Economy
Expanding Rural Participation in Nigeria’s Digital Economy
By Adeniyi Ogunfowoke
Nigeria’s digital economy is currently getting the much-needed attention from government and experts because of its endless potentials to cause a radical shift in the country’s economy. These can be backed by the statement of Okechukwu Enelamah, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment who said recently that there are indications that investments in the digital economy will generate $88 billion and create three million jobs for Nigerians before the end of 2021.
From the Minister’s statement, it can be understood that the digital economy will be key to the growth of Nigeria’s economy.
However, a major concern or worry for some stakeholders is that the participation in the digital economy is largely concentrated in the urban areas. Meanwhile, in the rural areas, their participation is quite skeletal largely because of the low internet penetration. To be more factual, the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta said recently that 53% of Nigerians lack internet access and many of them are inhabitants of rural areas.
Nigeria’s Digital economy
So, what is the digital economy? According to Deloitte, “It’s the economic activity that results from billions of everyday online connections among people, businesses, devices, data, and processes.”
What is exciting about the digital economy is that it is unrestricted and borderless as it can reach anyone in any part of the world.
In Nigeria, we have seen huge contributions in the digital economy from e-commerce, fintech, aggrotech, and healthtech among others. These businesses have deployed digital technologies like artificial intelligence, virtual reality and the internet of things to solve crucial social problems and improve their bottom line.
In relation to e-commerce, Jumia has played a key role in accelerating Nigeria’s digital economy. The platform has encouraged and convinced Nigerians to buy things online, created jobs and generally encouraged trust in the online space.
Increasing rural participation
Business in rural areas is basically offline. This is probably because of inadequate internet access. Nevertheless, these areas cannot be left behind in the digital economy march. It is a goldmine waiting to be explored.
The first and only thing that must be done is for the government through the Nigerian Communication Commission to work with the telecommunication companies to identify and provide telephony services to underserved or unserved communities. If this can be done, there will be a steady increase in rural participation in the digital economy because businesses will move into these communities to do business.
In the meantime, some painstaking efforts are been made to increase rural participation despite the limited internet access.
Jumia, Nigeria’s No 1 shopping destination, has expanded its delivery services beyond Lagos to include Ibadan, Abeokuta, Port Harcourt and Abuja. In all of these cities, there are pockets of rural communities and their inhabitants who buy items online through Jumia Force (JForce) agents and are delivered to their doorsteps. Also, if you are searching for a hotel, Jumia’s hotel and flight services have over 9,000 hotels across the country. Therefore, whether you are in a rural or urban area you do not need to worry about where to stay. This reveals that Jumia is ready to send foot soldiers to these rural areas to educate, enlighten and at the end empower them to be part of the digital economy.
By Dipo Olowookere
The positive market breadth index recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited could not save it from further claws of the bears on Friday.
The major performance indicators, the All-Share Index (ASI) and the market capitalisation, depreciated by 0.03 per cent and 0.01 per cent, respectively.
The ASI was down by 78.58 points to 245,283.68 points from the previous day’s 245,362.26 points, and the market capitalisation receded by N14 billion to N158.326 trillion from Thursday’s N158.340 trillion.
Business Post reports that market participants traded 943.0 million equities valued at N46.7 billion in 55,480 deals compared with the 2.1 billion equities worth N230.8 billion transacted in 48,231 deals a day earlier.
This implied that the trading volume shrank by 55.10 per cent, the trading value reduced by 79.77 per cent, and the number of deals surged by 15.03 per cent.
An analysis of the sectoral performance showed that the consumer goods space crashed by 0.60 per cent and the energy index went down by 0.09 per cent.
However, the banking sector improved by 1.90 per cent, the insurance counter expanded by 0.75 per cent, and the industrial goods segment soared by 0.10 per cent.
There were 33 appreciating stocks and 29 depreciating stocks during the last trading session of the week and month of July, indicating bullish investor sentiment despite the poor outcome.
CAP lost 9.97 per cent to trade at N128.25, Veritas Kapital depreciated by 9.49 per cent to N1.43, Vitafoam Nigeria slipped by 7.70 per cent to N179.80, The Initiates dipped by 6.67 per cent to N28.00, and NAHCO crashed by 6.63 per cent to N155.00.
Conversely, Eterna gained 10.00 per cent to sell for N33.00, Consolidated Hallmark also grew by 10.00 per cent to N8.36, McNichols expanded by 9.52 per cent to N5.75, Honeywell Flour increased by 8.96 per cent to N18.25, and First Holdco chalked up 8.00 per cent to quote at N129.55.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange extended its bullish run on Friday, July 31, by 0.99 per cent.
This raised the NASD Security Index (NSI) by 43.54 points to 4,431.71 points from 4,388.17 points, and lifted the market capitalisation by N26.13 billion to N2.659 trillion from N2.633 trillion.
The growth came amid a significant decline in the activity level, as the volume of securities decreased by 73.0 per cent to 690,990 units from 2.6 million units, the value of securities slid by 15.0 per cent to N75.0 million from the preceding session’s N88.3 million, and the number of deals contracted by 31.6 per cent to 26 deals from the 38 deals recorded a day earlier.
The most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis remained Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc, with a turnover of 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 76.6 million units exchanged for N5.5 billion.
The most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis was also GNI Plc, with the sale of 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units traded for N415.7 million.
Investor sentiment was bullish yesterday after a positive market breadth index triggered by five price gainers and two price losers, led by 11 Plc, which gave up N14.99 to close at N225.01 per share versus the previous day’s N240.00 per share, and MRS Oil Plc, which shed N14.55 to settle at N132.00 per unit versus N146.55 per unit.
However, Nipco Plc gained N41.50 to sell at N456.50 per share compared with the preceding session’s N415.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc appreciated by N12.93 to N147.93 per unit from N135.00 per unit, Nitrox Industrial Gases Plc improved by N1.00 to N20.00 per share from N19.00 per share, CSCS Plc soared by 54 Kobo to N102.00 per unit from N101.46 per unit, and Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc jumped by 1 Kobo to 50 Kobo per share from 49 Kobo per share.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The value of the Nigerian Naira weakened against the United States Dollar in the different segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday, amid fresh forex demand pressure.
In the black market, the domestic currency depreciated against the greenback by N5 to sell for N1,405/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,400/$1, and at the GTBank FX desk, it lost N4 to quote at N1,374/$1, in contrast to the previous session’s N1,370/$1.
Similarly, in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), it slipped by N1.49 or 0.11 per cent to settle at N1,368.22/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,366.73/$1.
In the same vein, the local currency depleted against the Pound Sterling by N3.50 to close at N1,837.79/£1 versus Thursday’s price of N1,834.29/£1, and against the Euro, it shed 90 Kobo to finish at N1,573.87/€1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,572.97/€1.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicated that interbank FX turnover marginally grew above the previous day by 0.97 per cent to $58.990 million from $58.423 million, with the number of deals executed by financial institutions down by 2.82 per cent to 69 deals from 71 deals, as the nation’s foreign reserves further declined to $51.922 billion from $51.938 billion.
A look at the cryptocurrency market showed that Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 1.4 per cent to $62,004.42 as renewed US–Iran tensions lifted oil prices and strengthened the US Dollar.
Iran said it attacked two oil tankers attempting to cross the waterway under US military escort. Tehran also claimed it turned back four other vessels, while ship-tracking data showed that traffic through the strait remained thin.
The development carries greater market risk than an isolated attack on commercial vessels because the presence of a US escort raises the possibility of a direct military response.
This negatively impacted the crypto space, with Ripple (XRP) down by 1.5 per cent to $1.06, and Ethereum (ETH) losing 1.2 per cent to trade at $1,867.85. Solana (SOL) depreciated by 0.9 per cent to $72.91, TRON (TRX) shrank by 0.4 per cent to $0.3271, and Dogecoin (DOGE) crashed by 0.3 per cent to $0.0698.
However, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 0.9 per cent to $0.1711, and Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 0.1 per cent to $589.78, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
