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By Adedapo Adesanya
President Muhammadu Buhari has kept to his promise and has signed the 2022 Appropriation Bill of N17.126 trillion into law on Friday, December 31.
The President signed the budget presented to him by his Senior Special Assistant (Senate) on National Assembly, Mr Babajide Omoworare, on the final day of the year at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
He was, however, displeased with some changes as well as major additions and reductions made by the National Assembly in critical projects “without justification”.
President Buhari highlighted some of the worrisome changes in the budget to include an increase in projected federal government independent revenue by N400 billion, reduction in the provision for Sinking Fund to Retire Maturing Bonds by N22 billion, and reduction of the provisions for the Non-Regular Allowances of the Nigerian Police Force and the Nigerian Navy by N15 billion and N5 billion respectively; all without any explanation.
He also expressed his reservations on the inclusion of new provisions totalling N36.59 billion for National Assembly’s projects in the Service Wide Vote, which he said negated the principles of separation of powers and financial autonomy of the legislative arm of government.
The President was also concerned about the changes to the original executive proposal in the form of new insertions, outright removals, reductions and/or increases in the amounts allocated to projects, as well as reduction of the provisions made for as many as 10,733 projects and the introduction of 6,576 new projects into the budget.
According to him, most of the projects inserted relate to matters that are basically the responsibilities of state and local governments and do not appear to have been properly conceptualised, designed, and cost.
President Buhari said he would revert to the National Assembly with a request for an amendment as soon as the lawmakers return from their recess, to ensure that critical ongoing projects cardinal to his administration do not suffer a setback as a result of reduced funding.
He recounted that during the presentation of the 2022 Appropriation Bill, he stated that the fiscal year would be very crucial in his administration’s efforts to complete and put to use critical agenda projects, as well as improve the general living conditions of Nigerians.
The President insisted that the cuts by the lawmakers could render the implementation of the budget impossible.
He promised to commence early preparation of the 2023 transition budget and quickly begin the process to ensure early submission of the 2023-2025 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper as well as the 2023 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly.
The President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha; and Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, among others, witnessed the signing of the budget.
This comes a week after lawmakers in the House of Representatives and Senate chambers of the National Assembly passed a budget of N17.126 trillion, increasing the benchmark price of crude from $57 to $62 per barrel.
During the plenary last Wednesday, the Senate had passed the 2022 budget with Mr Lawan giving an assurance that the bill would be sent to the President for assent the following day.
Lawmakers in the House of Representatives had also passed the budget last Tuesday.
The National Assembly raised the total 2022 budget figure from the proposed N16.391 trillion to N17.126 trillion.
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Adedapo Adesanya is a journalist, polymath, and connoisseur of everything art. When he is not writing, he has his nose buried in one of the many books or articles he has bookmarked or simply listening to good music with a bottle of beer or wine. He supports the greatest club in the world, Manchester United F.C.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria led the countries that received much of the $4.7 billion funding that African startups amassed last year, indicating further growth for the sector, according to a new report by Briter Intelligence.
The amount raised in 2021 was twice as much as the total volume that was raised by African startups in 2020 and there was also a 25 per cent increase in the total number of deals last year compared to the number of deals that were announced in 2020.
Nigeria was followed by South Africa, Kenya and Egypt in terms of destination of funds.
The report explained that some of the funding deals, at over 240, were estimated to reach $4.9 billion in the year under consideration.
According to the Director of Briter Bridges, Mr Dario Giuliani, while commenting on the report, the huge capital raised last year was indicative of Africa’s growing attractiveness as an investment destination.
“Approaching $5 billion in known funding in 2021, especially after nearly twenty-four months since the COVID-19 pandemic began, is a clear sign that Africa is undergoing tangible changes, and the increasing presence of local exits and returns is shaping the continent’s attractiveness,” he said.
Fintech startups received as much as 62 per cent of the funds, with the rest going to other sectors such as health and biotech (8 per cent), logistics (7 per cent), education (5 per cent), cleantech (5 per cent), agriculture (4 per cent), eCommerce (3 per cent), mobility (3 per cent), data & analytics (2 per cent) and others.
The top 20 deals of 2021 captured 65 per cent of the total funding volume. Some of the startups that raised the most funds in 2021 raised $100 million and above during single funding rounds and these include Opay, Chipper Cash, ZEPZ, Tradedepot, Zipline, JUMO, Andela, TALA, TymeBank, Flutterwave, MFS Africa, among others
By destination, the vast majority of the investments came from the United States of America (62.5 per cent), followed by the United Kingdom (7.5 per cent) while others accounted for others.
The highest investors who funded the top 20 deals included Endeavour Catalyst, One Way Ventures, CDC Investment Works, Partech, Ribbit Capital, deci.ens and AFRICINVEST.
Others included SoftBank, Accel, Avenir, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Apis Partners, and AllanGray.
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By Modupe Gbadeyanka
To further reduce human interaction, improve efficiency and block revenue leakages, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has commenced a total digital manifest management regime for all vessels calling at all Nigerian ports.
The Director-General of NIMASA, Mr Bashir Jamoh, explained that this new system is to eliminate physical transactions concerning sailing certificates and cargo manifest processing.
“In line with the federal government’s Executive Order on Ease of Doing Business, we are committed to improving turnaround time of vessels, reduction of human interface in the majority of our transactions with our stakeholders and this is in our bid to ensure transparency and professionalism that the sector requires to grow.
“We have improved our operational relationship with our sister agencies, as we speak, we have made tremendous progress in our determination to convey sailing clearance for Vessels to the NPA electronically. We also receive and process manifests electronically
“This has improved efficiency leading to improvement in the turn-around-time of vessels calling at the nation’s ports.
“Right now, we have ensured that the process of submitting and processing manifests is reduced from 72 hours to 5hours for VLCCs (Very Large Crude Carriers) and larger container vessels whereas it would only take two hours or less for smaller vessels), you would agree with me that these are marked improvement and it is still work in progress,” he said.
The NIMASA DG noted that the benefits that would be derived from the total digitalization of all the agency’s processes expected to be completed by 2022 would be enormous not just for the stakeholders, but for the country at large including helping to improve the balance of trade, and improved commercial shipping activities in Nigeria.
It would be recalled that the Mr Jamoh led administration had always advocated the automation of the agency’s processes for enhanced and effective delivery of services. This renewed drive is seen as another stride in the total transformation of the maritime sector for economic benefit.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
Mustard Insights, a Nigerian-based data visualization company, is starting the year 2022 on a high note as it raised an undisclosed amount of capital in a pre-seed round of funding.
The company, which was founded in January 2021, currently creates data visualizations and disseminates them to digital audiences.
Its objective is to ensure that its users are presented with information that can aid diverse levels of decision making. Its digital platform which is set to launch in March is to serve as a repository of African data across different economic, industry and social datasets.
The amount was raised in the company’s pre-seed round led by Velocity digital as well as other investors.
Its vision is to build Africa’s largest repository of data and the funds raised will be used by the company to scale its operations.
Mrs Lawretta Egba who is the founder and CEO of the company is a financial analyst, communications professional, and data storyteller and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). She noted that her career began in private equity where she first encountered the challenges associated with limited access to data.
In a private note, she explained that “At Mustard Insights, we are passionate about how data affects our world and what it tells us about it.
“We understand the power of information and the value in understanding macroeconomic and social trends within the African landscape and this is why we are providing an opportunity for more people to interact with data.”
With the development of technology and innovative networks, information has become a common currency made available at the fingertips. By providing access to reliable and accurate data within the African continent, Mustard Insights contributes its quota to an increasingly data-reliant world.
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