Economy
Digital Financial Inclusion, Poverty, Hawkers, Daddy Freeze & Tithe
By Nneka Okumazie
If an individual hawks stuff around, who is responsible for that situation, and whose responsibility is it to lift that individual out of poverty?
Factors responsible for poverty may include income, purchasing power, conditions of living, trade and monetary policies. There are some who are impoverished but aren’t hawking. What drives people to hawk and how much has Africa done to find solutions to hawking?
Poverty in Africa is super complicated. The whole thing may be onerous to extricate, but fragments of it could find solutions if massive studies and efforts are thrown at it.
There are telecom companies who branded poor retailers of their products, with umbrellas, clothes, chairs, tables, etc. There are beverage and fast moving consumer goods companies who have also given branded boards, posters, merchandises to poor retailers as well. There are often promos, offers, credit services, microfinance, etc. for many of these retailers. Sometimes, it doubles as marketing or for social optics.
However, most of these are palliatives for poverty, not structures for economic elevation. Financial inclusion, can also – simply – be described as a way of providing banking services for the poorest. It is helpful and necessary.
But where does financial inclusion fit for majority of poor people: palliative or elevator? Some may argue that most poor traders have found a way around saving from time, while others may argue that there has been no other time in Africa, where direct financial services are provided to the poor.
Africa is buzzing with new stuff especially platforms that technology enabled. But where are the solutions? Where are the studies? Where is the activism, or rage against hawking? How many University centers are there to study and prevent hawking? How many corporations are making efforts to reduce the amount of hawkers of their product, to have more shop-based or stationary retailers?
Hawkers are ignored, seen as normal and forsaken, except when there is something to benefit from them. Hawking is abnormal, horrific and should be discouraged enough that it should be the impossible option. But, nothing is done, by those who have knowledge, or by those whose products they sell – directly or indirectly, or by those who can make the policies to help them collectively.
Often people give one answer to poverty, or hawking, saying do this, then that, etc. But NO, the complexities of Africa’s hardship require multiple studies, tests, models and experimentation – consistently – towards solution.
Christianity, Poverty and Taxes
Sometimes, the necessity of reviewing issues of poverty is because of the growing amount of people who blame Christianity for poverty in Nigeria, or in Africa.
Christianity is hated more than hawking, by those who have no value to improve the society except vague to-dos.
They have said people are brainwashed by Christianity. Meaning that for them all their opinions and views of everything they do is a hundred percent original, nothing from anywhere was ever accepted, so whoever accepts anything they didn’t create, or invent is brainwashed. No interest in genuine Christianity or in the Way does not mean those who have are brainwashed.
They also said Christianity is false hopes. But if there is no hope in hawking, where someone hawking had seen folks who hawked through life, or stayed poor through life, is it not better to have hope that may mean joy or that may mean endurance and ability to be strong, or have a sound mind?
True Churches are not the problem of the country, or the continent, no matter what statement is brandished by enemies of the Church.
Giving in a true Church is also not a scam, no matter the giving. It is optional, voluntary and in accordance with faith. No need to give if there is doubt of its use, or if feeling cheated.
Also, if there are questions about Christianity and the Power of GOD that aren’t satisfactorily answered, it does not invalidate the Truthfulness of the Word. Christianity is not the only thing that has unanswered questions. There are tons of unanswered question – in spite of all the advances – in psychology, neuroscience, oncology, astronomy, atmospheric science, etc.
Christ said, “Pay therefore to Caesar the things that are due to Caesar, and pay to God the things that are due to God.” This means that if you believe you – may – give, as part of your faith, to GOD. The Scriptures did not tell us how the Churches in the Epistles gave during their services, or their general order of service but it is possible, they gave collectively for Church projects, for the welfare of the poor, for gospel witnessing, etc.
Taxes are important for any economy. There are all kinds of taxes for all categories of income and expenditures. Taxes well spent are like a great pillar for building and maintaining a society.
Poverty
The poverty in Africa is painful. Yes, it is not an excuse for laziness or for vices or for risky desperations, or for harm, or for lawlessness. But there are many, trying much to be lawful and good, but the failures of the society has precipitated them. It is so unfortunate and it doesn’t seem there are massive active efforts for poverty solutions in Africa, but who knows?
By Adedapo Adesanya
President Bola Tinubu on Friday presented a budget proposal of N58.47 trillion for the 2026 fiscal year titled Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity to a joint session of the National Assembly, with capital recurrent (non‑debt) expenditure standing at 15.25 trillion, and the capital expenditure at N26.08 trillion, while the crude oil benchmark was pegged at $64.85 per barrel.
Business Post reports that the Brent crude grade currently trades around $60 per barrel. It is also expected to trade at that level or lower next year over worries about oil glut.
At the budget presentation today, Mr Tinubu said the expected total revenue for the year is N34.33 trillion, and the proposal is anchored on a crude oil production of 1.84 million barrels per day, and an exchange rate of N1,400 to the US Dollar.
In terms of sectoral allocation, defence and security took the lion’s share with N5.41 trillion, followed by infrastructure at N3.56 trillion, education received N3.52 trillion, while health received N2.48 trillion.
Addressing the lawmakers, the President described the budget proposal as not “just accounting lines”.
“They are a statement of national priorities,” the president told the gathering. “We remain firmly committed to fiscal sustainability, debt transparency, and value‑for‑money spending.”
The presentation came at a time of heightened insecurity in parts of the country, with mass abductions and other crimes making headlines.
Outlining his government’s plan to address the challenge, President Tinubu reminded the gathering that security “remains the foundation of development”.
He said some of the measures in place to tame insecurity include the modernisation of the Armed Forces, intelligence‑driven policing and joint operations, border security, and technology‑enabled surveillance and community‑based peacebuilding and conflict prevention.
“We will invest in security with clear accountability for outcomes—because security spending must deliver security results,” the president said.
“To secure our country, our priority will remain on increasing the fighting capability of our armed forces and other security agencies by boosting personnel and procuring cutting-edge platforms and other hardware,” he added.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The deadline for the recapitalisation of the Nigerian pension industry has been extended by six months to June 2027 from December 2026.
This extension was approved by the National Pension Commission (PenCom), the agency, which regulates the sector in the country.
Addressing newsmen on Thursday in Lagos, the Director-General of PenCom, Ms Omolola Oloworaran, explained that the shift in deadline was to give operators more time to boost the capital base, dismissing speculations that the exercise had been suspended.
“The recapitalisation has not been suspended. We have communicated the requirements to the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), and we expect every operator to be compliant by June 2027. Anyone who is not compliant by then will lose their licence,” Ms Oloworaran told journalists.
She added that, “From a regulatory standpoint, our major challenge is ensuring compliance. We are working with ICPC, labour and the TUC to ensure employers remit pension contributions for their employees.”
The DG noted that engagements with industry operators indicated broad acceptance of the policy, with many PFAs already taking steps to raise additional capital or explore mergers and acquisitions.
“You may see some mergers and acquisitions in the industry, but what is clear is that the recapitalisation exercise is on track and the industry agrees with us,” she stated.
PenCom wants the PFAs to increase their capital base and has created three categories, with the first consists operators with Assets Under Management of N500 billion and above. They are expected to have a minimum capital of N20 billion and one per cent of AUM above N500 billion.
The second category has PFAs with AUM below N500 billion, which must have at least N20 billion as capital base.
The last segment comprises special-purpose PFAs such as NPF Pensions Limited, whose minimum capital was pegged at N30 billion, and the Nigerian University Pension Management Company Limited, whose minimum capital was fixed at N20 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Three securities weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.68 per cent on Thursday, December 18.
According to data, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc led the losers’ group after it slipped by N2.87 to N36.78 per share from N39.65 per share, Golden Capital Plc depreciated by 77 Kobo to end at N6.98 per unit versus the previous day’s N7.77 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc dropped 19 Kobo to sell at N60.00 per share versus Wednesday’s closing price of N60.19 per share.
At the close of business, the market capitalisation lost N16.81 billion to finish at N2.147 billion compared with the preceding session’s N2.164 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) declined by 24.76 points to 3,589.88 points from 3,614.64 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities bought and sold increased by 49.3 per cent to 30.5 million units from 20.4 million units, the value of securities surged by 211.8 per cent to N225.1 million from N72.2 million, and the number of deals jumped by 33.3 per cent to 28 deals from 21 deals.
Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc remained the most traded stock by value with a year-to-date sale of 5.8 billion units valued at N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 178.9 million units transacted for N9.5 billion, and MRS Oil Plc with 36.1 million units worth N4.9 billion.
Similarly, InfraCredit Plc ended as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units traded for N16.4 billion, trailed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.7 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units exchanged for N524.9 million.
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