’Tis the Season to Share National Moi-Moi

Rise and shine, Big Brains!

Happy The Big Daily Day to you and all who celebrate. ICYMI, The Big Daily is a daily newsletter that ‘delves’ into all the most important news you might otherwise miss or not understand. In other words, we’re making your brains bigger. See what we did there? 

This is our first edition ever and we’re excited that you get to witness this (allow us to brag a bit) iconic moment in history. Tell a friend to subscribe if you like today’s edition. We’ll catch you up to speed on today’s most important news in five minutes or less. 

And by the way, if you don’t feel productive this morning, remember that Tunde Onakoya played chess for 60 hours straight and he didn’t give up for a second. Not to sound like your typical African parent but Tunde does not have two heads. More on this in today’s news. 

Let’s get into today’s edition: 

• Tunde Onakoya breaks Guinness World Record 

• Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) says only a ₦3.2 trillion subsidy can reverse electricity tariff hike

• The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) shares  ₦1.1 trillion to the federal government, states, and local governments

While men slept, Tunde Onakoya broke a Guinness World Record 

While the rest of the country is still trying to figure out if Ikorodu is in Lagos or Ogun State, we decided to no longer partake in Ikorodu slander because it produced Nigeria’s latest Guinness World Record breaker, Tunde Onakoya. (PS: If you don’t know what the Ikorodu Slander is because you’re a boomer, just check X - formerly known as Twitter. You’re welcome)

Hol up, hol up… what?

Last Wednesday, one of Nigeria’s most respected chess players and the founder of a non-profit called Chess in Slums, Tunde Onakoya, put global action into his dream of breaking the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon. He played chess nonstop for over 60 hours, winning over 180 games against Shawn Martinez, a US chess master.

The support Tunde got globally went beyond tweets and retweets. As the hashtag #ChessMarathonForChange travelled far and wide, so did Nigerians – including Afrobeat musicians Adekunle Gold and Davido – who came to support Tunde at Times Square, New York. His chess matches were also live-streamed on platforms like Tittify and Twitch, making room for thousands of people all over the world to keep up and cheer him on. 

What’s with Nigerians and breaking records? 

Recall in May 2023, Hilda Baci broke the Guinness World Record for longest cooking hours. In quick succession, other record-breaking attempts followed. But Tunde’s goal is not just to set a record but to raise $1 million for his non-profit organisation, Chess in Slums, and give more African kids access to education. Chess to Slum has taken boys like Ayomide off the streets and changed their lives through chess and tech. The $1 million fundraising attempt is targeted at helping more kids like him. 

Did he raise $1m yet?

Not yet. But so far, Chess in Slums has raised over $100,000 from the chess-a-thon which is impressive. Tunde’s story has also been told by global publications and he received a national commendation from the President of Nigeria who congratulated him for “putting up Nigeria’s resilience, self-belief, and ingenuity for global acclaim”.  Tunde’s attempt proves that you can do great things from a small place like mad. 

NERC Says Only a ₦3.2 trillion Subsidy Can Reverse Electricity Tariff Hike

Looks like we’re not making it out of this “band” era anytime soon. 

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’re probably living in the diaspora or are a Nigerian living in Nigeria that I’ll automatically classify under our eat the rich list. 

Band categorisations became a thing in Nigeria when the  Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) decided to raise the price of electricity significantly for certain urban customers. Specifically, the price went up by 240% from ₦66) per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to ₦225 per kWh. The increase applied immediately and only affected "Band A" customers – customers that receive electricity for 20 hours each day and makeup 15% of Nigeria’s 12 million electricity consumers. The NERC said the hike was necessary to save the electricity sector of Nigeria economically. 

Many Nigerians have reported that their electricity supply worsened since this decision was made. 

So what’s tea? 

The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission said the only way we can get rid of the recent hike in electricity tariff and potentially be free from the battle of the bands is if the federal government can raise ₦3.2 trillion in 2024. 

Word on the street

So ₦3.2 trillion?

About that: Sanusi Garba, the chairman of NERC, said the federal government’s investment in the sector has been okay so far but not great enough to guarantee a steady power supply to every part of the country. The need to invest more in the economy is what led to the tariff hike and band categorizations. Garba explained that the only alternative is for the N3.2 trillion electricity subsidy to be paid by FG, which is kind of a hard ask right now, given the current state of the country’s economy. 

He also said a cost-effective pricing system is the best way to keep the sector going, rather than shutting down power generation and distribution companies. Similarly, the Vice Chairman of NERC, Musiliu Oseni, mentioned that the recent price increase was necessary to prevent a complete shutdown of the sector.

How does this concern me?

In the most simple words, the tariff hike is apparently the only economically smart way to keep the electricity sector in business. So if your area is not a Band A area, you might want to consider having an alternative source of electricity because this era isn’t ending anytime soon, except if a  ₦3.2 trillion miracle happens. 

FAAC shares  ₦1.1 trillion to FG, states, and LGs

The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) literally said ’Tis the season to divide the national moimoi”. The committee has shared a total of N1.123 trillion across the federal, state, and local levels. 

Why does that matter?

This matters because FAAC decides how money is distributed between the states and the Federal Government. They divided a total of ₦1.867 trillion to support different levels of government to fund development projects and services for citizens. 

The Federal Government received ₦345.890 billion out of the shared funds, while states and local governments got ₦398.689 billion and N288.688 billion respectively. Oil-producing states also received ₦90.224 billion as part of a mineral revenue derivation.

The released statement also mentioned an increase in revenue from Value Added Tax (VAT) in March 2024, totaling ₦549.698 billion. This is an increase of ₦89.210 billion from the month before. This shows that there’s been an impressive level of economic growth and better tax compliance in the country. So yeah, this means that there’s extra money in the country. So you’ll most likely be seeing more development projects in your local community and the country at large within the next few weeks. It’s still unclear what the different government divisions will allocate these funds to but whatever they decide to do will directly impact the citizens positively. 

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