Today’s edition of the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC) Weekly Subject Experts’ Presentation was held at Hall C, TY Buratai Block, Abuja. There were four presentations made by the Subject Experts for the Middle East and Central America.
The first presentation by Brig Gen ED Idimah Subject Experts Central America, his presentation Centre on Costa Rica Grapples with Rise of Predatory Shark Loan, the Minister of Security, Costa Rica Mario Zamora on 30th October 2023, expressed concern over an emerging trend in Costa Rica known as “Shark Loan” which has increasingly become prevalent across the country and highlighted the profound national implications of this trend while reviewing legislative proposals currently under consideration in Congress and expressed optimism that lawmakers would soon implement robust mechanisms to counteract the financial exploitations tied to those Loans.
In his analysis and lesson for Nigeria, General Idimah noted that Shark Loan practice have more notorious in the act of debt recovery by harassing, humiliating and intimidating Loan defaulters, whether their reason for defaulting is genuine or not and it also refer to predatory Lending activities where individuals or organizations lend money to borrowers at extremely high interest rates and empty aggressive and often illegal collection methods.
He recommended that Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through various banks should provide more accessible and affordable financial services to underserved Nigerians and the Nigerian Police should collaborate with relevant authorizes such Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to crack down loan shark operation in Nigeria.
The second presentation by Brig Gen NA Mohammed Subject Experts Middle East, his presentation focused on how Dubai seek to add 30,000 jobs in gaming sector over next 10 years, on Thursday 2 November 2023, Dubai announced the launch of the ‘Dubai Programme for Gaming 2033’, a visionary initiative set to create an estimated 30,000 jobs in the booming gaming sector and the program aims not only to position Dubai as one of the top 10 cities in the global gaming industry but the sectors contribution to the growth of Dubai’s digital economy. He further stated that the launch of these new initiatives demonstrates Dubai’s dedication to establishing a nurturing ecosystem for cutting-edge technological tools, solutions and digital transformation and this will support entrepreneurs and innovators along with launching specialized educational and training initiatives.
In his analysis and lessons for Nigeria, General Mohammed pointed that the FGN pledge its commitment to improving service delivery to become more efficient through reliance on digitization and automation for the purpose of discrete transparency and accountability and in order to take advantage of the many opportunities the digital economy offer, the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy has been adopted to reposition the Nigerian economy.
He recommended that Federal Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation (FMSTI) to improve actions on digital infrasture and improve policy environment for digital entrepreneurship.
