeria and around the world. Today, I am announcing that we have taken steps to impose visa restrictions on specific individuals in Nigeria for undermining the democratic process during Nigeria’s 2023 elections cycle.”

He clarified that the visa ban is specific to certain individuals and is not directed at the Nigerian people or the Government of Nigeria as a whole.

According to the statement, these individuals, under US Immigration and Nationality Act, will be subject to restrictions on visas to the United States under a policy covering those believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining democracy.

“These individuals have been involved in intimidation of voters through threats and physical violence, the manipulation of vote results, and other activities that undermine Nigeria’s democratic process,” Blinken said.

The decision to take steps to impose visa restrictions, he said, reflects the continued commitment of the United States to support Nigerian aspirations to strengthen democracy and the rule of law.

However, the US did not name the Nigerians affected by the latest visa ban although some Nigerians including controversial Lagos bus transport chief, Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly known as MC Oluomo, were caught on video threatening potential voters.

Nigeria’s most recent elections were held on 25 February and 18 March for federal and state elections respectively. The process was fraught with a number of irregularities including pockets of violence in different parts of the country.

The presidential election, held on 25 February, produced Bola Tinubu as president-elect. He will be sworn in on 29 May, although his two main opponents are challenging his election in court.

PT

Barely 15 days before the inauguration of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, the DA-Democratic Alternative, a political party, has urged Nigerians to rise against the inauguration, alleging that the process that produced Tinubu was characterised by irregularities and fraud.

Presidential candidate of the DA, Victor Vishnay, who made the call in Abuja on Saturday during a press briefing, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to cancel the 2023 polls on grounds that it did not meet acceptable international standards.

“I enjoin Nigerians to call on the president to cancel the 2023 general election, especially the presidential election”, because of corrupt practices.

“We need change, real change, the fight for a better Nigeria starts with the cancellation of the election. It was not free and fair.”

According to him, Buhari by displaying his ballot paper shortly after casting his vote thereby showing that he voted for Tinubu, “single-handedly influenced the outcome of the February 25, presidential election”.

“So, the only way out is for the president to cancel the election; he should give reasons for the cancellation and step aside. The Vice President can take over or he will set up a committee to manage the country after his exit.”

Besides the cancellation of the election, the presidential candidate called for the investigation and subsequent prosecution of Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmoud Yakubu, for “sabotage”.

He noted that Yakubu had no excuse whatsoever to fail, stating that Nigerians must begin to be responsive and ensure that people are punished for their alleged failings or offences.

Earlier, National Chairman of the party, Frank Ukonga, threatened to drag the electoral umpire to court for excluding the party from the 2023 polls. He disclosed that DA was amongst the 74 political parties deregistered by INEC in 2020, which were later restored by the Court of Appeal, Abuja.

“Basking on this legal window in favour of DA to be relisted by INEC, DA applied to participate in the Enugu State Local Government Election of February 23, 2022, and ENSIEC, granted DA the opportunity to participate in the election by obeying the court judgment of suit FHC/ABJ/ CS/456/2021 in favour of DA and 2 others”, Ukonga said.

He, however, noted that INEC refused to include them in the 2023 polls despite “our letter of March 3, 2023, expressing our dissatisfaction in the exclusion of DA presidential candidate, Vishnay; vice presidential candidate, Hafsatu Abubakar and other candidates - and DA logo from the 2023 general election.”

Thisday