AMCON boss Gbenga Alade said the debt recovery agency pushed back around 3.6 trillion naira to the Central Bank since it got started back in 2010, even though it still owes roughly 3 trillion after buying 1.7 trillion worth of bad bank loans. The agency brought in foreign asset tracers to hunt down where debtors stashed their money overseas, and Alade mentioned courts created special insolvency units to speed up their cases.
Recovery rates hit 87 percent compared to what they originally paid for the toxic assets, which crushes most similar agencies worldwide except South Korea's KAMCO, which somehow got to 100 percent. Malaysia's Danaharta only managed 58 percent, and China's equivalent barely scraped 33 percent despite having way...
The Central Bank of Nigeria scrapped all deposit caps and bumped up weekly withdrawal ceilings to 500,000 naira for regular people and 5 million for companies starting next year, while slapping fees on anything above those limits at 3 percent and 5 percent, respectively. Banks can throw any denomination into ATMs after previous restrictions got tossed, and the revenue split from withdrawal penalties goes 40 percent to CBN and 60 percent to the processing bank.
Government accounts and microfinance banks dodge the new limits entirely, but foreign embassies and diplomatic missions lost their previous exemptions. The regulator says the overhaul aims to cut currency management costs and push more transactions toward digital channels.
Nigeria's top accountant, Shamsudeen Ogunjimi, told his colleagues at the Africa Accountant-Generals Conference in Accra that their gig has evolved way past just tracking numbers, and basically every public dollar they handle should actually make citizens' lives better. He said the modern financial world needs accountants acting as strategic advisors who push transparency instead of sitting in back offices doing spreadsheets.
Businessman Tony Elumelu jumped in and said Africa's real problem is a trust deficit, not a lack of resources. He argued that predictable and transparent public finance management is what brings sustainable investment to the continent.
Ogunjimi wrapped up by telling accountants they need to see themselves as...
VP Kashim Shettima told state governments, federal agencies, private companies, and development partners to keep pushing business environment reforms at the PEBEC awards ceremony in Abuja, saying the country needs everyone working together to actually get anywhere. He praised public servants for ditching mediocrity and highlighted how the Ports and Customs Efficiency Committee already cut delays through joint inspections.
Deputy Chief of Staff Ibrahim Hadejia said PEBEC under Shettima keeps delivering changes that help businesses across different sectors, but there's still a ton of work left. PEBEC Director-General Zahrah Audu credited their wins to better teamwork with ministries and state governments.
The event dropped reports on...
Nigeria just dropped its first-ever awards program for government-owned companies, and Finance Minister Wale Edun says it's basically about making sure public enterprises actually run properly instead of being trash. The MOFI Excellence Awards will hand out recognition to state agencies that show solid governance and performance, with an independent panel from groups like the Financial Reporting Council and Nigeria Exchange Group doing the judging.
MOFI boss Armstrong Takang mentioned they already rolled out a Corporate Governance Scorecard earlier this year that got more than half their portfolio companies involved, and this awards thing is supposed to push that momentum further. The whole point is getting agencies to compete...
Nigerian contractors from ICAN hit the Finance Ministry in Abuja for a second straight day, demanding payment for government work they finished last year. They blocked the main entrance with a canopy, trapped workers inside the building, and even dropped a white casket at the gate to make their point before sitting down with Finance Minister Wale Edun.
The group says the Federal Inland Revenue Service already collected enough money to cover what they're owed, and a bunch of members are struggling hard because the checks haven't shown up. Leaders went into the meeting while other contractors camped outside, saying they're ready to stay until someone cuts them a deal.
The meeting was still going when reports came out, and ministry staff...
CREDICORP just scaled up its digital device credit thing across Nigeria after running a successful pilot that got over 1,000 people their first smartphones through E-Finance Company and Credlock. Managing Director Uzoma Nwagba said the move helps hardworking Nigerians grab the tools they need to get ahead, and CEO Dayo Fabayo from Credlock talked about how phones and laptops are basically bridges to better opportunities these days.
The national rollout targets more than 15,000 Nigerians who can finance smartphones or laptops without dropping huge upfront cash. Credlock's smart collateral system makes the whole credit process safer and smoother, while E-Finance handles the financing side of things.
The program builds on CREDICORP's...
Nigeria got absolutely hammered by data breaches last quarter, with attacks jumping 1,047 percent compared to the previous three months, and eSentry dropped a report showing hackers were pulling about 6,101 attacks weekly through July. The criminals stopped bothering with technical exploits and just started using valid login credentials they grabbed from old leaks or accounts that companies forgot to shut down after employees left.
Gbolabo Awelewa from esentry said the country is dealing with organized groups instead of random opportunistic hackers, and these crews are patient enough to blend into normal user activity without getting caught early. Digital forensics found dormant service accounts and stale identity tokens, basically...
A bunch of academics and government people told a University of Lagos conference that Africa needs to get its act together on land policy and city planning before urban population growth turns into a complete disaster. Prof Folasade Ogunsola from UNILAG pointed out that the continent will add 950 million city dwellers by 2050, and without proper infrastructure, the whole thing risks becoming chaotic and broken. The Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria backed the push for reform while stressing that land development means nothing without roads and utilities to support it.
Lagos Commissioner for Physical Planning Oluyinka Olumide warned that Africa faces an infrastructure gap between 130 and 170 billion dollars every year, and...
