M-Pesa and 5G go 'Ultra Modern'
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Quote of the week
“But you don’t choose the time. The time chooses you. Either you seize what may turn out to be the only chance you have, or you decide you’re willing to live with the knowledge that the chance has passed you by.”
— Barack Obama, A Promised Land
What’s Happening in Nigeria?
Resig-nay-tion
President Buhari issued a directive that all presidential aspirants who currently hold posts as ministers, heads of agencies, parastatals, and departments, should resign by May 16. Don Meffy, the Governor of the Central Bank, was the 16th person copied in the directive (out of 16 people, by the way). But he has not only refused to resign, but he has gone to court to challenge the constitutional basis for the compulsory resignation.
Through his lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, Emefiele filed a suit at the Abuja Federal High Court, urging the court to issue an interim order to stop the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Attorney General of the Federation from disqualifying him from participating in the APC primaries. According to him, he does not hold a political post but he is a public servant and his refusal to resign before contesting in the election cannot be regarded as unconstitutional. But thankfully, the judge rejected the interim order and postponed the lawsuit until May 23rd. PDP has since joined as an interested party.
Airlines back in operation
Last week, we reported that Nigerian airlines were directed to suspend all domestic flights from Monday over a fourfold increase in jet fuel prices.
However, a few hours to the move taking effect, it was suspended.
The basis for the earlier decision by the Airline Operators of Nigeria was that the price of jet fuel had jumped from 190 to the ridiculous rate of 700 Nigerian naira per litre (from $0.45 to almost $1.70). The rise in jet fuel prices is primarily caused due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February. “No airline in the world can absorb this kind of sudden shock from such an astronomical rise over a short period,” the AON said, adding that costs of operation have increased by 95% and, it would now cost a customer 120,000 naira ($289) for a one-hour flight, a sum which is obviously unaffordable for most Nigerians.
The AON, nevertheless has rescinded its directive. Air Peace, Ibom Air, and Dana Air are currently in operation.
Not so ultra-modern
Following the commissioning of the new ‘ultra-modern’ Murtala Muhammed terminal, it appears that the terminal has proven to be unusable. Major airlines such as British Airways, United Airlines, Air France-KLM, Emirates, Lufthansa, Qatar, Ethiopian Airlines, Etihad, and Kenya Airways have criticised the new terminal for its lack of space. One of the airlines’ Head of Operations had this to say: “The terminal is very beautiful but it is not ready for use. We fly triple-seven and 330s. When there is enough space for our aircraft, we will be glad to use the terminal.”
Another issue of concern is the error in design spotted in the 56,000 sqm terminal which would cost millions of dollars to repair. Strangely, it is being reported that the Minister of Aviation, Had Sirika, got wind of this defect in 2016, but the relevant authorities took no measures to correct the mistakes. Now, measures are being put into place to demolish structures near the terminal to address these defects.
A top official from FAAN has said that we should rest assured and the terminal would prove useful soon. But as with most things Nigeria, we aren’t holding our breath.
What’s Going on Across Africa?
5G in Ethiopia
On Monday, Ethio Telecoms, Ethiopia's sole internet service provider, launched 5G in Ethiopia. Joining 6 other countries on the continent to launch 5G. This is good news for Ethiopia, but 5G will only be available in Addis and it is still being tested in other areas.
We reported last year on how Ethiopia opened up its telecommunications space to competition, which saw a foreign consortium obtain a license to enter the market. The consortium was led by Vodafone and included Safaricom and US, UK, and Japanese investors. And the goal was to subject Ethio Telecom, which was a former monopoly, to competition, and now, it seems to have worked with this 5G roll out. Ethio Telecom is forced to be more efficient and produce services that customers value.
Content moderation exploitation
Facebook's parent Company, Meta, and its outsourcing partner, Sama are facing a lawsuit filed by an ex-content moderator in Kenya. We previously covered this in another issue, but there have been some recent developments.
On Tuesday, Daniel Motaung filed a lawsuit on behalf of himself and other contracted content moderators, arguing that they were experiencing poor working conditions, irregular pay, inadequate mental health support, union-busting, and violations of their privacy and dignity. He also said he was not given sufficient details about the nature of the work of reviewing Facebook posts before his arrival.
The worst part is that he even mentioned that content moderators in Dublin are not allowed to view dangerous content for more than two hours, but that rule does not apply to him and his colleagues in Kenya. He talks about having to moderate a beheading and generally does not think that the mental health support provided by Facebook is adequate for the content they have to view.
He has also been diagnosed with severe PTSD because of his job at Meta. In his words, he is living in a horror movie. It's no surprise that Sama has rejected all these claims but let’s see what the lawsuit reveals and also hope that more individuals, across Africa, have the courage to come out.
Arrested
Michael Amushelelo, the Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (Neff) party’s Commissar of Economic Development, is facing various charges, including inciting public violence. His arrest was ordered by the Namibian Police Chief on charges of bullying the business community, inciting “hooliganism,” and stealing establishments owned by foreigners in China Town, Windhoek.
The Namibian daily published a video of him telling some Chinese shopkeepers at a shopping mall to close up shop. According to reports, the move halted all company operations at the shopping center. However, in the video, he alleges that the stores were selling fake products without providing any evidence.
He now faces charges for incitement of public violence, four charges of assault through threatening, six charges of trespassing at Chinatown and is now in custody after voluntarily surrendering to the authorities.
M-Pesa goes virtual
Safaricom has announced the debut of M-pesa GlobalPay. Now, Kenyan M-pesa users can use their virtual debit cards for foreign transactions.
The solution was launched with the goal of making international online purchases easier and guaranteeing debit card privacy. Customers should anticipate to be able to subscribe to platforms, such as Netflix, without having to submit their credit card information online, which was previously not an option.
The card should arrive before the end of June 2022, according to CEO Peter Ndegwa.
Funding for Interswitch
Interswitch, an African-focused digital payments and commerce startup, has received a $110 million joint investment from LeapFrog and Tiana Africa Capital.
The company's most recent funding round came in 2019, when VISA bought a 20% share in the company for $200 million, making it Africa’s second unicorn. Even back then, its Verve and Quickteller products were being sold in 23 African countries, with physical locations in Gambia, Uganda, and Kenya.
With this round of funding, the company will extend digital payment services across the continent.
Other News
Floyd Mayweather visited Nigeria this week and declared his vision to revive boxing in Africa by building boxing gyms and training young talents.
The Nigerian Football Federation has been ordered by FIFA to pay its former football manager, Gernot Rohr, almost $400,000 as compensation for an unfair dismissal by Nigeria. Nigeria has a 45-day ultimatum to pay the sum.
JP Morgan has removed Nigeria from its list of emerging market countries.
The Bank of Uganda has blacklisted cryptocurrency.
In Kenya, UBA has partnered with Cellulant to establish a cashless payment system.
A new agreement between Airtel Tanzania and World Remit have created a new international money transfer option.
Paymob, an Egyptian payment solution platform, has raised $50 million to improve payment processes and income.
What in the World?
(The segment where we highlight the most outrageous story we have come across while scraping the web for news articles for you. We have taken to using what we call the Ehn scale. The longer the Ehn the more incredulous. For example, President Buhari is not Nigeria’s most prolific travel blogger: Ehnnnnn? Got it?)
The Unlucky Hybrid
Rating: Ehhhhhhhhnnnnnnnnnnnn-moooooo??? 🐄🐄🐄
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