Bellafricana published in Tour Packages

Amazing Places to Visit in Abuja

Abuja

Abuja is the capital city of Nigeria, which is located in its center. Building Abuja according to plan started in the 1980s. It officially became Nigeria’s capital on 12th December 1991, replacing Lagos, which is regarded as its commercial capital and its most populous city.

Aso Rock Abuja
Aso Rock Abuja

Abuja’s identity is conspicuously defined by Aso Rock, a 400-metre tall monolith left by water-erosion. Some other interesting attractions in the city are the National Ecumenical Centre, the National Mosque, the Zuma Rock, the IBB Golf Course with wonderful shopping centres, restaurants and fun clubs around the city. The other areas of the city extend to the south of the rock. Abuja is known for being the best purpose-built city in Africa as well as being one of the wealthiest and most expensive.

Abuja Central Mosque
Abuja Central Mosque

Here are the five amazing places every tourist needs to visit in Abuja. With a lot of activities happening in the capital city, these five might seem like the ones with some serenity, and if you enjoy nature and would love to escape the hullaboo often associated with urban areas in the country, you might find these five places in Abuja very interesting.

Millennium Park, Abuja

It is the largest public park in Abuja and is within the Maitama District of the city. It is located close to the nucleus of the presidential and administrative buildings in the city.

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A river in its main rectilinear axis divides the park into two sides.

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One side of the park is dedicated to its uncontaminated nature. With a system of terraces at different levels are located Nigeria’s mountain vegetation, savanna, deciduous forest, rain forest and brushwood as well as greenhouses for butterflies and tropical birds.

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On the other side, corresponding to the main entrance from the road, is dedicated to the scientific knowledge of the natural environment. This part of the park has a very traditional and rigid Italian style garden layout. A rectilinear path completely paved with Roman white travertine brings the public into its green areas. A series of fountains run alongside this white path refreshing the public during the hottest days. This park, conceived and designed by the Italian architect, Manfredi Nicoletti, has quickly become one of the main attractions of the city of Abuja bringing thousands of people together each day.

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National Children’s Park and Zoo

The National Children’s Park and Zoo is located in Asokoro District behind the Presidential Villa. It sits under the shadow of nearby Aso Rock. For animal lovers, there is plenty of wildlife to admire here, with attractions including camels, crocodiles, elephants, giraffes, monkeys, ostriches, tortoises, wild cats and zebras.

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Domestic animals are also housed in the zoo, making it a great attraction for younger children too. In fact, playgrounds and other fun activities for kids along ‘Toddler’s Lane’ make this an ideal place to while away an afternoon or enjoy a picnic.

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The Lake Cafe is also close by should you require a hot snack or a freshly made milkshake. It is opened daily from 9 am to 6 pm. Admission to this park requires some fee.

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Abuja Arts and Craft Village

Arts and Craft Village lies at the heart of the city, flanked on either sides by magnificent monuments – Shehu Musa Yar’adua Centre on the right and Silverbird Entertainment Centre on the left.

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With the Sheraton Hotel as a backdrop for the Art and Craft Village, it presents you the opportunity to see and buy some of Nigeria’s art and craft works that represent the country’s culture.

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The shops are thatch-roofed huts with walls made from red earth (clay). From little sculpted ‘warrior and horse’ statuettes, beaded necklaces and bracelets, African traditional masks, traditional leather bags, tie & dye (Adire) clothes to mention a few, you’ll find this a safe shopping spot for local arts and crafts.

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If you are a fan of wooden and bronze sculptures and leather artifacts, you will love it. Food and drink stalls are also available.

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National Arboretum Abuja

Adjoining the mini-park located at the National Park along the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport Expressway, Abuja.

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The arboretum was established to play significant roles in conservation of genetic resources for research, educational, medicinal and other scientific purposes.

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Comfortable concrete seats have been provided within the arboretum for visitors’ relaxation, meditation and quiet study of the environment.

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The purpose of the Arboretum is to maintain the forest and other plant life within it in their original natural condition. Birdwatchers can check out different species of birds within the city.

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Pedam Lake

You may have lived in Abuja for decades without a hint that this lake exists. But it is massive. It lies behind the Presidential Villa, sprawling towards Nassarawa State.

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It is not well developed for tourism but is accessible through the Abuja Park and Zoo or through some other less known routes from Udoma Street in Aso Rock.

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Source: connectnigeria.com

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Jemimah Iwok published in News

How the new finance bill affects businesses in Nigeria

The president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari not too long ago signed the Finance bill into law.

The Finance bill subsequently amended to “The Finance Act” saw to it that Value Added Tax (VAT) formerly 5% was increased to 7.5% for any product and services sold in Nigeria.

The President in a bid to shed light on the decision had explained that:
“This Finance Bill has five strategic objectives in terms of achieving incremental but necessary changes to our fiscal laws”

These objectives are:

  • Promoting fiscal equity by mitigating instances of regressive taxation
  • Reforming domestic tax laws to align with global best practice
  • Introducing tax incentives for investments in infrastructure and capital markets
  • Supporting Micro, Small and Medium-sized businesses in line with our Ease of Doing Business Reforms; and Raising Revenues for Government.

The new law states that small businesses with a turnover of less than N25 million are to be exempted from Companies Income Tax, while it lowers the tax rate for companies making up to N100 million from 30 percent to 20 percent.

This is expected to come as a relief to the lot of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria, most of which already struggle to stay afloat in a hostile business environment.

What the increase in VAT really means

When the rate was 5%, it means that for a price of ₦1000 the buyer will pay an extra of ₦50 as VAT to government making the bill a total of ₦1050. If the item is to be used or for consumption, then that is where the VAT story ends.

But if the Item is to be sold, or used to produce something else which will be sold at say₦1500, then VAT of ₦75 needs to be charged, so the buyer pays ₦1575.

Since the first buyer payed VAT of ₦50 (input VAT) when the initial item was bought, he/she is entitled to deduct it from the VAT of ₦75 just charged (output VAT) and only pay the difference of ₦25 ( ₦75 – ₦50) to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

The above scenario is the same but the VAT has now been increased from 5 percent to 7.5 percent.

A Positive Effect?

Small and Medium scale enterprises in Nigeria are starved of capital as poor access to finance constitutes a major constraint for businesses.

Similar challenges encountered by the sector include the high cost of doing business and multiplicity of taxes, a problem the new bill looks to eliminate.

In analysis of the bill, some industry players had this to say:

“The initiative is laudable and the modifications to the fiscal rules around taxation are clearly aimed at creating an enabling business environment and alleviating the tax burden for small and medium enterprises”
-KPMG (accounting firm)

“With unrestricted access into the bank accounts of companies, businesses are now open to paying taxes more than ever. And to reduce tax evasion”
-Tayo Oluwole (Tax consultant)

“It is clear the amendments that the Act makes to existing tax laws will have a “significant impact” on businesses operating in the country.”
-Andersen Tax (website)

In consideration of standard of living and ease of doing business, the Finance Bill seeks to cushion the harsh effects of the 7.5% VAT by introducing other palliative measures.

For example, stamp duty on receipts became ₦50 for every transaction worth ₦10,000 and above, instead of the ₦1,000 threshold earlier used by banks.

Also, for Company Income Tax (CIT), businesses with a turnover of less than N25 million will be exempted.

CIT for businesses with sales of between 25 to 100 million falls from 30% to 20%. Also,businesses which pay their taxes on time will get a reprieve of 2%.

 

What do you think of the new finance bill? Have you started implementing it in your business? I would love to know!

 

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Jemimah Iwok published in News

Electricity Tariff Increase in Nigeria: How It Affects Businesses

Dear Business Owner in Nigeria,

Are you aware that come April 1st, 2020, you’ll be paying a lot more for electricity  than you presently do?  If you aren’t, there’s been an electricity price increase in Nigeria. This is no “April Fool” Prank. It’s the sad reality.

In the tariff review clarification notice from the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), the Discos said the tariffs would change from April 2020. “The tariffs shall remain an equivalent as they presently are (i.e. 2015 levels) until April 1, 2020 when there will be an increment to cater for tariff shortfall”. This shortfalls or losses shall be gradually passed on to the buyer until this is fully completed by the end of 2021.

According to the PUNCH newspapers, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has approved that an additional N8 to N14 per Kilowatt hour, will be added to the present tariff.

LET’S DO A QUICK MATH…

Let’s say you spend an average of N3 per Kwh, and you use, say 12,000 Kwh monthly. That’s 36,000 right? ( Still a lot but what can you do?). Now imagine that an extra N8 is added to the daily cost. That means you’ll pay N11 * 12,000. That’s N132,000 monthly! Wow!

Electricity Tariff Increase in Nigeria: How It Affects Your Business and what you can do about it

As a business in Nigeria, a constant struggle is trying to keep expenses to a minimum. With the unanticipated shoot in the cost of electricity, how are businesses being affected by the increasing cost of this unavoidable business expense?

HOW THIS AFFECTS YOU

  1. Increment in budget for power: Due to the tariff increase, Business owners will be forced to increase the amount budgeted for power. This might negatively affect the running cost of the business.
    Budget for Power
  2. High Running Cost of Buying Fuel: The increase of electricity tariff coupled with the low supply of electricity will lead to an increment of the daily consumption of Petroleum products by Business owners. High running cost of buying fuel
  3. Risk of Folding up: For businesses heavily reliant on electricity, the risk of closure might rear its ugly head. This might in turn, spike up the rate of unemployment.What then can you do, to ensure that this unanticipated electricity tariff increase doesn’t run your business to the ground?Consider Other Energy AlternativesBiofuel

    One of such alternatives is having renewable forms of energy supplying energy consumption demand at a business premises.

    Using the likes of biomass, wind and solar systems to deliver energy can help businesses save on energy bills, as well as help reduce their contribution to climate change.

    Solar Inverters and Bio Fuel might be Cheaper alternatives to the cascading power supply, in the long run. So, why not make some research and see if it’s a viable option?

    Installing a Prepaid Meter

    If you don’t already use one, a pre-paid electricity meter in your work environment may be a way to help you better monitor your electricity spend and usage.

    While this won’t cost you less in terms of cost per kilowatt hour, you’ll be more conscious of your electricity usage, as well as how much it is costing you per day. 

    Prepaid Meter: Alternative for Electricity

 

Limiting your Electricity Consumption

Remember the Warren Buffet Quote: “If you buy things you do not need, soon you will have to sell things you need.”
So, you might need to take a step back and do some analysis. Discard or reduce use of equipment you might not be needing. This will help motivate you to lower your electricity usage and better budget your monthly electricity spend.

 

Know better solutions to dealing with this  Electricity Increase Tariff in Nigeria? We’d love to hear from you! Please leave a comment below!

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Bellafricana published in Articles

Bellafricana partners with Nest Cooperative to launch a Fund to Scale for Creative MSMEs in Nigeria

What was once a DREAM at Bellafricana to have a financial partner has now become a REALITY. Signed, sealed and partnered.

As reported by the News Agency of Nigeria and Business Day Nigeria; Bellafricana partners with Nest Cooperative to launch a Fund to Scale for Creative MSMEs in Nigeria.

Creative indigenous businesses lack the required skills and support to grow a sustainable business that can compete globally and this is what the Bellafricana platform for creative businesses is providing.

Bellafricana is an organised community which provides the much needed support and creates an enabling environment for the world to connect and trade online with reliable and credible creative Indigenous Businesses, anytime, anywhere.

To further this goal, they have identified the similar interest in MSMEs with the Nest Cooperative and are partnering with them to drive it home via their Investment fund bouquet.

Nest Cooperative through Finn Labs Ltd is a registered Cooperative focused on developing and enabling mostly SMEs to be better business corporations in Nigeria through the facilitation of smarter and improved financial systems to include savings, investments and loans.

NEST Bellafricana

During the signing of the agreement, Bukky Asehinde, CEO of Bellafricana said that “This initiative is a necessity at this point and especially with the African Trade Agreement; as a lot of Micro, Small and Medium Businesses need this support to enable them scale effectively to be able to participate in this global trade opportunity.”

“As we believe that businesses producing quality products Made-in-Nigeria play a key role towards increasing our export income as well as taxable income for the economy. Seeing how the Nest Cooperative have a proven track record of providing financial expertise with a focus towards SMEs in Nigeria; we couldn’t think of any reasons why not to partner with them.”

Through the Bellafricana platform, various business categories have been vetted, trained and guided through the different business management facets and many of them are currently registered and listed with Bellafricana as verified Nigerian businesses. These categories include Food and Beverage, Fashion, Arts & Crafts, Home and living, Health & Beauty to name a few.

Other partners already signed up with the community are the Lagos Chamber of commerce and industry, the Nigeria-American Chamber of commerce, National Export Promotion Council, DHL, Digital Marketing Skill Institute and so many others.

Mr Seyi Olusanya, COO of Nest Bank, said;

“It is quite impressive to see the amount of quality products with attention to details that are being made by members of the Bellafricana community and this becomes a great encouragement to ensure that the support they need to succeed is being provided and that is why NEST has extended their unwavering commitment to supporting SMEs and ensuring their growth through funding and advisory services.

The Made in Nigeria Creative business is set to gain easier access to financial support via new Bellafricana-Nest partnership which should also drive socio-economic factors like unemployment a bit lower than currently is in the Nigerian sphere.

The Alliance of the two business entities provides the opportunity for more creative businesses to leverage the partnership for mutual benefits.

Some of the Nest Cooperative services the Bellafricana community members will benefit from include a financial model analysis where they advise the SME owners on the smarter ways to position their business to generate more revenue through trade and equipment financing as has identified as the crux of their needs.

The management teams of both companies have specialized skills ranging across understanding the best practices to raising funding for production, material sourcing, branding and packaging. All of which are what these SMEs need to be well on their way to being better positioned amongst the first batch of Made in Nigeria goods to be eligible for the AfCTA and trade globalization.

Bellafricana in partnership with Nest Corporatives

Mrs Bukky Asehinde also reiterated the fact that whilst her focus has been on ensuring that the creative businesses she openly promotes via the Bellafricana platform are verified, a number of the unverified businesses are yet to get to this stage because of imminent gaps in their business operations that prevent them from scaling that milestone achievement. She is hopeful that with the new partnership that more of this category can also get verified and scale their businesses via avenues to include partnerships, collaborations and service rendering offers from even within the NEST SME community.

Who knows if the next global brand will emerge from amongst any of these small businesses? Time will tell.

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Bellafricana published in Life Style

Nollywood Movies That Made It To Netflix This Year 2019

Bellafricana is focused on promoting creative indigenous businesses in Nigeria, so it is no news that today we are celebrating Nollywood movies that made it to Netflix. Why is that a big deal you would ask, well prior to this time, African movies were rarely featured on Netflix.

So when Netflix announced this year to start including more of African content, it was a big win for African countries like Nigeria and so far over 10 Nigerian movies have been included. Isn’t that amazing? Well, I think it is and worth celebrate.

Allow me to tell you about some of these movies;

1. Up North;

nollywood movies that made it to netflix

This movie directed by Tope Oshin in 2018 features Rahama Sadau, Kanayo O. Kanayo, Adesuwa Etomi Wellington, Banky Wellington, Hilda Dokubo, Michelle Dede, Akin Lewis and Ibrahim Onimisi Suleiman. This story shot in the Northern and Western part of Nigeria, Bauchi and Lagos states respectively follows the story of a rebellious heir from a wealthy family is sent to Northern Nigeria for his national service.

2. New Money;

movies that made it to netflix

In this movie, we watch on as a young girl suddenly go from being a shop girl to a billionaire after her father leaves her with his empire. New Money is a 2018 Nigerian film directed by Tope Oshin with production by Inkblot Productions and FilmOne. The movie released in March 2018, stars Jemima Osunde, Kate Henshaw, Blossom Chukwujekwu, Dakore Akande, Wale Ojo and Falz d Bahd Guy.

3. Moms At War;

movies that made it to netflix

Moms at War is a 2018 Nigerian comedy drama movie directed by Omoni Oboli. It tells a story of two mothers who compete against themselves in other to ensure success in the lives of their children. They want their kids to come out top in a particular a scholarship competition. Omoni Oboli says she was inspired to star and direct in the movie because of her own childhood experiences. It stars Funke Akindele and Michelle Dede.

4. 93 Days;

movies that made it to netflix

This is the story of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Nigeria that infected millions of people and its successful containment by health workers from a Lagos hospital. 93 Days is a 2016 Nigerian drama thriller film directed and co-produced by Steve Gukas.  It stars Bimbo Akintola, Danny Glover and Bimbo Manuel with joint-production through Native FilmWorks, Michel Angelo Production and Bolanle Austen-Peters Production.

5. Tatu;

movies that made it to netflix

In this, a mother gives birth to a child destined to give her life up for her people on her 21st birthday. Things get interesting when the mother tries to avert this. The cast includes Segun Arinze, Desmond Elliot, Funlola Aofiyebi-Raimi, Rahama Sadau, Sambasa Nzeribe, Gabriel Afolayan, Hafiz Oyetoro and Frank Donga.

6. Chief Daddy;

movies that made it to netflix

Chief Daddy is a Nigerian feature film directed by  Niyi Akinmolayan, written by Bode Asiyanbi and produced by Mosunmola Abudu and Temidayo Abudu, was released in December 2018. It starred popular Nollywood actors and actresses Funke Akindele Bello, Kate Henshaw, Nkem Owoh, Joke Silva, Patience Ozokwor, Richard Mofe Damijo and Racheal Oniga. Chief Daddy is about a billionaire industrialist, Chief Beecroft who dies and lifes the family stranded.

And so, these are some Nollywood movies that made it to Netflix and we are so proud. Tell me which of these movies I left out and which you have watched in the comment session. I hope you check them out soon.

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At Bellafricana our aim is to help you connect with creative, unique and quality African owned businesses.

We believe that every creative entrepreneur has a potential to grow sustainable global businesses. Bellafricana understands the challenges and is honored to be a part of the Creatives’ dream. Their dream is our dream

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