The PalmPay Young Stars initiative continues to create memorable experiences for children across public schools, and in celebration of Children’s Day, this year’s experience was made extra special for the young beneficiaries.

Recently, selected pupils were taken on a shopping experience, where they redeemed vouchers worth N50,000 on essential items of their choice.

Since its launch, the initiative has recognised and rewarded outstanding pupils in public schools with scholarships, school kits, and shopping vouchers, supporting their educational journey while encouraging academic excellence.

For many children, N50,000 worth of shopping can feel like a dream come true, a chance to grab everything in sight, fill carts with snacks, toys, and excitement.

But for the beneficiaries of the PalmPay Young Stars initiative, it became something more meaningful: a real-life lesson in financial responsibility.

After participating in a financial literacy workshop organized by PalmPay at the presentation ceremonies held at the various schools, the students were given their N50,000 shopping vouchers as part of their rewards under the PalmPay Young Stars program. The experience was designed not just to celebrate academic excellence, but also to teach the children how to make thoughtful financial decisions from an early age.

And when it was time to redeem their vouchers, the children put their knowledge to the test.

Rather than spending impulsively, many of the students carefully selected practical items that would support their education, personal needs, and families. School supplies, food items, household essentials, and useful daily necessities filled their carts, a reflection of the values discussed during the workshop. The financial literacy session introduced the students to basic money management.

It was a powerful reminder that financial literacy is not just for adults. When children are exposed to the right knowledge early, they begin to develop habits that can shape their future positively.

Through PalmPay Young Stars, PalmPay continues to go beyond rewards and scholarships by creating experiences that equip children with life skills, confidence, and opportunities to dream bigger.

Nigeria is effectively repaying an estimated $36.4 million annually for an Abuja CCTV project that was never fully delivered, with repayments on the Chinese loan expected to run until 2030, according to Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ).

The project, officially known as the National Public Security Communication System (NPSCS), was introduced under former president Goodluck Jonathan in 2010 as a major security infrastructure programme for Abuja amid rising bomb attacks and insecurity in the Federal Capital Territory.

The federal government signed a contract valued at about $470 million with ZTE Corporation for the project before securing a $399.5 million loan from China Eximbank to finance most of it.

According to data from AidData, a research lab at the College of William & Mary in the United States that tracks Chinese development finance globally, the loan carries a 20-year maturity period, a seven-year grace period, and a fixed interest rate of 2.5 per cent.

Based on those terms, repayment is expected to continue until approximately 2030.

FIJ cross-referenced these details with the DMO’s documentation of the loan.

In 2021, the DMO published ‘LOANS OBTAINED FROM CHINA EXIM AS AT SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 AMOUNTS IN MILLIONS’, where it stated that the FG had paid back $122 million and an interest of $96 million.

FIJ estimated the yearly repayment using a standard loan repayment formula often used for long-term loans like sovereign debt and mortgages.

The method assumes the loan is repaid in equal yearly instalments over a fixed period. Each payment covers part of the original loan and the interest charged on the remaining balance.

As the debt reduces over time, the interest charged also drops, although the total yearly payment stays the same.

Using this model, FIJ treated the $399.5 million loan as repayable over 13 years at an annual interest rate of 2.5 per cent.

This was after factoring in a seven-year grace period within the loan’s 20-year lifespan.

Based on these assumptions, the estimated yearly repayment came to about $36.4 million.

This estimate is only a simplified projection. In reality, sovereign loans are often repaid under more flexible arrangements.

Sometimes, there could be semi-annual payments, interest added during grace periods, or repayment plans where larger payments come later.

FIJ understands that the debt has also become more expensive in naira terms because the loan is denominated in US dollars.

When the loan agreement was signed in 2010, the naira exchanged at roughly N150 to $1 in the official market, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria. At that rate, the $399.5 million facility was equivalent to around N59.9 billion.

On Monday, however, the dollar traded above N1,370 at the official market.

Using an exchange rate of N1,371/$, the same $399.5 million obligation is now equivalent to about N547.8 billion.

In effect, the naira value of the debt has increased by roughly N487.9 billion since the loan was signed.

This means the debt burden has grown by more than nine times in naira terms in the past 16 years due largely to the depreciation of the naira against the dollar.

Nigeria is effectively repaying about $36.4 million yearly for the Abuja CCTV project under the loan’s repayment structure.

At the current official exchange rate of roughly N1,371 to the dollar, that yearly repayment translates to about N49.9 billion annually.

When the loan was signed in 2010, however, the naira traded at around N150/$, meaning the same yearly repayment would have cost about N5.5 billion at the time.

The CCTV project has remained controversial since the start of the implementation.

The federal government originally presented the project as a modern surveillance and emergency-response system designed to improve security monitoring across Abuja.

The infrastructure was expected to include city-wide CCTV surveillance, emergency communication systems, command-and-control centres and integrated police communication facilities.

But in 2016, members of the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs visited the control centre and found that many installed cameras were either inactive or non-functional.

In 2019, the matter resurfaced when lawmakers asked why Nigeria was still repaying the Chinese loan despite concerns about the operational status of the surveillance infrastructure.

During legislative discussions at the time, Zainab Ahmed, then minister of Finance, stated that the government was still servicing the loan but did not have full information regarding the project’s implementation status. Lawmakers brought the issue back to the fore in April due to insecurity in the Federal Capital Territory.

The issue became the subject of litigation after the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project  (SERAP)sued the Federal Government under the Freedom of Information Act, seeking details of the spending and implementation process.

In 2023, Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the government to disclose information relating to the project, including how the loan was spent and the identities of contractors involved.

On Sunday, the Federal Ministry of Finance had told SERAP, which had urged Taiwo Oyedele to publish details surrounding the project, that, “Records from the Ministry of Police Affairs indicate that while local subcontractors may have been engaged, there is an absence of detailed subcontracting records identifying specific local companies that received funds directly from the Chinese loan.”

Federal Government has cancelled $717.7 million in undisbursed World Bank intervention financing designed to revive Nigeria’s struggling electricity sector.

The cancellation followed a formal request by the Federal Government and a joint decision by both parties to discontinue financing under the Power Sector Recovery Performance-Based Operation due to evolving sector realities and the inability to achieve key reform milestones.

The development followed an earlier warning by the Accountant-General of the Federation, Dr. Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, that Nigeria may reject loan facilities from the Bank if delays in approval and disbursement persist, stating that prolonged timelines could undermine the country’s willingness to proceed with such arrangements.

According to documents obtained from the World Bank, the development effectively terminates the remaining portion of a $1.52 billion power sector recovery programme. The cancelled amount represents the entire undisbursed balance remaining under the programme.

“The restructuring will result in the cancellation of the entire undisbursed balance in the amount of $717.7m equivalent, and no further disbursements will be made under the Program following approval of this restructuring,” the bank stated.

The Federal Government developed the Power Sector Recovery Programme as a framework to restore the sector’s financial viability and reduce its fiscal burden on public finances. The programme included plans to progressively eliminate tariff shortfalls, improve operational performance among power sector institutions, and strengthen regulatory oversight and accountability mechanisms.

The loan was approved on June 23, 2020, with original financing of about $752.5 million equivalent to improve electricity supply reliability, strengthen financial sustainability, and enhance accountability across the electricity value chain. Following initial progress, the World Bank approved an Additional Financing package of approximately $763.5 million equivalent on June 9, 2023, which became effective on June 19, 2024, extending the project’s closing date to June 30, 2027.

However, while the parent programme largely achieved its results and successfully disbursed its resources, the additional financing struggled significantly to meet critical reform conditions. High technical, commercial, and collection losses across the distribution segment, combined with inadequate cost recovery, created a recurring mismatch between revenues generated by the sector and its actual operating costs.

The World Bank noted that Nigeria’s electricity sector continues to face deep-rooted structural challenges despite years of reforms and financial support, citing weak distribution performance, transmission bottlenecks, underutilization of available generation capacity, and persistent financial imbalances.

Implementation of the original operation delivered notable results initially, reducing tariff shortfalls by 71 percent between 2019 and 2022 (declining from ₦581 billion to ₦166 billion), while regulatory cost recovery improved from 56 percent to 94 percent.

The anticipated reforms under the newer additional package failed to materialize due to major macroeconomic developments that dramatically altered the operating environment. The liberalisation of Nigeria’s foreign exchange market in June 2023 triggered a sharp depreciation of the naira, leading to a substantial increase in the cost of natural gas used for electricity generation. More than 70 percent of electricity supplied to Nigeria’s national grid is generated using natural gas, which is priced in United States dollars.