The spread of novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria continues to rise as the latest statistics provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reveal Nigeria now has 12,233 confirmed cases.

On the 6th of June 2020, 389 new confirmed cases and 9 deaths were recorded in Nigeria.

To date, 12233 cases have been confirmed, 3826 cases have been discharged and 342 deaths have been recorded in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory having carried out 74,999 tests.

COVID-19 Case Updates- 6th June 2020

• Total Number of Cases – 12,233
• Total Number Discharged – 3,826
• Total Deaths – 342
• Total Tests Carried out – 74,999

The 389 new cases were reported from 23 states- Lagos (66), FCT (50), Delta (32), Oyo (31), Borno (26), Rivers (24), Edo (23), Ebonyi (23), Anambra(17), Gombe (17), Nasarawa (14), Imo (12), Kano (12), Sokoto (12), Jigawa (8), Ogun (7), Bauchi (5), Kebbi (2), Kaduna (2), Katsina (2), Ondo (2), Abia (1), Niger (1).

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The latest numbers bring Lagos state total confirmed cases to 5729, followed by Kano (997), Abuja at 912, Katsina, and Edo (387), Oyo (365), Borno (348), Kaduna (337), Ogun (336), Rivers (332), Jigawa (290),  Bauchi (286),  Gombe (201).

Delta State has recorded 148  cases, Sokoto and Kwara (127), Plateau (113), Nasarawa (104), Ebonyi (103), Zamfara (76),  Imo (59), Yobe (52), Osun (49), Akwa Ibom (45), Adamawa and Niger (42),  Ondo (40),  Kebbi  (35), Bayelsa and Enugu (30), Anambra (29), Ekiti (25), Taraba (18), Abia (16), Benue (13), while Kogi state has recorded only 3 cases.

Lock Down and Curfew

In a move to combat the spread of the pandemic disease, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days, which took effect from 11 pm on Monday, 30th March 2020.

The movement restriction, which was extended by another two-weeks period, has been partially put on hold with some businesses commencing operations from May 4. On April 27th, 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari declared an overnight curfew from 8 pm to 6 am across the country, as part of new measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19. This comes along with the phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures in FCT, Lagos, and Ogun States, which took effect from Saturday, 2nd May 2020, at 9 am.

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When the COVID-19 pandemic came with all her fangs, world leaders swung into action with the creation of intervention funds and palliatives to ease the burden of the average citizen.

In Nigeria, asides the palliatives of foodstuff given by state and federal governments alike, drums were rolled when the Central Bank of Nigeria disclosed its support for critical sectors of the economy.  

The apex bank first initiated a fund of N50 billion soft loan to small businesses. The N50 billion Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) was to serve as a stimulus package to support households and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) whose economic activities have been significantly disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The financial institution for the scheme is NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (NMFB) and the interest rate under the intervention was fixed at 5% per annum (all-inclusive) up to February 28, 2021, and thereafter, the interest on the facility shall revert to 9% per annum (all-inclusive) as from March 1, 2021. 

Next, it increased its intervention by another N100 billion in loans to support health authorities to ensure laboratories, researchers, and innovators work with global scientists to patent and produce vaccines and test kits in Nigeria so as to prepare for possible crisis ahead.

Finally, it increased its intervention in boosting local manufacturing and import substitution by another N1 trillion across all critical sectors of the economy. 

Despite the rhetoric, majority of Nigerians are still wary of the so called N1 trillion intervention fund. The CBN is yet to issue any policy guideline for its implementation and failed to provide further details in its monetary policy committee meeting held last week. This has led many to start to view these promises as “audio money” a social media term for financial promises that are never fulfilled. 

The journey thus far 

The Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) Microfinance bank, on behalf of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has started the disbursement of the N50 billion Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) to the beneficiaries. As at April, it noted that it had received over 80,000 applications for the facility, out of which 40,000 of them were households.  

As expected with such funding, the sentiments have been both positive and negative. While some have said they have gotten the funds, others have complained incessantly about the various challenges encountered in the process of obtaining or applying for the loans. Pockets of tweets revealed the general struggles of obtaining the loans. Several applicants have complained about not being able to open accounts or access the facilities and others have complained about making inquiries without responses. 

Bola Murtala explained to Nairametrics that “I applied online around the 30th of April, filled out the forms, and submitted. After I got a reply in my email that my application has been received, but then I haven’t heard back from them since then. I wouldn’t know what’s going on but I have seen people who say they got an approval. How far it is true, I wouldn’t know.” 

Another applicant, Okey Adinde, said “I applied and received a message telling me that I will be contacted if there was any other document required and if I didn’t send that document after 72 hours after the mail, my application will be declined. Since then, I have not heard from them.” 

One Twitter user also complained about being asked to tender collaterals even though the loans do not require any.  

Clearly, the program is not without its own hiccups. During an interview with Channels TV, the Managing Director of NIRSAL Microfinance Bank Plc, Abubakar Kure, explained that the nationwide lockdown and restrictions had a major challenge to the smooth processing of the facility. Yet, on the company’s website, it claims to have disbursed over N25 billion and going. 

However, there are positive comments too: 

Fidelis Ayebae, the chief executive officer of Fidson Healthcare Plc. explained that his company had received N2.5 billion from the central bank’s coronavirus intervention fund. Dollar scarcity and a weakening naira had heightened the inflation on inputs of many pharmaceutical firms in the country. 

“You now have a situation where nobody is holding letters of credit, no manufacturer is getting anything from their suppliers abroad because even the ones that we owe, we are not able to pay,” said Ayebae, who also heads the 180-member pharmaceutical group of Nigeria’s manufacturers association.

In truth, sentiments on the program is still burdened with the same lack of faith and trust in systemic leadership and Nigerians have had their fair share of disappointments. Even as the CBN and NIRSAL have set off on a good note by augmenting businesses and individuals in key areas to withstand the impact of the pandemic, the need for transparency cannot be overemphasized.

By employing tighter systems, particularly in the area of customer relations, while also clearly disclosing its activities, the system will assuage the fears of Nigerians whose faiths have been battered by deceptive leadership amongst others.

It is only then that they’ll know for sure that the days of audio money are over and that its leaders can be trusted. 

The naira has appreciated to N386.50 to a dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, despite the uncertainty of the foreign exchange market. The local currency was strengthened by N0.20 against the dollar, when compared to the N386.70 to a dollar that it traded on Thursday, June 4, 2020. 

The exchange rate at the I&E window is different from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s published exchange rate, which currently stands at N360/$1. This is also different from the exchange rate at the parallel market, which depreciated to N450 to a dollar, according to information on AbokiFX as of Friday, June 5, 2020. 

Available information from the daily trading at FMDQ (where FX is traded by importers and investors) shows that the naira improved against the dollar by N1.25, closing at N386.50 to a dollar, as against the indicative rate of N387.75 to a dollar that it opened with on Friday. 

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A cursory look at the data from the FMDQ shows that the turnover for the day went up by about 358% at $112.89 million. This is against the $24.64 million turnovers that was recorded on Wednesday, June 3. 

The performance of the naira at the I&E window, however, seems to contrast with that at the parallel market where the local currency lost N3 to a dollar as it depreciated to N450 to a dollar on Friday as against the previous day’s rate of N447 to a dollar. 

The Central Bank of Nigeria had promised to provide more liquidity in the foreign exchange market, especially for genuine users while also discouraging currency speculators from heating up the market. 

The apex bank yesterday debited the accounts of 25 commercial banks with the sum of N460 billion naira ($1.2 billion) as additional cash reserves for missing cash reserve ratio (CRR). Apart from serving as penalty to the banks, this also reduces the excess cash in the money market which might be used to put further pressure on the foreign exchange market.