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The spread of COVID-19 in many African countries has been more contained than some had expected in 2020. Experts have predicted that the economic fallout of the pandemic for Africans, however, will be different and direr than for the rest of the world.
The reason is that Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for more than half of the world’s populations living at or below the poverty line. A recent World Bank scenario estimates that COVID-19 could push up to 40 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa into extreme poverty, seriously eroding the progress that African countries have made to reduce deprivation during the past two decades.
As of this writing, the spread of COVID-19 in many African countries has been more contained, and the death toll lower, than some had expected in 2020. The economic fallout of the pandemic for Africans, however, will be different and could be more dire than for the rest of the world.
Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for more than half of the world’s populations living at or below the poverty line. A recent World Bank scenario estimates that COVID-19 could push up to 40 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa into extreme poverty, seriously eroding the progress that African countries have made to reduce deprivation during the past two decades.
Just a decade ago, Nigeria was heavily dependent on the traditional banking model for financial services and transactions. The need to transform the industry was obvious. In the eastern part of Africa, Kenya had begun the financial turn with M-Pesa. Launched in 2007, the service allows users to pay bills and send money through mobile phones or an agent network, regardless of whether they have bank accounts. As a result, the service impacted access to economic services with financial inclusion in Kenya rising from 27% in 2006 to 83% in 2019.
In 2012, Nigeria took major steps in its journey by launching the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS). The main goal of the NFIS is to ensure that 80% of Nigerian adults are financially included by 2020. Before this, the formal use of financial services by the adult population stood at 36.3% in 2010. To achieve the 2020 goal, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) also introduced agent banking guidelines to operators. The guidelines allow mob
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The Federal Government on Tuesday said about 24.3 million poor Nigerians would get N5,000 each for a period of six months. This translates to N729bn within the six-month period.
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, disclosed this at the inauguration of the Federal Government’s emergency intervention database for the urban poor.
A statement issued in Abuja by the minister’s aide, Nneka Anibeze, said the intervention would serve as cushion for those further impoverished by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Each beneficiary will receive N5,000 for a period of six months.”