Headlines
COVID-19: 60 Million People Likely to Go into Extreme Poverty – World Bank
The World Bank Group has again raised an alarm that the growing impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the global economy and shutdown of many advanced economies could push as many as 60 million people into extreme poverty.
The World Bank Group President, David Malpass, said the situation erases much of the recent progress recorded in poverty alleviation around the world.
He said these prospects were what compelled the World Bank Group to move swiftly and decisively to establish emergency response mechanisms that allow donor groups and organisations to rapidly expand help programmes in 100 countries, home to 70 per cent of the world’s population.
To return to the path of global economic growth, Mr Malpass said the group’s goal must be rapid and flexible to tackle the health emergency.
He said the objective must also be to provide cash and other expandable support to protect the poor, maintain the private sector, and strengthen economic resilience and recovery.
Since March, the World Bank said, it delivered record levels of support to help countries protect the poor and vulnerable, reinforce health systems, maintain the private sector and bolster economic recovery.
“This assistance, the largest and fastest crisis response in the Bank Group’s history marks a milestone in implementing the Bank Group’s pledge to make available $160 billion in grants and financial support over a 15-month period to help developing countries respond to the health, social and economic impacts of COVID-19 and the economic shutdown in advanced countries,” it said on Tuesday.
Of the 100 countries, 39 are in Sub-Saharan Africa, with nearly one-third of the total projects located in fragile and conflict-affected situations, such as Afghanistan, Chad, Haiti, and Niger.
The group said the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) have also fast-tracked support to businesses in developing countries, including trade finance and working capital to maintain private sectors, jobs and livelihoods.
Mr Malpass said the group’s support through grants, loans and equity investments would be supplemented by the suspension of bilateral debt service, as endorsed by the bank’s governors.
The eligible countries for International Development Agencies (IDA) that request a forbearance on their official bilateral debt payments, the World Bank President said, would have more financial resources to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and fund critical, life-saving emergency responses.
“The bilateral debt-service suspension being offered will free up crucial resources for IDA countries to fund emergency responses to COVID-19,” Mr Malpass said.
“Nations should move quickly to substantially increase the transparency of all their governments’ financial commitments. This will increase the confidence in the investment climate and encourage more beneficial debt and investment in the future.”
The group’s operations in 100 countries aim to save lives, protect livelihoods, build resilience, and boost recovery by strengthening health systems, monitoring and prevention, particularly in low-income countries and in fragile and conflict-affected situations.
The health response programmes address emergency containment and mitigation needs for COVID-19, including strengthening countries’ health systems to treat severe cases and save lives.
The group also establishes and supports efforts in fragile and conflict-affected situations as a priority, given the rapidly growing number of cases in some of these countries.
The World Bank President said disbursement of financial supports are already ongoing to Senegal ($20 million) and Ghana ($35 million) including funding to strengthen disease surveillance systems, public health laboratories, and epidemiological capacity for early detection.
Again, the bank is also leveraging countries’ existing social protection systems to help families and businesses restore income, preserve livelihoods, and compensate for increasing prices and unexpected medical expenses.
These safety nets are needed to augment with safe, direct food distribution, accompanied by key information on nutrition, social distancing, and hygiene.
Premium Times
Ghana’s President-Elect, Dr. John Dramani Mahama, a courtesy visit to President Bola Tinubu at his residence, Presidential Villa, State House on Monday.
Mahama won 56 percent of the votes in this month’s presidential election, compared to the ruling party candidate and Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, who secured 41 percent.
The landslide comeback for former president Mahama ended eight years in power for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) under President Nana Akufo-Addo, whose last term was marked by Ghana’s worst economic turmoil in years, an IMF bailout and a debt default.
Headlines
Usurpation of Office: Supreme Court Absorbs Tinubu of Wrongdoings, Slams N5m Fine on Accuser
The Supreme Court has imposed a N5 million fine on a former presidential candidate, Ambrose Owuru, for instituting what it described as frivolous and vexatious suits against President Bola Tinubu.
Owuru, who contested the 2019 presidential election against former President Muhammadu Buhari on the platform of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP), was ordered to pay N5 million to Tinubu.
Justice Uwani Musa Aba-Aji issued the order while dismissing his fresh suit seeking Tinubu’s from office of President.
Apart from the N5 million fine, the apex court ordered its Registry not to accept any frivolous suit-originating summons from Owuru again.
At the day’s proceedings, Owuru, who claimed to be a lawyer called to the Nigerian Bar in 1984, sought to argue his case wearing his wig and gown.
He was ordered out of the Bar and directed to remove his wig and gown before he could be allowed to argue his case.
Upon complying with the orders, Owuru was asked why he came before the court again, having had his suits dismissed three times earlier.
Although he tried unsuccessfully to convince the Apex Court to grant him adequate audience, his explanations were rejected as unconvincing.
Following his recalcitrant attitude, the court threatened to refer him to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC).
Justice Aba-Aji ruled that Owuru’s conduct was unbecoming of a lawyer of over 40 years, as he claimed.
In the end, the Court dismissed his suit and ordered him to pay Tinubu N5 million.
The court lambasted him for taking the Supreme Court for a ride, wasting its precious time with baseless suits and grossly abusing court processes.
Before the suit was thrown out, Bode Olanipekun SAN who appeared for President Tinubu had drawn the attention of the court to several cases of Owuru that were dismissed on account of frivolity.
He added that the direction of the fresh suit could not be understood because of the poor ways and manners it was couched by the applicant.
Olanipekun SAN also said that it was difficult for him to apologize to the court on behalf of Owuru because the conduct of the applicant had become something unbearable in the practice of the law profession.
In his own response, a professor of law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Taiwo Osipitan assured that the conduct of the former presidential candidate would be referred to the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA.
The Court of Appeal had previously imposed a fine of N40 million on Owuru, to be paid to Tinubu, INEC, and others, for filing a suit against them.
The new suit prayed the Apex Court to sack Tinubu on two major grounds: alleged non-qualification to hold office as Nigeria’s President and alleged usurpation of the office in contravention of the law.
Defendants in the suit were former President Muhammadu Buhari, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and Tinubu as 1st to 4th defendants, respectively.
He claimed that his suit at the Supreme Court, which would have removed Buhari from office, was technically jettisoned by the Apex Court due to a mix-up in hearing dates.
He also prayed the Apex Court to disqualify Tinubu on account of the forfeiture of $460,000 to the United States of America over an alleged drug trafficking-related offence.
Besides the alleged forfeiture, Owuru accused Tinubu of being an active agent of the CIA, a position he claimed disqualified Tinubu from holding the office of President of Nigeria.
Specifically, Owuru prayed the Supreme Court to invoke Section 157 of the 1999 Constitution to remove Tinubu from office on the grounds of being under the control of foreign authorities.
He also asked the Supreme Court to declare him Nigeria’s President and order his immediate inauguration to reclaim his alleged usurped mandate.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, announced on Monday that the N13 trillion deficit in the N48 trillion 2025 budget would be financed through borrowing.
The minister said this while briefing State House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The total projected revenue for 2025 stands at N34.8 trillion, out of which the expenditure is projected at 47.9 trillion, an increase of 36.8 per cent from the 2024 estimate.
The deficit for 2025 is projected at 13.1 trillion, representing 3.89 per cent of GDP.
Edun said the budget was designed within the context of how far and how much progress that have been made under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, in the last 18 months.
“And even looking at it from an international context, we, like governments around the world, are concerned about how to achieve fiscal sustainability, revenue to expenditure and borrowing that is balanced, to create an environment in which the economy can grow.
“Private sector-led economies such as ours and others, rely on investors to put down their money in various projects, increase productivity, create jobs, grow the economy and in the case of countries such as ours, bring the people out of poverty,” Edun said.
He explained that the Tinubu administration has put in place policies that ensure market pricing of petroleum products, foreign exchange, and efforts had been made to improve the pricing of electricity.
Edun said: “Just recently Shell announced a $5 billion investment, Total announced a multi-billion dollar investment just before that, and there are so many others expressing interest in investing in this country.
“So, progress has been made. There is greater fiscal sustainability and as I said, even the European countries are struggling to achieve some of these critical macroeconomic reforms.
“This budget is based on government spending in critical areas, but also more importantly, encouraging and making room for private sector investment.”
He further stated that the improvements in the economy were encouraging.
“For the first time in about 25 years we have domestic refinement of petrol, not just to produce petrol but also raw materials for industries across a whole range, from pharmaceuticals to building products to textiles,” the minister said.
NAN
