Practical farming. We have hours of videos from entrepreneurial farmers explaining how they do their work. Yes, from greenhouse farming to soilless farming to more, Tekedia Practice of Agribusiness is raising a new generation of farmers. Special thanks to our partners – TAFS, Soilless Farm Lab, African Farmers Stories, etc.
At the end of the 2-month coursework, learners spend 4 months on internship, mastering practical things in the field. People, I think we are changing knowledge acquisition at Tekedia Institute.
This is the state of the nation according to the Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr Bismarck Rewane: GDP growth has not translated into a positive standard of living for the citizens. He spoke at September’s edition of the LBS Breakfast Session. Key points:
The National Bureau of Statistics stated recently that the country’s GDP grew by 5.01% in Q2 2021 of this year as against 0.51% in Q1 2021, while inflation dropped to 17.38% in July from 17.75% in June.
Rewane stated that in Q2 2021, out of 46 activities, 34 expanded, eight slowed and four contracted. He said, “Fastest growing sectors were the most impacted by the [COVID-19] shutdown. They are job-elastic and have the potential to boost productivity.
“Real GDP (2.7 per cent) still below potential GDP (8.3 per cent). Economy still in a recessionary gap. Population (3.2 per cent) growing faster than GDP.Nigeria still the poverty capital of the world: 93.9 million people now live below the poverty line.”
“Youth unemployment fast approaching 45%. Misery index, 50.68%. Nigeria [is] a hunger alert hotspot, according to FAO and WFP. Over 18,000 Nigerians seeking asylum. Health sector brain drain rising (e.g. about 500 doctors moving to Saudi Arabia).
“Positive GDP growth is yet to have a significant impact on socioeconomic conditions. Strategic investment and increased stimulus in job-elastic sectors and elimination of leakages (misaligned exchange rate and subsidies) necessary to achieve sustained economic recovery and inclusive growth,” he added.
Rewane noted that the special drawing rights allocation of $3.35 billion to the country from the International Monetary Fund would provide a 10% cushion to external reserves
He said, “Rising concerns on debt sustainability suggest Nigeria is quickly falling into a debt trap. Weak finance management practices and limited revenue to keep worsening debt problem. Domestic debt also on the rise.”
Rewane also noted that the Federal Government borrowing through Ways & Means advances had climbed by 595.5% to N15.51 trillion in five years.
As the controversy rages on value added tax (VAT) collection in Nigeria between states and the federal government, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has explained why it thinks VAT collection can only work at the federal level. Here is the point made by FIRS.
Muhammad Nami, Executive Chairman, FIRS, in a meeting with newsmen on Wednesday evening, made the point, according to Nairametrics.
FIRS Executive Chairman Comment
“VAT is practiced on an input, output mechanism. What it means for a business, either importing or buying products, that business will pay VAT, either at port if it is importing or to the manufacturer if it is buying from a local manufacturer.
“And when that business pays VAT, it is accounted for the business as input tax, such that when it begins to sell in any part of Nigeria and charges VAT to its own customers, it is able to recoup the input tax paid either at the port if it is an imported item or paid to the manufacturer if it is an item bought locally” he added.
He stated that VAT can only be operated at the national level and not at the subnational level, so as not to create confusion and have a consumer pay more than once.
He said, “It works only at the national level. VAT can not work at the sub-national level
“And there is no country in the world, where VAT works at the sub-national level and the reason is because VAT depends on input, output mechanism.”
“Just to illustrate this, for example, assuming a business person bought an item, let’s say in Osun state and paid VAT, and takes the good to sell in Sokoto state, remember he has paid VAT when purchasing the product in Osun state, and when the selling in Sokoto state, will charge VAT and by the operations of the input/output mechanism, the business person will deduct the input tax paid in Osun from the output tax charged in Sokoto and remit the difference to the relevant tax authority.
“In this case, because there is a single tax authority handling VAT, it is the same authority that receives the VAT in Osun State that will receive the additional VAT payable in Sokoto State.
“And so it is easy to work out the input/output mechanism, and there is no issue of a business person being shortchanged and there is no issue of any consumer having to pay VAT more than once.”
He added that the current system makes it it is easy to work out the mechanism and no issue of the business person being shortchanged and no issue of the consumer having to pay VAT more than once.
“However, if this is operated at the state level, it would mean that when the business person is paying that VAT at the state of the source, assuming at Osun, the state would have collected the money, and when this person is selling the item in Sokoto, they will charge VAT.
“The dilemma here is, how does the business recoup VAT paid previously?
“Either of two things will happen. Either Osun state will have to refund the VAT collected, or Sokoto state will have to absorb that loss, and that in itself creates confusion.
He stated further that another issue that may arise is the difference in rates. “If Osun charges VAT at 10% and Sokoto at 5%, at the point of procuring the goods, the businessman would have paid VAT at 10% and when he is going to sell, will charge VAT at 5%.
“At such, the input suffered is greater than the output. Then the question is who bears the shortfall of 5%?” he asked.
At 12 noon WAT tomorrow (Monday, Sept 13), the 6th edition of Tekedia Mini-MBA will begin. It will run for 12 weeks, ending on Dec 6, 2021. I want to welcome our co-learners to this academic excursion into the mechanics of market systems. If for any reason you have not received your login, please contact Admin. This applies to members who paid via BusinessDay, AYS, FinQuest, partners in Kenya, Ghana, Cameroon and other countries.
I specifically welcome Sierra Leone members and the amazing scholars sponsored by a First Lady in a Nigerian state (more in the week). Thank you First Lady for providing knowledge besides other things for empowerment.
We’re Tekedia Institute, we know the physics of business, and we’re truly honoured for the opportunity to co-learn with you. WELCOME!
To join this academic festival, click and register here before we close registration soon
This article starts off with some insights into Pidgin English as a medium of communication in Africa notably Anglophone West Africa Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria. It then moves on to the subject of code-switching with additional insights from Urban Grooves in Zimbabwe to the South. The central message is to grasp how, and to what extent code-switching as both a style or linguistic choice impacts upon audience engagement and ultimately success of artistes. There are both theoretical and social implications especially as music of African origin has crossed international boundaries in recent years.
In their 2007 article in a journal with an interesting nomenclature “World Englishes” Peter & Wolf undertook acomparison of the varieties of West African Pidgin English.
Their work highlighted national varieties of West African Standard English in a comparative perspective, mostly dealing with phonetics and lexicon. Similar efforts with respect to the national varieties of Pidgin English spoken in West Africa. i.e. Ghanaian, Nigerian, and Cameroon Pidgin English, have been lacking so far. These authors consequently sought to provide a “descriptive and systematic account of features that distinguish these varieties from one another. Considering differences on the phonetic, grammatical, and lexical level [and] based on dozens of interviews with speakers of West African Pidgin English.”
Six years later in 2013, Akinmade Akande talks aboutCode-switching in Nigerian hip-hop lyrics in another journal with an interesting name, i.e., Language Matters. The article examined multilingualism in relation to hip-hop lyrics in Nigeria. It focuses on the sociolinguistics of English and its contact with other Nigerian languages in hip-hop music. Akande argued that:
“…because Nigerian Pidgin English (NPE) has the highest number of speakers as compared to other indigenous languages in the country […] its speakers are found across the country and its usage given prominence in Nigerian hip-hop, it ought to be treated as a super central language.”
Another interesting commentary from his article reads:
“…in addition to being one hyper central language (English), there are two sets of super central languages in Nigeria; namely, the three national languages (Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba) and Nigerian Pidgin English. The paper also reports that Nigerian rappers can be classified into four major categories, based on their language use.”
Language Matters Moving South
Just like Akinmade Akande talks aboutCode-switching in Nigerian hip-hop lyrics,Victor Mugari interrogatedCode-switching in Zimbabwean urban grooves music. In that article he argued that: “…code-switching as exhibited in Zimbabwean urban grooves music […] is both a music style and a linguistic style. […] based on the former, artistes code-switch as a style that defines their urban music genre; it is a stylistic device that isolates the genre from other contemporary genres.”
As a linguistic style, “the argument is that artistes code-switch as evidence of the existence of a language style, a language choice, which, though made up of two different varieties, can be acceptable as a variety itself.”
“The article further argues that even though code-switching in song lyrics is not spontaneous, it can still be analysed within the existing code-switching frameworks such as Audience Design. The artistes adjust their language style to suit their audience, mainly the youths who unreservedly code-switch. The analysis in the article contributes to the understanding of functions of code-switching within premeditated contexts.”
Rather interestingly, another study in the same year “Attitudes towards code-switching among adult mono- and multilingual language users,” had a different set of results, “…participants in their teens and twenties appreciated CS less than older participants. The findings thus show that the attitudes towards CS are linked to personality, language learning history and current linguistic practices, as well as some sociobiographical variables.”
In that study Jean-Marc Dewaele & Li Wei (2014) investigated “inter-individual variation (linked to personality traits, multilingualism and sociobiographical variables) in attitudes towards code-switching among 2070 multilinguals” and reported that “Participants who grew up in a bilingual family and in an ethnically diverse environment, and currently worked in an ethnically diverse environment had significantly more positive attitudes towards CS.”
In summing up, despite the differences of opinion, the argument of Jean-Marc Dewaele & Li Wei does make a great deal of sense:
“Language attitudes permeate our everyday lives: people often judge our social status, group membership, intelligence, competence by the way we use language (…). People hold attitudes to language at all its levels, e.g. accent, choice of words, speed of speech, grammar, language variety.”
Another statement equally captures the attribution of Pidgin to “broken” English thus, “The vast majority of the existing studies on language attitudes are done on particular languages, language varieties, or certain aspects, such as pronunciation or spelling, of particular languages, usually in sociolinguistic situations where there is a troubled history of language contact and a sharp differentiation of the symbolic values of the languages involved. For example, there are studies of language attitudes towards English and other local languages in Hong Kong, India, sub-Saharan Africa and Wales…”
Going forward language is key to audience engagement especially where music production and consumption are concerned. This is even more imperative in contexts where there are “super central languages” spoken by a majority of the population. In the case of Nigeria, Pidgin has been labelled the unofficial second language. I would let readers decide on the connection between code-switching and how we make and enjoy music.
