Bankers Committee to Digitalize FX Sales, Says National Theater Rehabilitation on Course

Mr Segun Agbaje, Group Managing Director of Guarantee Trust Bank, has said foreign exchange for Personal Travel Allowance (PTA) among others, would now be sold online.

Agbaje said this at a media briefing at the end of the Bankers’ Committee meeting on Thursday in Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the committee discussed the state of economy, Foreign Exchange (FX) policies and stoppage of FX to the Bureaux De Change Operators.

The committee also discussed the ongoing rehabilitation of the National Arts Theatre, aimed at repositioning Nigeria on the global tourism map.

“I hope that many of you will see that the new Foreign Exchange policy with regards to Invisibles, Personal Travel Allowance (PTA), Basic Travel Allowance (BTA), tuition fees, and medical payments, is working very well.

“We have taken it upon ourselves along with the regulator to make sure that this works; and this is just the first phase and if you noticed most of the things you are doing today, you are going into the branches to do most things.

“But, we are going to also try to digitise this whole thing the way the world is going; and that is being done by Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS) where you will be able to buy online,” Agbaje said.

According to him, the NIBSS already has a portal, through which banks share information on the application process.

Agbaje warned fraudulent individuals to have a change of mind as any one caught would not be able to do anything in the banking system again.

He further said the punishment would not only be meted to fraudulent individuals, but also to any bank and staff that contravened the apex bank’s rules.

In addition to digitising, Agbaje expressed the hope that customers would no longer carry out all their transactions by cash.

“The world today is not friendly about arriving in countries with cash, so we are hoping that people will be able to put this on their cards and card account.

“If you use a card, there is more KYC that can easily be done! It will be quicker, cheaper and faster, you will be less harassed when you arrive in countries and there will be no need for you to fill a cash declaration form,” he said.

Speaking on the rehabilitation of the National Arts Theatre, the Managing Director of Access Bank, Mr Herbert Wigwe, said the entire project would be completed Dec. 2022.

“What I want to say is just to let the public know that work has started in earnest.

“There is a second module to the national theatre which has to do with music, fashion, Information Technology as well as the film Industry.

“What that does, apart from National Theatre, which can host major events, people can work on different structures in which they can rent, build spaces around them, to do whatsoever creative thing they need to do so long as valuable products will be coming out of it.

“So that second phase will start shortly, I think most of the contracts will be awarded sometime in September.

“And we expect that the entire project should be completed, that is, the National theatre and the various vatican should be ready by Dec. 2022,” Wigwe said. (NAN)(

End

##Bankers Committee, Herbert Wigwe, Access Bank, Foreign Exchange, National Theater, NIBSS

UN-backed Rights Group Advocate Moratorium on Sale of Surveillance Technology

A group of UN-appointed experts on Thursday called for a moratorium on the sale of surveillance technology, warning against allowing the sector to operate as a human rights-free zone.

Their recommendation comes in the wake of the Pegasus spyware scandal that targeted hundreds of journalists, activists and politicians.

They said until robust regulations on the use of surveillance technology were implemented, and which guarantees human rights, countries should impose a global moratorium on the sale and transfer of these “life threatening” tools.

“We are deeply concerned that highly sophisticated intrusive tools are being used to monitor, intimidate and silence human rights defenders, journalists and political opponents,” the experts said in a statement in New York.

“Such practices violate the rights to freedom of expression, privacy and liberty, possibly endanger the lives of hundreds of individuals and imperil media freedom,” they added.

The experts recalled that this issue had been raised before, citing a May 2019 report by the then UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, who called for an immediate moratorium, but the international community failed to pay attention.

The Pegasus scandal erupted in July when non-profit organisation, Forbidden Stories, and Amnesty International, exposed the widespread surveillance of the mobile devices of hundreds of journalists, human rights defenders and political leaders.

Surveillance was carried out using Pegasus spyware, developed by the NSO Group, an Israeli firm, which has denied any allegations of involvement.

“Given the extraordinary audacity and contempt for human rights that such widespread surveillance shows, if the denial of collusion by the NSO Group is to have any credibility at all, the company must disclose whether or not it ever conducted any meaningful human rights due diligence.

“The company must disclose whether it conducted human rights diligence in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and publish fully the findings of any internal probes it may have undertaken on this issue,” the experts said.

They also urged Israel to fully disclose measures it took to review the NSO Group’s export transactions.

They emphasised that it was the duty of States to verify that companies like the NSO Group do not sell or transfer technology to or contract with States and entities that are likely to use them to violate human rights.

The experts underscored how they had repeatedly warned about the danger surveillance technology posed to human rights.

“Once again, we urge the international community to develop a robust regulatory framework to prevent, mitigate and redress the negative human rights impact of surveillance technology and pending that, to adopt a moratorium on its sale and transfer,” they said.

The eight UN experts, who issued the statement, include three Special Rapporteurs who monitor challenges to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, as well as the situation of human rights defenders globally, the UN correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

Although they were appointed by the UN Human Rights Council and operate in their individual capacities, they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary.