The Federal Government of Nigeria has announced a scheme aimed at rolling out five million solar systems to provide power to unserved and underserved communities

This is expected to benefit over 25 million Nigerians and generate N7 billion yearly. The Federal Government through the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) also noted that as many as 250, 000 jobs would be created through the scheme.

The new initiative is expected to be funded with a facility from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo said the initiative is part of the economic recovery plan of the government. He also noted that the development was part of the government’s “commitment to resolving electricity challenges and delivering on the president’s objective to deliver efficient, stable and reliable power to Nigerians”.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued fresh guidelines on the management and payment of diaspora remittances to recipients, mandating the international money transfer operator (IMTO) to ensure that transfer funds are deposited in “the agent bank’s correspondent account”.

The apex bank, in the circular issued recently, also authorized the recipients to decide how they would be paid.

The circular signed by Director, Trade and Exchange Department, Dr. Ozoemena Nnaji, states that “The mode of payment either in cash or transfer is at the sole discretion of the beneficiaries/recipients.”

The apex bank also said the commercial banks, as against IMTOs, would henceforth take responsibility for payment of remittances to beneficiaries/recipients.

The directive followed a similar one issued on Monday on the domiciliary account management.

The bank had in the earlier circular provided policy guidelines on the operation of export proceeds and ordinary domiciliary accounts. 

Nigeria’s Finance Bill 2020 has scaled second reading on the floor of the Senate.

The proposed legislation stipulates various amendments made to the 2019 version of the Act.

The Leader of the Senate, Yahaya Abdullahi, in his lead debate said the bill proposed amendments into Capital Gains Act and the Value Added Tax.

He said Section 19 increased the penalty payable by a taxable person for non-remittance within the specified period from 7.5 per cent to 10 per cent

He also said section 28 of the Act provides penalty for failure to give notice of change of address or permanent cessation of business.

He said the penalties were increased from N5,000 to N50,000 in the first month and N25,000 in subsequent months.

The Bill, according to the Senate Leader, proposed a new section 8 of the VAT Act to cater for the registration of a taxable person upon commencement of business.

Naira exchanged to the dollar at 490/$ in the parallel market on Wednesday, after it had sold for N500 on Monday.

The Bureau De Change operators had attributed the devaluation the naira is currently experiencing to speculative activities of some operators.

The Central Bank of Nigeria however retained the official exchange rate at N379/$ on its website.

During the Annual Bankers Dinner organised by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria in Lagos on Friday, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, spoke on the exchange rate.

Due to the unprecedented nature of the shock, he said, it had continued to favour a gradual liberalisation of the foreign exchange market in order to smoothen exchange rate volatility and mitigate the impact which, rapid changes in the exchange rate could have on key macro-economic variables.

President Muhammadu Buhari has restated his resolve to mete stiff measures to any of the Discos or their agents selling prepaid meters to their customers against the directive that they should be distributed free.

This is in furtherance of the directive that a total of six million meters, manufactured or assembled locally, should be rolled out to electricity consumers to end the agitation against estimated billing.

The Special Adviser to the President on Infrastructure, Ahmed Rufai Zakar, who represented the President at the FGN/NLC-TUC ad-hoc committee on electricity tariff stakeholders engagement in Ibadan, Oyo State on Wednesday, said the president understood the citizens’ plight on issues surrounding electricity and was determined to deal with bad elements.

He said it has been made very clear through the regulators direct order as well as intervention from the Ministry of Power that the meters are to be provided to Nigerians at no cost.

Doctors and scientists from around the world have signed a document calling for an end to COVID-19 lockdowns because of “grave concerns” over public health.

The Great Barrington Declaration argues that continued lockdowns causes health issues that outweigh the dangers of the coronavirus and calls for “focused protection.” So far, 671,731 concerned citizens, 37,198 doctors and 12,512 medical and public health scientists from around the world have signed the document.

The document, first published in October by Drs. Jay Bhattacharya, Sunetra Gupta and Martin Kulldorff, reads in parts, “Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates, worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health – leading to greater excess mortality in years to come, with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.”

The doctors argue that as evidence now shows the virus has a minimal impact on people who are not old or infirm, governments should reopen society.

Old and vulnerable people should self-quarantine, and others who are not vulnerable should study, work and live life as usual.