About two weeks after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) launched the RT200 scheme, the apex bank has issued guidelines detailing the operation of the scheme, which includes the payment of N65 for every $1 repatriated and sold at the Investor and Export (I&E) Window.

This was disclosed in a recently released circular titled, “OPERATING GUIDELINES FOR RT200 NON-OIL EXPORT PROCEEDS REPATRIATION REBATE SCHEME.” The RT200 is part of CBN’s rebate programmes designed to tackle insufficient dollar liquidity in Nigeria.

Last year, the CBN introduced the Naira 4 Dollar Scheme in a bid to encourage diaspora remittance, boosting Nigeria’s forex inflow. The Naira 4 Dollar scheme means Nigerians get N5 for every dollar remitted through regulated financial institutions.

In the same vein, the CBN’s objective with the RT200 Programme is to raise $200 billion in Foreign Exchange (FX) earnings from non-oil proceeds over the next 3-5years.

The RT200 rebate scheme focuses on the non-oil sector as the N65 for a dollar incentive is designed to encourage exporters in the sector to repatriate export earnings using the Import & Export window.

Highlights of the Guidelines

The CBN said its (Trade & Exchange Department) will be responsible for the day-to-day administration of the RT200 rebate Scheme. This rebate for dollars brought into the country only applies to exporters of finished and semi-finished goods.

According to the guideline, only exporters that repatriated export proceeds and sell it at the Investors & Exporters Window will qualify for the scheme. But the exporter must successfully have completed the e-Form NXP, Registration with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) to be eligible for the rebate.

However, in order curb sharp practices, the central bank warned bank that “any attempt to circumvent the intent of the Scheme shall result in the suspension of the FOREX dealership licence of the ADB for 24months.”

It also stated that any exporter that presents fraudulent document(s) or tries to undermine this Scheme shall be banned from accessing the incentive for 24 months and all accounts shall be placed on PN for the same period.

To encourage exporters who use the I&E window, the CBN stated that the scheme shall pay “N65 for every US$1 repatriated and sold at the I&E Window to ADBs for other thirty party use, and N35 for every US$1 repatriated and sold into I&E for own use on eligible transactions only. However, the spread should not be more than 10 Kobo.” In addition, the payment of the incentive shall be made on quarterly basis.

“The accounts of exporters that qualify for rebates shall be credited latest one week after the end of the quarter,” the CBN said.

President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the reworked Electoral Amendment bill into law on Friday, the 25th of February 2022.

Keep in mind that this bill has been going back and forth from the lawmakers to the presidency and the president instead of signing it always raises observations and sends it back to the lawmakers to make some amendments and address the observations raised by the Mr president. This has been going on for about five times now until the president in his infinite wisdom and mercy finally decided to append his gracious signature to the bill.

This signing of the bill caused wild celebrations across all the political, religious and tribal divides of Nigeria as many people have been lauding and adoring the majestic deed of the  Mr. President and congratulating Nigerians that president Buhari finally signed the electoral bill after the President has rejected the bill for about five times. 

The celebration of this (so called heroic)  deed of just signing a bill  is just a way Nigerians extol mediocrity and it is quite embarrassing; embarrassing to every Nigerian, both the rulers and the rule.

It is a clear indication that Nigerians have  been fed with nothing for so long that a  little act (like the president signing a bill into law) feels like a magnanimous act, like “something hooge”, so “hooge” that it calls for celebration.

The celebration is quite daunting because it  is marred in falsehood and ignorance, the ignorance of the fact  the president signing bills into law is his statutory duty as a president. It is a function provided by the Constitution for the president to sign bills into law after it has passed through the due legislative processes and if a president can no longer sign bills into law then he should not be at the helm of power. The inability to sign bills into law is a grievous laxity and it is an impeachable one.

The law makers can impeach a president on the ground that he can no longer assent bills due to medical conditions or ineptitudes…. 

but it seems that Nigerians don’t know this or maybe we know that but we are just so tired of this political dispensation that we are no longer looking forward to or any longer expecting anything  politically “Hooge” from the government and the simple act of the president signing the bill was so overwhelming to us as we never expected it and the joy swept us off our feet; Or that this administration knows how to create political propagandas and public stunts to score cheap political points out of a mere act of executive function of signing bills. 

Whatever the reason is for the celebration; it is truly embarrassing to be a Nigerian at this moment, the moment that the president signing a bill into law will call for a wild jubilation across the country. 

Every Nigerian should be ashamed of how much our political system and governance have decayed to this extent. I for one as an (ir)responsible citizen and my fellow comrades were expecting the presidency to declare a seven days national public holiday over the president’s  ability and capacity to assent bills and also ordering the military to give seven gun salutes to the mr. President and trade unions like Wuse Market women association to gather at the aso rock villa or national stadium and give seven  gbosas to the president for his ability to finally assent the electoral bill and students of Gwarimpa primary school and other unity schools dress in their blazing school attires for a match pass and salute his excellency for the majestic deed of signing the bill after five attempts and the government should not also forget to declare a national celebration and competitions to cap it all up at the end of the national public holidays. 

….I bet you see how embarrassing this is even in the humor? I’m glad you got and appreciate the sarcasm. 

When will Nigeria get out of this sailing-sinking ship of political decadence of political officers taking nothing and turning it into something for cheap  political scores. I can boldly predict that one of the political campaigns of the ruling party henceforth will be “vote for apc if you want a president that will sign bills into law” and if the current president will be contesting again, his political campaign will be “vote for Pmb for continuity, he signed the electoral bill into law and he can do it again”

The sad truth is that Nigerians buy these political public stunts and propagandas and swallow everything hook line and sinker: 

When we are done with the signing jubilation then we can take a break to thoroughly digest the electoral act properly and review some of the clauses especially clause 84(12) which the president specifically mentioned that the lawmakers should expunge or amend, till then, let the celebration continue. 

The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) has issued a fresh warning about a newly discovered malicious software that steals banking data from Android phones.

A statement dated February 25, 2022, signed by the Commission’s Director of Public Affairs, Dr.  Ikechukwu Adinde, said the Nigerian Communications Commission’s Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) has discovered that the newly-hatched malicious software steals users’ banking app login credentials on Android devices.

The warning underscores how incessant malware targeting financial institutions have become, as it’s not quite long the NCC issued a warning about TangleBot, another malware that also operates on Android devices via SMS.

According to a security advisory from the NCC CSIRT, the malicious software called “Xenomorph”, found to target 56 financial institutions from Europe, has high impact and high vulnerability rate. The main intent of this malware is to steal credentials, combined with the use of SMS and Notification interception to log-in and use potential 2-factor authentication tokens.

The NCC thus issued the guidelines below on how Android users can avoid the malware baits.

Xenomorph is propagated by an application that was slipped into Google Play store and masquerading as a legitimate application called “Fast Cleaner” ostensibly meant to clear junk, increase device speed and optimize battery. In reality, this app is only a means by which the Xenomorph Trojan could be propagated easily and efficiently.

To avoid early detection or being denied access to the PlayStore, “Fast Cleaner” was disseminated before the malware was placed on the remote server, making it hard for Google to determine that such an app is being used for malicious actions.

Once up and running on a victim’s device, Xenomorph can harvest device information and Short Messaging Service (SMS), intercept notifications and new SMS messages, perform overlay attacks, and prevent users from uninstalling it. The threat also asks for Accessibility Services privileges, which allow it to grant itself further permissions.

The CSIRT said the malware also steals victims’ banking credentials by overlaying fake login pages on top of legitimate ones. Considering that it can also intercept messages and notifications, it allows its operators to bypass SMS-based two-factor authentication and log into the victims’ accounts without alerting them.

“Xenomorph has been found to target 56 internet banking apps, 28 from Spain, 12 from Italy, 9 from Belgium, and 7 from Portugal, as well as Cryptocurrency wallets and general-purpose applications like emailing services. The Fast Cleaner app has now been removed from the Play Store but not before it garnered 50,000+ downloads,” the CSIRT security advisory asserted.

The Nigerian Communications Commission hereby wishes to advise telecom consumers to be on alert in order not to fall victim to this manipulation. Accordingly, the NCC urges telecom consumers and other Internet users, particularly those using Android-powered devices to use trusted Antivirus solutions and update them regularly to their latest definitions.

The Commission also implore consumers and other stakeholders to always update banking applications to their most recent versions.

from here

Poverty has also on its part really posed a great danger to Nigeria’s tech value. The individuals who have the zeal and ability to invest in their expertise might end up being frustrated, due to lack of capital.

This is why the country’s GDP per capita has to be fixed or elevated if she actually wants her tech sector to excel headlong. There are absolutely no two ways about it.

Nigerians do not trust made-in-Nigeria goods. The mentality of seeing foreign products as superior while branding domestically-made ones inferior, must be tackled. Aside from sensitization, apt policies can properly assist in eradicating the social menace, which could best be described as a cankerworm that has eaten deep into our collective bone marrow.

The governments must not necessarily invest in technology for their respective tech values to grow. In most countries where technology is seriously thriving, the individuals domiciled therein remain the key players, not the government. But such a phenomenon can never be witnessed if the enabling environment is conspicuously missing.

To fix this anomaly, we must be ready and determined to address the quagmire in the political system. The country’s political instability is so intense, and continues to skyrocket by the day, that one cannot possibly say what the nearest future entails for our indigenous tech patent.

The policies are so weak that they can’t even initiate a project, let alone accomplish it. To get things rightly done, we need to acknowledge that a country’s growth in any sector depends majorly, if not solely, on her extant policies.

To be on the same page with me, take a look at any nation that has grown in a certain sector, and then take time to painstakingly x-ray the policies guiding the area in question. Just a research and adequate analysis would make you understand where exactly I’m coming from.

Growth is not rocket science; it takes some processes. For such processes or procedures to occur, there must be existing principles. The moment the rules (principles) are thwarted, it marks the beginning of the end of the procedures. There are no two ways about it.

Lest I forget, we need to equally take into cognizance that the reason most of the needed policies cannot exist in countries like Nigeria is that our corrupt political leaders have realized that technology exposes corruption. Read my lips.

They are apparently of the view that if tech is deployed in any area, it would certainly expose their corrupt practices. Take for instance, a situation where technology is fully implemented in the country’s electoral system as well as using forensic audit patterns in the finance sector.

The above factors are the reason we ought to clamour for overhaul. The country is in damn need of total overhaul of the system. To achieve this, we need to realize the full benefits of investing in technology.

We are not here to reiterate the numerous merits of technology but to point out the goals and lapses in the said sector, in a bid to do the needful. If we spend time to highlight the outpouring merits, three editions of this column might not be sufficient.

Artificial intelligence is deeply gaining momentum on a daily basis, signifying it has come to stay. Ease of access to information cannot be overestimated. Ease of mobility is another overwhelming experience. Better communication means and improved banking have, beyond reasonable doubts, made the world seem not unlike a minute village.

Learning has been digitalized, thereby silencing any form of impediment, owing to the presence of technology. Cost efficiency and apt time management are being assured in all tech-driven activities. These are verifiable facts.

Countless innovations are springing up by the day in every facet of human endeavour. The ‘disabled’ are now abled, because of tech-driven tools, yet we seemingly await more prophets to tell us that technology has come to take us to the promised-land.

Understanding that the presence of an adequate tech hub drastically changes the economic outlook of any country involved, is enough reason to place its content ahead of others.

In view of this, it’s high time the Nigerian society looks inwards with a view to strengthening her tech worth for development’s sake.