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WhatsApp may exit Nigeria over $220m fine

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One week after Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission imposed a $220 million fine on WhatsApp for a data privacy breach, the company may suspend its operations in the country due to further regulatory demands.

Sources close to the situation indicate that Meta, WhatsApp’s parent company, is contemplating the withdrawal of certain services from Nigeria.

Alongside the substantial fine, the FCCPC has directed WhatsApp to cease sharing user data with other Facebook companies and third parties without explicit user consent.

The commission also requires WhatsApp to disclose details about its data collection practices and to enhance user control over data usage.

In response, a WhatsApp spokesperson emailed TechCabal, “We want to be clear that, technically, based on the order, it would be impossible to provide WhatsApp in Nigeria or globally.

” The spokesperson criticized the FCCPC’s order as flawed, asserting that it inaccurately portrays WhatsApp’s data handling and would necessitate significant changes to the platform’s infrastructure.

Meta has not addressed the FCCPC’s allegations regarding user opt-out options from the 2021 privacy policy but maintains that the update does not involve sharing user data.

The company’s privacy policy states, “While traditionally mobile carriers and operators store this information, we believe that keeping these records for two billion users would be both a privacy and security risk and we don’t do it.”

The potential suspension of WhatsApp could have significant repercussions for individuals and small businesses in Nigeria, many of whom rely on WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook for customer engagement.

Some privacy lawyers have questioned the FCCPC’s use of the National Data Protection Regulation as the foundation for the fine.

Enacted in 2019 by the National Information Technology Development Agency, the NDPR is Nigeria’s principal data protection framework.

Two unnamed lawyers have expressed doubts about the NDPR’s authority in such a high-stakes matter and questioned whether a government regulation can be deemed definitive in privacy issues.

Additionally, two unnamed government officials have raised concerns about the fairness of the $220 million fine. “We are too revenue-focused.

What is the opportunity cost of $220 million in government coffers?” questioned an industry expert.

Should WhatsApp choose to halt its operations in Nigeria due to these demands, both the FCCPC and the Nigerian government will face significant scrutiny and consequences.

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Business

CBN: 60 newly recruits staff laments three years of waiting without engagement

The concerned staff appealed to the CBN Governor, President Bola Tinubu, and other stakeholders to look into their plights, as economic hardship has taken a toll on them after about three years of leaving their jobs.

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• CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso

A group of newly recruited staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have cried out over delayed posting and onboarding into various positions since August 28, 2023.

The Guardian reported that according to the employees, the Apex Bank issued the offer, which was followed by an acceptance copy and instructions to resign from their previous places of work, where applicable, as part of documentation.

“We all tendered resignation letters to our former employers at that time to enable us to proceed with the CBN process,” one of the affected employees, Emmanuel Linus Dabo, who spoke on behalf of others,, told newsmen on Monday.

According to him, the application process started in April 2023, where their resumé were submitted to the Headquarters of CBN, and after some time, they received emails from the Human Resources Department for interview and aptitude tests.

“We did a medical examination at the bank’s medical clinic, where a code was given to individual applicants before we could access the hospital.

After the interview and medical and aptitude tests, the successful applicants were contacted by the HR manager to come to CBN Headquarters in Abuja to pick up their offer letter. We filled the acceptance letter without delay,” he said.

He further stated that there was a series of e-mails from the Human Resources office requesting that they forward their credentials for the online documentation, including their acknowledged resignation letters from their previous employers…

The concerned staff appealed to the CBN Governor, President Bola Tinubu, and other stakeholders to look into their plights, as economic hardship has taken a toll on them after about three years of leaving their jobs.

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KPMG, NRS settle rifts over new tax laws

In its newsletter on January 9, KPMG said there are “errors, inconsistencies, gaps, omissions, and lacunae” in the new tax laws that require urgent reconsideration to ensure the achievement of their stated objectives.

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KPMG executives and Zaach Adedeji, chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), held a meeting on Monday following the disagreement over the new tax laws.

In its newsletter on January 9, KPMG said there are “errors, inconsistencies, gaps, omissions, and lacunae” in the new tax laws that require urgent reconsideration to ensure the achievement of their stated objectives

However, on January 10, the presidential fiscal policy and tax reforms committee pushed back against KPMG’s critique, noting that KPMG does not understand the laws.

The committee said a significant proportion of the issues described as “errors,” “gaps,” or “omissions” by KPMG are either the firm’s own errors and invalid conclusions, or matters not properly understood by the firm.

In a statement on Monday, the NRS said that Adedeji hosted a courtesy visit from the delegation of the tax advisory firm.

” During the visit, the KPMG team clarified that their earlier opinion on the new tax laws “had been misconstrued and expressed regret over the misunderstanding.

“They sought further clarity on the provisions of the laws and highlighted areas where recommendations could be made.”

The source said that the meeting ended with the delegation commended the NRS chairman for efficiently and promptly implementing the reforms.

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IMF to release January 2026 World Economic Outlook update on Monday

The January WEO Update is expected to provide revised global growth forecasts and insights into inflation trends, monetary policy direction, and key risks facing the global economy in 2026.

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will release its January 2026 World Economic Outlook (WEO) Update on Monday, January 19, 2026.

The report will be presented during a press conference hosted at the National Bank of Belgium in Brussels.

The press conference is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. The Brussels time and will be streamed live via the IMF website and Press Centre, allowing journalists to participate both in person and virtually.

The IMF’s economic assessment will be presented by Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, Economic Counselor and director of the Research Department; Petya Koeva Brooks, deputy director of the Research Department; and Deniz Igan, Division Chief, Research Department.

The January WEO Update is expected to provide revised global growth forecasts and insights into inflation trends, monetary policy direction, and key risks facing the global economy in 2026.

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