By Ahmad Deedat Zakari 

The new Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, has disclosed some of his plans for the apex bank. 

He disclosed his plans on Tuesday at the Red Chamber of the National Assembly during his confirmation screening. 

Mr. Cordoso promised to prioritise clearing the apex bank’s backlog of unsettled foreign exchange obligations in the near term. 

Cardoso also promised to enhance transparency, fix corporate governance, and ensure confidence in the autonomy and integrity of the bank. 

“We need to promptly find a way to take care of that. It would be naive for us to expect that we’ll be making too much progress if we’re not able to handle that side of the foreign exchange market,” he said. 

The new CBN governor said he would maintain price stability, revert to evidence-based monetary policies, and discontinue his predecessor’s unorthodox monetary policies to bolster the country’s naira currency. 

Cardoso takes over the leadership of the apex bank as the nation battles several economic challenges and falling economic indices, with the naira nearing 1,000/$ at the parallel market.

By Prof. Abdalla Uba Adamu

I was never lucky enough to come under Yusuf Bala Usman’s tutelage while I was a student at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria, from 1976 to 1979. Being a student in the Faculty of Education, I missed out on having to take lectures in the famous FASS – Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, undoubtedly, the hotbed of critical theories in the 1970s.

Yusufu Bala Usman, Ibrahim Tahir, Patrick Wilmot, and Mahmoud Tukur enlivened the university with their rhetoric about culture, history, polity and anthropology. My roommate was a History student, so I gleaned a lot from him about the critical theories flying about on the campus. Those years were indeed the intellectual years of ABU. Every subsequent northern radical traces his roots to that era and its critical reflection on Nigerian society.

As M.M. Gwadabe noted in his obituary to Yusufu Bala Usman, published in Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 2010, 80(1): 165-168.

The contributions of Bala Usman lie not only in the number of papers he has written or the publications he has left for posterity. He spearheaded the establishment of a school of thinking quite distinct from the perception of history that used to be prevalent in Nigeria before the 1970s. Before him, history was generally understood and taught within the paradigm of colonial historiography. The efforts of Bala Usman and some of his colleagues in the department liberated history teaching as they masterminded the establishment and nurturing of the School of African historiography at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (ABU).

And in spite of his towering intellectualism, he remained humbled by the very scholarship he served. As Gwadabe further informs us:

“In 1985, the authorities of Ahmadu Bello University, considering Dr Usman’s contribution to knowledge, promoted him to the rank of a Professor. Humble as he was, Dr Usman turned down the promotion on the ground that ‘he was not convinced that he had done enough to be a Professor’. While he was without [a] doubt qualified for the promotion, his action was an attempt to show his displeasure with the way promotions to the rank of professorship were politicized and abused. So, Dr Usman died with the rank of a Reader.”

Now compare this towering inferno of intellectualism with our intellectuals today – who, based on some newspaper and junk journal publications, proudly present themselves as professors – when no one has ever read their works or become impacted by their expected contribution to knowledge.

Yusufu Bala Usman passed away at 60 years old in 2005, relatively still in his prime. His thoughts and ideas, however, live on through the Yusufu Bala Usman Institute in Zaria. To refresh our memories about his fiery and critical writing, the Institute, on 23rd September 2023, released a compendium of his lectures that captured the years of engagement as a leading Nigerian historian, political activist and public intellectual, mainly from 1972 to his death, in 2005. The book, The Historian and Society: Selected Historical Writings of Yusufu Bala Usman, was edited by George Ama Kwanashie and Normal Perchonock. It provides a handy introduction to the thoughts of Yusufu Bala Usman for those who only heard about him. Going through the 12 chapters of the book would convince you that with his death, northern Nigeria has lost a formidable voice in contemporary critical theory.

The book is now available as a physical copy. There is a website for the Institute where you can order the book at 3,500 NGN.

By Sabiu Abdullahi 

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) jointly declared a nationwide strike scheduled to commence on Tuesday, October 3.

This announcement comes as negotiations continue between the unions and the government, with both parties striving to find common ground. 

In a press conference held in the capital city of Abuja on Tuesday evening, the NLC and TUC called on their state branches to mobilise workers and the public for a series of demonstrations and marches across the nation.

The unions have expressed their concerns regarding the economic hardships faced by Nigerians, particularly workers, following the removal of fuel subsidies. 

It’s worth noting that the NLC had previously initiated a two-day warning strike on September 5th and 6th, seeking to exert pressure on the government to address these pressing issues.

This move sparked ongoing discussions and negotiations aimed at resolving the issues. 

Emmanuel Ugboaja, the Secretary of the NLC, confirmed that the unions are currently conducting their meetings online, demonstrating their commitment to dialogue even as they announce the strike action. 

In response to the strike notice, Mr. Simon Lalong, the Minister of Labour, appealed to the NLC to reconsider their plans.

He reassured the unions that the government is dedicated to addressing their concerns.

Mr. Lalong also highlighted one recent achievement in their negotiations, where the government ordered the release of the head of the Transport Workers Union in the country.

By Muhammad Mikail

“Every person has a right to participate fully in their society and be recognised as a person before the law” (UDHR & ICCPR article 16). Yet, as of 2021, an estimated 850 million globally have no official proof of their identity, which is essential to protecting their rights and enabling access to services and opportunities. Around half are children, and most live in lower-income countries in Africa and South Asia. (2021 World Bank Report on ID Coverage).

The Sustainable Development Goal sixteen-target-nine (16.9) by 2030 seeks to “…, provide legal identity for all, including birth registration.” Interpretatively, the target under this goal of the broader SDGs aims to ensure that every person, no matter their background, babies, women, children, IDPs, refugees and people living with disabilities, have official proof that shows who they are and where they live. The mantra of SDG 16 is to ensure inclusion such that individuals can enrol and be issued IDs, have means of being verified from anywhere, and have a sense of belonging and integration into society, a cardinal point to fighting extreme poverty. 

So many countries like India (Adhaar), Estonia, Philippines, Turkey, Rwanda, and Kenya (Huduma) recognised the significance of having robust digital identity systems in place to help their country secure their pride of place in today’s increasingly digital global economic sphere, and as a sure way of meeting the needs of their citizens and making life easier for them have successfully enrolled all their citizens into a robust digital identity system.

Aside from providing access to the underserved and unbanked population, mostly domiciled in the rural hard-to-reach areas, to loans and credit facilities more conveniently, a robust digital identity system makes the government’s distribution of fertilisers, agricultural inputs, and subsidies to rural farmers effective by eliminating intermediaries thereby strengthening social accountability and transparency. 

In Nigeria, many have some form of identification, from driver’s licenses, passports, National ID numbers and so on, mainly owing to the fragmented nature of the ID ecosystem before now. At various points, Nigerians and legal residents desirous of any of these are subjected to fresh enrolment and biometric captures by these issuing government agencies or agents.  As expressed by a vast majority of Nigerians, this system is cumbersome, essentially insecure, weak, and unsuited for the digital era, and most times fails to safeguard people’s rights and data.  

To address this, the government of former President Muhammadu Buhari, in a show of commitment and a strong desire to harmonise the existing identification ecosystem, prepared a Strategic Roadmap for Developing Digital Identification in Nigeria. The roadmap was endorsed by the Harmonization Committee on January 31, 2018, and by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in September 2018. The roadmap highlighted the need for a minimalist, foundational, and eco-system-based approach to identification that can be leveraged to improve service delivery in the country.

Part of the recommendation of the strategic roadmap was to create the Nigeria Digital Identification for Development Project, NDID4D, managed by a team to be supervised by a Project Ecosystem Steering Committee (PESC). The Project Development Objective (PDO) is “increasing the number of persons with a national ID number, issued by a robust and inclusive foundational ID system, that facilitates their access to services”. Similarly, the NDID4D project seeks to address the currently fragmented ID system and boost overall ID coverage and use in Nigeria. This is captured under four components: strengthening the legal and institutional framework, including data protection and privacy; establishing a robust and inclusive foundational ID system, including civil registration; enabling access to services through IDs; and project management and stakeholder engagement. 

The Project, whose implementation began in December of 2021, is to, among others, collaborate with all ID-related agencies, ministries, and departments in addressing the challenges millions of Nigerians faced during NIN enrolment, including long processing time, extortions, and administrative errors. It is also mandated to support the FG in the enactment of significant laws, including the Nigeria Data Protection Act, which is the legal framework for the protection of data of citizens in Nigeria, amendment of NIMC, NPC Acts to ensure digitisation and harmonisation of civil registry with the National Identity database, the cybercrimes and cybersecurity Acts, as well laws that protect electronic transactions in collaboration with the Office of the National Security Adviser. In the same vein, the project supports upgrading the National Identity Management Commission, National Population Commission infrastructures, and human capital development and ensures effective engagement of all relevant stakeholders in the ID ecosystem.

These will go a long way in strengthening the National Identification Number and widening the NIN issuance and enrolment net such that every Nigerian and legal resident, including women, PWDs, children, refugees, migrants and IDPs, can enrol, be issued NIN, and can have access to services. Aside from the NIN becoming the single most important form of ID required in Nigeria, the marginalised, underserved, and vulnerable groups, women, children, refugees, migrants, and IDPs will be saved from discrimination and exclusion.

This was echoed by the acting Director General of the National Identity Management Commission NIMC, Engr, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, recently. She said, “In the digital age, integrated identity is the backbone of e-governance initiatives.” According to her, an integrated identity system will strengthen the government’s fiscal management and promote good governance and transparency through inclusivity and social equality. It ensures that marginalised and vulnerable populations are not excluded from government services. 

The significance of a robust, inclusive digital identity system that enables access to services where every Nigerian has a NIN linked to every aspect of life: banking, communications, employment, security, healthcare, education, and social services is too huge to overlook. The issue of digital identity in ensuring inclusion is critical for Nigeria.

Inclusion is a fundamental aspect of a thriving society, and Nigeria’s Digital Identity system plays a crucial role in achieving this. As citizens, we must recognise the importance of having a digital identity and actively participate to ensure no one is left behind.

 The government must also ensure that the new data protection law protects citizens’ data. To achieve all these, the Nigerian government, critical stakeholders, ID ecosystem partners, traditional institutions, including civil society, and the private sector must work with the National Identity Management Commission and the Nigeria Digital Identification for Development Project to ensure no Nigerian and legal resident in the country is excluded from the ID ecosystem. By doing so, we will be on a clear path to a more just, inclusive, equitable, peaceful, and economically prosperous Nigeria for all.

Muhammad Mikail writes from Abuja, Nigeria, and could be reached via email: muhammadnmikail.mm@gmail.com.

By Maryann Sholanke

Recently, the world has witnessed escalating tensions and conflicts between nations, often resulting in devastating consequences for humanity. As a prominent African nation, Nigeria must demonstrate its commitment to regional stability by actively resisting any inclination towards attacking its neighbouring country, Niger.

Humanitarian Consequences and Shared Ties

First and foremost, attacking the Niger Republic would undoubtedly lead to severe humanitarian consequences. Both countries share cultural, historical, and ethnic ties, with many Nigerians and Nigeriens having close family and social connections. Any military aggression from Nigeria would inevitably cause human suffering, displacement, and loss of life among innocent civilians on both sides of the border. Nigeria should be cautious not to inflict harm on its own citizens’ family members and friends in Niger.

Diplomacy and Cooperation

Furthermore, Nigeria should recognise that diplomatic engagement and cooperation with neighbouring countries foster peace and development. By upholding peaceful relations, Nigeria can establish harmonious partnerships that benefit its citizens through regional trade, economic growth, shared security initiatives, and cultural exchange. A peaceful and stable Niger enhances regional stability and contributes positively to Nigeria’s development and progress.

Regional Stability and Solidarity

Moreover, attacking Niger risks exacerbating existing regional tensions and instability. The West African region has long grappled with challenges such as terrorism, insurgency, and organised crime. Sustaining peace and security requires collaborative efforts among regional actors rather than exacerbating conflicts that may create fertile ground for extremists and criminal networks to thrive. Nigeria should maintain regional solidarity, actively engaging in forums such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) or the African Union (AU) to find common solutions to shared challenges.

International Reputation

In addition, Nigeria must promote and preserve its reputation as a responsible and respected international actor. Nigeria has historically been a key contributor to peacekeeping missions and conflict resolutions on the African continent. Its involvement in various regional initiatives, such as the fight against Boko Haram, highlights its commitment to regional peace and stability. By abstaining from military aggression towards Niger, Nigeria will reinforce its image as a nation dedicated to peaceful coexistence and diplomatic resolutions.

Long-Term Implications

Lastly, Nigeria must consider the long-term implications of attacking Niger. Regional conflicts often harm the stability and development of the nations involved, leading to weakened economies, strained resources, and prolonged instability. Rather than investing in warfare, Nigeria should allocate its resources towards education, healthcare, infrastructure, and poverty alleviation to empower its citizens and strengthen its national development.

In Conclusion

In conclusion, Nigeria should resist any inclination towards attacking Niger, as it is imperative to prioritise peace, regional stability, and human welfare. By engaging in peaceful resolutions, diplomatic negotiations, and collaborative efforts with its neighbours, Nigeria can set an example for other nations and contribute positively to the long-lasting development, prosperity, and peace of the West African region.

Maryann Sholanke is an Entrepreneur, child advocate and media personnel, and she writes from Abuja. She can be reached via marycool72@gmail.com.

By Sabiu Abdullahi 

Governor Dauda Lawal has called on the Federal Government to conduct an urgent and comprehensive investigation into undisclosed negotiations with bandits in Zamfara. 

Reports have surfaced indicating that federal government agencies were engaging in talks with bandit groups in the state without the state government’s knowledge. 

In a statement delivered by his spokesperson, Sulaiman Bala Idris, on Monday Governor Lawal expressed deep concern over these negotiations, which conflict with the state’s strategy against banditry. 

The governor reasserted Zamfara’s unwavering stance against negotiating with criminals. 

The Zamfara State Government is resolute and “will not negotiate with these criminals,” Governor Lawal declared. 

He further urged the Federal Government to terminate these secret negotiations promptly, citing their potential to undermine progress in the fight against banditry.

By Muhammadu Sabiu 

The Federal University Birnin Kebbi (FUBK) has officially commenced its Post-University Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Direct Entry (DE) Admissions Screening Exercise for the upcoming 2023–2024 Academic Session. 

The announcement was made by the university’s Public Relations Officer, Jamilu M. Magaji, during a press briefing held at the institution’s Main Campus in Birnin Kebbi on Monday. 

This highly anticipated screening exercise is set to span five days, running from Monday, September 25th, to Friday, September 29th, 2023.

Candidates from various academic faculties will undergo this rigorous evaluation process to secure their positions at FUBK. 

To streamline the screening process, the university has divided the candidates into groups based on their respective faculties. 

On Monday and Tuesday, candidates from the Faculty of Science and the College of Health Sciences will be screened.

Wednesday is reserved for candidates from the Faculties of Art and Social and Management Sciences, while Thursday and Friday will see candidates from the Faculties of Environmental Sciences and Education undergo their assessments. 

Muhammad Atiku, a candidate pursuing a B.Sc. in Geology, praised the screening exercise, emphasising its focus on academic and moral standards. 

Atiku’s sentiments echoed the positive feedback from other candidates, such as Hauwa Salihu Adamu, a Department of Microbiology applicant, who described the process as “perfect” and an excellent opportunity for interaction with fellow applicants from across the nation. 

The Federal University Birnin Kebbi, established in 2013, is a federal government-owned institution with a strong commitment to academic excellence. 

Currently, the university boasts three campuses and offers a wide array of academic programmes, including thirty-seven undergraduate and twenty postgraduate programmes, making it a preferred choice for aspiring scholars in Nigeria. 

As the screening exercise unfolds over the next five days, candidates are eager to showcase their qualifications and secure their places at FUBK, contributing to the university’s legacy of academic excellence and growth. 

By Bilyamin Abdulmumin

For some weeks, witchcraft news has been making rounds in the North. Several trained bloodsuckers were rumoured to be sucking blood from their victims. Videos of such incidents went viral on social media, especially Facebook and WhatsApp. Some individuals, particularly women who appeared to be victims themselves, were allegedly caught in the act of trying to suck their victims’ blood.

In one video, a woman alleged to be a witch was seen surrounded by a swarm of youth while another lady fainted, her body lying on the floor. To resuscitate her, the purported witch woman was asked to skip her, and intriguingly, she woke up. But in another video, the victim couldn’t wake up, so voices from the background kept shouting: skip three times!

Many burning questions arise when it comes to claims of witches. Challenging this perception, one Islamic scholar presented a compelling argument. He asked, ‘Why are the victims always poor and destitute?’ According to the Sheikh, he has never heard of a governor’s mother, a minister, or any public figure’s mother being paraded as a witch. This argument deals a significant blow to proponents of witchcraft.

Another similar question is: Why do claims of witchcraft usually originate in rural environments? The more rural the area, the greater the belief in witch existence. I discussed this scenario with a roommate some years ago, and he mentioned that he also had reservations about the issue of witches. He shared an anecdote about their younger sister, whose alleged ‘witchiness’ would never surface except when it was time for her to return to boarding school. She would always be fine at other times, but whenever school resumption was near, she would seem to change, which raised suspicions of foul play. However, this guy would climb down the pedestrian; he seemed torn between his thoughts and societal beliefs. In the same conversation, he defended the notion that rural areas have more witches because they have forests everywhere. What a ditch in logic!

I have once turned around to make a prank on witch allegations. While Nigeria was at a crossroads, a time in 2014 when Boko Haram, the partial removal of fuel subsidies, and the depreciating value of the naira to the dollar combined to wreak havoc on the masses. Similar rumours erupted, claiming that when one received a call from a certain number, their blood would be sucked away. I decided to play a prank. I saved my number as that controversial number in my friend’s phone contact and then called him. Immediately, he began reciting every prayer known to him.

Several theories have been put forward to explain the phenomenon of witchcraft in the North. One theory suggests that the nation’s predicament could have given birth to such rumours. Bulama, a famous cartoonist, also lends credence to this opinion. He created a cartoon depicting a man happily devouring at a food junction. Upon seeing him, a passerby paused to ask his companion, ‘Isn’t he the person being witch-hunted?’ The other person, intrigued, replied, ‘He’s being witch-hunted by hunger.

Another theory also suggests that it could be government propaganda. According to this view, the government might be making a clandestine move to divert public attention amid economic hardship. This theory can’t be outrightly denied because, as the saying goes, ‘biri yayi kama da mutum’ (Monkeys resemble humans!).

Public belief could also play a significant role. Doctors have told us several times that the efficacy of medication has a strong correlation with the patient’s beliefs. In other words, the more patients believe in the potency of the drug, the more effective it is. For instance, our Fulani herders are said to never recover from illness without injections. The average Fulani herder believes that injections are the only way to recover from illness. So, when they are down with malaria, for instance, they have to get an injection to recover, whereas city dwellers can recover with just drugs.

The issue of rumour-mongering during periods of instability is not unique to Nigeria or Africa alone. After the Second World War, the atmosphere was filled with fear and uncertainty, and everybody was looking for someone or something to blame. Suddenly, the myth of the Bermuda Triangle (Devil’s Triangle) emerged. With several aircraft and ships disappearing mysteriously without a trace, this section of the North Atlantic Ocean was believed to possess some supernatural power that not even a bird could dare cross. Several decades later, the myth survives.

Bilyamin Abdulmumin can be reached via bilal4riid13@gmail.com.

By Obansa Nimah

It’s the year 2050. I’m on the balcony of my smart home in Port-Harcourt, waiting for the arrival of my last son, who is on his way to becoming the youngest medical doctor in Africa. At 18, Tariq is in his final year at the University of Abuja Medical College. Then I remembered how the last 3-decades saw a revolution in tertiary education that eliminated industrial actions from various unions in the sector and saw the emergence and proliferation of world-class, affordable public and private varsities.

The Nigerian government, in May 2023, after a 10-month-long strike by varsity lecturers and closure of universities, signed into law “The Tertiary Education Revolution Act”. The Act saw an allocation of 20% of the national budget to education across all levels, allowed for a public-private partnership, implemented a citizen-funded education trust fund in the form of “tax-ED”, and gave universities the autonomy to channel human and internally generated resources to local and international partnerships in research, technology and innovation.

The Act also issued a clause that banned the elites from sending more than a child abroad for school and a fine of 500 million naira for violators of the ruling, to be donated to government-owned varsities. I smiled as I remembered the war that the Act sparked at its outset and how the stakeholders ensured that its implementation not only raised the country to the educational capital of the world but also reduced poverty, created jobs, improved security, grew the economy, increased admission into schools, and improved the overall well-being of Nigerian students.

Tax-ED saw Nigerian citizens donate 5% of their call airtime to education. It meant that 100 million mobile users donated 500 million naira whenever they recharged at least N100. I remember how enthusiastic my parents were to publicise and implement tax ED. I couldn’t blame them as I was the first of 6 children, and it was my 8^th year in the university studying a 6-year course, all thanks to the incessant strikes.

It was a moment of agony and intense psychological distress for millions of Nigerian students and their families. As I delved deeper into the memories of those days, including how I had to hurriedly marry Tariq’s father because I wasn’t getting any younger, I began to giggle. I stared at the horizon with gratitude to a wonderful Lord for bringing us this far.

Tax–ED not only revolutionised the educational sector, but it also united the country towards a goal. For the first time, there was a concerted effort towards ensuring the revolution yields fruition. Everyone had a role to play, and they did it so well. It made Nigerians realise that more could be achieved outside the terrain of ethno-religious sentiments. All were united to accomplish a common goal. The success of tax ED led the government to launch another revolution in the healthcare sector. In about five years, sure-MED was found, and the national health bill was fully implemented. Sure-MED had two components: “Tax-MED” and “enjoy-MED”.

Tax-MED was a 5% upgrade from the Tax-ED dividends and either a $5 charge for each diaspora ticket bought by Nigerian Airways or a $10 charge for tickets to other airlines. Enjoy-MED saw the wealthy Nigerians paying for poorer Nigerians through a scheme that ensured 2.5% of their wealth was donated to the trust fund in return for being allowed to continue medical tourism abroad and having few shares of the now booming mechanised agricultural farming coordinated by the Central bank to achieve national and continental food sufficiency.

As I got to this part of the flashback, I thought about how cheap I got the bananas on my table. Hunger, poverty and ignorance have drastically reduced nationwide due to the 3-decade long interventions. The country has become so secure and united that I could decide to live anywhere, everywhere!

The nation’s oil and gas sector now uses artificial intelligence for most of its work; it is now powered by a Nigerian-modified solar world in the north. Morality classes are now held in every home where elders exhort and reward moral values. The government and law enforcement agencies uphold justice for or against anyone. CCTV cameras and robots now man our roads, railways, airports and public spaces. Artificial intelligence is now the norm, even in homes. The country is thriving. The ideal Nigeria has arrived, I grinned and mumbled to myself. As I moved to sit down, I heard Effle, the robotic security alarm, announce that Tariq was there.  I left the balcony to embrace him, only for him to excitedly tell me he got to Port-Harcourt using the world’s first solar-powered speed rail.

Obansa Nimah wrote via nimah013@gmail.com.

By Muhammadu Sabiu 

Individuals and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have defaulted on the repayment of the N544.2 billion COVID-19 Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) are now under scrutiny as the Federal Government-owned NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (NIRSAL-MFB) takes proactive steps to recover the loans. 

NIRSAL-MFB has activated its Global Standing Instruction (GSI), which will be used to recover the loans, and enlisted defaulting beneficiaries in the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Credit Risk Management System (CRMS), preventing them from accessing further credit opportunities. 

The N544.2 billion COVID-19 TCF was disbursed to aid small businesses and individuals during the pandemic. A breakdown of the funds reveals that N261.4 billion was distributed to 643,486 households, N112.5 billion to 114,476 SMEs, and N14.3 billion to 31,462 individuals through non-interest banks (NIB HH). 

In addition, N2.1 billion was extended as loans to 3,523 individuals through the NIB SM scheme, while 32,355 beneficiaries received N118.4 billion under the Agric, Small and Medium Enterprise Scheme (AGSMEIS). 

The Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) supported 107,035 individuals with N33.8 billion in loans, and the Nigeria Youth Involvement Fund (NYIF) assisted 5,539 recipients with N1.96 billion in funding. 

All beneficiaries of the TCF, during their application process, unwittingly authorized the CBN to institute the GSI on their bank accounts.

This strategic move enables NIRSAL-MFB to deduct outstanding loan payments directly from borrowers’ accounts. This development underscores the commitment of the Federal Government to ensure that the relief funds are repaid as originally intended, and it serves as a warning to those who have neglected their repayment obligations. 

Defaulting beneficiaries will now face stringent measures to recover the outstanding N544.2 billion, as NIRSAL-MFB employs the GSI and CRMS to track and prevent further access to credit. 

The move by NIRSAL-MFB has prompted discussions on the importance of responsible borrowing and timely repayment of loans, especially in the context of government-backed relief programs. 

It remains to be seen how this action will impact the financial standing of defaulters and whether it will serve as a deterrent to future borrowers who may consider defaulting on government-sponsored loans.