$50million to stand on business
Access bank is helping small businesses stay afloat in Nigeria’s failing economy
Rise and shine, Big Brains, The Big Daily is back. Not to be dramatic but it felt weird not waking up to a Wednesday edition, even for me. But Thursday’s edition is here and the world feels normal again.
- Margaret
Word count: ~ 1,000
Reading time ~ 3 mins
Let’s get into today’s edition:
Access Bank gets $50 million from British International Investment in $295M loan deal
Edo LG chairman impeached over ₦1.7 billion budget padding allegation
Rwandan president set to continue 24-year rule
The Big Deal
Access Bank gets $50 million from British International Investment in $295M loan deal
We all agreed to stand on business in 2024 but Access Bank has taken the light-hearted affirmation more seriously than the rest of us.
British International Investment (BII) has committed $50 million to the commercial bank as part of a $295 million loan package organised by FMO, the Dutch development bank. This funding is meant to help Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), particularly those led by women and young people, according to BII.
Before the news about BII's $50 million commitment was announced, Access Bank had released a statement saying it signed a $295 million (which is about ₦442.5 billion) syndicated Tier II Facility deal with FMO saying, “Access Bank Plc, sub-Saharan Africa’s largest bank by customer base, has celebrated a landmark moment in its partnership with the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO).”
According to Access Bank, the $295 million deal didn’t come as that much of a surprise because it is a result of over two decades of building successful business relationships.
Why is this a big deal?
Nigerians, who are no strangers to fighting principalities and powers, are now more focused on fighting for survival in a failing economy. Unfortunately, SMEs have been on the losing end of this fight.
Even though there are around 40 million micro, small, and medium enterprises in Nigeria, generating 86% of the country's total jobs, these businesses are struggling to get the financing they need to stay afloat.
According to BII, its commitment will “provide much-needed financing and working capital to Nigerian SMEs across various sectors, including agriculture.”
The finance organisation also added that the commitment will help to facilitate business growth, create more jobs, and increase financial inclusion in Nigeria.
Edo LG chairman impeached over ₦1.7 billion budget padding allegation
It looks like Niniola, the queen of afro-house, isn’t the only one who has all eyes on her. After receiving financial autonomy from the Supreme court, local government chairmen are now the latest subjects of Nigerians’ observing eyes.
These observing eyes have caught Hon. Eghe Ogbemudia, the former chairman of Egor Local Government Area in Edo State, who has now been impeached over alleged budget padding and other corruption charges.
Ogbemudia was impeached after a vote of no confidence during a session of the council's legislative arm. Shortly after roll call, Councillor Rt. Hon. Stella Ogida from Ward 2, moved to impeach the chairman over alleged misconduct.
She said, “This is the 10th month since our inauguration and we, the Councillors of Egor Legislative Arm, do not have our offices. We have also uncovered that the council’s supplementary budget was increased by ₦1.7 billion without our approval. The Chairman did not involve us in preparing or approving this budget. After reviewing these actions and many other misconducts, I want to pass a vote of no confidence on the chairman,” Ogida said.
Seconding the motion, Hon. Ambassador Elliot Inneh, Councillor representing Ward 9, said, “We have tried to reach out to the Honourable Chairman to no avail. Before us today, we have a budget proposal amounting to ₦6.054 billion that was passed through this chamber. To our greatest surprise, we found out that the Chairman, in partnership with the former Leader of the House, went behind our backs and padded the budget to ₦7.896 billion.”
The main reason LGAs were granted financial autonomy by the Supreme court was to reduce corruption among state governors; we hope it doesn’t increase the same acts of misconduct among LGA chairmen.
Rwandan president set to continue 24-year rule
If you wanted to know what the President of Rwanda would do if he didn’t win, too bad—-you’ll never know. Paul Kagame is about to be re-elected as the president of Rwanda for the fourth time. Kagame, who has been president for 24 years, is going to remain president for the next five years.
The complete provisional results are expected by July 20, with final results slated for July 27 but the partial results have already been released. So far, Kagame has won 99.15% of total votes.
History, the consistent supporter of Kagame’s presidential aspirations, repeated itself as his opponents, environmentalist Frank Habineza and ex-journalist and government adviser Philippe Mpayimana, shared less than 1% of total votes… again!
We’ll ask you to stay tuned for the next results but we think you already know how that’s going to end.
This Week’s Big Question
“If you could instantly master any skill or hobby without any effort, what would you choose and how would you use it to change your life?”
Ayomikun’s response - “I’ll probably learn how to paint or code. Maybe both. Coding will make me a lot of money and painting will make me feel like I’m better than everybody else.”
You can also share your response here and if it’s as interesting as Ayomikun’s response, we’ll feature it in the next edition.
The Big Picks
IMF Slashes Nigeria’s Economic Growth Forecast To 3.1%: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised down its projection for Nigeria's economic growth in 2024 to 3.1%, attributing this adjustment to lower-than-expected growth observed in the first quarter of the year, Q1.
Tinubu asks Senate to amend Finance Act to tax banks’ FX gains of ₦2 Trillion: President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria has urged the National Assembly to amend the 2024 Finance Act, proposing to tax unrealised forex (FX) gains of traditional banks. The aim is to finance capital infrastructure development, education, healthcare, and welfare projects.
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