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“We Need Each Other” – Tinubu Pledges Support for Multinational Companies, Vows to Address Investment Bottlenecks

By
Samuel Nwite
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0

President Bola Tinubu has affirmed his administration’s commitment to creating a conducive business environment for multinational companies operating in Nigeria.

During a meeting with a delegation from Shell Group, led by its Global Integrated Gas and Upstream Director, Ms. Zoe Yujnovich, President Tinubu emphasized that his government is determined to eliminate all obstacles hindering the smooth operation of businesses in the country.

Addressing the Shell delegation at the State House in Abuja, President Tinubu declared, “We are very focused on resolving all investment-related issues. There is no bottleneck that is too difficult for us to remove in our determined march toward making Nigeria the African haven for large-scale investment in all key sectors. We need each other.”

In a statement by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, President Tinubu expressed confidence in the potential for increased investment from Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria. He highlighted Nigeria’s longstanding relationship with Shell, dating back to the discovery of the country’s first commercial oil field in 1956, and assured the delegation of his administration’s dedication to securing and fostering both existing and new investments.

“We have made progress since our last meeting. I will continue to support and encourage you on this path.

“There is no doubt that there is a significant focus on investment in and around the continent. I am spearheading Nigeria’s global march for new investments at home.

“In view of our long-term relationship that has been established over the years, we want you to do more, and we are ready to encourage you in every way possible,” he said.

The President’s assurance follows the recent departure of several multinational companies from Nigeria, prompting concerns about the business environment. Notable among them is Procter & Gamble (P&G). Political figures, including the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the last general elections, Peter Obi, have expressed worry about the trend.

President Tinubu acknowledged the challenges posed by the forex crisis, which has contributed to the exit of some multinationals. He affirmed that the government is actively working to boost foreign exchange inflow, addressing the concerns raised by stakeholders.

However, stakeholders have expressed concerns that the government seemed to have backtracked on its initial promise to infuse an amount ranging from $7 billion to $10 billion into the FX market. This commitment was aimed at resolving existing backlogs that had significantly eroded investors’ confidence in the economy.

At the 2023 Bank Directors’ Summit in Abuja, the President, represented by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, reassured that commitments to resolving forex backlogs through the injection of funds into the market would be fulfilled.

He stated, “It just takes time,” while emphasizing that the government is making concerted efforts to attract funds that will enhance liquidity in the forex segment.

President Tinubu assured that short-, medium and long-term funds would be mobilized across the spectrum to address the challenges and restore investors’ confidence in the Nigerian economy.

How China Educates Kids for Factory Jobs And Making Things

By
Ndubuisi Ekekwe
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0

China: a nation in motion. This is how they teach their primary school kids woodwork and broad making things. How do you compete against this nation? We must understand that in the last ten centuries, China has ruled the world economy in at least 7 of them. Also, in primary and secondary school education, China does better than most ‘advanced’ countries.

Yes, the literacy rate in China is 99.8% (out of every 100 people above the age of 15, at least 99 of them can read and write). (In the US, it is 79%; UK is 99%; Nigeria is 77.62%).

Surprised? Do not. In China, they don’t really care that much about tertiary education (the university level). What happens is that they put the best money in basic education, making it available and accessible. If you want to go to university, you pay. That strategy means that few attend universities but China has a solid workforce for anything as they’re greatly educated at the foundational level.

Contrast with Nigeria where we have no money for basic education even as we put most of the limited funds in the universities (sure, not enough I must note though). On that model, the primary school teacher goes with $30 per month and you expect him or her to prepare the kids for the future!

Comment on Feed

Comment 1: We must understand that education is a process of catching them young, building up cognitive minds and making them solutions providers rather than solutions consumers.

Comment 1R: I approve this comment. Once you miss the plot at that early stage, you have pretty much lost it forever. You don’t learn discipline and commitment as adults, they must come earlier.

Comment 2: Notice how seriously they took the task? They didn’t even notice that a camera was on. Bring a camera here, and kids will focus on the camera and not the task anymore.

It is obvious that we have remained distracted from childhood, our lack of focus and lasting commitment has always been a constant feature.

It is not about giving examples with exceptions and minority, but what is the prevailing situation with the majority? There you find all the answers you need.

Our feet need to be firmly on the ground, right now they are shaking.

Comment 3: True Word Ndubuisi! I just got back from attending a China Africa Culture and Tourism forum in Jinhua City, China. It’s not Shanghai or Beijing, yet boasts of world class infrastructure and a work force that’s passionate and committed to whatever they’re doing.

They are not considered illiterate for not speaking English ( had to check the Mandarin word for Tea when I asked for it at breakfast!) – Local language literacy and vocational skills training in our local languages is something Nigeria needs to take on board.

Comment 4: “You expect him or her to prepare the kids for the future?” While they watch government officials squander resources.

And Inflation is no friend of the people. Inflation favours people with assets not people living on $30 per month which is sometimes delayed ?

Dey play

The only way that sector can survive is when you have the best minds there. Sadly the best minds are not. Because they watched the generation before them sacrifice in vain.

Comment 5: China is on another level. Even United States is breathing hard to catch up with them. Interestingly, there is nothing China has done to push themselves to the front burner of world economy that we don’t know about. The difference between China and Nigeria is leadership and the leadership’s guts to take positive action in the genuine interest of the country while setting aside personal interests. That’s all. All wealth holders in China could be traced to doing something entreprising. That is not the case in Nigeria.

In Nigeria, you see multi millionaires and billionaires with no justifiable traceable enterprise. Ask them their enterprise, most will say GRACE OF GOD. And to add salt to injury, these men and women are given scarce police personnel and military men by the government to chaperone them everywhere. That is “impossicant” in China.

The Nigeria’s Great Corporate Japa And Poor Outlook in the 2030s

By
Ndubuisi Ekekwe
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1

Every ten years, something great happens in the Nigerian business sphere. In the 1990s, the new generation banks were established, and they used technology to create competitive advantages in markets. 

In the 2000s, the voice telephony era came at scale, led by MTN.  The 2010s provided the mobile internet era as mobile phones connected to the internet, enabling new vistas of opportunities, as phones became retail stores and bank branches.

The decade of 2020s is the application utility era where the power of cloud computing, mobile internet and software will converge at scale.  The companies nurtured and born in this era are expected to replace, through creative destruction of the old companies in the 2030s, just as the leading banks of today supplanted those born decades before them. 

Unfortunately for Nigeria, that will not happen because these companies have already LEFT Nigeria in an unprecedented japa where the best companies in Nigeria are now London and Delaware companies. This is the most consequential own-goal scored by Nigeria against its FUTURE.

Today, more than 90% of all the finest young companies in Nigeria are not corporate-Nigerians even though more than 90% of their activities take place in Nigeria. The United States Consul General in Nigeria, Will Stevens, in a recent speech said: “Up to 60% of African startups are incorporated in the United States – this figure is 80% when considering Nigeria alone…” (So, if 80% are Americans, it is possible my 90% for both UK, EURO and US may be low. People, I am not aware of any tech startup which has raised $1 million and is still fully Nigerian.)

What happened? I explain here.

Comment on Feed

Comment 1: After reading the comments section, I like to say it’s about damn time we realized that we cannot keep blaming government for everything. This is an old and tired excuse we use every time to absolve ourselves as individuals from any blame. It is very convenient to always point the finger of blame at the government. Yes, even the government themselves blame the government too.

Prof has raised some very important issues here, so what can we do about it besides always blaming the government? Hello people, news flash, blaming the government isn’t a solution. I swear if I hear government one more time I’m going to puke.

My Response: The root cause is the legal system and to a large extent, the government has the ace to make it appear fair and transparent. If court cases can last for ages, startups will fade. So, saying that the government cannot be blamed makes no sense. Nations are built on laws, and property rights are the foundation of capitalism. When nations fade on their legal systems, capital stops.

If you track the last 2,000 years, you will notice one thing: no nation has advanced faster and better than its legal system. So, the governments in Nigeria and Africa in general must fix the  legal systems to expect CAPITAL which will help to fund the industrialization. 

That capital can be internal or external I must note.

5 BITES – Featuring – ThirdWeb; UAE Decline?; W3C ditches X, AI rules – China; EU; Follow-Fashion Fintech.

By
John Mc Keown
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0

THIRDWEB HOPING TO STEM THE FLOW OF EXPLOITS ON EVM SMART CONTRACTS IT SERVICES

Thirdweb, a Web3 development framework provider, is mitigating a vulnerability affecting EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) compatible smart contracts across several networks. The vulnerability was discovered last month. The situation was publicly disclosed on December 4, and impacts assets held with many partners, like NFT market OpenSea.

So far, they have closed vulnerabilities on over 8000 smart contracts since they discovered the problem.

It was keenly pointed out that Thirdweb is only one provider in a wider landscape, where openness about vulnerabilities varies from one business to another.

These exploits off EVM compatible smart contracts have been scaling exponentially over 2023.

The theft pandemic, which shows no sign of even stabilizing, let alone being arrested, saw $332 million lost to hacks, scams, and exploits off EVM compatible smart contracts last month alone.

According to Certik, a blockchain security company, more than $1 billion had been stolen from smart contracts as of the beginning of September. – Main story – Bitcoin .com.

Tempest is much more than just OpenSea

IS UAE BEGINNING TO FADE AS A CRYPTOHUB?

New CEO of Binance, Richard Teng, has been keen to make his mark on the global company. He succeeds the founding CEO, Changpeng Zhao, who spectacularly stepped down, amid both personal and corporate fines in the US, widely covered in the media.

One of his first steps has been to withdraw an application to operate from Abu Dhabi

Former CEO Zhao, is listed as the owner of two properties in Dubai.

The question is, how much is this change about UAEs’ inherent business hub attributes, worsening Middle East stability, or the demise of Binance?

This year, Binance withdrew a licence for Germany, dropped Cyrpus, and has future plans to leave Netherlands, though this can be seen as an unwillingness to operate in the EU under the terms of the imminent crypto asset regulations rollout.

Binance is also being forced out of Belgium, Australia and The Philippines.

However, Middle East conflict that began in October, and increasing US interest in the activities and intentions of Iran, are good reasons to lose enthusiasm for the Saudi Peninsulas’ eastern seaboard.

It’s difficult to tell at this juncture, whether this is just about the new management style of Teng, a bigger problem of managing the dismantling of a fatally wounded crypto empire, or simply prudent evolution of operations in a fast changing global crypto-landscape.. – Main story – Reuters

W3C DITCHES X FOR MASTODON

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is a not-for-profit organisation set up by the ‘father of the internet’ Tim Berners Lee, and represents a community approach to best practice, and standards setting in the evolution of ‘every iteration of internet’. ‘W3C develops standards and guidelines to help everyone build a web based on the principles of accessibility, internationalization, privacy and security.’

It has a host of Github projects, and works though working groups from all the way back at the dawn of mass internet availability to the Decentralized Identifier (DID) Working Group Charter and the Immersive Web Working Groups of today.

The exact reasons for W3C leaving X were not overtly stated.

An article by Sarah Bregel on Fast Company relates a story about an account ‘appropriated’ from one Gene X Hwang – ‘  Last month, when Twitter rebranded as X, it also swiped the X handle away from San Francisco photographer Gene X Hwang, who had used it since 2007.

Although Hwang had hoped the company might offer him compensation for the handle, he was instead offered a choice of another inactive username – as well as company merch and a visit to its headquarters. “They just took it essentially –  kinda what I thought might happen,” Hwang told The Telegraph. “They did send an email saying it is the property of ‘X’ essentially.”

Mastodon marks its X with W3C!

These sorts of developments wouldn’t sit well with an organisation like W3C; their intro on the new Mastodon account reads:

‘w3c.social is a friendly and respectful instance for people involved in the activities of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The instance is run on a volunteer basis by a few of the W3C team.’

Linked icons to the Mastodon, X and Github accounts of W3C are still in the footer of their website pages. The X page now says:

‘The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is no longer active on this platform. Please find us at @w3c@w3c.social. W3C makes the Web work, for everyone.’

The W3C, which was set up in 1994, has held an X (then Twitter) account since 2009. (y combinator blog; W3C own accounts).

BEIJING INTERNET COURT APPROVES COPYRIGHT PROTECTION FOR AI GENERATED IMAGES.

27 November, the court ruled, ‘selecting prompt words, and arranging the order of prompt words, is sufficient to reflect the human authors personalized expression and originality.’

From 9ja Cosmos own experience of creating the ‘Sino Amazon’ side of the ‘Sinosignia’ project, we are ambivalent. Our products aren’t a simple process of dreaming up a prompt and getting a result. There are many different tools we use, each with their own unique properties, and we have to combine these tools, along with manual injection of art authoring, across a deep layering of image creation across each product.

When trying to do a run of 1000 images, all of them conforming to a central theme, and a very strict set of outcome requirements, that’s massively harder than producing a single image that just ‘looks cool’.

China and EU, AI perspectives – very different views!

With this ‘industrial’ volume of creation, creator time is not the only cost. Devices and tools, and the rolling cost of internet, content display, software tools, and online services and subscriptions all needed to get the job done, are additional costs of production.

So of course, we are not in favour of our products being seen through the same legal lens as the result of a single phrase someone dreamed up off the top of their head, and the click of a button.

The Chinese are already invested very heavily in the development of their AI industry, and this seems to be more about lubricating the future paths for AI device and software products, rather than anything to do with either those that will try to use these devices and products to make a living, or those whose existing artwork or likeness may be infringed upon through their use.

But the proposals in front of the EU, for example, are not evenly balanced either.

It has a 4-tier rating system from ‘Unacceptable Risk’ to ‘Minimal or No Risk’ but the focal points of risk assessment seem to be limited to societal ills and individual rights infringement (protection of minors, threats from deep-fake, and unauthorised use of likenesses),  to the exclusion of taking a position on creator IP.

It’s a little bit like when the typewriter arrived, before which, novelists gave hand-written manuscripts to publishers. Sure, the typewriter changes things, but if a legal/judicial review of the new creator regime is needed, it shouldn’t just focus on typewriter manufacturers, it should also  focus on the ‘typewriter enabled’ exchange between novelist, publisher and market. This is missing on the EU side.

Compliance seems costly, with no added creator IP clarification and critics argue that the time and money it takes to comply with such rules may be daunting for start-ups in particular.

Main Stories, Angela Huyue Zhang, Dan Milmo

THE FOLLOW-FASHION OF FINTECH AND DEFI IN 9JA

Nigerian masses have a strong track record of ‘follow-fashion’, aka bandwagoning. We’ve seen all sorts of business pandemics, with no testing of the business case, no analytics, and no hard metrics that those established are actually doing ‘ok’.

There is this perception that anybody sustaining a business must be ‘buoyant’ and without solid data to support this, copying them can break people.

In the distant past, I’ve seen one empty road collect an under educated teenage boy as a vulcanizer. Before you know it, there are 10 vulcanizers on the same street.

Over the years, the same has happened with starting an internet café, selling ‘recharge card’, selling okreka (second hand clothes), starting an NGO, starting a school, starting a micro-finance bank, starting a church, ‘pure water’ business, hair salon, the list goes on (you can add your own in the comments).

Whether you want to bring a blockchain enabled solution or not, Fintech in general is the over-saturated ‘Red Ocean’.

Fundraising to scale fintech continentally is an illusion – home advantage and early adoption favours the Indigene Fintech. Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya can grow their own Fintech Gladiators, but if they venture outside their nation, they will die in their fellow Africans Coliseum. 

A week ago, Ndubuisi Ekekwe wrote of how ‘MPESA clones failed in Nigeria and South Africa because both markets were financially more advanced than Kenya’s when MPESA started. So, anything MPESA offered Nigerians and South Africans was not better than the current products, for them to switch.’

Ijeoma Akwiwu and Nkiru Amadi-Emina, two women with experience running supply chain enterprises, formed Pivo Technology. They established Pivo Technology in 2021 to support SMEs in the supply chain by offering quick and adaptable financing solutions, beginning with lending. Last year, Pivo received $500k in the Y Combinator SS 22 batch. They later secured funds from Precursor Ventures, Vested World,  FoundersX and Mercy Corp Ventures to bring that total to $2m, with a plan to contest the East African Market. The startup had two fintech verticals: Pivo Capital, a lending product, and Pivo Business, a business banking product. Main Stories: Techloy, Muktar Oladunmade.

Pivo are now shutting down. So far there has not been an announcement on reasons. Enter Web 3 in Nigeria if you like, tokenize RWA real live bunny rabbits if you like… think of anything you like, as long as that isn’t fintech!

All sources accessed 09-12-2023

9ja Cosmos is here!

Get your .9jacom and .9javerse Web 3 domains  for $2 at:

.9jacom Domains

.9javerse Domains

Visit 9ja Cosmos

Follow us on LinkedIn HERE

Preview Sino Amazons/Sinosignias HERE

 

 

Practice Guidelines For Lawyers In Nigeria Under The New Rules Of Professional Conduct 2024

By
Emmanuel Ifeanyi Ogbuka
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0

This article is focused on the practice guidelines on legal practitioners under the new rules of professional conduct (RPC) for lawyers slated to come into effect on the 1st of January,2024. The focus points of this write-up are :- 

– The general responsibilities of a lawyer

– Aiding the unauthorized practice of law.

– Authorized associations for lawyers.

– Practice guidelines for retired judges.

– Engagement in business by lawyers.

What are the general responsibilities for lawyers under the new RPC?

– Lawyers are required to uphold and observe the law, promote and foster the course of justice and not engage in conduct deemed unbecoming for lawyers.

What is classified as “aiding the unauthorized practice of law” under the RPC?

– This includes things like knowingly aiding the admission into the legal profession of unfit persons deemed so in learning and character.

– This also describes actions like :-

a). A lawyer sharing his legal fees with non-lawyers.

b). A lawyer using non-lawyer surrogates or intermediaries to front his legal practice.

c). A lawyer fronting his practice through touts or influencers.

– It should be noted that this provision will not apply to legal aid services for indigent persons fronted by charities or Non-Govermental Organizations (NGOs).

What are the practice associations permitted under the new RPC?

– Lawyers are not allowed to form partnerships with non-lawyers.

– It is not allowed to keep the name of a lawyer in a law firm partnership name when or if that lawyer becomes a judge.

– Subject to exceptions, names of dead partners in a law firm name can still be displayed.

– It is not allowed to run a lawfirm like a corporation.

What are the practice rules for retired judges going back into private legal practice?

– Retired judges are not permitted to appear in court as advocates.

– Retired judges are not allowed to sign pleadings/courtroom processes.

– Retired judges are still allowed to attach the honorific title of “Justice” to their names.

What does the new RPC say on lawyers engaging in business?

– Lawyers are not allowed to combine active legal practice with the practice of any other profession (estate valuation, chartered accountancy, etc).

– Lawyers are not allowed to combine legal practice with the buying and selling of commodities.

– Lawyers are also not allowed to combine legal practice with commission agency businesses.

– Lawyers are also not allowed to engage in businesses that might be deemed unbecoming (such as street hawking or selling narcotics)

– Lawyers are only allowed to combine legal practice with :

a). Farming.

b). Law teaching/lecturing.

c). Being non-executive directors in corporations.

d). Being shareholders in companies.

e). Being company secretaries.

Section II

This second write-up will be looking at practice guidelines for lawyers under the new rules of professional conduct (RPC) as they concern the following topics :-

– Lawyers in salaried employment.

– Practice fees.

– Seals & Stamps.

– Notification of legal practice.

Lawyers in Salaried Employment

– Lawyers in salaried employment are not allowed to appear in court in robes as members of the bar except when doing so as employees of legal departments of government agencies, departments and agencies. 

– Lawyers in salaried employment are not allowed to prepare or sign pleadings, agreements, contracts, deeds, letters, legal opinions, or reports. A lot of companies are very guilty of violating this provision through their in-house legal counsel.

– Lawyers can however appear in court as agents of their employers for the purpose of appearances and witness examinations.

– Military lawyers (lawyers in the armed forces) can appear in courts-martial as officers and not lawyers.

Practice Fees

– Lawyers cannot sign documents like pleadings, affidavits, depositions, etc when in default of paying practicing fees.

– A lawyer shall not claim in any court that he has paid his legal practice fee when he has not done so.

Seals & Stamps

– Lawyers are required to affix to any documentation, stamps and seals issued by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). 

– It should be noted that a lawyer not properly affixing a stamp and seal on a document can render that document deemed not to have been duly or properly signed or filed.

Mandatory Continuous Professional Development

– A lawyer who wishes to carry on practice as a legal practitioner shall participate in and satisfy the requirement of the mandatory Continuous Professional Development programme operated by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

– The number of credit hours for each lawyer per year is granted according to years at the bar and is as follows :-

a).1-5 years post-call – 24 hours

  1. b) 6-10 years post-call – 18 hours

c). 11 years – above – 12 hours.

Annual Practicing Certificate

– The NBA is to publish a list of lawyers entitled to practice as lawyers for the year after complying with CPD & practice fee payments.

Notification of Legal Practice

– Every legal practitioner is required to, within 30 days of setting up his legal practice in a location, send a notice to his NBA branch stating :

a). His name 

b). His address of practice

c). His date of call

d). His date of enrolment

– The RPC also requires that a notice of changes and particulars of changes made to any of the above details shall be sent to the NBA.

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