The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced a new forex policy designed to encourage diaspora remittance through Money Deposit Banks (MNOs) that will fuel dollar liquidity in Nigeria.

The initiative tagged, ‘Naira 4 Dollar Scheme’ for diaspora remittances, offers recipients of diaspora remittances through CBN’s International Money Transfer Operators (IMTO)s, N5 for every $1 received as remittance inflow.

The scheme takes effect from Monday, March 8, 2021, and ends on Saturday, May 8, 2021.

The scheme was disclosed by CBN in a circular which was dated March 5th, 2021, and signed by the Director, Trade and Exchange Department, A.S Jibrin, issued to all DMOs and IMTO. The circular reads in part:

“In an effort to sustain the encouraging increase in inflows of diaspora remittances into the country, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) hereby announces the introduction of the “CBN Naira 4 Dollar Scheme”, an incentive for senders and recipients of international Money Transfers.

Accordingly, all recipients of diaspora remittances through CBN licensed IMTOs shall henceforth be paid N5 for every USD1 received as remittance inflow.

In light of this, the CBN shall, through commercial banks, pay to remittance recipients the incentive of N5 for every USD1 remitted by sender and collected by designated beneficiary. This incentive is to be paid to recipients whether they choose to collect the USD as cash across the counter in a bank or transfer same into their domiciliary account.

In effect, a typical recipient of diaspora remittances will, at the point of collection, receive not only the USD sent from abroad but also the additional N5 per USD received. Please note having discussed with banks and IMTOs, the scheme takes effect from Monday 8 March 2021 and ends on Saturday 08 May 2021.”

The CBN governor Godwin Emefiele said the move is to encourage Nigerians in diaspora to “increase the volume of global remittances,” “reduce rent-seeking activities” and offer “cheaper” and more “convenient remittance process” to Nigerians in diaspora.

He said the success of the scheme for the designated 60 days will determine whether it will be continued.

Emefiele said these in a webinar hosted by Fidelity Bank on Feb. 6, titled: “The New FX Policy, Implications and Positive Impact on Diaspora Investment,” which was graced by the Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo who was represented by Yewande Sadiku, Prof. Wale Sulaiman, Chairman and CEO RNZ Global, Prof. Ndubuisi Ekekwe of Tekedia Institute among others.

“We believe that this new policy will encourage banks and financial institutions to develop products and investments vehicles geared toward attracting investments from Nigerians in the diaspora,” Emefiele said.

He explained that the newly introduced CBN FX policy is expected to enlarge the scope and skill of foreign exchange inflow into the country with a view to stabilizing the exchange rate, supporting external reserve, and more importantly, helping Nigerians living abroad to invest in their home country.

While the new policy is largely applauded, others believe that Nigeria needs more than that to prosper as a nation.

In his position titled: The New CBN FX Policy: The Path to $2 Trillion GDP, Prof. Ekekwe said Nigeria must transit from inventive nation to innovative nation to grow a GDP that will accommodate its exploding population.

While he applauded the new CBN FX policy, describing it as “catalytic”, Prof. Ekekwe said Nigeria needs more than diaspora remittance, which is pegged at $23 billion, to move to the mountain top.

“Our nation Nigeria has knowledge, from that angle; we have the necessary rudiment for us to move from inventive society to innovative society,” he said. “There is also that entrepreneurial capitalism. Across the nation, we have young people who are risk takers who can take us into that mountain top, if we give them the necessary capabilities and the things they need to make that translation.”

He explained that by exporting her best brains, Nigeria is trading $23 billion diaspora remittance for $2 trillion economic value that she could have captured through the development of innovative ideas of Nigerians living in diaspora.

Prof. Ekekwe said Nigerians in diaspora need to do more than remit money back home through investments since the value of their innovations is being captured by their countries of residence. He urged the government to, among other things; introduce incentives that will attract investment from Nigerians living abroad.

Prof. Ekekwe proffered “Diaspora Growth Nation’s Fund,” a sort of capital that will be designated for innovative investments in Nigeria.

“If we do not have capital, Nigeria cannot transition from inventive society to innovative society, because capital is very necessary for us to build the necessary things we need as a nation,” he said.

However, critics said the central bank has introduced the new FX policy to discourage Nigerians in diaspora from making remittances through cryptocurrency, which recently, has become the preferred choice of remittance for many Nigerians living abroad due to its cheap and flexible process.

The apex bank had in Feb. 5, directed all regulated financial institutions in Nigeria to halt cryptocurrency transactions, citing its use for money laundering among other reasons.

Over the past 10 years, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have been working to make their dream to create commercial transport service that will put people in space, come true. The SpaceX idea was conceived to build spaceships that will take tourists beyond the International Space Station to mars.

The two richest men in the world now have a common goal, to put people in space via a commercial transport service.

Musk’s SpaceX has recorded successful commercial trips to space while Bezos is working relentlessly on Blue Origin, a reusable suborbital rocket called Shepard designed for the same purpose.

The SpaceX and Blue Origin programs are igniting the interest of other companies in space tourism.

Back in 2019, Californian company the Gateway Foundation released plans for a cruise ship-style hotel that could one day float above the Earth’s atmosphere.

Then called the Von Braun Station, this futuristic concept — comprising 24 modules connected by elevator shafts that make up a rotating wheel orbiting the Earth — was scheduled to be fully operational by 2027.

Fast forward a couple years and the hotel has a new name — Voyager Station — and it’s set to be built by Orbital Assembly Corporation, a new construction company run by former pilot John Blincow, who also heads up the Gateway Foundation.

In a recent interview with CNN Travel, Blincow explained there had been some Covid-related delays, but construction on the space hotel is expected to begin in 2026, and a sojourn in space could be a reality by 2027.

“We’re trying to make the public realize that this golden age of space travel is just around the corner. It’s coming. It’s coming fast,” said Blincow.

Renderings of what the hotel might look like suggest an interior not dissimilar to a luxury Earth-bound hotel, just with some pretty spectacular out-of-this-world views.

When the initial designs premiered a couple years ago, Tim Alatorre, senior design architect at Orbital Assembly Corporation told CNN Travel the hotel’s aesthetic was a direct response to the Stanley Kubrick movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” — which he called “almost a blueprint of what not to do.”

“I think the goal of Stanley Kubrick was to highlight the divide between technology and humanity and so, purposefully, he made the stations and the ships very sterile and clean and alien.”

Instead, Alatorre and his team want to bring a slice of earth to space via warm suites and chic bars and restaurants. Guests might be in space, but they can still enjoy regular beds and showers.

That’s not to say the hotel will ignore the novelty of being in space altogether. There are plans to serve traditional “space food” — like freeze dried ice cream — in the hotel’s restaurant.

Plus there will be recreational activities on offer that “highlight the fact that you’re able to do things that you can’t do on Earth,” according to Alatorre.

“Because of the weightlessness and the reduced gravity, you’ll be able to jump higher, be able to lift things, be able to run in ways that you can’t on Earth.”

Alatorre told CNN Travel that the rotating wheel would work to create a simulated gravity.

“The station rotates, pushing the contents of the station out to the perimeter of the station, much in the way that you can spin a bucket of water — the water pushes out into the bucket and stays in place,” he said.

Near the center of the station there’s no artificial gravity, Alatorre explained, but as you move down the outside of the station, the feeling of gravity increases.

Orbital Assembly Corporation

The hotel’s original name was chosen because the concept was inspired by 60-year-old designs from Wernher von Braun, an aerospace engineer who pioneered rocket technology, first in Germany and later in the US.

While living in Germany, von Braun was involved in the Nazi rocket development program, so naming the space hotel after him was a controversial choice.

This was partly why the name’s been changed, Blincow told CNN Travel.

“The station is not really about him. It’s based on his design, and we like his contributions towards science and space,” Blincow said. “But you know, Voyager Station is so much more than that. It is the stuff in the future. And we want a name that doesn’t have those attachments to it.”

Space tourism is becoming an increasingly hot topic, and there are several companies trying to make it happen — from Virgin Galactic to Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

SpaceX’s StarShip system could help get Voyager Station off the ground.

“We cannot call SpaceX our partner, but in the future we look forward to working with them,” Blincow told a recent live event promoting Orbital Assembly, advising viewers to “hang tight.”

For now, the space hotel isn’t advertising a room rate, but expect it to come with a pretty hefty price tag attached.

Virgin Galactic, for example, plans to launch passengers into sub-orbital space at $250,000 per person, per trip.

However the team behind Voyager Station have said they’re hoping to eventually make a stay at the hotel equivalent to “a trip on a cruise or a trip to Disneyland.”

“Starship culture”

While Voyager Station is perhaps the flashiest of Orbital’s designs, it’s actually just one facet of their space ambitions.

The team is also hoping to build research stations, and spark space tourism and commerce opportunities.

“We’re designing the tools and machines right now that can build these structures very quickly,” Blincow told CNN Travel.

The team imagined government or private companies might use modules for training crews “heading to Mars, the Moon and beyond,” as Alatorre outlined at the 2021 live event.

The next stage in getting the Voyager Station off the ground is bringing more investors into the mix, and continuing with tests on the ground.

The eventual goal, as Alatorre put it back in 2019, is “to create a starship culture where people are going to space, and living in space, and working in space and they want to be in space. And we believe that there’s a demand for that.

Square is acquiring Tidal, a music streaming company owned by rapper Shawn Carter, aka Jay-Z. Square, owned by Twitter founder and CEO Jack Dorsey will take a majority ownership stake in Tidal through a new joint venture.

The deal, worth $297 million is believed to be aimed at popularizing blockchain and exploring new ways to get artists paid valuably for the works.

“It comes down to a simple idea: finding new ways for artists to support their work. New ideas are found at the intersections, and we believe there’s a compelling one between music and the economy. Making the economy work for artists is similar to what Square has done for sellers,” Dorsey explained in a statement as to why payment company would acquire a streaming company.

Dorsey said Tidal will learn from the ecosystems of tools for sellers of all sizes and individuals through Cash App, which Square created, to develop new tools for artists. The ecosystem will be based on developing “entirely new listening experiences to bring fans closer together, simple integrations for merch sales, modern collaboration tools, and new complementary revenue streams,” he said.

Experts believe Dorsey will likely adopt the blockchain and cryptocurrency technology that he has become a popular fan of.

“You need the applications to drive the new economy. No one’s going to just go get a cryptocurrency wallet if there’s nothing to buy,” Avivah Litan, a technology analyst at consulting company Gartner said.

The little use of bitcoin for day to day transactions has been a major concern for investors and regulators, who are worried about its volatility. Dorsey’s aim has been to create a decentralized ecosystem where transactions will be solely on blockchain.

Jay-Z bought Tidal in 2015 from Norwegian entrepreneurs for about $56 million, and it has since grown to have presence in more than 56 countries, with the backing of popular artists such as Kanye West, Madonna, Beyonce’, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj among others. The acquisition has put Tidal’s value around $450 million, a stag leap from its 2019’s $150 million value.

The acquisition may become the game changer in the stream industry that upcoming artists who have struggled to generate enough revenue from their music have been praying for. Tidal has distinguished itself from rivals like Spotify and BoomPlay etc., by offering higher sound quality to listeners and a greater share of revenue to artists.

But the question remains whether using blockchain will power Dorsey’s vision to a success. Martha Bennett, an analyst at the consulting firm Forrester, said companies and artists already trying to sell music directly to fans through a blockchain-based system have had limited success.

“When you think purely about breaking into the market, if somebody with the brand name of Jay-Z and Beyonce don’t manage to break the stranglehold of the well-established streaming platforms then who else can,” she said.

The idea of blockchain pleases Dorsey because of its decentralized system which enables people to store data and process transactions without relying on intermediaries who take commissions for their services.

Putting Tidal on blockchain technology will mean little or no charges on the earnings of artists from streams. But it will take more than building the platform to make the idea widely acceptable. Other obstacles such as some governments’ resistant attitude toward blockchain technology will likely stand in the way in some countries like Nigeria, India etc.

Under the deal, Jay-Z will have a seat at the Square board. Forbes said he bought back 33% of Tidal from T-Mobile earlier this week and then sold it together with the third he already owned, pocketing $149 million in cash and stock. His net worth jumped 40% following the two deals he closed in the last two weeks, including his champagne brand Armand de Brignac.

Jay-Z’s fortune climbed $1.4 billion after closing the two deals. He sold half of his shares in the Armand de Brignac brand, shooting the company’s value up to $640 million.

Jay-Z business ingenuity made him the first hip-hop billionaire, breaking the shackles of reckless spending that has characterized the music industry over the years.

In 2005, Jay-Z said “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man.” With his many smart investments, including in Uber, salad chain Sweetgreen, insurance startup Ethos and SpaceX, Jay-Z is not only making a difference among his peers, he is also living his prophetic words.