Rite Foods Limited Supports Health Initiative For Women With Breast Cancer

0

As part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, Rite Foods Limited, a truly world-class and proudly Nigeria food and beverage company recently aided the free breast and cervical cancer screening and treatment programme of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation for women in Lagos.

The exercise which will be conducted in all parts of the state started with 200 women in Lagos Island East Local Council Development Area, and it saw medical experts from the Foundation offering free advice about the disease, its symptoms, causes, and prevention, together with the free screening and treatment.

Addressing the women at the Lagos City Centre, Lagos Island, the Foundation’s Medical Director, Dr. Femi Olaleye, said the initiative is aimed at sensitizing the women on the dangers of the disease which can be harmful to health if not detected and treated at the early stage.

He stated that the Foundation’s health personnel carried out extensive breast examination on the women to ascertain whether they have lumps on them, and also conducted cervical cancer screening on them through a visual stethoscope for possible treatment, as it is a disease that severely affects their internal body system if not detected early.

The medical director affirmed that most women do not know they have these infections and carry them for many years, hence there is a need for proper awareness, to enable them to know the health implications associated with it.

According to him, the scheme will be extended to other parts of Lagos state, with lkorodu and Lekki district in July, Onigbongbo area in August, AmuwoOdofin in September and, Ebute Metta in  October

Dr. Olaleye pointed out that the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended a perfect guideline for the prevention of cervical cancer in a low resource economy, which does not require going to the hospital but can be diagnosed through a medical examination called “see and treat,” like what his Foundation has done.

The global health organization also made known that cancer is the second leading cause of death, accounted for an estimated 9.6 million fatalities in 2018.

Overjoyed with the initiative, Optimal Cancer Care Foundation and the women commended the efforts of Rite Foods Limited for making the medical exercise a success.

Speaking on the CSR scheme, Rite Foods’ Brand Manager, Boluwatife Adedugbe, said it is part of the company’s effort at giving back to society and also in boosting the healthiness of the women, who form parts of the consumers of the company’s quality food and beverage brands. She affirmed that the company is poised towards ensuring the wellbeing of the people where it operates and for a better society that is free from diseases.

According to her, Rite Foods will continue in its stride to identify with organizations that promote initiatives that resonate with the company’s objectives of adding value to lives and help in making the country a better place.

The company’s product line includes the Bigi Cola, Bigi Orange, Bigi Apple, Bigi Bitter Lemon, Bigi Soda Water, Bigi Lemon & Lime, Bigi Tropical, Bigi Chapman, Bigi Tamarind, Bigi Cherry Cola, Bigi Ginger Lemon, Bigi Ginger Ale, Bigi Premium Table Water, Fearless Redberry, Fearless Classic Energy Drinks, Rite Spicy, Bigi Beef Sausage roll, and Rite Sausage roll.

Win a Share of ₦250 Million – betBonanza Drops & Wins Promo

betBonanza, Nigeria’s top gaming brand has joined forces with Pragmatic Play to give Casino customers a chance of winning amazing cash prizes in the ₦250 Million Naira Drops & Wins promotion. The offer is open at betbonanza.com/casino to everyone who has a smartphone, and players will experience world-class casino entertainment, plus a share of the mega sum of Two Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (₦250,000,000)!

Drops & Wins promotion is the first-ever casino network promotion with a massive prize pool of ₦250 Million Naira in Nigeria. betBonanza has made it possible for Nigerians to enjoy an international casino experience and rewarding benefits for it.

betBonanza

betBonanza has the biggest collection of online casino games in Nigeria, with over 400 interesting casino games across Slots, Table Games, Jackpot games and so on. The new Drops and Wins promotion will offer non-stop mobile casino entertainment to players and reward them with mouth-watering daily and weekly money prizes.

Getting a share of the Daily Prize Drops is easy. A player just needs to enter the casino and make one or more spins in any promo game. From each spin of the reels, an instant cash prize could emerge anytime. Players can spin many times every day and win multiple prizes too!

A player could also get the week’s grand prize from the Tournament. A player needs to grab the highest value win relative to their stake for the chance to climb the leaderboard and win massive amounts of money at the end of each week!

How to win in the Drops & Wins promotion.

  • Open an account with betBonanza, and log on to betbonanza.com/casino
  • Select and play any of the promotion games
  • By playing on any of the promotion games, you stand a chance of winning the daily cash prizes when they drop automatically.
  • When you play and win, you also automatically qualify for the weekly tournament and join the leader-board, where you will be in line to get the week’s grand prizes.
  • You can read more about the Drops & Wins promotions and see the Terms & Conditions

Eligible Games for the Daily Drops & Wins

Take part in the betBonanza Drops and Win promotion today for a chance to hit that Jackpot! Play here.

Letshego Unveils Digital Platform To Celebrate Spirit Of Africa

Letshego Group, a leading retail finance organisation in Africa, launched its ‘LetsGo digital’ campaign through LetsGo, its digital financial technology platform. This, according to the company, is an enabler to deepen financial inclusion across Africa. From spoken word poetry to dance, our myriad of cultures and languages, cuisines and passions, we are Africans building a better Africa and such is Letshego’s expressive view on Africa.

Letshego Group has its footprint in 11 African markets with a-22-year history of improving lives through inclusive financial solutions in Africa.

Letshego

According to the Group, Letshego has chosen two budding markets, Nigeria and Botswana, as the first two countries in which the ‘LetsGo digital’ will be rolled out. Through LetsGo, Nigerians have the power to be and the power to do, beginning with Government employees and civil servants under the brand’s established deduction from the source model.

Through the LetsGo App (Android launched, iOS to follow), Letshego customers have access to simple financial banking services on the go, to enhance their lifestyles.

Letshego

Andrew Fening Okai, Letshego’s Group Chief Executive said,

“Having just celebrated Africa Day, and as we navigate through a global pandemic, there is no better time for us to encourage our fellow citizens of Africa to work together in overcoming our challenges and Rise Up!  Letshego remains committed to improving lives by extending access to appropriate financial solutions, progressing towards our ambition to be a world-class retail financial organisation. Digital is no longer a revolution; digital is life!”

This narrative and the richness of the Group’s regional footprint in Africa are expertly narrated in the proudly African television campaign that kicked off on Nigeria TV screens on 24 June 2021.

The campaign is the work of renowned Nigerian music video director, Sesan Ogunro, who brings dynamism, boldness and creativity to his work and runs a multi-award winning video production company based in Lagos, Nigeria, serving all of Africa.

The campaign also includes representation from creatives across each of Letshego’s markets, to immortalise key iconic scenes and elements of Africa’s landscape.

LetsGo solutions enable Letshego customers to achieve their aspirations, empowering a progressive generation of cultural change in this new normal. With simple digital financial and beyond banking solutions that are tailored to support life goals and help improve the lives of our customers, bringing tangible spin-off benefits for our local communities, Letshego remains resolute in changing the landscape of inclusive financial services in Africa.

LetsGo gives customers Digital Power through an omni-channel digital experience with Letshego continuing its journey in evolving its LetsGo platform and products to further catalyse its Strategic Transformation.

Initially, the LetsGo platform – accessible via mobile phone and web – will unlock digital access to account information, loans and top-ups for existing and new deductions at source customers in Botswana and Nigeria.

The Group’s remaining 9 markets will enjoy the same digital platform benefits by the end of this year.  With the brand’s phased rollout of increasing depth in capability, access and products, ‘LetsGo’ is set to catapult Letshego towards its vision to become a world-class retail financial institution, improving the lives of customers across sub-Saharan Africa.

Tolu Opayinka, Letshego Nigeria CEO added,

“We continue to expand our reach by diversifying our product offering, enhancing access via our digital platforms and leveraging strategic partnerships. These value-adding efforts will help us to improve customers’ access to our services, provide the much-needed financial support for our customers and support our financial inclusion imperative.

“As we build on this further, soon all Nigerians, and Letshego customers across the breadth of Africa footprint, will also have this digital power, indeed with growing and expanding capabilities to enjoy in the palms of their hands.

Our success will be measured by our ability to improve lives through our customer experience and our investments in our people, digital technologies, processes and access channels, ultimately underpinning our purpose to Improve Lives for our customers and communities,”.

National Assembly Finally Passes PIB but Failed to Meet Host Communities Expectation

In the just concluded week, the National Assembly finally passed the long-overdue controversial Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), but failed to meet the expectations of the hosts’ communities as only three percent equity holding in Hosts Communities Trust fund was approved, reducing it from five percent previously stated in the Bill.

The three percent of the Trust Fund which was finally approved by the legislators did not go down well with the people of the oil-producing areas as the approved percentage was way below their 10 percent demand.

Also, the National Assembly approved the funding mechanism of 30 percent of NNPC Limited’s oil and gas profit in the production sharing, profit sharing, and risk service contracts to fund exploration of frontier basins in Northern Nigeria as against the 10 percent, stakeholders in the Niger Delta suggested.

PIB

In accordance with the passed PIB, the Minister of Petroleum Resources is now empowered to incorporate Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation as a limited liability company – to be renamed as NNPC Limited, six months after the commencement of the Act.

Hence, the accountability and transparency of NNPC Limited will be boosted as it becomes a company operating under CAMA – subjecting itself to statutory and regulatory oversight. In another development, Federal Government proposed to spend N11.91 trillion in 2022, as it also plans to expend N900 billion on fuel subsidy.

According to the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, the country spent as much as N150 billion on fuel subsidy in a particular month, subsidizing Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) consumption.

The proposed key parameters for the 2022 budget include:

  1. Budget deficit of N5.60 trillion;
  2. Oil benchmark price of USD57 per barrel;
  3. Exchange rate of N410.15/USD;
  4. Oil production of 1.88 million barrels per day;
  5. Inflation rate of 13%; and
  6. A 2.3% economic growth rate.
  7. The 2022 budget deficit of N5.6 trillion is expected to be funded via local and foreign borrowings.

We commend the lawmakers for the successful passage of the Bill, even as the President is expected to quickly assent to it, hence making it an Act, in order to unlock the potential benefits.

Although the Bill did not meet the expectations of the host’s communities, we feel that the country now has a modern law, that can later be amended to allow for greater fairness to oil-producing communities in the Niger Delta, and to regulate operations in the oil and gas industry; of which its effective implementation would stimulate investors interest and catalyze the long-awaited development in the industry.

Naira Weakens against the USD at Most FX Markets

In the just concluded week, Naira appreciated against the USD at the Investors & Exporters Window by 0.42% to close at N411.25/USD despite the external reserves declining w-o-w by 0.71% to close at USD33.28 billion as at July 1, 2021.

However, Naira continued to weaken against the USD at the Bureau De Change and Parallel ‘black’ market by 0.40% and 0.60% to close at N498.00/USD and N503.00/USD respectively.

Meanwhile, NGN/USD exchange rate closed flat at N380.69/USD at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market amid weekly injections of USD210 million by CBN into the forex market: USD100 million was allocated to Wholesale Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS), USD55 million was allocated to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and USD55 million was sold for Invisibles.

naira dividend Retail investors VAT Naira Gains against the USD at BDC, Black Markets amid New Forex Policy…
REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye

Elsewhere, the Naira/USD exchange rate rose (depreciated) for all of the foreign exchange forward contracts: 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months exchange rates rose by 0.08%, 0.27%, 0.23%, 0.45% and 0.51% to close at N413.43/USD, N416.17/USD, N418.11/USD, N424.09/USD and N435.74/USD respectively.

Meanwhile, the spot rate remained flat at N379.00/USD.

In the new week, we expect Naira to weaken against the greenback at most FX Windows amid declining external reserves which suggests a weakening capacity of the apex bank to continue to defend the local currency.

5 Most Popular Dating Apps In Nigeria

Every once in a while, we meet someone who confesses that they have met their forever person on a dating website or app. Therefore, it is not surprising that many people use dating apps and websites to find the right person for them which often requires training and error. Dating apps are therefore popular in all countries, including Nigeria. Here is a list of the top 5 dating apps which are immensely popular amongst Nigerians. 

1. Badoo 

Badoo is an online dating app that allows you to date honestly and meets people who might be genuinely interested in you. This location-built dating app is the app for meeting local people near you. The app allows the users to choose and match with people on the basis of gender, age and location. Further, to keep and make things more interesting, the app lets the users rate the photos of each other. With many global users, Badoo is also a hit in Nigeria. According to a source, most of the Badoo users of Nigeria are based in Abuja and Lagos. Badoo is the most downloaded dating app in Africa.

Dating Apps
Youths playing card game at Lagos Games Festival event organised by Doingsoon. | Photo by Shina Memud

2. Tinder

Tinder is the app that started the global phenomenon of meeting potential matches simply by swiping right and rejecting the others by swiping left. The Tinder app is great both for finding long-term relationships and also for casual hookups. In Africa, Tinder is immensely popular in Nigeria and Kenya. More than 40% of the users use Tinder for confidence-boosting procrastination followed by casual hookups. Less than 5% of its users seek a relationship through the app. A report by LendEDU has reported that a little less than 30% of the users have actually met their Tinder dates in their real life and 13.6^ of the users either get engaged or married to the dates that they have met online. 

3. Bumble

This is a relatively new app but it has managed to gain a fair share of popularity, especially amongst Nigerian women. Bumble is much more than a simple dating app, one can also use the app for expanding their professional connection and network. What makes Bumble different from other dating apps is the fact that after a match, the woman makes the first move. Free features of the Bumble app includes unlimited swipe, unlimited chat and also, video chat. Further, you can link your Instagram and Spotify account on Bumble. If you are using any dating app, here’s a tip for you. Always start and end your conversation with polite notes like Good Night if you are ending the conversation and a morning message, if you initiate a conversation before the afternoon. 

dating apps in Nigeria eSIM-Enabled Smartphone Shipments in Western Europe Grow by 65 Percent in 2020
Photo by Andrew Mantarro on Unsplash

4. Hinge

Hinge is an app that is designed for better matches and dates and also, to be deleted after meeting the right match. According to the stats provided by Hinge, 755% of the Hinge members go for a second date after meeting on Hinge. It is extremely easy to start a conversation on Hinge. For initiating a conversation in Hinge, some have to either like or comment on the profiles. Further, the app takes personal care to ensure that the user date is going smoothly after the user exchanges phone numbers with each other. 

5. OkCupid

With more than 195 million matches each year, OkCupid is a personalized dating app that helps you to move beyond your dating profile. OkCupid provides its users with questionnaires which later helps the users to match with other singles which can be a potential match. The app is particularly popular in India and allows the users to even throw Hindi Status with their potential matches every now and then in the conversation. 

Most dating apps have seen an increase in user activity in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Singles are using dating apps to date while social distance ensures a rise in the number of matches. Further, there was an increased demand for video chatting features and many popular dating apps like Tinder have even added these features for their users. Virtual dating has changed the way the person interact with each other. Dating platforms like Hinge and Tinder are expecting to see a steady flow of users even after the pandemic is over.

Facebook Is Testing ‘Sabee’ App For Nigerian Learners

With two million educators, Nigeria has been a hub of educators around the globe. The educators of Nigeria have been helping populations across the globe to learn various new things. According to reports, more than fifty million people are being helped by these educators. Last autumn, Facebook announced that it was opening an office in Lagos, Nigeria. This office became the first office of the continent to be packed with engineers who have now launched its very first product known as Sabee. In the Nigerian language, Sabee means ‘to know’ and as the name of the product suggests it is an education-focused mobile app. 

Facebook Research and Development Team Develops Sabee

The internal Research and Development team of Facebook is testing Sabee, an educational mobile app to provide education solutions. The app is designed with an objective to connect the learners and educators who are present in the different online communities with educational opportunities which can benefit both the educator and the learner. Further, it will make it easier for the educators of Nigeria to connect with the students.

Sabee A Step By Step Guide To Set Up A Facebook Group For Business

Currently, Sabee is undergoing Alpha testing with less than 100 testers who have signed a non-disclosure agreement with Facebook. Recently, the app was also made public in Google Play Store but it failed to earn any rank in the different charts. Sabee is now available to only the testers and hopefully, it will be launched by the end of the year. Facebook wants to help the Nigerian learners the most with its launch. 

What will Sabee do?

Sabee will help the educators to provide a contact-less service to the students. Currently, the education space is seeing a massive digital revolution. The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the offline classes into online ones too and even the little kids are learning how to use the devices and internet for online lessons. Sabee will try to ensure that education is made available for everyone. With internet connectivity which is as low as 2G, the Sabee app will work in a fully functional manner. Many Nigerian entrepreneurs are addressing the old-age problem of education in the country with their tech start-ups. Currently, Nigeria houses 210 education-focused start-ups. 

Further, it has been noted that Nigeria consists of 50 million learners but the number of educators present in it is merely 2 million. By launching Sabee, Facebook is hoping to build a community of educators to ensure that education is made available to all. It should also be noted that the huge disparity that exists between educators and learners also affects women and girls and Sabee is trying to fix that issue too. Further, it would look into ways through which the groups which have been marginalized by technology can be served better. This is the reason why it becomes important that Sabee is functional with internet connectivity as low as 2G. 

Launching Sabee is a strategic move 

According to data, launching Sabee is a part of a larger strategic move by Facebook. It is expected that by 2030, a huge majority of the population will live in the urban centres and further, the population of Nigeria will also increase. Portals like Banglarbhumi can be used to check such landholding and different documents attached to it. Therefore, it becomes of utmost importance to create connections in these regions and Facebook has realized that much of its future growth will be derived from the African demographic.

The education system of Nigeria needs immediate help

Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, The Minister of State, Education has recently revealed that Nigeria consists of the highest number of out-of-school dropouts in Africa. Currently, the country consists of 10,193,918 children dropouts. The main problems cited for it are poor funding, inadequate qualified teachers and infrastructural facilities. To improve the education sector, the Nigerian government recently launched Better Education Service Delivery For All which will focus on improving the education infrastructure in 17 states of Nigeria. Such education programs are prevalent in many other countries including India which has created a portal named Shala Darpan that allows the parents to keep an eye on the progress of their children in Rajasthan. 

Hopefully, the Sabee app will help Nigeria to improve its education sector to create a brighter future for its children.

Drop-shipping Provides An Alternate Way To Earn A Fortune

0

Drop-shipping is a new and attractive business model that enables an individual to earn money by disrupting the supply chain. It is a type of retail business where the seller accepts the orders of the customers of the items that they do not have stock. The retailer then places the order from the manufacturer or another retailer and then directly then provides the shipment to the customers.

How does drop-shipping work?

The first and foremost thing that a retailer should have for drop-shipping is a website that should display the products that the retailer wants to sell. Further, the website should contain shipping policies, delivery or return. Creating an e-commerce website is cheaper but one needs to be careful that they list only the products which can be shipped.

Drop-shipping

Nigerians are earning a fortune by drop-shipping

Nigeria is battling with a high rate of unemployment and in the midst of it, drop-shipping has provided a ray of hope to Nigerians. Most of the people of Nigeria prefer drop-shipping fashion accessories to make money. For instance, Cart Deals founded by Oladunni Ayorinde dropships fashion clothing and accessories and the company has earned a fortune by engaging in this business. When engaging in drop-shipping, it is important to have professional couriers for shipping the ePacket carefully to the customers. When engaging in a drop-shipping business, one needs to ensure that the products that they are selling are good at quality and are available at good pricing. Further, it needs to be ensured that products which are ordered by the customer reach them safely in a short span of time. 

What is required for drop-shipping? 

For establishing a successful business in drop-shipping, it is necessary to have a website first especially when you are running a business in the middle of a pandemic. On the website, you need to list all the products that you can ship easily using a fast courier service like GATI. Secondly, all the policies should be listed properly to avoid any sort of ugly quarrel with the customer. Next, all the prices on the website should be reasonable to ensure that the pricing is competitive.

Secondly, the website should have a professional domain and logo. Both the domain and logo will show the customers that your business is trustworthy and reliable. If you have narrowed down a niche, you should ensure that the domain name resonates with your niche. 

Thirdly, marketing will play a very important role in fetching customers for your dropshipping business. This would also be a domain where you will be investing most of your budget. Through marketing, you should aim for traffic for your websites. Before investing money in gaining paid traffic, it would be a wise idea to experiment with SEO for gaining organic traffic first. 

The popularity of drop-shipping is rising across the globe 

The last five-year data on Google has revealed that drop-shipping has become one of the most searched terms in Google and it is staying strong. In fact, it is evaluated that the drop-shipping industry will touch the $557.9 billion market size by 2025. Further 27% of the online retailers use drop-shipping to earn money. Previously, AliExpress played a huge role in dropshipping. However, as its popularity it has increased, the users have started engaging with the wholesalers directly to get their products at a much cheaper rate. Additionally, not all the drop-shipping websites are doing well which might give the impression that it is dead. The key to the drop-shipping industry is to keep the customer first. The drop-shipping industry that managed to keep its customers as a priority is still surviving. 

Nigerians have a huge potential to earn via drop-shipping 

Nigeria is one of the largest economies of Africa and its GDP is growing at a tremendous rate. Additionally, it has a population of close to 200 million which is used and recently, the e-commerce market has started flourishing in it making the country a perfect marketplace for entrepreneurs who want to engage online. Currently, the drop-shipping market in Africa is seeing annual growth of 10% making it one of the most lucrative businesses. 

Why Twitter Landed In Hot Water In Nigeria and India?

0

Twitter is facing an existential crisis in two cities, Nigeria and India, and coincidentally, both countries hold a strong demographic base for Twitter. The social media platform has been in a battle with the Indian government for months. The main issue has been that of free speech which the government of India is trying to control by pushing restrictive new rules. Later, Twitter also got into a tussle with the Nigerian government which resulted in its indefinite ban. 

Twitter had to face the wrath of the Nigerian government after it deleted a post published by President Muhammadu Buhari. In the post, he treated a brutal clampdown on unrest in the most populous nation of Africa. Further, the Nigerian government asked the federal prosecutors to go ahead and arrest the users who are using the app.

Twitter Ban Defeats True Democracy - Bloggers Guild Brandspurng
Why Twitter Landed In Hot Water In Nigeria and India? | Brand Spur Nigeria

Twitter holds a large demographic in Nigeria and India 

The ban by Nigeria and the potential ban by India can prove to be troublesome for Twitter. According to reports, India lies in the top five markets of Twitter. Further, with more than 700 million internet users in the country, it presents a good market for all businesses. Similarly, 200 million which is 20% of the population of Nigeria has Twitter accounts. The bold step taken by Nigeria might also lead the way for other countries like India to ban the app if they fail to resolve the issue. 

If Twitter continues to defy the government, it will surely receive more calls for its ban. When working within a country, it becomes important for the global companies and businesses to comply with the political pressure too to ensure that it keeps growing. For instance, the Indian government organizes a lottery like the Punjab State Lottery with its own rules and regulations. 

Following the footsteps of these countries, even the home country is trying to control the tech giant. Former US President Donald Trump still holds grudges against Twitter for banning him and therefore, it is not surprising that he has asked other countries to follow Nigeria by banning the tech giant. 

Twitter has underestimated Nigeria

The first time when Nigeria distasted Twitter was when earlier the company decided to set its first base in Africa in Ghana instead of Nigeria, which is currently the largest economy of the continent. The number of Twitter users present in Nigeria is much more than the total population of Ghana. This created tension between Nigeria and Twitter earlier this year. The decision of Twitter to place its office in Ghana instead of Nigeria might have some geopolitical considerations. In 2019, the World Bank placed Ghana 13 positions higher than Nigeria in the “Ease of Doing Business Index”. Further, Ghana is known for its democratic freedom and it has been a huge supporter of an open internet, free speech and online freedom.

Twitter's Dorsey Auctions First Ever Tweet As Digital Memorabilia
Jack Dorsey | www.brandspurng.com

The troubled Twitter in India

In India, Twitter landed in trouble when many Indians used the platform for posting against Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister for introducing new agricultural laws. The IT ministry then asked Twitter to take down a few accounts but Twitter refused to comply with this order which created a rift between the Indian government and Twitter. 

Earlier, in May police also landed on Twitter’s office situated in Delhi after Twitter tagged a post published by a spokesperson of Bharatiya Janta Party, the ruling party of India as manipulated media. Even though the police declared it as a part of a routine process, Twitter said that the move was actually an intimidation tactic and that it fears for its employees working in the country. Later, India further intensified different policies and asked Twitter to comply with them. 

Experts have advised that Twitter should invest in the local teams for understanding the local laws of the country where it is functioning. For instance, of 28 states in India, the lottery is legal in 13 states, one can take part in the Sikkim State Lottery and to gather such insights, it is important to have local teams. It would be interesting to see what is the fate of Twitter in India. Will Twitter comply with the new IT guidelines of the Indian government or will it stay true to its core value of being a democratic platform where its users can voice their opinion strongly and without fear. 

Global labour migration increases by five million – Report

A new ILO report estimates that between 2017 and 2019 the number of people migrating for work internationally increased from 164 to 169 million.

GENEVA – The number of international migrant workers globally has risen to 169 million, a rise of three per cent since 2017, according to the latest estimates from the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The share of youth migrant workers (aged 15-24) has also increased, by almost 2 per cent, or 3.2 million, since 2017. Their number reached 16.8 million in 2019.

The new report, ILO Global Estimates on International Migrant Workers: Results and Methodology , shows that in 2019, international migrant workers constituted nearly five per cent of the global labour force, making them an integral part of the world economy.

Yet many migrant workers are often in temporary, informal or unprotected jobs, which expose them to a greater risk of insecurity, layoffs and worsening working conditions. The COVID-19 crisis has intensified these vulnerabilities, particularly for women migrant workers, as they are over-represented in low-paid and low-skilled jobs and have limited access to social protection and fewer options for support services.

Global labour migration

“The pandemic has exposed the precariousness of their situation. Migrant workers are often first to be laid-off, they experience difficulties in accessing treatment and they are often excluded from national COVID-19 policy responses,” said Manuela Tomei, Director of the ILO Conditions of Work and Equality Department.

High-income countries continue to absorb the majority of migrant workers

More than two-thirds of international migrant workers are concentrated in high-income countries. Of the 169 million international migrant workers, 63.8 million (37.7 per cent) are in Europe and Central Asia. Another 43.3 million (25.6 per cent) are in the Americas. Hence, collectively, Europe and Central Asia and the Americas host 63.3 per cent of all migrant workers.

The Arab States, and Asia and the Pacific each host about 24 million migrant workers, which, in total, corresponding to 28.5 per cent of all migrant workers. In Africa, there are 13.7 million migrant workers, representing 8.1 per cent of the total.

The majority of migrant workers – 99 million – are men, while 70 million are women.

Women face more socio-economic obstacles as migrant workers and are more likely to migrate as accompanying family members for reasons other than finding work. They can experience gender discrimination in employment and may lack networks, making it difficult to reconcile work and family life in a foreign country.

More youth are migrating in search of employment

The share of youth among international migrant workers has increased, from 8.3 per cent in 2017 to 10.0 per cent in 2019. This increase is likely to be related to high youth unemployment rates in many developing countries. The large majority of migrant workers (86.5 per cent) remain prime-age adults (aged 25–64).

Services sector is the main employer of migrant workers

In many regions international migrant workers account for an important share of the labour force, making vital contributions to their destination countries’ societies and economies, and delivering essential jobs in critical sectors like health care, transportation, services, agriculture and food processing.

According to the report, 66.2 per cent of migrant workers are in services, 26.7 per cent in industry and 7.1 per cent in agriculture.

However, substantial gender differences exist between the sectors: There is a higher representation of women migrant workers in services, which may be partly explained by a growing labour demand for care workers, including in health and domestic work. Men migrant workers are more present in the industry.

Labour migration policies will be effective only if they are based on strong statistical evidence. This report offers sound estimations, based on robust methods and reliable data integrating harmonized complementary sources,” said Rafael Diez de Medina, Chief Statistician and Director of the ILO Department of Statistics.

“These policies can then help countries respond to shifts in labour supply and demand, stimulate innovation and sustainable development, and transfer and update skills.”.