₦airaland Forum

The Federal Government has placed embargo on all recruitments into its civil service. The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this while speaking with journalists after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday.

She said the federal government would continue to pay salaries and would not sack workers but place embargo on recruitment exercises and replacement. “On recruitment, there is already an instruction to stop recruitment. What the agencies have been doing is replacement but even that is being suspended. When things improve, we will go back to the issue of recruitment. But for now, our wage bill is already very high.

“The president has directed that salaries and pensions must be paid unfailingly. So, we are not looking at downsizing in anyway. We are maintaining our workforce as it is. But we are just stopping the increase in the size of the nominal roll,” the minister said. Mrs. Ahmed also spoke on a number of measures approved by the FEC to cushion the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic on the nation’s economy. She said it included the introduction of PMS price modulation mechanism, the cutting down on the size of the federally funded upstream projects of the petroleum sector, and the reduction of the crude oil price from the $57 per barrel budgeted to $30.

The measures also included the amendment of budget projections so that the Medium Term Expenditure Framework reflects the current realities, the cutting down of expenditures, the enhancement of production at the minimum 2.18 million barrels, the adjustment of customs revenue, the review of the modalities for the implementation of the social investment programme and the non-essential tax waivers to realize more revenue.

Coronavirus: Trouble Looms In Nigeria As 50 Oil Cargoes Stranded

• Lufthansa cancels 23,000 flights

• We’re not taking things lightly-CBN

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday raised the alarm about the looming crisis as a result of low oil prices and asked Nigerians to brace up for tougher times ahead.

The warning came as the coronavirus scourge continues to wreak serious havoc in the global economic landscape, especially by creating fiscal and planning distortions in crude oil and gas-exporting economies. The Group Managing Director of the state-owned oil corporation, Mallam Mele Kyari, who gave this hint yesterday at the Roundtable Parley with the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele with the theme “Going for Growth 2.0” in Abuja, specifically advised millions of Nigerians to “prepare for trouble” as oil prices take further plunge while demands continue to ebb by the day.

Kyari’s alarm could not have come at a more auspicious time in the 2020 fiscal year in view of the foreign exchange earning implications of the coronavirus scourge for the country’s budget implementation and expected outcomes for the citizenry. Kyari said, “The potential of coming out of the coronavirus will be a long while to come, at least three months.

So, prepare for trouble for three months…We have a backlog of production that needs to be resolved. We will have the impact of coronavirus for a while. Kyari said, “Today, I can share with you that there are over 12 stranded LNG cargoes in the market globally. It has never happened before. LNG cargoes that are stranded with no hope of being purchased because there is an abrupt collapse in demand associated with the outbreak of coronavirus. “Today, we have about 50 oil cargoes that have not found landing.

It means that the traders have purchased it but they don’t know where to take it to.” The NNPC GMD said in order to remain afloat amidst the ravaging effects of the coronavirus, some oil producing countries like Saudi Arabia had given a discount of $8 on the price of its crude oil. “Iraq gives $5 to their off-takers in some locations,” he said. He said when crude oil is sold at $30 per barrel, countries like Saudi Arabia gives it at $22 per barrel and Iraq sells it at $25 per barrel.

Kyari, however, said the NNPC was not resting on its oars, saying several measures were being taken to alleviate the cost of crude oil production in Nigeria. He said the cost of crude oil production in Nigeria is within the range of $15 to $17 per barrel, adding that a reduced cost of production would create a market for Nigeria’s crude and make the country a choice destination for foreign direct investment.

They came on motorcycles, in the quiet breeze of the early morning when many had left the comfort of their beds to congregate for the Subhi (early morning) prayer. It was 5:30am and the sounds of the assailants’ gunshots created panic; there was confusion and many ran in opposite directions, not certain where the bandits were coming from.

They had targeted and descended first, on Marina village in Kerawa district of Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State. Without mercy, they shot at men, women, children and the elderly. “Those of us who used local charm and were impervious to their bullets paid a different price,” said a member of the vigilante group who escaped the attack. “They ran over some of our men with their motorcycles. Because their bullets failed, their machetes were used to cut, slice and hack our people down and others were set ablaze,” he narrated.

After almost four hours of massacre that extended to four additional villages, our correspondents learnt that the bandits had only retreated when air and ground reinforcements from security agencies began their onslaught on them. By noon, the dozens of bandits that ambushed the five neighbouring communities of Igabi and Giwa local government areas of the state had left a trail of bloodbath, ashes of the people they burnt and empty shells of vehicles and homes they ransacked and set ablaze.

Marina village recorded 13 casualties, Kerewa village recorded 23 while 15 others were from Zariyawa, Rago and Unguwan Musa. Ibrahim Aliyu, a member of the vigilante at Marina village said the bandits had hit Marina first and on noticing the smoke emanating from the village, youths from neighbouring Kerawa had rushed to render assistance but were equally ambushed by the bandits.

“They burnt six vehicles in Marina village, cars and motorcycles were burnt in Kerawa as well as hundreds of bags of grains were set ablaze. They looted our communities and took away some of the motorcycles,” he said. In remote communities where vehicular accessibility is difficult and GSM network, almost impossible, it took hours for help to reach the people of the affected villages. However, Governor Nasiru El-Rufai had said the casualty figures would have been far more devastating if not for the intervention of security agents. As at the last count, the ward Councillor of Kerawa, Dayyabu Kerawa, said 51 people had been killed, about 5000 bags of grains destroyed.

He appealed to the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to assist the people who are now taking refuge at Karaukarau and Iyatawa villages of Giwa LGA. Daily Trust Saturday gathered that about three victims are currently receiving treatment at Kauran Wali clinic and one other at ABU Teaching hospital, Shika in Zaria Local Government Area while eight others are at the Iyatawa Hospital in Giwa LGA.

1stdammy:
Is there anything Nigeria is actually good at?
I'm very sure, that very soon Nigeria will start importing Ordinary garri.....

Nigeria may experience drug shortage as India has suspended the exportation of drugs to the country and others around the world. A fortnight ago, the Director-General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Mojisola Adeyeye, had said Nigeria risks drug shortage as 70 percent of its drugs were imported from other countries.

She had said India was already feeling the drug insecurity because it bought most of its materials and active ingredients from China. “If India is feeling it, we should start praying, because we don’t manufacture anything here except water; we import almost everything – active and non-active ingredients, equipment etc. So it is a scary thing, and I have been emphasizing this from day one. We need drug security. Since we import 70 percent of our drugs, then, we are in trouble if such things happen”, she had said.

The government of India, the world’s biggest supplier of generic drugs, in a circular yesterday by the Director General, Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Amit Yadav, limited the exportation of essential drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients because of the coronavirus disease outbreak.

The ban is to ensure home supply as experts warn that the country may face drug shortage if the COVID-19 outbreak continues. Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation has reportedly warned that banknotes could aid the transmission of the infectious disease, advising people to go cashless in transactions.

A WHO spokesman was quoted thus: “To stop the spread of the disease, people should use contactless payments where possible and wash their hands after handling cash. “We know that money changes hands frequently and can pick up all sorts of bacteria and viruses.”

Iraq said a 70-year-old Muslim cleric died on Wednesday from the novel coronavirus, the first death from the outbreak in a country where 31 people have been infected. The Iraqi preacher had been quarantined in the northeastern city of Sulaimaniyah before his death, a spokesman for the Kurdish autonomous region’s health authority said.

According to local sources, he had recently met with Iraqis returning from neighbouring Iran, which has recorded the third deadliest outbreak outside China, the epidemic’s epicentre. Across the world, 3,155 people have died from the virus, with China recording 2,943 deaths, Italy 79 while 77 people have died in Iran from the disease.

Iraq is one of Iran’s largest export markets and a popular destination for Iranian pilgrims visiting the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala. Many Iraqis also cross the frontier for business, tourism, medical treatment and religious studies. Iraqi authorities have closed land borders with Iran and banned the entry of foreign nationals travelling from there and other badly affected countries. Schools, universities, cinemas, cafes and other public places in Iraq have been ordered shut until March 7 to further contain the outbreak, but many continue to operate normally.

Responding to Wednesday’s death, Sulaimaniyah Governor Haval Abu Bakr told reporters that all rallies in the province will be banned and that all football matches will now be held behind closed doors. Local religious authorities for their part announced a ban on mass prayers, including on Fridays, until further notice. The outbreak has fuelled public panic among Iraqis who say the war-ravaged country’s healthcare system cannot handle the epidemic.