Facebook and Instagram owner Meta will launch a paid subscription service starting at $11.99 a month allowing users to verify their accounts, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Sunday, following a similar move by Elon Musk at Twitter. Meta Verified, which will roll out first in Australia and New Zealand this week, will let users “verify your account with a government ID, get a blue badge, get extra impersonation protection against accounts claiming to be you, and get direct access to customer support,” Zuckerberg said. “This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services,” he wrote in a statement posted to his Facebook account. There would be no changes to accounts on Facebook and Instagram that are already verified, the company said, adding that only users who are over the age of 18 will be allowed to subscribe. The service is not yet available to businesses. Musk’s initial attempts to launch a similar service at rival social media network Twitter last year backfired wildly with an embarrassing spate of fake accounts that scared advertisers and cast doubt on the site’s future. He was forced to briefly suspend the effort before relaunching it to muted reception in December. Meta’s announcement comes as the social media behemoth grappled with financial difficulties over the past year, announcing in November that it would lay off 11,000 employees or 13 percent of its staff — the largest worker reduction in the company’s history. The layoffs are part of a wave of redundancies announced by Silicon Valley giants in recent months, as the once unassailable sector faces economic gloom. Meta is also under pressure for making a huge gamble on the metaverse, the world of virtual reality that Zuckerberg believes will be the next frontier online. Investors last year punished Meta, sending the company’s share price down by an astonishing two thirds over 12 months, but the stock has recovered some of the ground in 2023. Zuckerberg has remained optimistic about Meta’s future. Earlier this month the company reported its first annual sales drop since it went public in 2012, but the fall was less brutal than expected. The company also recently announced that the number of daily users on Facebook hit two billion for the first time.

  President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to Nigerians to exercise patience as appropriate measures were being taken to ease the hardship occasioned by the naira redesign policy. He said despite the initial hardship in the implementation of the policy, there would be light at the end of the tunnel. The President also called for support for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the February 25 election, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, saying the APC candidate would continue with the achievement of his administration if given the mandate. A statement issued yesterday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said in a message sent home from Addis Ababa, Buhari said he was fully aware of the hardship some policies of the government, which were meant to bring overall improvement to the country, had caused and appealed for more patience as the government took appropriate measures to ease them. The statement read: “In a video recording to shore up support for Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the upcoming elections a few days ahead, the President thanked Nigerians for electing him to be President for two terms, and urged them to vote for the APC flag bearer because “he is reliable and I know he will build on our achievements. “In the campaign message to voters, the President specifically put a call on “our traditional rulers, religious leaders and parents to warn their followers and wards alike, to not allow themselves to be used by a few to foment trouble. “I want to assure you that the government has taken adequate security measures to allow everyone to come out and cast their votes. I am therefore appealing to everyone to give them the necessary support. “Fellow Nigerians, I want to use this opportunity to once again thank you for electing me to be your President on two occasions. “I am not a contestant in this election, but my party, the All Progressives Congress, has a candidate in the person of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. As I mentioned before, Tinubu is a true believer in Nigeria, who loves the people and the development of our country. “I am calling on all of you to vote for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He is reliable and I trust he will build on our achievements. “Finally, I want to once again assure you that I am fully aware of the current hardship you are facing as a result of some policies of the government which are meant to bring overall improvement to the country. “I am appealing to you to exercise further patience as we take appropriate measures to ease these hardships. God willing, there will be light at the end of the tunnel.” The President emphasized that the APC presidential candidate had demonstrated his commitment to the development of the country and the well-being of its people.

  The Independent National Electoral Commission has expressed hope that its cash request presented to the Central Bank of Nigeria would be met on or before Tuesday. INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of its Committee on Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, disclosed this to our correspondent on Sunday. The commission had earlier said it presented its cash requirement for prosecuting the forthcoming elections to the CBN, in face of shortage or scarcity of naira notes in circulation. The commission had explained that even though it does most of its payments through online transfers, some specific services have to be paid for in cash. When asked on Sunday when INEC expected to get the requested cash from the CBN, Okoye said, “We are hopeful that the challenge of physical cash required for the payment of certain categories of staff and some services will be sorted out on or before Tuesday, the 21st of February 2023.” When asked if the ongoing riots fuelled by cash scarcity might affect the voters’ turnout on election days, Okoye said he was positive that the challenges bedeviling the country would not discourage registered voters from exercising their franchise. “The question of maintaining law and order is outside the remit of the Independent National Electoral Commission. Section 215(3) of the Constitution gives the Nigerian Police Force the responsibility of maintaining and securing of public safety and public order. “The commission does not have its own security arm and cannot deploy security operatives to the streets. “The commission has done its best to boost voters’ confidence in the electoral process. The commission converted voting points and voting point settlements into full-fledged polling units and took some closer to the voters. “The commission keeps improving with every election. Nigerians are looking forward to the 2023 elections and they are ready to exercise their franchise. “We are hopeful that the difficulties the nation is experiencing will not deter legally registered voters from showing up on election day. We want Nigerians to complement the preparations and efforts made by the commission by coming out to vote on election day.”

  Since its launch in 2021, the usage of the eNaira — Nigeria’s digital currency — has refused to pick up, the International Monetary Fund has disclosed. According to the fund, only about eight per cent of eNaira wallets are in use, with an average transaction value of N53,000. It stated that as of November 2022, total eNaira wallet downloads amounted to 942,000. It revealed this in its ‘Staff Report for the 2022 Article IV Consultation: Key Issues’ and ‘Nigeria: Selected Issues’ reports. The IMF said, “Despite some initial technical glitches (Coincu, 2022), no major risk factors (e.g., a large-scale cybersecurity event) have materialised. “However, the adoption of eNaira by households and merchants has been rather slow. After a strong initial uptake, wallet downloads have slowed, reaching 0.8 per cent of bank accounts, and merchant wallet downloads amount to about 10 per cent of merchants with Point-of-Sale terminals. “Similarly, wallet activity is low, with most wallets appearing inactive. The average number of weekly eNaira transactions since the launch amounts to only eight per cent of wallets, with an average transaction value of N53,000 (about $120).” When Nigeria launched its central bank Digital Currency, it became the second country after The Bahamas to launch a CBDC. At the launch, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), noted that the eNaira would help more people and businesses move from the informal to the formal sector. He said, “Let me note that aside from the global trend to create Digital Currencies, we believe that there are Nigeria-specific benefits that cut across different sectors of and concerns of the economy. “The use of CBDCs can help move many more people and businesses from the informal into the formal sector, thereby increasing the tax base of the country.” According to IMF, the eNaira is supposed to increase financial inclusion. It noted that for this goal to reach, the CBN needs to allow those without bank accounts but with mobile phones access the digital currency. It also noted that the use of digital currency could lower remittance fees in the country. Commenting on how the country can drive increased usage of the eNaira, the Washington-based lender noted the apex bank needs to create the right relationships with mobile money operators and engage in public and private partnerships. It said, “Setting the right relationship with mobile money. “A well-designed public and private partnership are required to ensure the proper safeguard of e-money/mobile money, considering that the private financial sector’s contributions to financial inclusions could be negatively affected depending on the design of eNaira’s use for financial inclusion. “eNaira could be usefully integrated into the existing mobile payment system by (i) functioning as a safer store of value for mobile money users through an integrated mobile-CBDC wallet.”

  Fuel queues may to filling stations soon if the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited does not ramp up importation and beef up petrol supplies across the country, The PUNCH has learnt. Top oil marketers told our correspondent on Sunday that NNPCL depots that feed private depots across the country ran out of supplies over the weekend following the mopping up of available supplies by oil marketers. “Although we have started loading, the product is yet to go round. Besides, NNPCL depots ran out of supplies over the weekend, but we are hoping products will be available this week so that we will resume loading”, one of the marketers hinted. The Chairman IPMAN Satellite Depot, Akin Akinrinade, who confirmed the development to our correspondent, said, “My members loaded on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. But we could not load on Saturday because NNPCL depots did not have products. I can’t confirm if new products have landed but at least, as you can see, the queues have reduced drastically, and there are more products in the country. NNPC is beginning to attend to our needs now more than it used to.” Akinrinade had earlier told The PUNCH that NNPCL had completed repairs on its moribund products pipeline at Satellite, adding that IPMAN members on the axis would start loading products through the pipeline. The PUNCH had last week reported dwindling fuel queues at filling stations across the country. Our correspondent also gathered that filling stations last week defied the Federal Government’s directive to sell products at N184 per litre. The PUNCH observed that members of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, and NNPCL Retail outlets, sold products at N185 per litre to consumers. Members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria on the other hand, sold products between N200 to N250 per litre. The National Controller Operations, IPMAN, Mike Osatuyi, told The PUNCH on Sunday, that some of its members still had old stock in their tanks. “Some of my members bought at the old price before the Federal Government directed NNPCL to sell directly to us at N172 per litre. In fact, some of my members who had paid for the old stock just received their products, that’s why you see them still selling above N200 per litre”, he said. Osatuyi however said IPMAN members would from this week, start loading products at N172 per litre. He pointed out that many of the depot owners had yet to comply with FG’s directive to sell at N172 per litre to retailers. “I can confirm to you that it is only Emadeb and NIPCO that are complying to sell at N172 per litre to us. Others are still selling at between N220 to N225 to my members”, he said. Osatuyi however said NNPCL should be commended for its more responsive approach to resolving fuel scarcity. “Although the product is yet to go round, however, NNPCL needs to be commended because it is now much more committed, listens to us and is doing all possible to restore normalcy in terms of products supplies”, he said, adding that what caused delay in loading for some of its members was because they had to first register officially with the NNPCL.

  Amid the worsening naira crisis, the total amount of currency-in-circulation in the Nigerian economy has tumbled from N3.3tn to N1.54tn, a Central Bank of Nigeria document obtained by The PUNCH has revealed. This came as a biting shortage of new naira notes amid an acute scarcity of old currency has inflicted untold hardship and pain on millions of Nigerians, leaving several people stranded. The latest central bank document, obtained by one of our correspondents, showed that the total amount of currency-in-circulation fell by 53.33 per cent within three months. Specifically, the currency-in-circulation fell from N3.3tn recorded on October 31, 2022 (a few weeks before the CBN began the implementation of the naira redesign policy) to N1.54tn on January 31, 2023. The 53.33 decrease in C-in-C followed bank customers’ huge deposits of old N1000, N500 and N200 notes ahead of the CBN’s February 10, 2023 controversial deadline. Among other things, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had said one of the objectives of the naira design policy was to mop up currency outside the bank vaults which he put at N2.7tn. He said with such a huge amount outside the banking system, it would be difficult for monetary policy initiatives to impact the economy. The PUNCH obtained the latest data from a report presented by the CBN Deputy Governor, Folashodun Shonubi, at a forum in Abuja last week. He noted that since 2018, the currency-in-circulation had been increasing at an average annualised rate of 18 per cent before the CBN’s redesign policy. Meanwhile, Emefiele had announced in October last year that the bank would release re-designed naira notes by December 15, 2022. According to the CBN governor, this was targeted at controlling currency in circulation, curbing counterfeit currency and ransom payments to kidnappers and terrorists. He noted, “Indeed, the integrity of a local legal tender, the efficiency of its supply and its efficacy in the conduct of monetary policy are some of the hallmarks of a great central bank. “In recent times, however, currency management has faced several daunting challenges that have continued to grow in scale and sophistication with attendant and unintended consequences for the integrity of both the CBN and the country. The CBN had earlier said the old notes would cease to be regarded as legal tenders by January 31, 2023. However, the deadline was extended to February 10 with a grace period of seven days for old notes to be deposited in banks. The Supreme Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday adjourned a hearing in the suit seeking the suspension of the naira redesign policy to February 22, 2023. Some state governments have filed a suit against the Federal Government seeking a restraining order to stop the full implementation of the naira redesign policy of the CBN. In a new development, nine states have filed to join the suit initially filed by Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara states. The states are Katsina, Lagos, Cross River, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo and Sokoto states bringing the new total of plaintiffs to ten. On the other hand, Edo and Bayelsa have filed to be joined as respondents. The seven-man panel led by Justice John Okoro ordered them to amend their processes to be heard as one. Meanwhile, pending the hearing of the suit at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the order suspending the February 10 deadline for the phasing out of old notes subsists amid a conflicting CBN directive to banks and the public. Meanwhile, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), had said the old N500 and N1,000 banknotes were no longer legal tender in the country. He, however, directed that the old N200 note should be re-circulated, adding that it would remain legal tender until April 10, 2023. Buhari appealed to Nigerians to deposit their old N500 and 1000 notes with the CBN. Residents defy governors Meanwhile, traders and transporters in several states across the country have stated insisting on collecting only new naira notes and old N200 note in line with the directive of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) This is contrary to the directives by some state governors asking their residents to continue spending the old notes in line with an order of the Supreme Court. Already, many states including Lagos, Ogun and Kaduna have declared the old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes will remain legal tender in their jurisdictions, citing the Supreme Court judgment on the matter as their reasons. As a result, the state governments directed their residents to spend old notes, vowing to prosecute any business or individual that rejects the old notes. However, across many states over the weekend and on Sunday, traders and transporters defied the governors’ directives and rejected the old N500 and N1000 notes for transactions. Our correspondents report that many residents in several states could not carry out transactions with old N500 and N1000 notes. Also, motorists in some parts of Lagos refused to collect old N500 and N1000 notes. Our correspondent observed that the new song on the lips of commercial bus drivers and conductors was, “I’m not collecting old N500 and N1000 notes.” This trend was observed at Mile 2, Orile, Berger, Ojodu, and Lagos Island areas of Lagos on Saturday and Sunday. At Mile 2 on Sunday, bus conductors told passengers they would not accept old notes. Asked if members of the Lagos State parks and garages management committee popularly called ‘agbero’ were not collecting the old notes, some bus conductors plying the Oshodi-Berger route said the agberos were rejecting the old notes. A driver, who did not want his name in print, said, “Agberos were the first set of people to reject the old notes, then the filling stations.” The PUNCH observed that several passengers had only new notes or old N200 notes on them, complying with a new directive from the president. In many parts of Ogun State, traders and commercial transport operators bluntly refused to collect old notes from commuters, most of whom were confused about the validity of the notes

  The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan-Kukah, has said that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), former presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Olusegun Obasanjo, among others that led Nigeria, became presidents unprepared. According to the bishop, no President or Head of State in the history of Nigeria ever came prepared for the job of the number one citizen of the country. Speaking in an interview with Channels Television, in a broadcast aired Sunday night, Kukah said, “You can go all the way down in Nigeria, you’re not going to find one single person who has been President or Head of State in Nigeria that came prepared for the job.” Using the analogy of a “bad marriage” to explain the relationship between Nigeria and its political leaders, the cleric said, “I always say to people, as a priest, that the solution to a bad marriage is not a new marriage. It’s often an attempt to look at what has gone wrong. And if you jump into a new marriage very quickly, after some time, you become nostalgic about the first marriage.” He said one could say the same thing about Nigeria, adding, “A lot of these changes that we have seen in Nigeria are largely unprogrammed.” The cleric, who also referenced the military era, added, “Military coups by themselves that stretched over 20 years were just glorified banditry and armed robbery because you pull the gun and became a Head of State.” He noted that Nigeria had yet to produce an executive head who is really prepared for office. “If I take you back, we have President Buhari now. Buhari already in 2011 had said, ‘I don’t want to be President again, I’m tired.’ He was literally pulled out screaming to be President in 2015. “He took over from (Goodluck) Jonathan. Jonathan himself, you know the circumstances that brought him to power. (Umar) Yar’Adua before him; Yar’Adua was already saying, ‘I’m done, I want to go back to teach in the university,” Kukah said. Kukah noted that the unpreparedness was also evident in Yar’Adua’s predecessor, former President Olusegun Obasanjo. “Obasanjo was in prison hoping that one day, he would walk out of prison, and if he’s strong enough, he’d go back to his farm. You can go on and on,” he said. “Abdulsalami was about to be retired from the military when (General Sani) Abacha died and he became Head of State. If we’re to return to the scene of the crime, that’s where you have to go back to,” he added.

  Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, presidential candidate of New Nigerian People Party (NNPP), has knocked the All Progressive Congress (APC) governors criticising President Muhammadu Buhari over naira redesign policy. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which introduced the policy last year had fixed January 31 as deadline for spending old N200, N500 and N1000 notes in public. This had generated a huge controversy. After intense pressure, the apex bank shifted the deadline by 10 days. Some governors of the ruling party sought the intervention of the president, who told them to give him seven days to take action. But three days after meeting Buhari, three APC governors filed a suit to challenge the naira redesign policy at the supreme court. The court ordered the CBN not to implement the deadline but Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor, said there was no need to shift the deadline. Buhari had partially complied with the court as he ordered an extension of the deadline of N200 notes and declared that old N500 and N1000 notes were no longer legal tender. This had triggered a nationwide outrage. Governors of the ruling party joined those who criticised Buhari over the issue. While Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State had alleged that the naira redesign policy was aimed at truncating Nigeria’s democracy, his Kaduna counterpart, Nasir El-Rufai, asked residents to disregard Buhari’s directive. Governors Dapo Abidoun (Ogun), Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa) were among those who declared that old N500 and N1000 notes were still legal tender in their states. Reacting to the developments, Kwankwaso said he was shocked that APC governors could act in that manner. “In each state, you have branches of banks and in some states, you have even the national headquarters of those banks, on one hand we thought they (governors) would take all the billions from government houses and so on. “But we realize these same governors were abusing their leaders, insulting them, I was shocked. I never thought some of them could abuse Buhari to that level. “On one hand I was surprised that facts were coming out and we began to wonder what is wrong with them? Maybe EFCC was right that some governors are keeping billions of naira in their compounds across the country. “Now the policy has made that looted money completely useless, I think that is why they are angry. So we are so happy with the Federal Government on that, the money they have collected is completely zero, it has expired. “And I think all agencies should keep their eyes on that and I want to assure you that our party is going to assist the Federal Government, especially on election day, please tell all members of NNPP to join EFCC, to join the police and other security agencies that wherever they see try to buy votes, please stop them,” Kwankwaso said at an NNPP function.