Nigeria’s Impressive $20.1bn Tops Diaspora Remittances In Sub-Saharan Africa

Nigeria has emerged as the leader in Diaspora remittances within Sub-Saharan Africa for the year 2022, receiving an impressive $20.1 billion, representing 38 percent of the total remittance flow to the region. This figure surpasses that of other countries in the region, including Ghana (11.9 percent), Kenya (8.5 percent), Tanzania (25 percent), Uganda (17.3 percent), and Rwanda (21.2 percent). According to the World Bank, Nigeria played a pivotal role in contributing to the total remittance flow of an estimated $52.9 billion into Sub-Saharan Africa in 2022. The increase in remittances has provided significant support to several African nations facing various challenges such as food insecurity, supply chain disruptions, drought (particularly in the Horn of Africa), floods (in countries like Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Cameroon), and debt-servicing difficulties. Taking a broader perspective, global remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) reached $647 billion. It is projected to experience a modest 1.4 percent increase, reaching $656 billion in 2023. Highlighting the significance of remittances, the World Bank emphasized that over the past year, remittances have become a major source of external finance for LMICs, surpassing foreign direct investment (FDI), official development assistance (ODA), and portfolio investment flows. The report also pointed out that in several countries, remittances have overtaken key exports as the primary source of foreign exchange earnings. For instance, in Kenya, remittances exceed the earnings from critical sectors such as tourism, tea, coffee, and horticulture. Other nations, including the Gambia, Lesotho, Comoros, and Cabo Verde, are also highly dependent on remittance receipts as a proportion of their GDP. However, the report highlighted that Sub-Saharan Africa continues to face the highest remittance costs globally. Sending $200 to African countries during 2022Q4 incurred an average cost of 8.0 percent, up from 7.8 percent in 2021Q4. Costs vary widely across the region, ranging from 2.1–4.0 percent in the lowest-cost corridors to a staggering 17–35 percent in the highest-cost corridors. Notably, banks impose the highest costs, underscoring the importance of cross-border mobile money transactions. Limited interoperability among telecom operators and money transfer operators in countries like Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda poses challenges for such transactions. Furthermore, the growth of remittance flows into Africa is projected to slow down to 1.3 percent in 2023, compared to 6.1 percent in 2022. Factors contributing to this slowdown include risks related to capital outflows, foreign exchange controls, and sanctions. South Africa’s placement on the “gray list” by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is also noted. However, remittance flow growth is expected to rebound to 3.7 percent in 2024, according to the World Bank.

40 killed by militants in Uganda school attack

At least 40 people, mostly students, have been killed at a school in western Uganda by rebels linked to the Islamic State group. A further eight people remain in critical condition after the attack on Lhubiriha secondary school in Mpondwe. Boys who were staying in dormitories at the school are among the dead. The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) – a Ugandan group based in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – have been blamed for Friday’s attack. Many of the bodies were transferred to Bwera Hospital, national police spokesperson Fred Enanga said. The attack happened at around 23:30 local time (20:30 GMT) on Friday at the school in the Kasese district in western Uganda. Over 60 people are educated at the school, most of whom live there. ADF rebels burnt a dormitory and a food store was also looted during the incident, Mr Enanga said. Some of the boys were burnt or hacked to death, Major General Dick Olum from the Ugandan army told the media. Others at the school, mostly girls, have been abducted by the group, he added. Some of the bodies are said to have been badly burnt and DNA tests will need to be carried out to identify them. The attackers are said to have torched the students’ mattresses and are also thought to have detonated bombs in the region. Members of the wider community are possibly among the dead. A number of students remain unaccounted for. Soldiers are pursuing ADF insurgents towards the DRC’s Virunga National park – Africa’s oldest and largest national park which is home to rare species, including mountain gorillas. Militias including the ADF also use the vast expanse, which borders Uganda and Rwanda, as a hideout. “Our forces are pursuing the enemy to rescue those abducted and destroy this group,” defence spokesperson Felix Kulayigye said on Twitter. The Ugandan army has also deployed planes to help track the rebel group. Uganda and the DRC have held joint military operations in the east Congo to prevent attacks by the ADF. Security forces had intelligence that rebels were in the border area on the DRC side for at least two days before Friday night’s attack, Major General Olum said. The deadly episode follows last week’s attack by suspected ADF fighters in a village in the DRC near to the Ugandan border. Over 100 villagers fled to Uganda but have since returned. The attack on the school, located less than two kilometres (1.25 miles) from the DRC border, is the first such attack on a Ugandan school in 25 years. In June 1998, 80 students were burnt to death in their dormitories in an ADF attack on Kichwamba Technical Institute near the border of DRC. More than 100 students were abducted. The ADF was created in eastern Uganda in the 1990s and took up arms against long-serving President, Yoweri Museveni, alleging government persecution of Muslims. After its defeat by the Ugandan army in 2001, it relocated to North Kivu province in the DRC. The group’s principal founder, Jamil Makulu, was arrested in Tanzania in 2015 and is in custody in a Ugandan prison. ADF rebels have been operating from inside the DRC for the past two decades. Makulu’s successor, Musa Seka Baluku, reportedly first pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in 2016, but it was not until April 2019 that IS first acknowledged its activity in the area. In 2021, suicide bombings in Uganda’s capital Kampala and other parts of the country were blamed on the ADF. -BBC