The president assented to the Nigerian Startup Act, yesterday, the 19th of October, 2022. This new law basically, is to ameliorate the huddles technology innovation and tech-centric startups have been facing in Nigeria and make that sector highly attractive for investors both foreign and local investors to invest in it.

These are five key points of the new act that you may want to pay much attention to:

In order to attract foreign investors, the act provided in S.40 for easy repatriation of capital and profits by foreign investors. One of the major hurdles foreign investors encounter while investing in a Nigerian business is the repatriation of their capital and gains back to their home country. This law has made provisions to ensure that foreign investors will no longer encounter this challenge.

This new act provides for Tax reliefs and other fiscal incentives like pioneer status schemes for tech startups in Nigeria. Although there are condition precedents before you can enjoy these incentives. Tech startups can enjoy tax breaks for a period of four after their inception/labeling years while their founders can also enjoy some tax reliefs. This is the provision of S. 24 of the act.

This new act established Startup Investment Seed Fund to provide capital/ seed funding for tech startups that may have struggles with raising seed capital for scaling. Every labeled startup is qualified and eligible to apply for this seed fund and this is the provision of S. 19 of the act.

Tech startups have access to grants and loans from CBN and other financial institutions of the government. Some of these loans are interest-free while some attract minimal interest and a flexible repayment period. This loan and grant are totally different from the seed funding we earlier talked about. This is the provision of S. 28 of the act.

Finally, for the purpose of driving technological innovations to the grassroots in Nigeria, this new act proposed the establishment of tech hubs and innovation parks across the 36 States of the federation and the federal capital territory. This is the provision of S. 43.

You may wonder why this village boy from Nigeria is wasting time on UK matters? People, it is a free world. And with that, this was my post (May 2019) after Brexit when I predicted largely what is happening in the UK now – . May I note that if you check this piece on LinkedIn, many pushed hard against my largely pessimistic near-term future of the UK leadership.

“UK Prime Minister Theresa May resigns. I do not know why it took so long. The fact is this: the world that United Kingdom wants will not happen in the very near future. So, they better be changing leaders because no one can take them to their designed equilibrium point. In the past, it used to be The Rise of Me Only; today, it is now The Rise of All.

“That means – if you expect the world as it was 100 years ago, you are living in an illusion. UK benefited from the world, ravaging empires from Asia to Africa; now, it wants to sleep under its pillows happily, out of the world. That will not happen. Gone David Cameron, gone Theresa May, bring the next person. It will not change UK until it realizes that the new world is The Rise of All and citizens must make adjustments for that reality.

Next please…Boris Johnson, possibly. He will experience the same thing: sobering resignation. By the time markets begin to work on Brexit, UK will understand the world has changed…”

Comment on LinkedIn Feed

Comment: Prof., it’s amazing how you accurately foretold the current happenings. But would be a possible solution, Sir?

My Response: You see my photos with the UN Secretary General, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, etc. There is a reason that happens. If a boy has a talent, the kings and queens will call to the palace. On the solutions, we do not focus on political solutions since that does not make sense. But we focus on the solutions for investors and companies. I will be in Saudi Arabia in Feb and we will discuss some of the solutions. I am thankful to God for His Grace.

Liz Truss, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, is out. She joins an amalgam of leaders which are on rotating roll calls in Europe. Directly or indirectly, the war in Ukraine is architecting a new governance framework in Europe. If Russia had not attacked Ukraine, Boris Johnson would still be the PM of the UK. 

On this, we are learning many things: party philosophies mean nothing if they do not help citizens especially when the citizens are used to good living standards. You can preach the conversative constructs of low taxes embellished on libertarian individual liberty and free market  when you have abundance. But when there is scarcity in the land, suspicion comes when you do things which seem to favour the 1% over the 99%.

How do you cut tax for the rich when the internet has made it harder for the rich not to be making money faster? They have an organic virtuoso circle which produces wealth than they can spend. On that call, Ms Truss scored an own-goal; in this 21st century, cutting taxes for the 1% is an expired strategy even if it worked decades ago.

The bond market and the broad financial market pushed her out. When the pounds started bleeding, it was over. In the Igbo Nation, the elders have it that no man can cook for all his kindred, but when the kindred cooks for a man, he has no chance of finishing the food. The UK cooked for Ms Truss and she ran away today. 

Contrast that with Africa where leaders face minimal consequences for being poor in what they do. Liz’s resignation is a demonstration of the zenith of Britain’s mature democracy: the supremacy of the people over any human. Africa needs that prescription at scale as we have a disease which is more devastating than the political pandemic in the UK.

U.K Prime Minister Liz Truss has recently revealed that she is resigning from her position after spending about six weeks in office.

In her resignation speech, Truss disclosed that a contest would take place within a week, although the exact process for the contest is yet to be revealed, as it seems unlikely that there will be a repeat of the two-month marathon contest that followed the toppling of Boris Johnson.

While giving her speech Liz Truss said outside the 10 Downing Street, the official residence and the office of the British Prime Minister, she said, “I came into office at a time of great economic and international instability with a mandate to change this. Families and businesses were worried about how to pay their bills.

Who will come next? Penny Mordaunt and Rishi Sunak are potential candidates. But do not take out the most powerful man in UK politics now – Jeremy Hunt.  He saved the pounds

Liz Truss has resigned as prime minister, losing out to an iceberg lettuce purchased by the Daily Star in the battle to not wilt.

Truss was “elected” by the Conservative Party’s membership a mere 45 days ago, and formally made PM by the Queen on 8 September. In that time she has overseen the death of Queen Elizabeth II; the tanking of the British economy; and now her own demise, but could not surpass the challenge of outlasting a non-sentient lump of plant matter and water.

UK Prime Minister Liz Truss Resigns