The addition of Touch and Pay to the accelerator programme brings the number of tech startups of Nigerian extraction on the scheme to five.

With Nigerian startups getting massive support and attention from the international community, it has been predicted that more Nigerian startups may be added to the accelerator programme in the near future.

The four Nigerian startups earlier listed that would be funded in this year’s accelerator programme include Moni, Topship, IdentityPass, and Doja.

TAP plans to capitalise on support of the Y Combinator accelerator program to digitize cash-based microtransactions, expand across African markets and build a viable cashless ecosystem by entrenching cashless transaction across several sectors with technology.

To achieve its goals, the company says it will build a distinct mobile payment and services platform that captures offline and online transactions in a smooth and efficient way and will particularly focus on the processing of microtransactions

Speaking after the company’s inclusion in the W22 accelerator program, Co-founder and CEO of Touch and Pay, Oluwole Afolabi, said “Touch and Pay plans to digitise the entire informal market with contactless cards and perhaps it could be a way to achieve true financial inclusion.”.

About Touch and Pay

Touch and Pay started operations in 2017 by Michael Oluwole and Olamide Afolabi with the aim of mopping up physical cash in circulation and encouraging the use of electronics for payment for goods and services and while at deepening financial inclusion in the informal sector.

The company tried different sectors before deciding to focus on digitizing transactions in the transportation sector. They soon started to work with LAGBUS, a Lagos State transportation system popularly known as BRT.

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QED, which is based in Alexandra in the state of Virginia, United States, disclosed that Ajayi is in charge of African investment while Chidinma is recruited as partner to support International and domestic investments.

About Ajayi and Chidinma

Before his recruitment at QED, Gbenga Ajayi had had a sterling stint working in different capacities at various tech companies in Africa, including Google and Revolut

Chidinma was a partner at Microtraction, an investment firm headquartered in Lagos. she also provided needed aid to many startups and structuring support for portfolio companies.

Chidinma and Ajayi were both co-founders. Chidinma was a founding member and head of business development in a healthcare startup. Gbenga was the co-founder of Kanza Ventures a boutique seed investment firm focused on Fintech In Africa.

Why QED hired them

The recruitment of the two brilliant minds is coming amid the company’s announcement that it had earmarked $1 billion to support selected fintech in Africa and other parts of the world.

In a statement announcing his recruitment, QED Investors Managing Partner Nigel Morris, said Ajayi possesses the pedigree, compétence, and entrepreneurial spirit needed to drive innovation, strengthen financial inclusion by giving unrivalled support to fintech in Africa.

On Chidinma joining the team to spearhead its operations in Africa, QED Investors Managing Partner Nigel Morris, said her great passion, business acumen, skills and diverse background are needed for the actualisation of its objectives in the continent.

QED disclosed that investing in Africa’s fintech became its priority after the firm’s success in India in the past 18 months, hence the recruitment of Ajayi and Chidinma.

About QED

QED was founded by Nigel Morris and Frank Rotman in 2007. The company’s focus is on supporting disruptive financial services companies in the U.S., the U.K. and Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia and very recently Africa.

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Besides, the organisation expressed a belief that the success of Dangote Refinery project could incentivise the rise of similar projects across Africa despite the current focus on energy transition.

The Secretary-General, African Petroleum Producers Organisation, Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim, said in an interview that Dangote Refinery shall be supplying over 12% of Africa’s products demand when it becomes operational.

Ibrahim stated, “To appreciate the impact that the Dangote refinery is going to have on African economies and especially on the supply of petroleum products, and to some extent the conservation of scarce foreign exchange, a look at some statistics on the continent’s petroleum products demand and supply is in order.

“Currently, Africa’s daily petroleum demand is 4.3 million barrels per day (mbd). Of this volume, 57% is produced locally (on the continent) while 43% is imported. When Dangote is fully onstream, the percentage of Africa’s products import shall drop to 36%. This is even as the total volume of products demand rises to 5.4 mbd. You can therefore see the huge impact that Dangote refinery shall be making to overall products supply in Africa. Dangote shall be supplying over 12% of Africa’s products demand.

“That is huge savings for a continent that has scarce foreign exchange and little to export. We shall save from buying abroad and from shipping and insurance costs. Furthermore, the success of Dangote could incentivise the rise of similar projects, the noise about energy transition notwithstanding,” oil analyst noted. 

Ibrahim also hailed Dangote’s decision to go ahead with the construction of crude oil refinery despite a campaign against fossil fuels, adding that the demand for fossil fuel is going to continue for several decades to come.

“We believe that Dangote made a very wise decision to proceed with the project, despite the campaign against fossil fuels. There will be demand for petroleum products for many decades to come. Indeed, we see petroleum products prices rising steadily in the next few years for at least two decades.

“This is because new refineries are not coming up in Europe and North America, where Africa imports 34% of its supplies, because their governments have embraced energy transition, some willingly, others due to pressure. So, some of the sources of Africa’s imports are going to dry up. At the same time, Africa will not be in a position to fast track the development of non-fossil fuels.

“In fact, even the developed countries will not be able to move as fast as is projected. We see Africa and many regions of the world continuing to rely on fossil fuel energy at a time when deliberate decisions are being made to stop funding fossil fuel projects. The world risks abandoning fossil for renewable, but in the end not getting the renewables, and at the same time losing the fossils due to deliberate neglect”, he explained.

Ibrahim urged African refiners to invest more on technology and develop the right expertise to manage their refineries, which are going to serve the continent as western refiners halt the establishment of more refineries.

He stated, “African refiners have no cause to worry about their investments. All they need to do is to ensure that they have developed the right expertise to manage their refineries, get honest managers and staff to run their business and come together to join APPO’s initiative to establish foundries and other equipment manufacturing plants to service their refineries. Once they have these, the market is there for their products.

“For the next three decades or more, Africa shall continue to use fossil fuel-driven vehicles and with its population projected to double within that period, there will be a huge market for petroleum products. Africa cannot rapidly transit into electric vehicles, as the bulk of the vehicles on our roads today and in the next 20-30 years are going to be non-electric. There is the market, and we should not be discouraged from thinking positively”, the APPO scribe noted.

He disclosed that APPO is working with its Member Countries to construct cross border energy infrastructure like pipelines for crude and products as well as for oil and gas terminals, depots etc.

“Once we have this infrastructure on the ground, the markets for African refiners shall not be limited to their home countries. Fortuitously, the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, which came into force in 2021, is there to support this initiative”, he added.

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Addressing stakeholders at the bank’s corporate head office in the Victoria Island area of Lagos, Parallex Bank’s Chief, Adeola Philips disclosed that the financial institution has secured the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) nod to run services peculiar to DMB.

According to her, the bank’s foray into the commercial banking space is spurred by the need to drive consumer-oriented innovation that will push the Nigerian banking industry to loftier heights.

“Parallex Bank Limited will disrupt the market and delight customers with very attractive offers.

“Most transactions on the Parallex mobile app are free, but beyond that, customers will have the freedom to do much more with the app. Our platform will eliminate inconveniences and hardship often faced by customers while paying for goods and services,” Phillips said.

What this means

In view of this development, the financial institution, which was initially floated to only offer debt services can now give account numbers to people and facilitate transactions in and beyond the shores of Nigeria.

About Parallex bank

The bank was incorporated as a limited liability company on the 22nd day of May 2020, having successfully converted from Parallex Microfinance Bank (a National Microfinance Bank incorporated in 2008 as a Unit MFB) to a commercial bank duly licensed by the CBN to carry out commercial banking services.

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The apex court said it erred and the decision to reverse itself was due to an error in the registry.

“It will be unjust to visit the sin of the court’s Registry on an innocent, vigilant, proactive and diligent litigant,” the apex court ruled.

The Supreme Court on February 27, 2019, had dismissed GTBank’s appeal seeking to overturn the judgment of the Ibadan high court that favoured Innoson motors.

Dissatisfied with the supreme court’s judgment, GTBank filed an application seeking the re-listing of the appeal on the grounds that it was wrongly dismissed.

Delivering judgment, a five-member panel of justices led by Olukayode Ariwoola, held unanimously that the supreme court made a mistake when it erroneously dismissed GTB’s appeal marked: SC/694/2014.

In the lead judgment written by Tijani Abubakar but read Abdu Aboki, the court disclosed that it was misled by its registry, which failed to promptly bring to the notice of the panel that sat on the case on February 27, 2019, that GTB had already filed its appellant’s brief of argument.

“I am convinced that at the material time that the appellant’s appeal was inadvertently dismissed by this court, there was in place, a valid and subsisting brief of argument filed by the applicant,” the court held.

What you should know

The legal battle between GTBank and Innoson started a little over a decade ago.

A federal high court in Ibadan, Oyo state, had ordered GTB by way of Garnishee order absolute — to pay N2.4 billion to Innoson with a 22% interest, per annum, on the judgment sum until the final liquidation.

A garnishee order is one of the options open to a judgment creditor to enforce a judgment made in its favour.

In 2013, a high court in suit no: FHC/Cs/139/2012 ordered GTBank to pay N4.7 billion to Innoson as restitution for arbitrary charges. The financial institution, however, challenged the ruling of the high court at the Court of Appeal, Enugu division.

In December 2014, the Appellate court asked GTBank to deposit N6 billion in an interest-yielding account to be supervised by the court’s Registrar. The money was to be domiciled in an account that will accrue interests, pending determination of the suit.

Not satisfied with that decision, GTBank filed a motion for the stay of execution of the ruling. However, The apex court struck out the application on the grounds that the Deposit Money Bank (DMB) had not obeyed the ruling of the appellate court that directed it to deposit

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The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Financial Derivatives, a research company that provides insight for investment purposes, made this prediction, as a recently-released report claimed fintechs raised close to $3 billion last year (2021).

“Fintechs dominated the fundraising, accounting for nearly $3bn, or two-thirds of all the investment realised by startups across the continent last year, a report by markets insights firm Briter Bridges shows.

“This amount was also more than double the $1.35bn investment that fintechs in Africa raised in 2020, and triple the amount in 2019,” the report read.

Speaking on the growth of fintechs in Nigeria, Rewane stated: “Fintechs and Mobile payments will increase. Right now, cash in circulation is N4 trillion and the money supply is N45 trillion, so cash in circulation is only 10%. The bulk of it is electronic payments, e-commerce.”

Understanding fintechs

Fintechs provide technology, infrastructure, and services to allow global merchants, payment service providers, and Pan-African banks to digitally process transactions via different channels, which include -Web, Automated Teller Machine (ATM), and PoS (Point of Sale). This development has also enhanced financial inclusion.

The revolution

Traditional banks in the country, including Stanbic IBTC and Standard Chartered Bank, have started to intensify their moves to gap the bridge between the unbanked and the banked by making transactions easier, seamless, and fast. These are what fintech represents.

More so, it is pertinent to note that the use of technologies has in recent times been widely adopted on a global scale, which has influenced its continuous rise in the global market segment. With this in mind, fintechs are committing themselves to help diverse sectors of the economy, such that businesses like e-commerce, hospitality, and transportation, have now discovered innovative ways to obviate operational inefficiencies.

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At a press conference to announce the sponsorship, Eric Mboma, Chief Representative Officer, Prudential Northern Africa Region noted that the sponsorship underscores Prudential’s commitment to the African continent.

“As we grow our business in Africa, we also want to support the passion and talent of its people. Africans share a common love for football and we are honored to be part of a tournament that unites the continent and brings together the brightest talents of African football”, he said.

Mr. Mboma added, “Through sports, Prudential wants to encourage people to stay active and lead more healthy lifestyles. As a life insurer, we believe that health and wellness are important for people to live fulfilling lives.”

Commenting on the partnership, Confederation of African Football (CAF) General Secretary Mr. Véron Mosengo-Omba said, “We are excited and pleased to have onboard Prudential as a partner. We share a common purpose in our commitment to developing local talent as well as driving prosperity for the people of Africa.”

AFCON 2021 started on January 9 and will run till February 6, 2022, with Cameroon as the host nation.

Prudential is a global financial services group providing life insurance, pensions, and asset management products and services to approximately 20 million customers in Asia and Africa. Prudential has life insurance operations in eight countries across Africa: Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Nigeria. For nearly a decade, the life insurer has been providing affordable insurance and health solutions. Today, it serves more than 1.7 million customers through a distribution network of more than 13,000 agents and 600 branches.

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A senior government official disclosed that the government decided to lift the suspension because Twitter has agreed to terms put in place by the government to ensure the lifting of the ban and continuation of its operation in the West African country.

In a statement issued by Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, the director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency on Wednesday, the government said Twitter has agreed to pay tax, establish an office in Nigeria in the first quarter of 2022 and also act in a manner that does not demean the government or question the country’s sovereignty.

Abdullahi, who headed the Nigerian team that negotiated with Twitter, said Twitter has also agreed to appoint a “designated country representative to interface with Nigerian authorities” by 2023 and register with the Corporate Affairs Commission.

According to the statement, The platform is also expected to enroll Nigeria in its Partner Support and Law Enforcement Portals. The Law Enforcement Portal provides a channel for the law enforcement agencies to submit a report with a legal justification where it suspects that content violates Nigerian Laws.

“Twitter has agreed to act with a respectful acknowledgment of Nigerian laws and the national culture and history on which such legislation has been built and work with the FGN and the broader industry to develop a Code of Conduct in line with global best practices, applicable in almost all developed countries,” Abdullahi said.

Many have questioned the motive behind the decision of the government to lift the ban in the build-up to the 2023 election, with some saying the move is to enable the government and the ruling party to campaign and push their narratives, an assertion they claimed was corroborated by the lack of an official statement from Twitter supporting the government reasons on why its lifted the suspension.

Recall that the Nigerian government banned Twitter Operations in June 2021, days after the platform pulled down a ‘genocidal’ tweet from Buhari’s account, a remark the platform said violated its rules.

The development sparked mixed reactions with many saying such action impeded freedom of expression in Africa’s most populous country, while others asserted that it was the right decision to rein in dictatorial and autocratic government officials.

Nigerian officials, however, said the decision to ban the app had nothing to do with the deletion of President Buhari’s tweet, but a conscious effort to curb the dissemination of fake news and activities that undermined the territorial integrity of the country, especially by separatists in the southeast.

Buhari’s government and Twitter have been in talks over a list of conditions for ending the suspension, including discussions on taxes, content, and registering locally in Nigeria.

“The issues are being addressed and I have directed that the suspension be lifted, but only if the conditions are met to allow our citizens to continue the use of the platform for business and positive engagements,” Buhari said in a speech marking Nigeria’s independence day.

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Likewise, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, a financial institution, in its recent Economic Report for 2022, expressed a firm belief that Dangote Refinery would boost the growth of the downstream sector of the economy and enhance petroleum products distribution across Africa.

The Managing Director/CEO of Financial Derivatives Company, Bismarck Rewane, however, warned that the refinery, when operational, would not be a final solution to Nigeria’s economic crises. “The coming on stream of Dangote Refinery will no doubt enhance product distribution across Africa. Will Dangote refinery solve Nigeria’s problem? The answer is no. But the company is going to make Nigeria an exporter of refined petroleum products,” he added.

In a Nigeria Economic Outlook for 2022 released by the CPPE, its Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Muda Yusuf said activation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in 2022 is expected to impact positively on the economic outlook.

“We expect to see positive outcomes as investor sentiments in the oil and gas sector improve on account of the reforms anchored on the PIA. This will however depend on the political will deployed to drive the implementation of the provisions of the Act. It is also expected that the coming on stream of the Dangote refinery in 2022 will also impact positively on the downstream sector of the economy”, he added.

He said the average oil price in 2022 is expected to exceed the budgeted benchmark of sixty-two dollars ($62) per barrel, offering some fiscal headroom. This, he noted, would be powered by higher energy demand driven by the recovery of economic activities globally.

“This trajectory is expected to impact on our foreign reserve and strengthen the capacity of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to support the foreign exchange market”, Yusuf said. He, however, added that if the Dangote refinery comes on stream in 2022, the fiscal pressure on the economy may abate, but not completely eliminated.

According to the economist, because the service sector is less vulnerable to the structural constraints of the economy, especially the real sector of the economy, it will continue to outpace the real sector in 2022.

He said, “The service sector of the Nigerian economy will continue to outpace the real sector in 2022. In the third quarter of 2021, service sector contribution to GDP was 50 percent and the growth of the sector was 8.41 per cent. The oil sector contribution to GDP was 7.5 percent while the non-oil sector contribution was 92.5 per cent. While the industrial sector growth contracted by 1.63 percent, agriculture grew by 1.2 percent.”

Yusuf said the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth would remain fragile at about three percent, pointing out that the key expected drivers of growth would be sustained recovery of global oil price.

He said, “We expect that the average oil price in 2022 will exceed the budgeted benchmark of $62 per barrel, offering some fiscal headroom. This would be powered by higher energy demand driven by the recovery of economic activities globally.”

The economist noted that despite the downside risks, the economy would continue to present huge opportunities for investors across all sectors. “This is on account of the resourcefulness of the Nigerian people, especially the entrepreneurs. Other inherent strengths of the Nigerian economy include the market size, the population, and the demographic characteristics”, he added.

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According to the ADF’s Director of Health and Nutrition, Dr. Francis Aminu, the program is in line with the plan to use the newly refurbished Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCs) across 5 pilot LGAs as Outpatient Care (OPC) and Inpatient Care (IPC) component of the Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) services for the Programme.

Meanwhile, no fewer than 30 health workers have been trained in Kano.

Dr. Aminu said the 5- day training program was held between 17th and 22nd December 2021.

“The purpose of the training was to equip the health workers with the requisite skills on how to assess, treat and care for malnourished children under the age of five. The 5-day training enabled participants to gain in-depth knowledge in line with the training requirements as stated in the National Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition Guidelines,” he said.

He said the participants were drawn from the State Ministry of Health and the five ADFIN supported sites from Bebeji, Dala, Kura, Tudun Wada, and Rimin-Gado LGAs comprising Officers-in-Charge (OICs), Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWs), Nutrition focal persons, Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Coordinators, and Primary Health Care (PHC) Coordinators.

At the opening ceremony of the training, key development partners in Kano state participated and expressed their goodwill messages to ADF on the IMAM training.

Participants include the representatives of Nutrition International (NI), Partners for Development (PfD), Civil Society for Scaling up Nutrition (CSSUN) Kano, and Nutrition Society of Nigeria (NSN), among others.

The training was declared open by the Commissioner of Health, Kano State, Dr. Aminu Ibrahim Tsanyawa, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Kano State Ministry of Health, Hajiya Amina A Musa.

In his closing remarks, the Commissioner commended the dynamic leadership of the PHC Coordinators in staying with their health workers throughout the training.

He further commended the Foundation for its contribution to human capital development in Nigeria, and Africa at large, while expressing his profound appreciation for the numerous contributions made by Alhaji Aliko Dangote to Kano State.

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