Business News
UPDATED: President Buhari orders immediate evacuation of Nigerians from South Africa
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the immediate evacuation of Nigerians from South Africa after receiving the report of the Special Envoy sent to South Africa to meet with President Cyril Ramaphosa over the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians.
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the immediate evacuation of Nigerians from South Africa after receiving the report of the Special Envoy sent to South Africa to meet with President Cyril Ramaphosa over the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians.
The President gave the order, stating that all Nigerians who are willing to return to Nigeria should do so immediately. The special envoy had conveyed the deep concern of the President and Nigerians about the reoccurring violence against Nigerians and their property/business interests in South Africa.
Although President Buhari is deeply worried that the constant xenophobic attacks could negatively affect the image of South Africa if nothing is done about it, he assured South African authorities that the Nigerian Government would guarantee the safety of lives, property and business interests of South Africans in Nigeria.
President Ramaphosa also condemned such violent acts which damaged the reputation of the country and the relationship the country has with other African countries.
Buhari further directed the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama to continue to discuss with the appropriate South African authorities so that appropriate measures would be taken to end the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa.
[READ ALSO: South Africa High Commission in Nigeria shuts its offices]
Prior to this development, Air Peace had offered free flight services to the Nigerians living in South Africa back to the country. In a statement made available by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Chairman and Chief Executive officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema was quoted to have said the airline would release its aircraft to bring Nigerians home.
Why this matters: Several businesses owned and operated by Nigerians have been put at risk, as their outlets and shops have been subjected to attacks by South Africans in the xenophobia. Many Nigerians had lost their lives during some of these attacks, just as some had also lost their means of livelihood.
This move is expected to help save the lives of some Nigerians who might be in danger and are stranded over there in South Africa.
[READ MORE: A look at the negative economic impacts of South Africa’s xenophobia]
The backstory: The current xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and other foreigners in South Africa were triggered by the death of a South African cab driver reportedly killed by a Tanzanian drug dealer. The incident happened about a week ago in the Pretoria area of South Africa, after which many foreign-owned business outlets and houses were looted and razed with fire.
Profiles
Atsu Davoh is building ways for Africans to easily acquire and spend cryptocurrency
Atsu Davoh has gone from failed projects to running one of Ghana’s most innovative startups.
In recent times, the tech space in Africa has experienced immense growth, with the introduction of several key players and disruptors across various sectors. One sector that is also rising is the cryptocurrency space with Africa experiencing greater crypto ownership and trade volume.
The number of Bitcoins processed on a single day reached its highest value at the beginning of 2021, as more people displayed interest in the cryptocurrency. Due to its fast adoption, more fintech players have created platforms that have made trading with cryptocurrency easier. One of such players is Atsu Davoh who calls himself the “product guy.”
Atsu Davoh dropped out of college (Carleton College) in the United States and moved back to Ghana to help innovate on Africa’s financial infrastructure. Atsu first discovered Bitcoin in 2017 during the first boom when it became mainstream. Before then, he and his co-founder Samuel Baohen had been involved in many failed projects.
He developed a USSD system where people could buy bitcoin through their phone numbers, like tying crypto to phone numbers in a native way. This was one of the first iterations of Bitsika.
Atsu was invited to Join Binance Labs Incubator by Yele Bademosi where he got $150,000 after graduating from the incubator. Bitsika went on to raise around $900,000 from investors. This brought the total seed raised to $1,050,000.
This USSD system worked in Ghana but didn’t work in Nigeria. Atsu and his team then pivoted the platform to a donation crowdfunding platform, which allowed people living in other countries to send donations to African nationals in need of the funds before finally building it into a cross-border crypto remittance platform.
Bitsika users can deposit and remit money across multiple currencies using the app, with all monies deposited in Bitsika stored in USD credits or stable-coin.
Bitsika has over 50,000+ downloads on Playstore and processed nearly $40 million in 2020 with $18,872,474 in deposits, $17,890,807 in payouts (withdrawals), and $3,189,834 in internal peer-to-peer transfers.
Despite a few unfavourable regulations surrounding cryptocurrency in Africa, the market has shown no signs of slowing down as more people are building products that will make trading seamless.
Business
FG signs new Sustainable Development Goals agreement with UN
The Agreement is for new development cooperation with initiatives towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals set in the UN Agenda 2030.
