Mobile phone operators MTN and Airtel have both received partial approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria to operate mobile payments in the country.

This comes three years after the CBN initially said it would allow non-financial companies to apply for mobile banking licences.

“A final approval which is subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions will be issued to the Telcos within six months,” a statement from both operators read.

Under the guidelines, mobile network operators are allowed to provide financial services to millions of unbanked Nigerians. However, they can do so only as Payment Service Banks (PSBs) and through a subsidiary separate from their core operations.

PSBs accept deposits from individuals and small businesses, offer payment and remittance services, and other activities prescribed by the central bank.

This could make a huge difference for Nigeria’s 38 million unbanked adults – about 36% of the total adult population in the country.

Foreign Airlines operating in and out of Nigeria have taken their protest to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over difficulties in repatriating accumulated funds, now in excess of $800 million (N328.8 billion).

The airlines, about 30 in number, expressed displeasure over rising difficulties in repatriating earned revenue through an official window approved by the government.

Meanwhile, the fallout of the development is already affecting consumers as foreign airlines have adjusted the Rate of Exchange (RoE) from N411to N450, raising airfares some notches.

Though the repatriation is not peculiar to Nigeria, operating airlines have lately been having difficulties getting the dollar equivalent of tickets sold in Naira, for remittance to their home countries.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) had in August, said approximately $963 million in airline funds are being blocked from repatriation in nearly 20 countries, including Nigeria that then owed $143.8 million.

Telecommunication operators in Nigeria like MTN wants as much as 75 per cent cut and a validity period extension by 10 years.

Wireless operators want a reduction in the reserve price the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has fixed for licensing at an upcoming key auction expected to set in motion the launch of 5G technology in Nigeria.

The price, which is in the neighbourhood of N75 billion ($197.4 million), will be adopted for the bid round, said Oluwatoyin Asaju, director of NCC’s spectrum administration unit, in Lagos at a consultative session for industry think tank on Thursday.

Nigeria is ramping up efforts to widen broadband access in its citizenry and has revealed a grand ambition to hit a target of 90 per cent by 2023 even though penetration is still mid-way through at 45 per cent.

More than three out of every five Nigerians are aged 35 years and below, and substantially digitally enabled, making the prospect of massive acceptance of IT services particularly promising for its estimated 216 million people.

MTN Nigeria recommended the reserve price be lowered to $50 million during deliberations on the draft information memorandum, also requesting an extension of the licence validity period to 20 years from the proposed 10 years.

Its rival Airtel made a similar call for a downward review of the cost of licensing, citing current economic realities in the business environment.

“5G technology does not only offer enhanced broadband and ultra-reliable low latency communications,” said Umar Garba Danbatta, the chief executive officer of NCC, who joined the talk virtually.

“It also provides massive machine type communications, where lots of devices will seamlessly connect and interact independently with the Internet without human intervention,” Dandatta added.

Stakeholders said the success of the initiative will hinge on making the process competitive.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has disclosed it spent the sum of N58.6 billion to print 2.52 billion Naira notes valued at N1.1 trillion in 2020.

Disclosing this on Thursday in its Annual Currency Operations report for 2020, the apex bank also said it utilized $1.83 billion within the same year to fund Bureaux De Changes (BDCs) and Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs) operations.

The currency printing cost, however, indicated a significant decrease Year-on-Year as it spent N75.5 billion and N64.04 billion in 2019 and 2018 respectively for the same purpose.

The Godwin Emefiele, leadership has been driving the cashless policy with a view to cutting the cost of printing bank notes and cash management, in the country. The new e-Naira was also initiated in line with the policy.

According to the report, “The total cost incurred on printing of banknotes in 2020 amounted to N58,618.50 million, compared with N75,523.50 million in 2019, indicating a decrease of ¦ 16,905.00 million or 28.84 per cent.”

CBN indicated in the report that the notes were printed in-country by the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc (NSPM Plc).

The report indicated that CBN, “approved an indent of 2,518.68 million pieces of banknotes of various denominations in 2020 to satisfy the currency needs of the economy, compared with 3,830.94 million in the preceding year.

It put the total stock of currency (issuable & non-issuable) in the vaults of the bank at end December, 2020 at 2.747 billion pieces, compared with 2.641 billion pieces in 2019, indicating an increase of 105.73 million pieces or 4.00 per cent.”

The report also indicated that a total of $1.830 billion was procured over the course of 2020.

Namibian government Treasury has raked in about N$408 million, following a governmental objective quota auction held in June this year. Finance minister Iipumbu Shiimi on Tuesday said the outcome of the latest auction was an indication that government could realise huge profits if the process is done correctly.

Government in June this year made 15 948 metric tons of hake, 87 500 MT of horse mackerel and 392 MT of monk available on auction to the highest local and international bidders.

The remainder of the horse mackerel quota, 27 000 MT, was offered to the Democratic Republic of Congo, which paid N$85 million for the quota.

Briefing the National Assembly on the proceeds of the sale, Shiimi said the hake quota generated N$189 million, horse mackerel N$214 million and monk N$4.3 million.

Shiimi said the latest outcome has convinced government that auctioning remains the appropriate method of exploiting the quota allocated for governmental objectives.

“As you would recall, government decided to sell the fish quota through a competitive auction to the highest bidder.

The aim was to determine the correct value of Namibia’s fishery resources with the view to ensure that the country fully benefits from her natural resources,” Shiimi said.

He added that government after the first unsuccessful first auction last year, went back to the drawing board to fine-tune the process. “The finance and fisheries ministries conducted the auctions. The fisheries ministry consulted with the industry while the embassies were also used to invite interested international bidders to partake in the fishing.