NewAfricanWoman Issue 35 - Flipbook - Page 36
Spotlight on Nigeria
ply of dollars as much as it would like, the Central
Bank has focused on what it calls ‘demand management’ – instituting curbs on what businesses can
apply for dollars to import, and spending controls
on international debit cards.
The oil and gas sector is expected to face a difficult year, with thinning margins and the absence of
incentives for fresh investment. Banks, meanwhile,
having survived one of the most difficult years
since the global economic meltdown, should expect little respite in 2016, considering the looming
prospect of a swelling of their defaulting-debtors’
lists, as well as the Central Bank’s 1 January ultimatum for them to stop charging Commissions-onTurnover (COT) on customer accounts.
Based on the campaign promises and budget
proposals, 2016 will also be ‘the Year of Social Intervention’. Never before has the federal government
committed as much of its spending to new social
welfare programmes. The new government plans
to spend 500bn naira ($2.5bn) this year on welfare
initiatives that include a Conditional Cash Transfer
scheme, a microcredit scheme, and a School Meals
programme, all targeted at the country’s poorest
people. In the northeast, plans are being unveiled
for an ambitious ‘Marshall Plan’ type intervention to
resettle two million displaced persons, and rebuild
the devastated region.
Technology
By one conservative estimate, Nigeria attracted
$50m in foreign investment into its burgeoning
technology sector in 2015, slightly less than the continental leader South Africa. The influx of money
is inspiring plenty of copycatism, as well as flashes
of true innovation. Some of these new entrants will
be home-grown (eyeing the successes of firms like
Konga, Iroko, Hotels.ng and Pagatech), others will
be international brands looking to follow the trail
of adventurers like Uber – which launched in Lagos
in 2014 – and corner a slice of what appears to be
a hugely underserved market. Regardless of origin,
much of the investment funding will still come from
abroad. Lots of opportunities still exist in Nigeria
to disrupt sectors like financial services, hospitality, healthcare and education, by deploying mobile
devices in ways that combine ‘local-ness’ with ambition and scale. In 2016 fortune, as ever, will favour
the brave – and the loaded.
Infrastructure & Real Estate
Shoprite, the South African retail chain, is making good on its ambition of flooding Nigeria with
its stores. Until now, the biggest obstacle has been
space; Nigeria just hasn’t got enough purpose-built
venues to support a mall culture. Now that’s fast
changing. And not only in Lagos – many major
36
/ N AW F E B / M A R 2 0 16
Never before has the federal government
committed as much of its spending to
new social welfare programmes.
cities around the country are witnessing the rise of
modern shopping venues, complete with international
brands. Several new high-rise structures are taking shape
on the Lagos skyline; one of the most-watched in 2016
will be the 25-floor, 3,800sq m “Lorenzo”, intended as
the city’s tallest and choicest residential building. The
city is also due to welcome the first of seven planned
light-rail lines that the government hopes will create
long overdue relief for the city’s choked roads.
Arts, Culture, Sport, Tourism, Hospitality
In February Lagos hosts its first “full” (42km) marathon
in 30 years. Also in February the British Council’s Lagos
Theatre Festival is holding six days of performances in
15 venues across the city. Other regulars on the arts calendar include the Etisalat Book Prize, Ake Book Festival,
Lagos Arts and Book Festival, Lagos Photo Festival.
There are also three annual art auctions. All of these are
complemented by a year-round suite of comedy and
music gigs.
The most high-profile arts event in Lagos these
days is the annual Lagos Fashion and Design Week,
in October. There are also gems to be found off the
beaten trails: the Osun Osogbo and Ojude Oba Festivals in southwestern Nigeria, for example. Domestic
tourism will enjoy a boom, as the strengthening dollar
and the Central Bank’s foreign currency restrictions
make international travel and holidays less desirable.
On social media, a growing number of local tourism
initiatives are showcasing the beauty of unexplored parts
of the country. Nigeria is not exactly known for being
a foreign tourist haven, but there’s definitely a domestic
market waiting to be exploited.
Politics
Lurking in the background in 2016 will be the next
general elections in 2019. Interests will be revised and
re-aligned based on interpretations of how 2019 will
play out. Governorship elections due to be held in Ondo
and Edo States in the second half of 2016 will serve as a
bellwether of sorts, and the Peoples Democratic Party,
struggling to assert itself as a formidable opposition
party, will also face the challenge of keeping influential
members from defecting to the ruling party, lured in
part by the hundreds of new appointments the president
will make this year: ambassadors, presidential advisers,
governing boards of federal agencies, and so on.