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SERAP tells World Bank to Suspend $800m loan to FG
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the World Bank President, Mr David Malpass, to suspend any disbursement of $800m loan to the Federal Government of Nigeria and ask the incoming administration to provide satisfactory explanations before the loan should be disbursed.
The Federal Government headed by Muhammadu Buhari in April announced its plan to spend the $800 million loan from the World Bank as ‘part of its subsidy palliatives measures’ and, last week, President Buhari requested the Senate’s approval for the World Bank loan.
However, in a new letter dated 13 May 2023 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organization urged Mr Malpass to reopen a discussion on the reportedly approved $800m loan with the incoming administration to clarify the details on the rationale and use of the loan because the term of office of the government of President Muhammadu Buhari ends in May 2023.
The letter reads;”The World Bank should comply with its own Articles of Agreement in disbursing any loans. The Bank should not sacrifice international standards in the rush to disburse the $800m loan to the government.”
“Suspending any disbursement of the loan to the government would reduce the risks and vulnerability to corruption and mismanagement.”
“SERAP is concerned that the government is seeking to spend the loan when it has barely two weeks to leave office and when the project objectives and intended purposes for which the loan is reportedly approved and will be disbursed remain unclear.
The government has not satisfactorily explained or justified the need for the loan at this time, especially given the lack of clarity on its use and the crippling debt burden, and the disproportionately negative impact of these retrogressive measures on poor Nigerians.”
“The World Bank cannot close its eyes to this important transparency, accountability and human rights issues.”
“The National Economic Council on April 27 reportedly suspended the planned removal of subsidy on petroleum products by the end of the Buhari administration.”
“We would consider the option of pursuing legal action should the World Bank refuse to suspend the disbursement of the loan to the Federal Government and to implement the other recommendations contained in this letter, and we may join the government in any such suit.”
“The crippling debt burden is a human rights issue because when the entire country is burdened by unsustainable debts, there will be little money left to ensure access of poor and vulnerable Nigerians to legally enforceable socio-economic rights.”
Truecaller has announced a corporate rebranding and launch of a brand new app icon that will be instantly recognisable on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. The taming of the new brand identity aligns with a significant transformation taking place in the digital space. At the heart of this rebranding is Truecaller’s renewed sense of purpose, energy and enthusiasm.
Commenting on the announcement, Alan Mamedi, Co- founder and CEO, Truecaller said, “We are excited to unveil our new brand identity and logo. It signifies our continued commitment to our users and our focus to constantly evolve and improve, every day.”
“Our mission, to protect communication for all, is what guides us to develop new anti-fraud solutions like Search Context and engineer improvements to improve user privacy,” he added.
As part of this refreshed identity, Truecaller users also get a powerful new anti-fraud feature called Search Context, as a part of the Truecaller AI Identity engine.
While looking at the search results for any number, Truecaller users will be instantly notified if the name for the number has been recently changed or is being changed frequently.
The app also classifies this contextual message into three colour categories: blue, for a neutral change, yellow, which indicates a potentially suspicious name change and finally red, indicating multiple and frequent name changes which are highly indicative of fraudulent and scammer activity.
This message will be shown to all Truecaller users on all search results across Android, iPhone and Truecaller web.
Dr Olayemi Cardoso, on Friday, formally assumed duty as the acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
According to a statement by Isa AbdulMumin, CBN’s Director, Corporate Communications, Cardoso’s resumption in acting capacity is pending his confirmation by the Senate.
“This follows the resignation of Mr. Godwin Emefiele as Governor of the CBN,
“Similarly, the Deputy-Governors-designate have also assumed duty, in acting capacities.
“This is sequel to the formal resignation of Mr Folashodun Shonubi, Mrs Aishah Ahmad, Mr Edward Adamu and Dr Kingsley Obiora as deputy governors.
“Cardoso and his colleagues subscribed to the relevant oaths of office at a brief ceremony held at the Bank’s Head Office in Abuja,” AbdulMumin said.
He said that they had since settled down to the task of administering monetary and financial sector policies of the Federal Government.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Cardoso was nominated by President Bola Tinubu as CBN governor on Sept. 15.
Tinubu also nominated Emem Usoro, Abdullahi Dattijo, Philip Ikeazor and Bala Bello as deputy governors
Flapmax has selected 12 startups for the second cohort of its FAST Accelerator start-up programme, which was formed in collaboration with Microsoft.
Starting in October, the FAST Accelerator’s cohort of 12 startups will embark on a five-week comprehensive acceleration programme in Silicon Valley, California.
The programme received over 1,200 applications from 35 African countries in Africa. Applicants represented a diverse range of cloud-based products and services that serve businesses across Africa, and which use AI to promote innovation, improve efficiency, and address crucial challenges in their respective fields.
The top performers in the 2023 cohort, and those that will travel to Silicon Valley, are: Zeeh Africa, Sumundi, Cotrust Equity, Trucki, Orange VFX, 10mg Pharma, Wallx, Moosbu, KCG Aquatec Fish Farming, Aibanc, Zendawa Africa, and Greenbii.
The cohort will collaborate closely with Intel and Microsoft on co-innovation projects, as well as receive sales and marketing assistance and go-to-market enablement to increase their audience reach.
Flapmax will also help the start-ups to apply optimised large language models, as well as scale and fine-tune these models on Microsoft Azure and Intel platforms.
Dr. Dave Ojika, founder and CEO, Flapmax, said: “Our goal is to use AI as a catalyst to enable startups and marginalised entrepreneurs to rapidly and sustainably develop their businesses and create new job opportunities.”
“Microsoft believes that African start-ups and SMEs are well-positioned to become a bedrock for the African digital economy, with relevant solutions to local societal and economic challenges,” said Mame-Fatou Gueye, SME programme manager, Microsoft Africa Transformation Office.
“Participation in the FAST Accelerator programme will help these entrepreneurs capture growth opportunities and expand their market reach,” she added.
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