User Privacy: Facebook tightens checks, cuts targeted ads companies
Following the current row involving Facebook and invasion of users’ privacy, Facebook Inc said on Wednesday it would end its partnerships with several large data brokers who help advertisers target people on the social network.
This step will help check how the social media giant handles personal information.
Reuters said the world’s largest social media company is under pressure to improve its handling of data after disclosing that information about 50 million Facebook users wrongly ended up in the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.
Cambridge Analytica has used data obtained from the site to influence elections in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa among other African countries.
“Facebook adjusted the privacy settings on its service on Wednesday, giving users control over their personal information in fewer taps.
“The firm has for years given advertisers the option of targeting their ads based on data collected by companies such as Acxiom Corp and Experian PLC”, said Reuters.
The tool has been widely used among certain categories of advertisers – such as automakers, luxury goods producers and consumer packaged goods companies – who do not sell directly to consumers and have relatively little information about who their customers are, the social media company said.
“While this is common industry practice, we believe this step, winding down over the next six months, will help improve people’s privacy on the social media platform,” Graham Mudd, product marketing director, said in a statement.
Shares in Acxiom traded down more than 10 percent to $25 after Facebook’s announcement after the bell. Shares in other data brokers were largely unchanged.
Acxiom said late on Wednesday it did not expect this change to impact its revenue or earnings for the year ending in March. The company currently expects revenue in the range of $910 million to $915 million in the 2018 fiscal year.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (3nd R) meets with Cameroon’s President Paul Biya (4th L) at the Great Hall Of the People in Beijing on March 23, 2018. The governments agreed to advance bilateral ties, furthering China’s efforts across Africa. Credit/Newsweek
China Defends Interest in Africa, Says U.S. ‘Wants World for Itself’
Following renewed bickering between the United States and China over investment in Africa, China has defended its expanding role in Africa, describing its plans for Africa as “fairly simple and transparent,”.
The US had accused China of exploiting Africa, warning Africa countries to ‘beware of Chinese loans’. Immediate past US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson in his recent visit to Africa said the US meant better for Africa than China.
Lawmakers in Washington announced they would open an investigation into Beijing’s push for economic and military influence in a number of countries there.
Newsweek reported House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, a GOP representative from California, said on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo that China was “a big problem” and that he and fellow Republican lawmakers were “running an investigation on many aspects of China,” including allegations of intellectual property theft, currency manipulation and its “military footprint” in Africa.
The following day, the Chinese Foreign Ministry denied charges of malpractice and called for cooperation rather than competition with the U.S.
“There is a Chinese saying which goes ‘one’s mentality will determine how he perceives the world.’ There is also another proverb that [goes] ‘if one suspects his neighbor of stealing his ax, all the behaviors of that innocent neighbor appear suspicious to him,’ which refers to someone that harbors groundless suspicions in disregard of facts,” ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.
“We hope that relevant people in the United States can be more open-minded, and aboveboard and refrain from viewing normal cooperation with tinted glasses or interpreting other countries’ goodwill to pursue win-win outcomes with a hegemonic mindset,” she added.
Nigeria’s Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, Bill Gates and Aliko Dangote during Gates visit to Nigeria
Bill Gates’ verdict on Nigeria is reason to vote out Buhari, says PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said Bill Gates’ verdict on the state of Nigeria’s economy has vindicated Nigerians who have resolved to vote of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.
Gates, the Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Thursday in Abuja faulted the Federal Government’s Economic Recovery And Growth Plan (ERGP), saying it does not meet the needs of the people.
The PDP said Gates could have been harsher on Nigeria if he was not being modest with ‘his host’.
The PDP tweeted: “President @MBuhari and the @APCNigeria can now see that the entire world is fully aware of their misrule and as such should stop wasting the nation’s resources on pointless image laundering and desperate quest for international endorsements.
@BillGates was just being polite to his host, President @MBuhari, when he said the policy of his government is not reflecting the needs of the people.
Addressing stakeholders at the special session of the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Gates stressed the need for the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to take a second look at the National Economic Plan in terms of its priorities for human capacity development.
He said the ERGP, which must reflect the people’s needs, should also give priority to human capital development over physical capital as it is designed currently.
“To anchor the economy over the long term, investment in infrastructure and competitiveness must go hand in hand with investments in the people.
“People without roads, ports and factories can’t flourish. And roads, ports and factories without skilled workers to build and manage them can’t sustain an economy,” Gates noted.
According to him, if the current trends in education and health continue and government spends the same amount with the same results, there will be no economic growth as the country will only be keeping with increase in population without improvement in Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He said his foundation had so far committed over $1.6 billion in Nigeria and was willing to invest more towards making the country a global economic powerhouse that can provide opportunity for all its citizens.
The funds, according to the philanthropist, are committed to addressing issues of improved primary healthcare systems, agriculture, financial inclusion, routine immunisation and financial inclusion, among others.
Gates noted that, although Nigeria was approaching an upper middle-income status like Brazil, China and Mexico, there was the need for all its citizens to thrive in maximizing the huge potential of the country.
He lamented that Nigeria is one of the most dangerous places in the world to give birth, with the fourth worst maternal mortality rate ahead of only Sierra Leone, Central African Republic and Chad.
The Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote told the NEC that there was the need for the private sector companies in Nigeria to set aside one per cent of their annual profit to support primary health care development and other critical projects that will grow the economy.
“Since the rebasing of the economy, Nigeria is no longer seen as a highly poor country. Nigeria is going to be 411 million people by 2050. Today, more than half of our population is very young and we should try to educate them and ensure that they are healthy,” he said.
Vice President Osinbajo, however, noted that high oil prices and economic growth of the previous years did not translate into a better life for most Nigerians because grand corruption prevented investments in healthcare, education and infrastructure.
“To put Nigeria’s money to work for Nigerians, is doing the most with the least. And we have stayed true to that vision. Even as oil prices went into free fall, we ramped up investments in infrastructure as well as our social spending,” he said.
Osinbajo told the gathering that the government was prepared to take head-on the challenges which Dangote Foundation as well as Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had outlined .
He noted that Nigeria has strong economic growth and development ambitions, encapsulated in her Economic Recovery and Growth Plan that was launched in 2017, but all of those lofty ambitions can only be achieved through the determined application of human skills and effort.
“And for that effort to be meaningful and productive, it has to come from people who are healthy, educated, and who are, and feel empowered.
“It is this realisation that has helped ensure that one of the primary planks of the ERGP is ‘Investing in our people’.
And it is for this reason that we are expanding the reach and quality of our healthcare, through the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). We are working to guarantee basic education for all persons, whilst also upgrading and modernising the quality of secondary and post-secondary education.
“Because this is the 21st century, we know that it is also important to ensure that our young people are prepared for the economies of the future, not the past. This means that STEM education is critical, and that technology must lie at the heart of every one of our educational offerings,” the vice president said.
Fielding questions after the session, Dangote said: “We have had a very good meeting and one of the things we suggested that will ensure we fund our health sector very well is for the private sector to give one percent of their annual profit.
“That will actually help in raising quite a lot of money because since the rebasing of the economy, we are going to get out of most of these donations we are getting from Global Alliance for Vaccines (GAV), World Bank and the rest of the donors, putting Nigeria as a rich country and not a poor country anymore.
“Nigeria will be almost number three by 2050 in the World’s population. So we have to make sure that we have a very healthy society,” he said.
Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, said it was not the question of adjusting the ERGP but the budgeting system, with priorities set out clearly to address human capital development issues.
He said what Gates and Dangote told the NEC members was that government at all levels also needed to do more.
El-Rufai described yesterday’s NEC as the most important held since the government of Muhammadu Buhari came into power.
He said the economic council had been focusing on the provision of electricity, roads and others without priority for human capital development.
“There is something more important than physical infrastructure like roads, water and electricity, which is investing in the people.”.
According to Governor El-Rufai Nigeria’s investment in education is far low, which is not appropriate.
44 African countries sign Free-Trade Zone Agreement
Forty-four African countries have signed an agreement establishing a free trade area seen as vital to the continent’s economic development, the head of the African Union said Wednesday.
Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest markets, hesitated after objections from business leaders and unions — a sign that getting the deal through scores of national parliaments may face several hurdles.
“The agreement establishing the CFTA (African Continental Free Trade Area) was signed by 44 countries,” said Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the AU commission.
The creation of a free trade area — billed as the world’s largest — comes after two years of negotiations, and is one of the AU’s flagship projects for greater African integration.
However, the agreement will still have to be ratified at a national level, and is only due to come into force in 180 days.
The full list of countries which did not sign the agreement is not yet available, however Nigeria is a notable absentee after President Muhammadu Buhari pulled out of this week’s launch in Rwanda saying he needed more time for consultations at home.
“Some countries have reservations and have not finalised their national consultations. But we shall have another summit in Mauritania in July where we expect countries with reservations to also sign,” said Albert Muchanga, the AU Commissioner for Trade and Industry.
Tax authorities launch WATAF in Abuja on Wednesday, March 21
West African tax body, WATAF, launched in Abuja
Seven years after its birth, the West African Tax Administration Forum (WATAF) was formally launched on Wednesday, giving it a full status of an international tax organisation.
12 out of 15-member countries of WATAF and stakeholder institutions like the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) West African Union of Tax Institutes (WAUTI) African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), the ECOWAS Commission among others were represented at the on-going 13th General Assembly meeting of the regional tax body where it was inaugurated and they promised to work with the new body.
The Executive Secretary of WATAF, Tunde Oladapo said the launch of WATAF represented the coming of age of the organisation and said WATAF will pursue revenue mobilisation in the sub-region as well as peer learning and information and data sharing among member-countries.
The Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Chairman of the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), Mr. Tunde Fowler said Nigeria is ready to share experience on taxation with other tax authorities in the West African sub-region.
The FIRS Chairman noted that the launch of WATAF presented another opportunity for tax authorities in West Africa to forge alliance, re-strategise and work together to raise the West African economy.
“It is poignant to note that we have once again an opportunity to forge alliances and chart a course for our collective good as heads of tax administration in West Africa. This opportunity we must utilise to the best of our abilities.
“Be assured that Nigeria is willing to share our experience and support any country in the sub-region in implementing any of such e-taxpayers’ service initiatives”, Fowler said.
Fowler said the launch of WATAF was a historical event as it makes its formal entry in to the ranks of similar organisations focused on international collaboration in Tax matters, having attained the statutory requirements spelt out in the WATAF Agreement providing for at least five (5) countries’ ratifications for the Agreement to come in to force and in line with the requirements of the Vienna Convention.
“This marks a new dawn in the consolidation of our collective aspiration to improve the standard of living of our people through effective mobilisation of available domestic tax revenue. Not only that, now West Africa has a platform for countries to collaborate in tax matters solidly supported by our governments and a Forum to articulate and project the West African perspective in tax administration, in the global tax arena”, Fowler said.
The Commissioner-General of Liberia Revenue Authority, Elfreda Tamba, who until this morning, was the Chairman of WATAF thanked Nigeria for hosting the General Assembly meeting noting that Nigeria had always “stepped in and being the big brother” in WATAF programmes.
Tamba handed over the chairmanship of WATAF to the Commissioner, Domestic Taxes, Togo, Adoyi Ahmed ESSU-Wavana.
WATAF was created in 2011 and has been committed to the development of the tax administration in West Africa. The theme for the 13th General Assembly is ‘Enhancing the Revenue Potential of West Africa’, was the focus to address taxation in West Africa with the advent of e-commerce, hybrid financial instruments coupled with increased sophistication and ingenuity of the army of tax advisors.
Ramaphosa Sacks Moyane, Head of Revenue Agency over corruption
After failing to resign voluntarily, South Africa’s new president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has suspended the head of the tax service, South African Revenue Service (SARS) Tom Moyane over graft.
President Ramaphosa told Moyane that SARS had deteriorated under him and there was no need for him to continue staying as the tax chief
He will face disciplinary proceedings as Ramaphosa vows to fight graft following his predecessor Jacob Zuma’s ousting.
In a statement released late Monday, Ramaphosa announced Moyane’s sack in a statement on Monday night.
Ramaphosa has replaced his finance minister and several other senior officials since coming to power last month, when graft-tainted Zuma was pushed out of office by the ruling African National Congress party.
In his letter to Moyane, Ramaphosa said “developments at the SARS under your leadership have resulted in a deterioration in public confidence in the institution and in public finances being compromised”.
“For the sake of the country and the economy, this situation cannot be allowed to continue, or to worsen.”
The tax service — crucial for raising funds for public services — has been a battleground of political rivalries in recent years.
Prosecutors announced on Friday that Zuma would face corruption charges on allegations of accepting bribes over an arms deal before he became president. He has always denied the accusations.
During Zuma’s nine-year tenure, South Africa grappled with state corruption scandals, weak growth and record unemployment.
Nigeria needs focus on Non-oil revenue to contain shocks, says IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said Nigeria economy is still vulnerable despite recent exit from recession, urging the country to focus more on non-oil resources.
Directors of the international monetary agency after review of the country’s economy, said on Wednesday said Nigeria is still largely dependent on oil resources which is why it was affected by the deep in global oil prices from 2014.
The National Bureau of Statistics said in its second quarter 2017 gross domestic product (GDP) report that the country’s economy had recovered with a new 0.55 per cent growth rate.
The NBS data showed that the new growth rate (year-on-year) was 2.04 per cent higher than the rate in the corresponding quarter of 2016 (-1.49 per cent) and higher by 1.46 per cent points recorded in the preceding quarter.
The figures were revised to –0.91 per cent from –0.52 per cent due to revisions to crude output for March 2017.
The IMF said the recovery came on the back of new foreign exchange measures by government, rising global crude oil prices, attractive yields on government securities, a tighter monetary policy and increased reserves to a four-year high level of about $43 billion as at last February.
Other factors include policies to contain inflationary pressures, with economic growth reaching 0.8 per cent in 2017, driven mainly by recovering oil production capacity, while inflation declined to 15.1 per cent year-on-year by January 2018, from 18.5 per cent at December 2016.
But, at the conclusion of its 2018 Article IV Consultation on Monday, the Executive Board of the international finance agency in its assessment report on Wednesday said the reforms, which inspired the country’s exit from recession, failed to impact non-oil non-agricultural growth, lower inflation close to single digits, contain banking sector vulnerabilities or reduced unemployment.
Although it commended the country’s strides in implementing a National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, the IMF said the government was still required to initiate urgent, comprehensive and coherent policy actions to curb these vulnerabilities.
The progress in the economy, it noted, showed in the beginning of a convergence between official and parallel market rates in foreign exchange windows as a result of tight monetary policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria; improvements in tax administration, and significant improvement the business environment.
In 2017, the World Bank ranked Nigeria as one of the top 10 reforming economies in the world, having moved up 24 places in ranking from 169th position to 145th out of 189 countries in its Ease of Doing Business Report.
However, the IMF identified lower crude oil prices, which stood at $62.35 per barrel on Wednesday, and tighter external market conditions as the main downside risks.
Besides, it said, domestic challenges bordered on heightened security tensions across the country, delayed financial policy response, and weak implementation of structural reforms.
Nigeria Fishes Out New 130,000 High Net Worth Tax Defaulters
Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance has said it has fished out another batch of over 130, 000 high net worth individuals and corporations who evade taxes.
The Ministry said its data mining project called “Project Lighthouse” identified the tax defaulters.
A statement we obtained from the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) platform on Tuesday read: “The Federal Ministry of Finance data mining project called “Project Lighthouse” has identified a new batch of more than 130,000 high net worth Nigerian individuals and companies that have potential tax underpayments”
According to the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, this information was compiled in preparation for the closure of the Scheme on March 31, 2018.
The Minister, according to the statement which was also tweeted through VAIDS tweeter handle @VAIDNG said: “We’ve collected the data from a number of sources including land registries of the Governments of Lagos, Kaduna, Kano & Ogun States as well as the Federal Capital Territory. We’ve also been able to request and receive data from a number of nations including traditional tax havens,” she said.
Information on the VAIDS platform added: “The Minister further stated that the Automatic Exchange of Information is being used to mine data overseas. Under the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEI), information relating to bank records and financial filings for tax purposes is obtained from tax havens like British Virgin Islands, Mauritius and other participating countries that are signatories to Information exchange agreements.
Mrs. Adeosun reiterated that the data coming from abroad will be used ONLY for taxation purposes in line with the protocols governing the exchange of information. “Our only interest in the data is in raising tax revenues. There‘s no hidden agenda whatsoever on the use of the data,” she said”
Federal government of Nigeria launched the tax amnesty scheme in June 2017 to encourage tax defaulters come forward and clear their tax liabilities without facing commensurate sanctions.
Again, Nigeria warns Citizens against Cryptocurrency
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has warned citizens to stay away from investment in virtual currencies, saying the exchange is not protected nor regulated anywhere in the world.
The CBN cautioned that cryptocurrency such as Bit Coin, Ripples, Monero, Litecoin, Doge Coin, One Coin and exchanges such as NairaEx.currencies are not legal tender in the country.
The CBN gave the caution in statement by Mr Isaac Okorafor, Acting Director of Corporate Communications Department posted on its website.
According to Okorafor, dealers and investors in any kind of cryptocurrency in Nigeria are not protected by law.
He also said that customers might therefore, lose money without legal redress in the event that exchanges collapse or close business.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that cryptocurrency is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange that uses cryptography.
Cryptography is the art of writing and solving codes to secure its transactions, control the creation of additional units, and to verify the transfer of assets.
The CBN had in January 2017, issued a circular to banks and other financial institutions on virtual currency operations in the country.
The President of African Development Bank (ADB), Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina
Adesina seeks America investment for African agro business, by Andrew Iro Okungbowa
Andrew Iro Okungbowa (Contributing Editor, Nigeria). The President of African Development Bank (ADB), Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, who was a former Nigeria minister for Agriculture, has called on American and global investors to invest in Africa’s continent agro business so as to unlock the continent’s huge agricultural potential.
Adesina made this call as guest speakers at the USDA’s 94th Agriculture Outlook Forum, which held during the week at Virgina, USA. Speaking on the theme, ‘The roots of prosperity,’ the ADB president said: “For too long, Agriculture has been associated with what I call the three Ps – pain, penury, and poverty. The fact though is that agriculture is a huge wealth-creating sector that is primed to unleash new economic opportunities that will lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.”
He appealed to the US private sector to fundamentally change the way it views African agriculture. “Think about it, the size of the food and agriculture market in Africa will rise to US $ 1 trillion by 2030. This is the time for US agri-businesses to invest in Africa,” he said.
‘‘And for good reason: Think of a continent where McKinsey projects household consumption is expected to reach nearly $2.1 trillion and business-to-business expenditure will reach $3.5 trillion by 2025. Think of a continent brimming with 840 million youth, the youngest population in the world, by 2050,” he further stated.
The U.S. government was urged to be at the forefront of efforts to encourage fertilizer and seed companies, manufacturers of tractors and equipment, irrigation and ICT farm analytics to ramp up their investments on the continent.
“As the nation that first inspired me and then welcomed me with open arms, permit me to say that I am here to seek a partnership with America: a genuine partnership to help transform agriculture in Africa, and by so doing unlock the full potential of agriculture in Africa, unleash the creation of wealth that will lift millions out of poverty in Africa, while creating wealth and jobs back home right here in America,” urged Adesina, who is the laureate.
Adesina then revealed that ADB is spearheading a number of transformative and agricultural initiatives: “We are launching the Africa Investment Forum, as a 100% transactional platform, to leverage global pension funds and other institutional investors to invest in Africa in Johannesburg, South Africa from November 7-9.”
The World Bank, International Finance Corporation, the Inter-American Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Islamic Development Bank, are partnering with the African Investment Forum to de-risk private sector investments.
The bank is also pioneering the establishment of Staple Crop Processing Zones(https://goo.gl/P8FvaY) in 10 African countries that are expected to transform rural economies into zones of economic prosperity and save African economies billions of dollars in much needed foreign reserves.
“We must now turn the rural areas from zones of economic misery to zones of economic prosperity. This requires a total transformation of the agriculture sector. At the core of this must be rapid agricultural industrialization. We must not just focus on primary production but on the development of agricultural value chains,” Adesina said even as he added “that way, Africa will turn from being at the bottom to the top of global value chains.”
Expressing strong optimism that the future millionaires and billionaires of Africa will come from agriculture, Adesina said: “Together let our roots of prosperity grow downwards and bear fruit upwards. As we do, rural Africa and rural America will brim with new life, much like I witnessed in Indiana, during my time as a graduate student in America. Then, we will have changed the 3 ‘Ps’ to – Prosperity, Prosperity and Prosperity.
In his keynote address U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, said: “The U.S. Administration has removed more restrictive regulations to agriculture than any other administration. Our goal is to dismantle restrictions that have eroded agricultural business opportunities.
“Agriculture feeds prosperity and accounts for 20 cents of every dollar. As global prosperity grows, it in turn fuels the demand for more nutritious food and business opportunities,” he added.
Participants at the Forum included the Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue; Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Stephen Censky; President of the World Food Prize Foundation, Kenneth Quinn; Chief Economist of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Robert Johansson; Deputy Chief Economist, Warren Preston; and several top level government officials and private sector operators.
You must be logged in to post a comment.