₦airaland Forum

The federal government has made a U-turn in its proposed bid to dispose national assets to raise money in order to reflate the economy, describing it as mere speculation.

This position was made known by the minister of information, Lai Mohammed, after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday, at the Presidential Villa.

This comes barely one week after the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting, presided over by the vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, with 23 state governors in attendance, backed the sale of national assets as one of the ways to raise cash to reflate the economy.

The NEC, which is the highest economic decision making body, also canvassed advance payment of licence renewals, infrastructure concessioning and implementation of fiscal stimulus.

LEADERSHIP recalls that the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, had penultimate while confirming government’s plans to sell about 15 per cent of its oil assets held by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which is expected to yield an inflow of $10 billion to the country.

He had said in an interview with top media managers in Lagos that the sale would commence soon. He said the expected income would have been up to $15 billion if the assets were sold earlier in the year and added that a team of consultants had been commissioned to carry out a study on the proposed sale.

Finance minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun had also told business editors in an interview this week that sale of assets would reduce government borrowing.

Recall also that business mogul, Aliko Dangote, was the first to fly the kite about a fortnight night ago when he advised the federal government to sell some national assets, saying it was a better option for the country than borrowing from the World Bank or IMF. According to him, what the nation needs now is to beef up its reserves. He particularly advised the government to sell the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd.

The Senate, on Tuesday, however rejected the proposal, saying the country was not bankrupt, and wondered why the federal government would consider the sale of national assets as an option.

However, speaking to State House correspondents, the minister of information said that, so far, all the reports were still in the realm of speculation as the federal government had not officially made its decision known on the matter.

According to him, government is still working on how to reflate the economy in the most comprehensive manner and will make its position known very soon.

Mohammed said: “What the government will do is to reflate the economy; everything you have heard so far is just suggestion, until the government makes its position known.

“All these assets sale, assets leasing, whatever is being bandied about, they are nothing but speculations. The government is yet to come out with its position on how to bail out the economy.

“NEC will recommend but it is the Federal Executive Council that will decide, and what we decide will be the position of government,” he added.

[size=14pt]FG Okays New Water Policy[/size]

Also yesterday, the federal government approved a new water policy that will improve the management and delivery of water in the country.

Speaking to State House correspondents after the FEC meeting, minister of water resources, Suleiman Adamu, said the Council approved the National Water Policy, National Irrigation Policy and a Draft National Water Resources Bill.

Adamu said, “National Water Policy seeks to provide strategies that will improve the management and delivery of water in the country in particular reference to water supply.”

He noted that the policy was followed by the enabling law – National Water Resources Bill – which essentially consolidates all the existing laws, the Water Resources Act, the River Basin Development Authority Act, National Water Resources Institute Act, National Hydrological Services Act and other Acts put together to form a national law that conforms to international standard and international best practices.

According to him, “By so doing, we have been able to streamline many of the overlapping laws. Sometimes we have conflict in laws; like the one we have with NIWA, about some laws relating to environment and mining.

Adamu noted that the bill seeks to sort out all those issues so that Nigeria can have a standard national law, adding that the country can set up a proper regulatory agency to regulate the water sector.

“With that, the door is now open for the private sector to come in a big way to invest in water supply schemes in this country. The irrigation and drainage policy seeks to recognise and bring in water users association and generally improve not only irrigation infrastructure but irrigation management in the country.”

He observed that Nigeria had the potential of 3.4 million hectares of land for irrigation and that only about 130,000 had been developed formally, with about 70,000 being utilised.

“So, there is a huge gap and we feel that introducing this policy will help us to work along at federal and at regional levels with the states, so that we will have an all-encompassing policy that will help our agriculture agenda for now.

“So it is a good thing that we brought the three policies together and we believe the water resources sector is going to be an entirely different ball game from now on,” he said.

Also speaking, the minister of information, stated that water has become one of the most important resources today with economic, social and political implications.

According to him, the judicious allocation of water for human, livestock, and industry has become one of the serious issues facing humanity.

“As a matter of fact, many countries have gone to war over the issue of water. So I believe it is only timely that Nigeria is proactive and considers the issue of water resources as not one that should be left in the hands of just anybody but that the federal government took it seriously,” Mohammed stated.

[size=14pt]Nigeria Loses N61trn To Non-passage Of PIB[/size]

The country has lost $200 billion, translating to N61.1 trillion, for failing to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), a Bill expected to provide the enabling law for the petroleum industry.

The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), which revealed this yesterday, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to take urgent steps to halt the unending delay in the passage of the Bill.

This was contained in NEITI’s latest policy brief, titled: ‘The Urgency of a New Petroleum Sector Law.”

NEITI attributed some of the losses to projected investments, which it put at $120 billion ($15 billion yearly), that had been deferred due to regulatory uncertainty.

Economically, NEITI stated that the losses incurred due to the non-passage of the Bill had been huge, stressing that it had caused a haemorrhage on Nigeria’s foreign reserves and the value of the Naira as the country imported refined petroleum products worth over $26.4 billion.

According to the report, the Nigerian petroleum industry has continued to deteriorate due to the fact that the laws governing the industry are not sufficient for effective regulation and, in some instances, too outdated to be relevant in today’s global energy environment.

“Though eight years in the National Assembly, the motion around the PIB has been on for all of 16 years. Sadly, there is little about what is going on at the moment to suggest real movement or adequate learning from the past. The PIB ship should be rescued from a start-stop, unhurried and uncoordinated mode and brought swiftly ashore,” the report stated.

It then recommended that, “There is need for President Muhammadu Buhari to take the lead by investing his presidential capital on this all-important legislation, putting in place a mechanism for rallying the stakeholders to a consensus, and using this law as one of the pillars of the bridge to a much needed economic recovery.”

Comparing the situation to that in Ghana, NEITI asked Nigeria to learn from that country.

“The fact that Ghana passed the law for its petroleum sector two years after commencing the process should be a lesson for Nigeria.”

NEITI, however, lamented that there is no evidence that Nigeria has learnt from its past experiences to guarantee that the present journey will be any different.

It noted that the current efforts at reviving the process of enacting the law are already exhibiting disturbingly familiar patterns and have added a new dimension on whether the bill should be taken en bloc or passed piece-meal.

“The process of enacting a new law for Nigeria’s petroleum sector has gone on for far too long, and at enormous costs to the country. More urgency and better coordination are needed on the passage of this very important bill.

“The PIB is one of the most important bills ever to be contemplated in Nigeria’s history, yet the one that has taken the most time and generated the most activity without legislation.”

NEITI asserted that as an agency set up to enthrone transparency and accountability in the extractive industries, it had legitimate interest in a petroleum law for the country.

NEITI, therefore, recommended that an inclusive task team be urgently empanelled, with the president in the lead, and charged with building consensus among stakeholders.

“This task team should draw up a clear and well-communicated roadmap and fast-track the passage of the law in piece-meal rather than an omnibus approach,” it said.

[size=14pt]OPEC approves first oil output cut deal since 2008[/size]

Members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed yesterday, to cut oil output for the first time since 2008, with Saudi Arabia softening its stance on arch-rival, Iran, amid mounting pressure from low oil prices.

A report which quoted two sources in the organisation said the group would reduce output to 32.5 million barrels per day from current production of 33.24 million bpd.

The sources however could not tell how much each country will produce, saying that is to be decided at the next formal meeting of OPEC in November, when an invitation to join cuts could also be extended to non-OPEC countries such as Russia, sources said.

Oil prices jumped more than five per cent to trade above $48 per barrel after the outcome of OPEC’s informal meeting in Algeria took traders by surprise. Still, many said they wanted to see the details of the deal.

“We don’t know yet who’s going to produce what. I want to hear from the mouth of the Iranian oil minister that he’s not going to go back to pre-sanction levels. For the Saudis, it just goes against the conventional wisdom of what they’ve been saying,” said Jeff Quigley, director of energy markets at Houston-based Stratas Advisors.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Tuesday that Iran, Nigeria and Libya would be allowed to produce “at maximum levels that make sense” as part of any output limits which could be set as early as the next OPEC meeting in November.

That represents a strategy shift for Riyadh, which has said it would reduce output to ease a global glut only if every other OPEC and non-OPEC producer followed suit. Iran has argued it should be exempt from such limits as its production recovers after the lifting of EU sanctions earlier this year.

The Saudi and Iranian economies depend heavily on oil but in a post-sanctions environment, Iran is suffering less pressure from the halving in crude prices since 2014 and its economy could expand by almost 4 per cent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Riyadh, on the other hand, faces a second year of budget deficits after a record gap of $98 billion last year, a stagnating economy and is being forced to cut the salaries of government employees.

Lalasticlala, Mynd44

mekaboy:
Confused government, looking for the easy way out. You said GEJ did nothing, u chased away the investors he attracted, now you are running all over the world on your knees begging them to come back. You will even make your treasury bills 60% for 91 days.

Now that they have refused to be back in the NEPA cert administration, you want to sell Nigeria.

However, speaking to State House correspondents, the minister of information said that, so far, all the reports were still in the realm of speculation as the federal government had not officially made its decision known on the matter.

Mohammed said: “What the government will do is to reflate the economy; everything you have heard so far is just suggestion , until the government makes its position known.

“All these assets sale, assets leasing, whatever is being bandied about, they are nothing but speculations. The government is yet to come out with its position on how to bail out the economy