The COVID-19 pandemic has taught the world, especially business community, a lot. With stay-at-home and social distancing protocols becoming the order of the day, employees and companies alike, all over the globe, are suffering the consequences. Business can no longer go on as usual, and for most, the slowdown has turned into something more worrying.

One of the biggest problems the pandemic has caused is employment insecurities. And while things are easing up, the conversation about the traditional work structure has been brought to question. Conversations are being started about how sustainable that structure is, especially during emergencies. During this pandemic, many businesses have broken down under the pressure to save cost and they have done this by laying off so many. This has increased the already large population of the unemployed in Africa, thereby leaving the economy even more vulnerable.

Also, when it comes to productivity, some businesses have taken a hit and the time wasted to get things back in order has cost even more. This is why there is a need to find a more sustainable way of doing business, a smart way.

Self-employment is looking like the way forward for those who have lost their jobs and this is already an employment option for many Africans. Therefore, the number of people considering this option increases. While it is almost normal elsewhere in the world, with many platforms available for freelancers to put their skills and qualifications to use, Africa is still having difficulties in this area. Many African freelancers who don’t have any option than to use the Western platforms don’t get the same opportunities as their Western counterparts and are also more likely to experience discrimination. The pandemic, and all these other issues has brought to light the fact that when the whole world is facing the same problem, self-reliance becomes paramount. Therefore, an opportunity has opened up for Africa to create its own solutions and this makes platforms like Kreekafrica.com very necessary.

Kreek Africa presents a platform for African businesses and Freelancers to connect and transact business. With a lot of employees being laid off, there are a lot of skills that more or less will be wasted without the right opportunity. Business are also short on staff, but still do not have enough resources to keep too many in-house employees. Kreekafrica.com thereby creates the opportunity for these two parties to come together to collaborate. Hiring freelancers takes some of the cost of keeping employees in-house, especially when it comes to paying utilities etc.

It is also relatively cheaper to get a freelancer complete a project. Freelancing also presents a flexible employment option, with regard to working hours and eliminates commuting which takes some time off work. Therefore, productivity does not have to be compromised on for all parties involved. Small and large businesses alike can benefit from this shift and individuals will can now have control over who to work for, and for how long.

With technology becoming more widespread on the continent, implementation of this smart way of doing businesses is not going to be much of a problem. A lot of Africans, especially the youth, which forms a large population, are already privy to how to use technological equipment. Internet connection is also quite widespread across the continent for shifting to remote work is not going to be much of a problem. But without initiatives like Kreek Africa, the resources and potential that Africa has to change situations into their favor might all go to waste. It is therefore a welcome solution to the employment issue in Africa, especially during times like these.

• Contact Person: Wilfred Attipoe
• Email: media@kreekafrica.com
• Contact number: +230-58690130

China has continued to record unprecedented economic growth in its fight for recovery from the ravages of coronavirus. China’s exports in July saw a surge spurred by lockdown goods demands from around the world.

The outbound shipment rose 7.2 percent from last year. The surprising record was powered by rising overseas demands for medical supplies and goods needed during lockdowns.

The surge came after exports witnessed minor growth at 0.5 percent in June. But imports fell back at 2.7 percent at the same period.

Data released by the Chinese Customs Administration on Friday showed that imports contracted by 1.4 percent a year earlier in US dollar terms, worse than it was projected by analysts.

SCMP reported that China’s trade balance for July stood at $62.33 billion, an increase from $46.2 billion in June.

Economists said the growth has been masterminded by shipment of medical supplies to other countries still under the scourge of coronavirus. And as economies gradually open the need to fill the vacuum of exhausted non-medical supplies, (especially electronics) saw Chinese export of goods increase in the second quarter.

“In July, the export strength was largely driven by electronics – especially ‘automatic data processing equipment,’ mobile phones, household appliances, audio and video devices – and high-tech products, with traditional categories like plastic and textile also contributing well,” said Louis Kuijs, Asia-pacific analyst at Oxford Economies.

China is reaping the benefits of its strict approach to COVID-19 pandemic’s containment. The Southeast Asian giant started opening its industries and services early, as soon as there was significant decline in the hard hit cities, particularly Wuhan. The early recovery placed China in the position to export supplies to countries contending with emerging cases of the virus.

However, as economies around the world begin to open, supply demand of depleted goods surged, especially household items, pushing many countries to import from China, as it appears to be the only economy functioning in the capacity to meet the demands.

But in a poll conducted by Bloomberg, a group of economists had predicted that Chinese exports would experience 0.7 percent plunge in dollar terms while import is expected to rise by 0.8 percent.

While there has been significant progress in the global supply chain, Chinese shipment has been hit with near collapse situations due to decline in demand from developed markets.

However, SCMP reported that China’s exports to the United States rose by 12.5 percent in July, while imports from the US rose by 3.6 percent, even though there’s pressure from Washington on Beijing to close the trade deficit. Most of US’ companies are still struggling to get back to business, which gives China’s export an edge.

Orders for agricultural products went up in July, as demand for corn and soybean rose. Analysts said the surge does not reflect in shipment, which means the products were consumed locally.

Meanwhile, there has been a decline in purchase of energy that China is struggling to meet 5 percent of its target in the energy sector. Two commodities it has witnessed import surge are meat and grain that rose 94.48 percent and 16.2 percent respectively in the first seven months of the year, according data from Chinese Customs.

Nevertheless, the sustainability of the export surge is not certain as it depends mainly on medical supply. For the second quarter of the year, supply of medical equipment and protective gear resuscitated the export. By July, there has been a 78 percent increase year-on-year in shipment of medical devices.

Notwithstanding, the shipments are beginning to plunge as more countries curtail coronavirus, lift lockdowns and open economies, and local products are appearing more on virtual markets. Analysts at Panjiva Research said US seaborne shipments of ventilators, gowns, masks, and goggles all fell in July compared to June, even though many states are still recording spikes in the number of coronavirus cases.

Panjiva said that US import of ventilators nosedived 26.6 percent in July from June, upon the previous record of 0.8 percent dip from May to June.

Beijing will meet Washington around August 15 to discuss their trade deal. Part of the agreement is that their progress will be assessed every six months to determine the future of the deal. With China lagging in its import quota from the United States, and Donald Trump blaming the current American economic situation on ‘China virus,’ the deal may take a new turn.

Sometime ago, around 1998 or 1999, cases of armed robbery, killing and raping was rampant in Anambra State. Then, in Awka, there must be a case of robbery every night. What we usually do in the morning was ask which part of the town was robbed. Any part the armed robbers visited will be free from them for some weeks to come. In fact, if you hear that a particular area has been attacked, you will bundle your daughters and wives to your relatives that live in the area (if you have any) because you are sure that they will be safe from robbers for some time.

Then Awka was nothing to write home about in terms of security. People lived in fear. No one spoke for the inhabitants of the town. Police only visited areas where crimes were committed in the night and that’s just it because they will definitely visit another crime scene the following day. At a stage, it became the case of “every man on his own”.

This robbery incident I’m talking about is not a case of robbers visiting a compound or an apartment. Here, I meant a whole street or two being attacked simultaneously. If your area doesn’t receive these night visitors between 11pm to 1am, just know that it isn’t your turn. These people attacked in large numbers and took time to move from house to house and from compound to compound until they have satiated their devilish desires. Believe me when I say that no police or any other security agents will disturb them until they finish their assignments and leave around 4 or 5 in the morning. Then, it was really terrifying.

Awka was not the only part of Anambra State that underwent this type of horror. Onitsha equally experienced it. The worst thing during that period is that these night marauders lived in our midst and nobody could say anything. People knew who they were and where they went when they finished their daily (or should I say nightly) assignment to deliver their booties. But who will talk? Both the “workers” and their “employers” made themselves invincible and ruled by fear. It is equally possible that they had some backings from the leaders, who threw their faces into the bush while the citizens suffered. However, thanks to the OMATA men, a solution was found. That solution was the BAKASSI BOYS.

Majority of you must have heard about “Ndi Bakassi” that detected people that have “wasted human blood” through the use of juju. I actually can’t say how they get their Intel but I know they judged and killed those they found guilty. They don’t believe in “fair hearing” or whatever our legal system uses to free killers and robbers. Theirs was more like “catch and kill”. They usually take those they sentenced to death to the public, slaughter them and burn their remains. In fact, Bakassi Boys even denied the “guilty” of good burials and funerals.

I was among the people that didn’t like the Bakassi Boys. My problem with them is the way they slaughtered people in the public. I always believed that their spectators, especially the young ones, will experience trauma from such an encounter. But then, like people reminded me, the coming of Bakassi Boys brought robbery and what have you to a halt. I am not exaggerating if I say that Ndi Bakassi came into Anambra and in less than two weeks, all those night marauders and their “employers” disappeared. Some of them that I know have not returned till date. Rumour has it then that they left town. But insider information said that they were “picked up” by Bakassi and that was the last anyone heard of them.

Now, whether Bakassi Boys did their jobs perfectly well or not is not what people want to know. The major thing is that they delivered. Because of them a lot of people were able to sleep again. The barking of dogs or the rustling of leaves no longer scare people into oblivion. We were able to have our lives back. All thanks to the Bakassi Boys.

Now, let’s look at what is happening in Southern Kaduna and in other parts of Northwest Nigeria. These people wasting lives are called “bandits”. Some people have come on Twitter to speculate that they are an Al-Qaeda terrorist group. Some other people said that they are just civilians with guns, who operate with motorcycles. I don’t know who they are, but I know they shouldn’t be taken for granted.

From the look of things, it is obvious that the Nigerian security agencies cannot handle the security situations in this country, at least single handedly. They need help. If you ask me, I will say that something is wrong somewhere but we don’t know what it is. This means that it is time for these indigenes to take matters into their own hands and stop waiting for the government to manage their security situation.

From what I know, the Anambra State government did not invite the Bakassi Boys. Of course if the state governor then did not bother paying civil servants their salaries, is it security issues he will bother himself with? What I heard then was that OMATA people invited Bakassi Boys to sanitise Onitsha. However, how their works in Onitsha favoured those of us in Awka is what I couldn’t say. But I know that they never came to Awka officially but their “breeze” touched us and other parts of the state. But then, I don’t know why they left and why strong vigilante services have been discouraged in this country.

If it is possible, private individuals and associations can come together to employ independent vigilante services that will deliver. They should consider taking their security matters into their own hands. They should not wait for the government to protect them because, let the truth be said, the government is not doing a wonderful job at that.

Like Buratai once said, these bandits and insurgents live among citizens. It is therefore the duty of the citizens to fish them out and hand them over to…who exactly? The government that will return them into the society and give them the chance to “deal with” the whistle blowers? Well, that is a story for another day.