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Since September 28, 2022, the candidates of the 18 political parties cleared for the 2023 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have been campaigning aggressively using different platforms. From the digital sphere to the physical sphere, each candidate has informed Nigerians and is still engaging with them on programmes and policy agendas that would be implemented when he is elected as the new president on February 25, 2023. Like the previous presidential campaigns, where candidates dished out party manifestos using different techniques, the 2023 presidential candidates are not quite different in their adoption of words and terms that are elusive in their meanings and practicability.
The candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has been promoting and marketing himself and the party with the message of “renewed hope.” Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party candidate, has largely campaigned using “Our Pact with Nigerians,” aiming to create a new Nigeria. Many have described him as the “new bird” and a “person with the potential of rewriting patterns of presidential election outcomes in Nigeria” because of his acclaimed youth-supportive movement across the country. Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, does not really see reason in changing his campaign message theme because contesting for the Office of the President is not new to him. For the 2023 presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar decided to use his 2019 policy document tagged “My Covenant with Nigerians.”
These candidates have used and are still using themes for building and creating divisions based on their use of an organised persuasive communication strategy that has elements such as fake news, misinformation, disinformation and purposeful manipulation of citizens’ religious interests and ethnic hegemony. For many citizens, who could not separate politics from personal and business relationships, discussing the candidates and their ideological differences has mainly consisted of exchanging severe banter as well as unnecessary criticism. Our analysis of several political-related interactions on digital platforms, especially Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, shows people are attacking personalities rather than addressing the issues and needs the candidates are promoting.
This is not new in a democratic setting. Other democracies in the global south, where Nigeria belongs, and the global north have experienced a toxic campaign environment like this. In the United States of America and the United Kingdom, for instance, many academics and think tanks reported how presidential candidates’ campaign strategies increased people’s toxic relationships and possible interest in considering suicide when their preferred candidates lost the election.
A recent poll in the USA noted that many Americans dropped friends and family members who have different political views. According to the poll, nearly one in five voters said political divisions hurt their relationships. This means that they felt unsupported, misunderstood, demeaned, or attacked. This, according to many scholars and established reports, may contribute to a toxic social environment that can lead to stress, depression, anxiety, and even suicide.
With this background insight, our analyst examines the interest of Nigerians who use the Internet to seek information about the candidates and the two issues (toxic relationships and suicide, one of the possible outcomes of toxic relationships) between September 28, 2022 and February 3, 2023. In terms of having interest in the candidates, our analysis shows that Nigerians developed more interest in Mr. Peter Obi and Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu than Alhaji Atiku Abubakar when they (Nigerians) were considered within the campaigns and elections category of Google Trends. During the period, the interest in suicide was greater than the interest in toxic relationships. Further analysis reveals an 18.3% connection between toxic relationships and suicide, indicating that the more Nigerians engaged in conversations that were toxic during the period, the more they developed an interest in understanding suicide. In essence, an interest in toxic relationships led to more than 18 searches for suicide information.
Exhibit 1: Public interest in candidates and two issues by state
Source: Google Trends, 2023
The interest in the three candidates collectively accounted for 12.6% interest in suicide ideation and 17.2% interest in toxic relationships. Individually, having interest in Mr. Peter Obi was more determined by a toxic relationship (2.1%) than other candidates (Alhaji Atiku Abubakar = 0.4% and Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu = 0.5%). Nigerians’ interest in suicidal ideation was more determined by their having an interest in Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu (0.9%) and Mr. Peter Obi (0.5%) than Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (0.2%). These results suggest that mental health experts, family members and relatives of people who are having toxic conversations in the digital sphere and in various physical settings need to pay specific attention to them. They need to be comforted every time. This is primarily imperative for people in Ebonyi, Benue, Rivers, Oyo and Ogun States, including the Federal Capital Territory, where people significantly developed interest in the two issues (suicide ideation and toxic relationships) during the period of our analysis.
Exhibit 2: Position of candidates and the key issues relative to public volume of searches
Source: Google Trends, 2023; Infoprations Analysis, 2023
Exhibit 3: Connection of public interest in the two issues with candidates
Source: Google Trends, 2023; Infoprations Analysis, 2023
The management of Fidelity Bank Plc has assured customers of cash payment across all its branches nationwide.
This was made known in a statement reported to have been issued by Fidelity bank management on Thursday following a trending video in which two customers were spotted fighting inside a Fidelity bank branch over difficulty in accessing the new Naira notes.
The statement issued by the Head of Corporate Communications of Fidelity Bank, Dr. Meksley Nwagboh, reads as follows:
“Our customers can rest assured that we are working to meet their banking needs.
“All our branches nationwide are open to customers to pay in their old notes and withdraw the new notes in accordance with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s policy on Naira redesign.”
Nwagboh, therefore, enjoined customers of the bank to visit the nearest branch to carry out their banking transactions.
It is not a hidden knowledge that many Nigerians have been hard-pressed lately due to difficulty in depositing the old naira notes and withdrawing the redesigned notes at their various commercial banks despite efforts to meet up with Central Bank deadline which had earlier been slated for January 31, 2023.
Many of the Point of Sales outlets which hitherto provide alternatives for individuals who quickly need to withdraw cash or make other transactions fro their bank accounts have also complained about not getting enough cash from the commercial banks. Therefore, some of the payment agents have resorted to charging exorbitantly on cash withdrawal for as much as 1000 Naira per 10,000 Naira as against the usual 200Naira per 10,000Naira cash withdrawal.
Due to pressures from the media and the National Assembly, the CBN has extended the deadline for the deposit of the old Naira notes up until February 10. The Apex bank also issued a directive for the commercial banks to swiftly commence over-the-counter payment of the new naira notes to their customers across the country.
The Bitcoin Halving is an event that happens roughly every 210,000 blocks (or roughly every four years) in the Bitcoin network. At each halving event, the number of new Bitcoins (BTC) generated per block is reduced by half. The halving limits the supply of new bitcoins and helps control inflation. This process makes it harder to “mine” new Bitcoins, leading to a slower growth rate in the overall currency supply.
The effect of halving the price of Bitcoin (BTC) is a topic of much excitement among market participants. The reduced supply of new Bitcoins will increase demand and therefore drive up the price. Historically, the two previous halvings in 2012 and 2016 were followed by significant price increases.
The effect of halving on the price of Litecoin (LTC) is similar to that of Bitcoin; Litecoin is a fork of Bitcoin and follows Bitcoin’s tokenomics. Like Bitcoin, Litecoin also has a halving event that occurs roughly every four years, reducing the number of new Litecoins generated per block by half.
Halving can boost crypto prices
As with Bitcoin, Litecoin’s halving has historically stirred up prices and bolstered investor sentiment.
Altcoins, or alternative cryptocurrencies, often follow the price trend of Bitcoin, especially during periods of strong market performance for Bitcoin. This is because many investors and traders see Bitcoin as the benchmark for the cryptocurrency market and may use it as a barometer for the market’s overall health.
Fortunes were made through altcoins riding shotgun on the Bitcoin and Litecoin halving bull-runs.
And those bull runs are coming.
The next Bitcoin halving is expected on 18 March 2024, and Litecoin is expected six months earlier in August 2023.
The market is already anticipating the halving bull run, with cryptocurrencies raising their heads from the 2022 slumber, with Bitcoin’s January 2023 candle closing 40% higher, and it’s just getting started.
Right now: The right time to invest in Snowfall Protocol (SNW)
Traditional values underpin crypto investing as much as conventional investing: buy early and buy cheap. Right now is the perfect time to invest in cryptocurrencies: the floor of the bear market has been reached, the candles are turning green again, and the anticipation of the halving is underpinning investor confidence.
This confidence has bolstered the presale of a new altcoin set to shake up the cryptoverse. Snowfall Protocol (SNW) is a new cross-chain trading solution that bridges cross-platform architectural divides and facilitates the transactions of both traditional tokens and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) across both EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) and non-EVM platforms.
Invest in Snowfall Protocol now
Snowfall Protocol (SNW) is the solution crypto traders have been looking for since Vitalik launched Ethereum and is set to become a major player in the cryptoverse. Crypto traditionally rewards early adopters, and Snowfall Protocol is now available at presale: the earliest it is possible to get. A hundred million coins will be made available at $0.005 during phase one.
The presale will culminate in phase three when another 100 million coins are made available at $0.75 – a 1,400% value increase between phases one and three. This is an opportunity the savvy crypto investor will be foolish to miss – Snowfall Protocol (SNW) is something to take seriously in your crypto investment portfolio, and you can Invest in Snowfall Protocol here.
For more information on Snowfall and its workings, see their whitepaper, or follow them on Twitter and Telegram.
Nigeria is not a real place, you can die like a chicken anytime in Nigeria. Now I really understand the “Japa” gospel: most people relocating out of Nigeria are not just doing that for the sake of greener pastures, most are relocating for the sake of their safety and security. It is today that I understood better.
The apartment you rented to dwell with your family can collapse and bury you alive inside it at any time because it is possible that the builders maneuvered their way through the development control agencies and erected a structure that was not legally approved or suitable for that location. Incidents like this occur regularly in Lagos and it occurred today in Abuja.
On my way home this afternoon, just five minutes away to my house and I saw vehicles making U-turns by the Hmedix mall on 4th Avenue, Gwarinpa, I saw ambulances driving past me at full speed, I saw policemen, civil defence, road safety and other law enforcement agents mounting road and controlling traffic, there was a lot of confusion and commotion which was quite unusual. I asked one of the police officers controlling traffic what was going on, and after much hesitation, he told me that a multi-storey shopping plaza that is still under construction along the road just collapsed and many people lost their lives.
I packed by the Hmedix mall to go see for myself, it was a terrible sight. Some people that were lucky to be excavated alive were brought out without limbs. I have never seen anything like that.
It is more ironic that this kind of thing could happen in Abuja,” a whole of Abuja”; the capital city, the seat of power. From the location where the incident occurred to Aso rock villa should be less than a twenty minutes drive.
The first question that came to mind was; “Who approved the building of this structure? Which Director in the Federal Capital Development Agency (FCDA) or development control approved this building, or was the building erected by the contractors without getting all the appropriate approvals? If so , why didn’t the development control seal up the building for illegal structure? These questions are begging for answers so we can get to the root of this tragedy that occurred today in the Federal Capital Territory.
If you are quite familiar with 4th Avenue, Gwarinpa where the incident took place, you will know that the place that structure is situated is quite sloppy and you don’t need to have a degree in structural or civil engineering or building mechanics to know that for a gigantic structure of that nature to mount comfortably in a sloppy land like that it will need a lot of reinforcement if not it will only be a ticking bomb waiting to explode as it did exploded today.
We can only thank God that the building was not yet completed before it collapsed or it had not yet been commissioned for commercial use when it collapsed, if not it would have been more tragic than this.
Cutting corners have cost a lot of innocent lives in Nigeria. Builders need to stop cutting corners or stop paying bribes to get illegal structures approved by government agencies. If a location is been accessed and it is said that it will be only suitable for a two-storey building to be mounted, please build a two-storey or even less, do not try to build more than two-storey so as to maximize more profit; it is a huge risk and the development control should be demolishing building of such or be sealing it up despite whoever owns it, this is how we can safeguard lives and properties.
The lives that were lost today were lost because of the carelessness of the builders, corruption of development control officials, greed and ineptitude of government agencies and we can do much better.
