Scared firewalls 2: Taxation ethics, revenue neutrality & campaign finance paradox by Remmy Nweke - Telecoms Clinic@ITREALMS

What happens when national tax collection meets partisan fundraising? In Telecoms Clinic@ITREALMS, REMMY NWEKE exposes the dangerous breach of state firewalls when fiscal custodians join campaign councils. Discover how combining revenue enforcement with political campaign finance threatens corporate trust, taxpayer privacy, and Nigeria's economic stability.

Tax administration within any constitutional democracy rests upon an invisible, non-negotiable social contract between the state and its citizenry. Citizens and corporate entities voluntarily open their confidential financial records, disclose profit margins, submit to rigorous auditing, and remit hard-earned revenue under the explicit guarantee of equal, non-partisan treatment under the law.

Telecoms and Nigeria’s leap into climate finance by Remmy Nweke, Telecoms Clinic@ITREALMS

Telecoms Clinic@ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

Nigeria recently made headlines for the right reasons with the Federal Government’s approval of a National Carbon Market Framework, the operationalization of the Climate Change Fund, and the restoration of the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC) budget line, with telecoms now strategically positioned to drive climate finance, writes REMMY NWEKE in this edition of Telecoms Clinic@ITREALMS.

Restoration of NCCC:
Nigeria recently made headlines for the right reasons with the Federal Government’s approval of a National Carbon Market Framework, the operationalization of the Climate Change Fund, and the restoration of the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC) budget line, with telecoms now strategically positioned to drive climate finance.

The development followed the second meeting of the National Council on Climate Change, held last week at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, and chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima on behalf of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

ALTON commences End-User Billing for USSD services: Effective today, June 18 - ITREALMS

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The Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has commenced full migration to the End-User Billing (EUB) model for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) services, effective Wednesday, June 18, 2025, reports ITREALMS.

This pivotal shift, ITREALMS gathered is in accordance with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Determination on USSD Pricing and Services, aimed at fostering a more sustainable, transparent, and customer-centric digital financial ecosystem.

GEF, IMF, other partners team up to launch climate finance initiatives @Madagascar, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire - ITREALMS

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The Global Environment Facility (GEF), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other partners have teamed up to launch climate finance initiatives during country platforms in Madagascar, Benin, and Côte d'Ivoire, reports ITREALMS.

At the UN Climate Change Conference in Baku, the International Monetary Fund, the Global Environment Facility, development banks, international financial institutions, the private sector, and other development partners launched initiatives to catalyze climate finance in the three cities.

Afreximbank Trade Finance Seminar'24 showcases speakers - ITREALMS

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The Afreximbank Trade Finance Seminar 2024, holding between November 5-7 at the Windhoek Country Club Resort, Windhoek, Namibia, has announced speakers lineup, reports ITREALMS.

The seminar, ITREALMS gathered would be followed by the Factoring Workshop on November 8 at the same.

Wanted! 'Institutes to finance energy projects' says NNPC Ltd - ITREALMS

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The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has called for the establishment of more local institutions in Nigeria and Africa with capacity to provide funding for energy projects to tackle energy poverty.

The call was made by the Chief Financial Officer of NNPC Ltd, Mr. Umar Ajiya, at the ongoing 23rd Nigeria Oil Gas Conference and Exhibition (NOG Energy Week) in Abuja on Wednesday.

Afreximbank, Sterling Bank partner, offer supply chain finance in Nigeria - ITREALMS

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The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has partnered with Sterling Bank to introduce the innovative supply chain finance product ‘Payables Finance’ in Nigeria. 

This product, branded as ‘Afreximbank Tradelink,’ is one of Afreximbank’s digital offerings under the umbrella of the Africa Trade Gateway (ATG). 

CCA to host webinar on Climate Finance - ITREALMS

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The Climate Action Africa (CAA) has launched the CAAF24 pre-event webinar with focus on Climate Finance in Africa, reports ITREALMS.

The webinar, which is now open for registration, promises to convene a diverse group of experts and stakeholders on February 29, according to the Co-Founder and Executive Director of CAA, Grace Oluchi Mbah.

IRENA launches report @G20 on low-cost energy transition finance - ITREALMS

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The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in partnership with the Indian G20 Presidency, launched a comprehensive report today on how low-cost finance can accelerate the energy transition. 

How to handle finance in your relationship - ITREALMS

HeartsJourney@ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!


The love of money right from time has always and will always be an issue. 

Ada who is a telecoms staff, was doing quite well financially and has been taking care of the bills for a few years, while her spouse Ken an engineer survives majorly on contracts, which has not been forthcoming for years apart from little jobs family and friends give him out of pity. Ken still has a bad habit of gambling and buying things on credit which always caused issues between himself and Ada.

Another scene is of Modupe and Alabi both well paid professionals earning good money but Alabi had several investments he has not told Modupe about and Modupe also has a habit of buying only designer clothes to wear which most times makes Alabi very upset as she has shown herself to be a heavy spender and never gets to save a penny.

Former finance minister, Chu SP Okongwu, dies @87 - ITREALMS

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The former Minister of Finance, Chu Sonny Okongwu, has been confirmed died on Wednesday, January 12 at the age of 87, reports ITREALMS.

Late Chu Okongwu

Popularly known as Chu Okongwu, he was a Nigerian economist and politician who was the Minister of National Planning, and then Minister of Finance during the Babangida administration between 1986 and 1990.

Adeduntan joins global finance practitioners @Ethical conference - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The Chief Executive Officer, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan on Tuesday in Edinburgh, joined global leaders interactive session at the 2019 Ethical Finance Conference held on 8 – 9 October 2019, reports ITREALMS.

The conference held at RBS Conference Centre, Gogarburn, Edinburgh, saw attendance of over 500 leading finance practitioners from all over the world.ITREALMS gathered that Adeduntan, alongside other thought leaders, policy influencers and leading finance practitioners across the world deliberated on various topical issues that would help define and shape the transition of the global financial climate to a sustainable financial system where finance delivers positive change.

Notable at the panel with Adeduntan includes Sarah Breeden, Bank of England; Dame Susan Rice, Banking Standards Board; Gary Gillespie, Chief Economist, Scottish Government spoke on the topic “Financing Sustainability: Designing for A Future on Earth” in the first panel session held on 8 October 2019.

Speaking on his participation at the event, Dr. Adeduntan noted that “FirstBank is committed to exploring innovative opportunities that drive financial inclusion in Nigeria whilst harnessing widespread mobile-phone coverage to create low-price banking offerings across groundbreaking distribution channels, especially for the unbanked.”

“Our participation in the 2019 Ethical Finance Conference is a platform we are honoured to be in as shared knowledge with other global thought leaders and policy influencers is pivotal to promote inclusive growth in the global financial ecosystem, whilst contributing to economic growth, development and importantly, reducing poverty,” he submitted.

Remmy Nweke/DoP

*JOIN our alert's group | Share stories with us | Advert placement: WhatsApp | SMS: +2348033592762 *Twitter: @ITREALMS *Email: itrealms.dsa@gmail.com*From left: MD/CEO, Jaiz Bank Hassan Usman; CEO, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan; Chairman, Jaiz Bank, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab; Chair of the Scottish Fiscal Commission and member of the Banking Standards Board, Dame Susan Rice; Executive Director, Bank of England, Sarah Breeden at the Ethical Finance Conference held at Royal Bank of Scotland, Edinburgh on Tuesday.

Why I resigned as Minister of Finance by Kemi Adeosun - ITREALMS

ForTheRecords@ITREALMS:

The exclusive letter Mrs. Kemi Adeosun wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari on her resignation as Finance Minister over alleged fake NYSC certificate. Excerpts.

"14th September, 2018

His Excellency

Muhammadu Buhari

President, Federal Republic of Nigeria

State House

Aso Villa

Abuja

Dear Excellency,

Let me commence by thanking you profusely for the honour and privilege of serving under your inspirational leadership. It has been a truly rewarding experience to learn from you and to observe at close quarters your integrity and sense of duty.

I have, today, become privy to the findings of the investigation into the allegation made in an online medium that the Certificate of Exemption from National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) that I had presented was not genuine. This has come as a shock to me and I believe that in line with this administration’s focus on integrity, I must do the honourable thing and resign.

Your Excellency, kindly permit me to outline some of the background to this matter. I was born and raised in the United Kingdom, indeed my parental family home remains in London. My visits to Nigeria up until the age of thirty-four (34) were holidays, with visas obtained in my UK passport. I obtained my first Nigerian passport at the age of thirty-four (34) and when I relocated there was debate as to whether NYSC Law applied to me. Upon enquiry as to my status relating to NYSC, I was informed that due to my residency history and having exceeded the age of thirty (30), I was exempted from the requirement to serve. Until recent events, that remained my understanding.

On the basis of that advice and with the guidance and assistance of those, I thought were trusted associates, NYSC were approached for documentary proof of status. I then received the certificate in question. Having never worked in NYSC, visited the premises, been privy to nor familiar with their operations, I had no reason to suspect that the certificate was anything but genuine. Indeed, I presented that certificate at the 2011 Ogun State House of Assembly and in 2015 for Directorate of State Services (DSS) Clearance as well as to the National Assembly for screening. Be that as it may, as someone totally committed to a culture of probity and accountability I have decided to resign with effect from Friday, 14th September, 2018.

Your Excellency, It has been an exceptional privilege to have served our nation under your leadership and to have played a role in steering our economy at a very challenging time. I am proud that Nigeria has brought discipline into its finances, has identified and is pursuing a path to long term sustainable growth that will unlock the potential in this great economy. Under your leadership, Nigeria was able to exit recession and has now started to lay the foundations for lasting growth and wealth creation. Repositioning this huge economy is not a short term task and there are no short cuts, indeed there are tough decisions still to be made but I have no doubt that your focus on infrastructural investment, revenue mobilisation and value for money in public expenditure will deliver growth, wealth and opportunity for all Nigerians.

I thank His Excellency, the Vice President and my colleagues in the Federal Executive Council for the huge pleasure and honour of working with them. I also thank most specially, the team in the ‘Finance Family’ of advisers and heads of agencies under the Ministry of Finance. Your Excellency, this group of committed Nigerians represent a range of backgrounds, ethnicities and ages. They have worked well above and beyond the call of duty to support me in the tasks assigned. The diversity in my team and their ability to work cohesively to deliver reforms, convinces me that Nigeria has the human capital required to succeed.

Your Excellency, let me conclude by commending your patience and support, during the long search for the truth in this matter. I thank you again for giving me the honour of serving under your leadership, it is a rare privilege, which I do not take for granted. As a Nigerian and committed progressive, I appreciate you for your dogged commitment to improving this nation.

Please be assured, as always, of my highest regards and best wishes

Kemi Adeosun (Mrs)"

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Sage, ACCA Nigeria partner to develop finance professionals

ITRealms:

The market and technology leader for cloud accounting, people and payroll, and payment systems, Sage, has signed a partnership agreement with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in Nigeria, to develop skills and expertise for finance professionals in the country, reports ITRealms.

Regional Director for Sage in West Africa, Mr. Magnus Nmonwu told ITRealms that ihis partnership, will see the organisations work together to provide training and skills development opportunities to finance and accounting professionals.

“They will also promote each other’s brands to and share information with their respective communities,” he said.

In addition, he said, they were delighted to cooperate with ACCA to develop skills in the finance and accounting arena, including the student members of the ACCA.

“We believe that there is a great deal we can do to add value for ACCA members in the region. Our wide network of resellers and partners are at hand to provide ACCA members and other Nigerian customers with the advice they need to grow their businesses,” he said.

Further, the Regional Director, said, ACCA will integrate Sage learning materials into certificates and qualifications as relevant, helping to build capabilities among ACCA members and partner institutions. The partnership will kick-off with an event in November where Sage will be introducing Sage X3 to ACCA members within the enterprise space.

Country Head, ACCA, Tom Isibor, said they are constantly building new partnerships that increase the capacity of students and members, with a focus on being agile, responsive and innovative to meet their needs and aspirations in a digital world.

“Our partnership with Sage will help us to support people and organisations in their holistic personal and business growth. The knowledge and training from this platform will ensure that they use future-proof IT in a manner that supports their operations and stakeholder interactions as their businesses grow,” Isibor said.

Nonye Dom/GEE

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Africa launches 5% agenda to bridge $68bn infrastructure finance gap

ITRealms:

The African Union’s economic development programme, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) gathered international investors and CEO-level business leaders at the NASDAQ Stock Market on Monday, September 18, for the launch of its 5 per cent Agenda campaign to bridge the $68 billion infrastructure finance gap, reports ITRealms.

This is coming five years after a January 2012 African Union Summit adopted the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) which sets out 51 cross-border infrastructure programmes and more than 400 actionable projects in four sectors.

According to the World Bank, the continent needs to spend $93 billion annually (44% for energy; 23% for water and sanitation; 20% for transport; 10% for ICTs; and 3% for irrigation) until 2020 to bridge its infrastructure gap, which is currently removing an estimated 2% of GDP growth every year. On the other hand, Africa only managed to close 158 project finance deals with debt totalling $59 billion over the decade 2004-2013, which represents only 5 percent of infrastructure investment needs and 12 percent of the actual financial flows.

The 5% Agenda campaign highlights that only a collaborative public-private approach can efficiently tackle these issues and calls for allocations of institutional investors to African infrastructure to be increased to the declared 5% mark.

Speaking at the launch event in New York, Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, NEPAD Chief Executive Officer, commented: “Infrastructure plays a leading role in supporting growth on the continent. At the same time, it can represent an innovative and attractive asset class for institutional investors with long-term liabilities. By launching the 5% campaign in New York today, we invite investors to take advantage of the wide-ranging opportunities Africa has to offer and to move forward with what can only be a win-win partnership”.

The launch of the campaign gathered high-level international investors and business leaders, including members of the PIDA Continental Business Network (CBN) which is spearheaded by NEPAD and constitutes a CEO-level private sector infrastructure leaders dialogue platform on PIDA.

Tony O. Elumelu, one of Africa’s most prominent entrepreneurs and active participant in the CBN said: “Africa is getting stronger every day with new business opportunities and innovative ideas but what is still crucially missing is project implementation. A coherent and coordinated approach is needed to mobilize institutional investors while limiting their risk exposure. African governments need to work on creating conducive environments to attract these investments which are so vital for the continent's growth and development.”

According to a 2016 McKinsey report, institutional investors and banks have $120 trillion in assets that could partially support infrastructure projects.

Now more than ever, Africa needs to tap into this available. As banks face additional regulatory challenges and as governments have limited fiscal space, it is becoming increasingly urgent to unlock additional flows from long-term institutional investors such as insurers, pension funds, and sovereign wealth funds.

For pension and sovereign wealth funds to be able to invest in large-scale infrastructure projects in Africa, a variety of issues need to be addressed to strategically and intentionally facilitate long-term allocations. Chief amongst these matters is the need to reform national and regional regulatory frameworks that guide institutional investment in Africa. Likewise, new capital market products need to be developed that can effectively de-risk credit and hence, allow these African asset owners to allocate finance to African infrastructure as an investable asset class to their portfolio.

All these issues are at the heart of the 5% Agenda roadmap, which is the backbone of NEPAD’s campaign and is foreseen to have the following impact:

1.            Unlocking notable and measurable pools of needed capital to implement regional and domestic infrastructure projects on the continent.

2.            Broadening and deepening the currently very shallow African capital markets, whilst at the same time contributing significantly to regional integration and job creation.

3.            Promoting the development of innovative capital market products that are specific to the continent’s challenges and potential in regards to infrastructure development.

4.            Raising the investment interest of other institutional and non-institutional financiers that so far have been hesitant to include African infrastructure projects as an asset to their investment portfolio based on specific, concrete next steps and project suggestions.

Ayo Midele/GEE 

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Borrowed funds to finance capital projects – Nwankwo, DMO Boss

ITRealms:

The Director-General of Debt Management Office (DMO), Dr. Abraham Nwankwo has said that the Federal Government is fully committed to ensuring that all fund borrowed to finance the 2016 budget, will be dedicated to fund capital projects, reports ITRealms.

Nwankwo stated this on Tuesday at a one-day workshop by DMO on “Public Debt and the challenge of financing Nigeria’s economic recovery” organised for Capital Market Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CAMCAN) in Lagos.

“The DMO is committed to making sure that we raise money to fund the 2016 budget deficit from appropriate sources and through appropriate mix during the fiscal year to make sure that capital projects are funded,” he said.

The DMO boss who stressed that the Nigerian debt level is highly sustainable, noted that the nation still had a lot of idle potential, which the administration is currently working to harness for effective growth of our national economy.

According to him, while comparative tax revenue to GDP ratio of Nigeria is less than 7.0 per cent, its peer group has a ratio of 18 per cent.  He therefore, stressed the need to widen the tax net to generate more revenue for the government.

“The debt to GDP ratio is 13 per cent, compared to the 56 per cent of peer group.  So in that essence, our debt is still very sustainable. In this respect, I am encouraging all Nigerians to continue to make sure that they pay their taxes fully as at when due because our tax revenue GDP ratio is relatively lower to countries in our peer group.  As our economy grows, as our GDP grows, as we are collecting enough in taxes from individuals and corporates bodies to be able to fund capital projects, our economy will continue to grow” he said.

He said the debt sustainability and overall economic sustainability can be significantly influence by individuals and corporate bodies paying taxes fully.

Speaking on the economic recession caused mainly by unfavourable structural change in the fall of oil prices globally, he said the Nigerian government is addressing the challenge through diversified, self-sustaining growth in agriculture and agro processing, solid minerals, manufacturing and ICT.

According to him, in the medium to long term, debt sustainability in Nigeria hinges on the overall sustainability of the economic, and the overall economic sustainability hinges on diversifying the economy in a sustainable manner.

“That is what the government is doing in agriculture, solid minerals, ICT and manufacturing. And to do that we need a strong infrastructure base and that is why government is spending what is borrowing on capital projects,” Nwankwo said.

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World Bank boosts Nigeria’s MSMEs with N99.5b

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The World Bank Group has given a boost of $500 million, about N99.5 billion to finance Micro, Medium and Small-Scale Enterprises (MSME) in agriculture, trade, light-manufacturing, services, and other areas, reports ITRealms. 

The project ITRealms gathered, is an International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) credit to fund the development finance projects to facilitate increased access and availability of financing for MSME.

World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Marie Francoise Marie-Nelly, affirmed to ITRealms that the project is fully in line with the priorities set out in the new Country Partnership Strategy which calls for focusing on increasing access to finance, including long-term financing for key sectors such as housing, SMEs, agriculture, and infrastructure, through various mechanisms involving both private sector and public sector partnerships.

ITRealms further learnt that the development finance project provides a stable and predictable funding source through the establishment of a Development Finance Institution (DFI). The DFI will provide funding to eligible financial institutions to finance long-term lending to MSMEs, as well as funding to Micro-Finance Banks for on-lending and to expand their outreach.

The proposed operation ITRealms gathered, addresses the provision of finance, including long-term finance, through eligible Participating Financial Institutions to expand outreach to urban and rural Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise

The project is a joint effort between the World Bank Group, African Development Bank (AfDB), the German Development Bank, French Agency for Development, and the UK’s Department for International Development, the information made available to ITRealms further revealed.

Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE

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