AfCFTA to boost intraAfrica trade by 60%’

From Abubakar Y Ojimaojo, ABUJA

The African Continental Free Trade Area is expected to boost African nations’ trade by 60 per cent by 2034, it has been learnt.

The much publicised AfCFTA aims at eliminating almost all tariffs, among other things.

Currently, African nations currently trade only about 15 per cent of their goods and services with each other.

An International law and finance expert, Dr Jennifer Douglas, made the disclosure on the sidelines of the African Union meeting, held on February 21, 2023.

According to Douglas, the successful implementation of the AfCFTA has been identified as critical in boosting regional cooperation in the creative economy and the cultural industry in Africa.

Douglas, who spoke on the theme: “The Creative Economy: Strategies for Advancing the Industry in Africa,” said AfCFTA encourages regional crosspollination and gives opportunity to promote regional collaboration in the creative industry through co-production and joint projects.

A statement by Dr Douglas noted that AFCTA encourages each country to build its own domestic market, and then adopt the AfCFTA to create one huge “domestic market” for creatives across the continent.

Douglas, who is also the Founder of Gede Foundation, said, “A survey by Africa Filter Organisation on creative industry, in 2022, found some 48 per cent of African youths ages 18 – 35 years believe a traditional career in sports, for example, is more lucrative than a career in the creative industry. The report also found that 78% of youths in that age range spent little or no money on arts and on cultural past-time.

“But, the good news is that 82 per cent (up to 97 per cent in Nigeria and Kenya) of those interviewed admired the creative industry. The stats is important as youths are the propellers of the creative sector. How can we channel the 82 per cent admiration to concrete action? First, address the core challenges.”.

The don, who is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, England, stated that with accelerators, “we can copy from the equity market to build creative accelerators/

The Naira which opened the day’s trading at N461:35 per $1, hit an intraday high of N446.00 and declined to a low of N462.01.

The local unit eventually settled at N461.60 on Wednesday with $81.95 million posted as forex supply within the business period. In recent weeks, the naira has moved within the range of

N461.25 and N461.60 to a dollar at the authorised window.

The strongest rate the domestic currency has traded this week is the N461.50 per $1 dollar it exchanged Tuesday, the same rate it closed on Wednesday last week.

In Abuja, black market currency traders said the naira was exchanged at N760.00 to a dollar and sold at N765.00 on Wednesday. incubators. When something works well in one sector, why not clone it for another sector? Then we can tweak it for the real-life needs of creatives. Build exchanges for an art auction and platforms for policy advocacy. Build incentives for innovation that emerge from the incubators.”

In Uyo, currency dealers said the dollar exchanged within the range of N745.00 and N750.00 to a dollar and sold at N755.00 on Wednesday amid increased demand for the greenback.

The United Nations SecretaryGeneral, Antonio Guterres, had earlier during the opening session of the African Union meeting, said, Africa needs action.

“Africa is rich in potential but it is not rich in global support. Investing in Africa’s prosperity requires finance and developing countries are repeatedly left in the dark, the global financial system routinely denies them debt relief and concessional financing while charging extortionist interest rates,” Guterres said.

The International Labour Organisation observes that given the nature of the informal economy in Africa, the potential for development opportunities is significant, particularly for youth employment.

“Africa is home to 23 per cent global youth population and will increase to 42% by 2030 according to the ILO. Advancing the industry has now become imperative.”

CBN reviews tenure limit for bank MDs, others

From Abubakar Y Ojimaojo, ABUJA

The Central Bank of Nigeria has announced a revision of the tenure limit for executive management and nonexecutive directors of banks and financial institutions.

According to the review, the executives can only serve a cumulative tenure of 20 years across the banking industry.

In a circular addressed to all deposit money banks, signed by the director of financial policy and regulation department, Chibuzor Efobi, the bank said the review is part of measures aimed at strengthening governance practices in the banking industry.

“The tenure of executive directors (ED), deputy managing directors (DMD) and managing directors (MDs) shall be in accordance with the terms of their engagement approved by the board of directors of banks, subject to a maximum tenure of ten (10) years,” the central bank said in the circular, dated 24 February.

“Where an executive who is a DMD becomes the MD/CEO of a bank or any other DMB before the end of his/her maximum tenure, the cumulative tenure of such executive shall not exceed twelve (12) years.

“However, for an executive (ED) who becomes a DMD of a bank or any other DMB, his/her cumulative tenure as ED and DMD shall not exceed 10 years.”

The bank said that nonexecutive directors (NEDs), with the exception of independent non-executive directors (INED), shall serve for a maximum period of twelve (12) years in a bank, broken into three terms of four years each.

“EDs, DMDs and MDs who exit from the board of a bank either upon or prior to the expiration of his/her maximum tenure, shall serve out a coolingoff period of 1 year before being eligible for appointment as a NED to the board of directors.

“NEDs who exit from the board of a bank either upon or prior to the expiration of his/ her maximum tenure of 12 years (three terms of four years each), shall serve out a coolingoff period of 1 year before being eligible for appointment to the board of directors of any other DMB,” he CBN said.

Affected bank executives Checks by Peoples Daily showed that top executives affected by the new directive included Segun Agbaje of GTB, Tony Elumelu of UBA, Jim Ovia of Zenith and Herbert Wigwe of Access.

Mr Agbaje joined GT Bank as a pioneer staff in 1991 and rose through the ranks to become an Executive Director in January 2000, and Deputy Managing Director in August 2002. He was later appointed as the substantive MD and CEO of GTBank in June 2011 when erstwhile CEO, Tayo Aderinokun, passed.

Mr Elumelu in his early career made a name for himself by turning the nearly bankrupt

Standard Trust Bank into a topfive player in Nigeria. In 2005 he led the largest merger in the banking sector in sub-Saharan Africa, acquiring United Bank for Africa (UBA). In five years, he transformed it from a singlecountry bank to a pan-African institution with over 7 million customers in 19 African countries. The business combination with UBA saw him become the chief executive of the new larger entity.

Mr Wigwe was appointed group managing director/CEO in 2014. He subsequently became a non-executive director of the bank effective May 2022.

On his part, Mr Ovia, the founder of Zenith Bank, was appointed as board chairman and non-executive director of the bank in 2014.

It is not immediately clear how the affected commercial banks plan to comply with the new directive but the CBN explained that the tenure review shall apply “effective the date of this circular.”