Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it has commenced the implementation of value-added tax (VAT) on automobile gas oil (AGO), also known as diesel, imported into the country.

The service made this known in a memo, dated July 28, 2023, sent to all importers and agents of diesel.

The memo was titled, ‘Request for Charge of Value Added Tax (VAT) on Automobile Gas Oil (ago) or Diesel Imported into the Country’. 

The communication, signed by PC Chibuoke (DC admin) on behalf of the area controller, Area I, Port Harcourt; made reference to a “headquarters circular No. NCS/T&T/T/899/217/VOL.I of 27 July 2023 on the above subject matter”.

“I am directed to inform you that henceforth, Value Added Tax (VAT) is to be charged on Automobile Gas Oil (AGO), and Procedure Code 4900 000 shall be used on all importations of AGO,” the memo reads.

The service added that no importer of diesel is allowed to use “additional Code 409 in their declaration”.

In 2020, the federal government began the implementation of the Finance Act, which stated that a 7.5 percent VAT would be charged on diesel costs.

The development means that the price of diesel, which has been surging, may reach unprecedented highs — further worsening the plight of Nigerians and manufacturers.

In July 2023, the price of a litre of the product increased to N794.48 a litre, compared to N774.38 per litre in the corresponding period last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The Cable

Foreign investment in Nigerian stocks fell last month to its lowest level since President Bola Tinubu’s reforms that sparked a massive rally in the equities market, new data from the nation’s bourse show.

The total amount of stocks bought by foreign investors plunged to N9.45 billion from N22.72 billion in June, according to data from the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).

Stocks worth N31.09 billion were offloaded by foreigners in July, compared to an outflow of N23.02 billion in the previous month.

Foreign inflow into Nigerian stocks had jumped more than seven-fold in May to N27.51 billion, its highest level since December 2021, as the market soared on the last two trading days of that month following the announcement of petrol subsidy removal by Tinubu on May 29. That month, the market posted its first net inflow this year as the outflow was N9.65 billion, up from N4.80 billion in the previous month.

The subsidy removal was followed by a foreign exchange reform that led to a large devaluation of the naira in mid-June.

“The uncertainty in the FX market may have led to the exit observed in July,” Ayodeji Ebo, managing director/chief business officer of Optimus by Afrinvest, told BusinessDay. “In addition, profit-taking may also be a major factor for the pull-out.”

Foreign participation in the equities market had increased to 11.51 percent in May from 4.43 percent in the previous month. It fell to 11.25 percent in June and 5.77 percent in July, the NGX data show.

The total transactions executed by Foreign investors fell by 11.37 percent in July to N40.54 billion (about $52.58 million) in the previous month, while domestic deals rose 83.50 percent to N662.44 billion.

BusinessDay had reported in February that for the first time in five years, foreign investors bought more Nigerian stocks than they sold in 2022.

The net foreign inflow came as foreign investors were forced to reinvest their dividends and sales proceeds into securities because they could not get dollars to repatriate their funds.

The latest data from the NGX explains foreign portfolio investors’ (FPIs) sentiments about the Nigerian capital market, hence the urgent need to provide confidence by increasing FX earnings in the medium to long term, Ebo said.

“We expect to see more FPIs in fixed income as yields improve, especially OMO bills,” he added.

On 10 August, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) auctioned its first OMO bills since December 29, 2022.

Analysts at Cordros Securities Limited said in an August 15 note that the move represented one of the short-term fixes for the CBN to attract FPIs into the FX market amid concerns that the Treasury bills yields were too low to attract foreign investors.

They expressed cautious optimism that active OMO operations with competitive interest rates would complement recent FX reforms, even as they raised concerns over “a bifurcation of interest rates where rates are high for foreign investors (OMO bills) but low for domestic investors (Treasury bills) following the Debt Management Office’s efforts to keep borrowing costs low”.

“Moreover, bringing back OMO as a tool for attracting foreign investors takes us back to the unorthodox monetary policy era. It will come at a considerable cost to the CBN’s balance sheet,” the analysts added.

Bismarck Rewane, managing director of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, said the Nigerian stock market lost 1.43 percent in the last week of July following a 25 basis-point hike in the monetary policy rate and the release of underwhelming half-year earnings by some Nigerian companies.

The central bank raised its benchmark interest rate in July for the eighth consecutive month to 18.75 percent from 18.50 percent.

The NGX gained 5.53 percent in July, down from 9.38 percent in the previous month, with investors gradually exiting equities “for attractive fixed income yields”, Rewane said in his presentation at the Lagos Business School Breakfast Meeting this month.

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said in its latest country report on Nigeria that the CBN’s unification of the country’s multiple exchange rates in June led to the sharpest devaluation of the naira in history.

The new exchange rate was classed by the central bank as a ‘managed float’, but there are inconsistencies in application to a more liberal currency regime as foreign-exchange access restrictions still apply to an array of imports, according to the EIU.

“This will unnerve foreign investors, and a backlog of foreign-exchange orders the CBN failed to clear before opening up the market and deeply negative real interest rates will keep liquidity tight,” it said.

Businessday

Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, the West African nation’s biggest miller, reported its first loss in about four years as naira’s depreciation increased the company’s cost of servicing overseas loans.

The Lagos-based company reported a loss of 10.2 billion naira ($13.2 million) in the three months to June 30, compared with a profit of 5.63 billion naira a year ago, according to a regulatory filing. The firm posted a foreign-exchange loss of 22.5 billion naira.

“Without the devaluation of the exchange rate, the operating profit would have increased by 52%,” Flour Mills said.

Six of the nation’s biggest companies announced a combined loss of $385 million early in the year after revaluing overseas loans and letters of credit following the naira’s 40% plunge. Nigeria’s government in mid-June allowed the currency to weaken as part of measures to attract overseas inflows and help revive the struggling economy.

Flour Mills said its finance costs doubled to 16.63 billion naira. Revenue rose 34% to 456.38 billion naira.

Still, the company’s shares surged 10% as of 2.30 p.m in Lagos, heading for their biggest gain since March 2021. Trading volume was seven times the average for the time of the day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Flour Mills look relatively undervalued compared to other food companies, Ayodeji Ajilore, analyst at ARM Investment Managers in Lagos said by phone. “Also, investors think the risk of foreign exchange (loss) has materialized for the company; so they don’t expect it to degenerate.”

Bloomberg

Chicago State University has locked its X microblogging handle from the general public as Nigerians intensify pressure on President Bola Tinubu’s controversial certificate from the institution.

With a padlock icon appearing on the account, a check by Peoples Gazette on Monday showed that only “confirmed followers” of the institution could see its tweets now, contrary to how it was before.

A notification telling the general public that the institution had locked its X handle from the general public reads: “These posts are protected. Only confirmed followers have access to @ChicagoState’s posts and complete profile. Tap the ‘Follow’ button to send a follow request.”

The Gazette could not verify why the institution allowed only its confirmed followers access to its timeline while restricting the general public from its content.

Chicago State University has yet to respond to the Gazette’s request seeking comments on the development, coming amid heated debates among Nigerian cybernauts on Tinubu’s academic records, with many calling out the institution on X.

Earlier in August, Atiku Abubakar requested court approval to subpoena Tinubu’s files domiciled with CSU because he believed the documents would clarify glaring inconsistencies in the president’s background, including publicly available documents that suggested the institution, in the 1970s admitted a female student bearing Bola Tinubu born on March 29, 1954.

In pushback against Abubakar’s legal move, which could expose his academic record, Tinubu also filed a motion to prevent a federal court in the United States from releasing his academic records to his principal opponent in the 2023 presidential election.

The institution had claimed that a clerk was responsible for irregularities that characterised a certificate the school reprinted in Tinubu’s name, according to court filings seen by The Gazette.

Amid the legal tussle in the U.S., Abubakar on Sunday mocked Tinubu, asking him to reveal how he obtained a degree from Chicago University without attending primary and secondary schools.

Atiku’s tweet sparked widespread reactions seeing the “AskTinubu” trend of X microblogging app on Sunday as Nigerians discuss Tinubu’s academic records.

PG

Burhan discusses Egypt mediation offer in talks with Sisi

Had ruled out negotiated deal with RSF foe the day before

Civilians caught in crossfire, dozens killed in Nyala

Sudanese military ruler General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan met his Egyptian counterpart on Tuesday in his first trip abroad since the April outbreak of war in Sudan, a day after rejecting calls for fresh negotiations.

The two discussed President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's offer to mediate the conflict during a short meeting in the coastal city of El Alamein, an initiative Burhan said he welcomed, according to an Egyptian presidency statement.

On Monday, Burhan said the regular army he leads would vanquish the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and never sign a deal with them, dashing new hopes of talks to end a war that has plunged Sudan into overlapping humanitarian crises.

The visit represents the first time Burhan has left Sudan since the April 15 start of the conflict, which broke out amid discord over plans to integrate their troops into a single force as part of a transition to democracy.

Burhan is also expected to visit Saudi Arabia, which along with the United States had held meetings with the two sides that yielded ceasefire pacts that were all violated in short order.

In brief comments from El Alamein, Burhan said he wanted to end the war, but did not mention the possibility of talks.

"We ask the world to take an objective and correct view of this war. This war was started by a group that wanted to take over power, and in the process it has committed every crime that could come to mind," Burhan said.

The RSF has been accused of looting homes and raping dozens of women, according to activists and victims, and of ethnic warfare that has driven out hundreds of thousands of residents of El Geneina in West Darfur.

The RSF has denied the accusations but said that any of its fighters found involved in abuses would be brought to justice.

Two Egyptian security sources said that while the RSF had also said it welcomed the Egyptian initiative, which includes a call for a months-long ceasefire, it had appeared reluctant to take any further steps.

"The PR advantage is with Burhan," said a Western diplomat, adding that although Western nations see both sides of the conflict as belligerents, Burhan's appearances outside Khartoum would shore up his status.

Both the regular army and RSF have been accused of fighting in residential areas and indiscriminately firing heavy weapons, resulting in hundreds of civilians killed in the capital and other major cities. They both deny the allegations, accusing each other of targeting civilians.

In Nyala, capital of South Darfur and one of Sudan's most populous cities, fighting has cut off phone networks, electricity and humanitarian aid for weeks, with tens of thousands of residents trapped.

In one incident documented by medical aid agency MSF and local residents, about two dozen people, including multiple members of several families, died when caught in crossfire while hiding under a bridge on Aug. 23.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian drones attack Russian air base near Estonia

Ukrainian drones swept across Russia in overnight attacks that destroyed military aircraft and disrupted air traffic, Russian officials said early on Wednesday, hours after the funeral service for Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Attacks by unmanned aircraft were reported in Pskov, Bryansk, Kaluga, Orlov and Ryazan regions as well as the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula, Russian officials said.

The most significant attack appeared to be in Pskov about 660 km (411 miles) north of the Ukrainian frontier, near the borders with Estonia and Latvia, where Russian officials said four Il-76 military transport planes were damaged.

Ukraine has stepped up its drone war in recent months, often hitting targets deep inside Russian territory in support of a ground offensive that is meeting stiff resistance on the southern and eastern front lines.

Footage published by Pskov's governor on the Telegram messaging app shows smoke rising from a large fire as the sounds of sirens and an explosion ring out. Other reports on Telegram channels showed anti-aircraft systems in action around the city, which is just 32 km (20 miles) east of the Estonian border.

"According to initial assessments, nothing serious has occurred but it is hard to determine that at night. If everything is in order, the airport will resume normal operations on Thursday," Governor Mikhail Vedernikov wrote on Telegram, adding that there were no injuries.

Tass news agency, quoting emergency services, said four Il-76 transport aircraft, long the workhorse of the Russian military, were damaged at the military airfield. Two of the planes "burst into flames", it added.

Russian military and defence officials said three Ukrainian drones were shot down over southern Bryansk region, one over central Orlov region and one over Ryazan region south of Moscow. The airspace around Moscow's Vnukovo airport was closed briefly, Tass reported.

A Russian aircraft also destroyed four Ukrainian fast-attack boats carrying up to 50 paratroopers in an operation on the Black Sea, the military said.

Reuters was not able to independently verify the reports and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

MORE US AID

The drone attacks came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new package of military assistance to aid Ukraine in its fight against Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour in Feb. 2022.

The package includes additional mine-clearing equipment, missiles for air defence, plus ammunition for artillery and small arms, Blinken said in a statement.

Ukraine is using vast amounts of ammunition in some of the heaviest fighting of the war as its presses its summer counter-offensive in the south and east, where Russian forces are deeply entrenched.

On Tuesday the Russian mercenary chief Prigozhin was buried in a leafy cemetery on the outskirts of St Petersburg, six days after he was killed in an unexplained plane crash north of Moscow.

Prigozhin, two top lieutenants of his Wagner group and four bodyguards were among 10 people who died when his Embraer Legacy 600 private jet crashed in unexplained circumstances on Aug. 23.

He died two months after staging a brief mutiny against the Russian defence establishment, in the biggest challenge to President Vladimir Putin's rule since he rose to power in 1999.

Moscow says it is investigating the crash and has denied any involvement, but in Washington White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre gave her strongest statement yet about the possibility that Putin directed the killing.

"We all know that the Kremlin has a long history of killing opponents," she said. "It's very clear what happened here."

Russia informed Brazil's aircraft investigation authority that it would not probe the crash of the Brazilian-made Embraer (EMBR3.SA) jet under international rules "at the moment", the Brazilian agency told Reuters on Tuesday.

Russia’s aviation authority is not obligated to follow international investigation protocols as the flight from Moscow to St Petersburg was domestic.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Washington is waging war on Russia ‘to the last Ukrainian’ – Moscow

The US government has announced another round of military aid for Ukraine worth $250 million, including artillery shells, air defense munitions and mine-clearing equipment, among other gear. The latest weapons transfer comes as Kiev attempts a wave of attacks on Russian cities as part of its straggling summer offensive.

The State Department outlined the new lethal aid on Tuesday, noting that Ukraine would receive additional munitions for the HIMARS rocket system, AIM-9M air defense missiles, Javelin and other anti-tank weapons, as well as 3 million rounds of small arms ammunition.

Russia’s embassy in Washington later condemned the weapons transfer as “the height of hypocrisy,” saying US officials “will not give up the concept of fighting Russia to the last Ukrainian.”

The embassy went on to connect the aid to recent comments by US Senator Mitt Romney, who declared that American assistance to Kiev was helping to “weaken” both Russia and China at a bargain price, calling the aid “the best national defense spending I think we’ve ever done.”

“Without a second thought, [Romney] said bluntly that ‘the United States is diminishing and devastating the Russian military for a very small amount of money. We are losing no lives in Ukraine,’” the embassy continued. “His words dot the i’s and cross the t’s. The lives of citizens of other countries do not matter much.”

Drawn from existing stockpiles, the new $250 million arms package brings direct US military aid to Kiev to more than $43 billion since the conflict with Russia escalated last year. Despite significant support from Western sponsors, however, Ukrainian forces have struggled to reclaim territory in their much vaunted summer counteroffensive.

Though Kiev is aiming to capture a swath of land toward the Azov Sea coast in hopes of severing Moscow’s land bridge into Crimea, behind the scenes US intelligence officials have raised doubts about its chances for success, according to the Washington Post. Instead, officials believe Ukraine will fall “well short” of its “principal objective.”

Amid lagging efforts to reclaim land, Ukrainian forces have increasingly turned to strikes further into Russian territory, including a series of attempted drone bombings in Moscow in recent weeks. Early on Wednesday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses continued to intercept UAVs, and had repelled several coordinated attacks across five different regions.

** Russian MOD claims destruction of Ukrainian landing force

A Russian Navy attack jet has sunk four boats transporting a force of Ukrainian commandos, the Defense Ministry in Moscow announced early on Wednesday.

“At around midnight on August 30, a naval aircraft of the Black Sea Fleet destroyed four military speedboats carrying a landing force of Ukrainian special operatives, numbering up to 50 men, in the waters of the Black Sea,” the Russian Defense Ministry statement said, without giving a more precise location.

Earlier this month, Moscow published a video of a Russian military jet destroying a Ukrainian speedboat off the coast of Snake Island, near Odessa.

The watercraft was identified as a Willard Sea Force boat, sold to Kiev a decade ago by the US-based Willard Marine. Ukraine had purchased several versions, capable of carrying anywhere from six to 26 troops each.

Last week, Ukrainian military intelligence claimed to have landed a group of commandos on the coast of Crimea, to raise a flag on the country’s independence day. The Russian Defense Ministry did not comment on the alleged incident, while some Russian social media reported the destruction of a Ukrainian raiding party in a firefight with local security forces.

Ukraine continues to claim Crimea, even though its residents had overwhelmingly voted to return to Russia in 2014, following the US-backed coup in Kiev.

Reuters/RT

It was a fairly regular day on the ward for Canberra hospital infectious diseases physician Sanjaya Senanayake, until a neurosurgeon colleague called him and said: “Oh my god, you wouldn’t believe what I just found in this lady’s brain – and it’s alive and wriggling.”

The neurosurgeon, Dr Hari Priya Bandi, had pulled an 8cm-long parasitic roundworm from her patient, prompting her to call on Senanayake and other hospital colleagues for advice about what to do next.

The patient, a 64-year-old woman from south-eastern New South Wales, was first admitted to her local hospital in late January 2021 after suffering three weeks of abdominal pain and diarrhoea, followed by a constant dry cough, fever and night sweats.

By 2022, her symptoms also included forgetfulness and depression, prompting a referral to Canberra hospital. An MRI scan of her brain revealed abnormalities requiring surgery.

“But the neurosurgeon certainly didn’t go in there thinking they would find a wriggling worm,” Senanayake said. “Neurosurgeons regularly deal with infections in the brain, but this was a once-in-a-career finding. No one was expecting to find that.”

The surprising discovery prompted a team at the hospital to quickly come together to uncover what kind of roundworm it was and, most importantly, decide on any further treatment the patient might require.

“We just went for the textbooks, looking up all the different types of roundworm that could cause neurological invasion and disease,” Senanayake said. Their search was fruitless and they looked to outside experts for help.

“Canberra is a small place, so we sent the worm, which was still alive, straight to the laboratory of a CSIRO scientist who is very experienced with parasites,” Senanayake said. “He just looked at it and said, ‘Oh my goodness, this is Ophidascaris robertsi’.”

Ophidascaris robertsi is a roundworm usually found in pythons. The Canberra hospital patient marks the world-first case of the parasite being found in humans.

The patient resides near a lake area inhabited by carpet pythons. Despite no direct snake contact, she often collected native grasses, including warrigal greens, from around the lake to use in cooking, Senanayake said.

The doctors and scientists involved in her case hypothesise that a python may have shed the parasite via its faeces into the grass. They believe the patient was probably infected with the parasite from touching the native grass and transferring the eggs to food or kitchen utensils, or after eating the greens.

Senanayake, who is also an infectious diseases expert based at the Australian National University, said the patient needed to be treated for other larvae that might have invaded other parts of her body, such as the liver. But given no patient had ever been treated for the parasite before, care was taken. Some medications for example could trigger inflammation as the larvae died off. Inflammation can be harmful to organs such as the brain, so they also needed to administer medications to counteract any dangerous side-effects.

“That poor patient, she was so courageous and wonderful,” Senanayake said. “You don’t want to be the first patient in the world with a roundworm found in pythons and we really take our hats off to her. She’s been wonderful.”

The patient is recovering well and is still being regularly monitored, Senanayake said, and researchers are exploring whether a pre-existing medical condition that caused her to be immunocompromised could have led to the larvae taking hold. The case has been documented in the September edition of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, three-quarters of new or emerging infectious diseases in people come from animals.

Senanayake said the world-first case highlighted the danger of diseases and infections passing from animals to humans, especially as people and animals start to live more closely together and habitats overlap more.

“There have been about 30 new infections in the world in the last 30 years,” he said.

“Of the emerging infections globally, about 75% are zoonotic, meaning there has been transmission from the animal world to the human world. This includes coronaviruses.

“This Ophidascaris infection does not transmit between people, so this patient’s case won’t cause a pandemic like Covid-19 or Ebola. However, the snake and parasite are found in other parts of the world, so it is likely that other cases will be recognised in coming years in other countries.”

Infectious diseases physician Prof Peter Collignon, who was not involved in the patient’s case, said some cases of zoonotic diseases may never be diagnosed if they are rare and physicians don’t know what to look for.

“Sometimes, people die with the cause never being found,” he said.

“It’s worth taking care when encountering animals and the environment, by washing foods thoroughly and cooking food properly, and wearing protection like long sleeves so you don’t get bitten,” he said.

The Guardian, UK

Gary Marcus, cofounder of the Center for the Advancement of Trustworthy AI, has for years been highly critical of generative artificial intelligence and large language model applications like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. These programs consume vast quantities of data to perform various functions, from creating new cocktail recipes to sharing insights about the folding sequences of proteins.

Marcus recently wrote that there are “not one, but many, serious, unsolved problems at the core of generative AI.” He isn’t alone. During an interview earlier this month, theoretical physicist Michio Kaku dismissed AI chat bots as “glorified tape recorders” that are only a “warped mirror of what’s on the internet the last 20 years.”

Yet that hasn’t stopped popular culture, business blogs, and tech enthusiasts from contemplating their supposedly revolutionary implications. There are many unknowns about general artificial intelligence and its role in American society, but one point is becoming clear: Open-source AI tools are turning the internet into an even murkier den of confusion. 

One of Marcus’s chief concerns is that these models can create self-amplifying echo chambers of flawed or even fabricated information, both intentionally and unintentionally. AI researchers Maggie Harrison and Jathan Sadowski have each drawn attention to what the latter cleverly termed “Habsburg AI,” which appears when AI-generated information is fed back into another AI program on a loop. What results is a sort of information “inbreeding” that drives the AI mad, causing it to spew abominations of data. Yet even absent these conditions, human influence on the information filtering process creates opportunities for additional forms of distortion.

Practices known as search-engine poisoning, keyword stuffing, or spamdexing involve programmers boosting the visibility of certain sites or products artificially by manipulating a search engine’s indexing system. Unfortunately, AI can supercharge these manipulative schemes. But malicious intent aside, the sheer breadth of online data can lead programs to mistake such volume for veracity. Take, for instance, something as simple as a famous quote.

“The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools” is one of the most misattributed phrases on the internet. Google and Bing searches yield an avalanche of results giving credit for this wisdom to the fifth-century B.C. Athenian general Thucydides. Indeed, the quote is one of ChatGPT’s top three responses to the prompt “Thucydides quotes.”

Though he was a warrior and a scholar, Thucydides never wrote those words. The quote, transformed over the years through endless paraphrasing, is from a biography of British General Charles George Gordon written by Sir William Francis Butler and published in 1891. Ironically, another quote frequently misattributed to Thucydides is that “knowledge without understanding is useless.”

Yet according to the dominant search engines — increasingly popular sources of human knowledge — Thucydides did say those things. This is one example of an artificial historical fact. The problem might seem trivial when quoting an ancient Athenian, but what about when vetting U.S. foreign policy for historical context, responding to a rapidly evolving pandemic or trying to make sense of potentially cherry-picked declassified intelligence that could lead a nation to war?

Earlier this month, I published a study describing how disinformation made its way into trusted sources and shaped the consensus to invade Iraq in 2003. If available at the time, AI-powered news filters could have further reinforced that narrative and stifled or altogether silenced opposition. Such a predicament emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2020 presidential election, as social media platforms banned what they considered suspect reports that wound up being true. Society’s insatiable demand for rapid and continuous information access has also become a lucrative market that large language models are perfectly suited to exploit.

Questionable AI-authored literature now floods online bookstores, luring buyers with trending topics and promises of expertise on a budget. One error-riddled book about the recent fires in Maui appeared on Amazon within two days of the disaster. It had the same title as Michael Wolff’s wildly popular 2018 book on the Trump administration, “Fire and Fury.” The book was #1 in the natural disasters category before Amazon took it down, and this incident is far from isolated. 

If these practices are not curbed, they could produce a Tower of Babel effect by creating an online ecosystem of self-replicating fictions. Americans read fewer books, have less faith in the news, view higher education as less important and rely more than ever on TikTok for their news, all of which makes the modern world fertile ground for algorithmic manipulation. Making matters worse, traditional checks on specious information — such as expert knowledge, reputable publishing agenciesand hard news sources — have lost much of their influence.

AI’s threat to society therefore looks less like James Cameron’s vision of a cyborg Armageddon and more like a hopelessly polluted information environment in which everything is disputed and meaningful communication is impossible. Advanced search tools can reinforce rather than refine the prejudices or policies of their human masters, which hyper-accelerates human bias online.

AI itself poses less of a risk to humanity than malign actors who seek to abuse it or those who put misplaced faith in its role as a gatekeeper of human knowledge. If Washington and Silicon Valley wade into the age of artificial truth without a clear strategy for managing its risks, America could end up drowning in a sea of incoherence.

Capt. Michael P. Ferguson, U.S. Army, is a Ph.D. student in the Department of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is coauthor of “The Military Legacy of Alexander the Great: Lessons for the Information Age.” The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official policies or positions of the U.S. Army, U.S. Department of Defense or U.S. Government.

The Hill

Few names command as much respect and admiration as Warren Buffett in business and investment. The "Oracle of Omaha" is known for his exceptional investment prowess and his unwavering commitment to ethical practices.

One of the most crucial lessons he imparts is the significance of hiring people with integrity. He often cites the quote, "In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you."

For Buffett, integrity isn't just a nice-to-have quality; it's a non-negotiable foundation on which successful companies are built.

Integrity as a competitive advantage

Buffett's emphasis on integrity is not just a moral stance; it has far-reaching implications for decision-making and long-term success. 

He believes that when a company's leaders and employees operate with integrity, they are more likely to make decisions that benefit the organization as a whole, rather than pursuing short-term gains or engaging in unethical practices.

I agree. 

In my work as an executive coach, I have seen numerous companies with a strong culture of integrity as having a competitive advantage. Businesses that prioritize ethical behavior tend to attract loyal customers and dedicated employees, fostering an environment of trust that is invaluable in the business world.

Two big lessons for business leaders

Warren Buffett's emphasis on hiring people with integrity carries profound lessons for both established business leaders and aspiring entrepreneurs:

1. It cultivates trust

Investing in individuals with integrity fosters an environment of trust and accountability that pays dividends over time. 

When someone exercises good judgment, trust is gained, especially with those working and collaborating in close proximity. Colleagues see one another as dependable and accountable for their actions. In turn, people feel safe in each other's presence.

2. It sets the tone for ethical behaviors

Integrity should be a way of life for how people behave in the business world. And it starts with leaders modeling the way. They must embody the values they espouse and set the tone for ethical behavior throughout the organization. 

A leader who walks the walk of integrity becomes a role model who commands respect. By hiring and promoting people with integrity up the ranks, the workforce will naturally gravitate to their leadership because they respect the decisions they make on behalf of others and the organization.

Warren Buffett's belief that integrity is the bedrock on which successful companies are built serves as a guiding light for leaders in today's ever-shifting business landscape. His words remind us that integrity isn't just a virtue – it's a strategic imperative.

Inc

KPMG has adjusted its growth forecast for the Nigerian economy to 2.65 percent in 2023 – down from 2.85 percent earlier projected.

The professional services firm, in a flashnote titled ‘Underwhelming Q2 2023 GDP Growth Recorded’, and released over the weekend, said the revision is premised on various considerations.

KPMG listed the factors to include the recent contraction in oil production, muted government investment in the economy, the impact of subsidy removal and foreign exchange

(FX) rates unification on households, among others.

“Q2 2023 GDP results is broadly in line with our earlier downward revision of 2023 GDP to 2.85%. Nevertheless, we are adjusting our 2023 forecast further downwards to 2.65%,” KPMG said.

“Firstly, half-year 2023 GDP currently stands at 2.41% and will require an average growth in H2 2023 of 3.30% and 3.50% to end the year at 2.85% and 3.0% respectively for 2023 which we believe is challenging and unlikely.

“Q2 2023 is however the quarter where the impact of Subsidy removal, FX unification and other reforms of the new administration had it major impact on squeezing household consumption demand and firms’ costs of operations as well as reduced private investment as firms continued to adopt a wait and see approach, tweak strategies to cope with rising costs and reduced demand for their goods and services and struggled to find FX to operate. These factors will likely constrain non-oil growth given that household consumption and private investment constitute the largest share of GDP.

“The impact of subsidy removal was evident in the biggest contraction in road transportation GDP since the new GDP series. Though, subsidy was only removed in June 2023 representing one month impact of the three months of the quarter, road transport GDP contracted by -55.14% in Q2 2023, representing the biggest contraction in road transport GDP in history.

“This contradicts the muted results recorded with respect to inflation for that same month which according to NBS was not expected to fully reflect on the CPI though methodologically, the Inflation rate in each sector is used to deflate nominal GDP for that sector.

“At the same time, there has been muted government capital investment in the economy in Q2 2023 and the first half of Q3 2023 so far, with new administrations at the Federal and State level settling down in Q3 2023.

“Furthermore, oil production has started Q3 2023 with a further contraction in July 2023 and if this trend continues for the remaining two months of Q3 2023, we will have a situation where non-oil sector growth and oil sector growth underperform.”

The firm also said it expected further increases in inflation for the rest of the year which would make the pressure on nominal to real gross domestic product (GDP) to be higher, thereby curtailing higher real GDP growth in Q3 2023.

Recently, the National Bureau of Satistics (NBS) disclosed that Nigeria’s GDP slowed to 2.51 percent in the second quarter (Q2) of 2023 due to the challenging economic conditions being experienced.

The Cable