₦airaland Forum

Ofemmanu1:
Biafra media are bunch of basterrds

SIMONEKPA7:

But why is El Rufai insulting Igbos that they cant open their shops on Monday's...

5th August, 2022

Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi has been caught again making fallacious claims about the value of Nigeria’s exports.

Twice, he was caught claiming that the country exported less than $30 billion of goods and services in 2021, underperforming smaller African peers such as Morocco.

Obi argued that Nigeria was “not a producing country” and has a weak export base, causing dollar scarcity in the country.

However, the French news agency AFP after factchecking him, found that his statement was false.

Official data shows annual exports from Nigeria have exceeded $30 billion for well over a decade.

Obi first made the claim during an hour-long interview that was aired on July 6, 2022, by Nigerian broadcaster Arise Television.

“Morocco is about 36 million, their export last year was over 50 billion dollars,” said Obi.

“In our own [exports] with oil included, it’s under 30 billion [dollars] and we’re 200 million [people]. Morocco didn’t export any oil.”

About two weeks later, he repeated the claim during a visit to Abia state.

“Nigeria is a country with 923,000 square kilometres of land, and a population of 200 million people. God blessed us with oil and other resources. We have over 100 million people living in poverty,” Obi said in the second interview.

“But to show that we are not a producing country, last year, our total export including oil was less than 30 billion dollars, that is why we can’t find dollars today.”

Indeed, Nigeria is the largest exporter of crude oil in Africa.

The commodity, which accounted for more than two-thirds of total exports in 2021, is the country’s biggest source of dollar inflows.

However, oil output fell in the first five months of 2022, raising fresh concerns about the country’s economic output and currency stability.

According to the World Bank, the value of Nigeria’s total exports in 2019 was US$ 53.6 billion. Macrotrends even estimated it to be $63.6 billion. Oil and gas accounted for $41 billion of the figure.

Morocco exported goods worth $47 billion in the same year.

In 2021, Nigeria shipped US$47.6 billion worth of goods around the globe.

An environmental expert and Head, Climate Change Education and Action Programme, Elochukwu Ezenekwe, has said that Anambra State remains the worst hit by climate change in Africa.

Ezenekwe also stated that Anambra had suffered the worst damage from climate change impacts in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa.

The environmental expert, reputed as Africa’s foremost climate change expert, stated this on Thursday during an enlightenment/education session at the Government House, Awka, the Anambra State capital.

The programme was facilitated by the Peace Advocacy and Sustainable Development Outreach and aimed at galvanising climate action by educating stakeholders and actors at the community, local, state, national and international levels.

While calling for an urgent need to declare a climate change emergency, he said Anambra State is suffering from flooding and is also the headquarters of gully erosion in Africa.

He said, “Climate change hits us in Africa through various extreme weather and climate-related events that include drought, flooding and gully erosion. Drought and desertification are the least destructive and easiest to manage.

“Flooding is more destructive but usually allows for recovery of houses and properties when the waters recede.

“But for gully erosion, the damage is comprehensive and total. Be it classrooms, community health centres, houses, crops, farmlands, roads, electricity infrastructure, livelihoods and all, everything collapses into the very deep gullies and nothing is recovered.

“Anambra State suffers from flooding and is also the headquarters of gully erosion in Africa, hence there is need to prioritise or even outrightly declare a climate change emergency in the state.”

He urged the state government to take needed steps to start earning income from the carbon credit and emissions trading opportunities presented by the large scale tree planting programme as well as the massive evacuation and treatment of wastes being undertaken by the current administration.

Reacting to the lecture, the Chief of Staff to the Governor of Anambra State, Mr Ernest Ezeajughi, commended the climate expert and the non-governmental organisation for embarking on the noble work of enlightening the government on the challenges and inherent opportunities that could be explored.

ThEGodFaThEr101:
Why una too dey lie like this..

BigYash:
I swear . She should have known that she can't be the last,cux she wasn't the first. Obo na celeb o,no be pastor

FrMbaka:
Northerners are above the law,
More than 95% of drivers in the North don't have drivers license and police can't even take bribe from them.

seunmsg:
Osinbajo is my first choice for 2023. However, If the choice is between Tinubu and Atiku, I will vote for Tinubu without hesitating. He’s a far better leader, a nationalist, and a far better administrator than Atiku.

Brightgem:
Thanks. Insightful enough. Kind of means the wealthy are always in some debt or the other. But why do you consider using one's own personal money stupid? What's wrong with that, atleast the whole risk will be only on your own head. Just saying.

THE Federal Government of Nigeria has told the international electricity customers-Niger, Togo, and Republic of Benin-to pay up their outstanding $7million debt because “electricity is not charity”.

The chairman, West African Power Pool (WAAP), Mr. Usman Gur Mohammed, whom reporters in Abuja accused of playing the big brother with Nigeria’s electricity to the countries, disclosed that Nigeria was also strict with the international customers just as the Nigerians in debt recovery.

Mohammed, who is also the Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), recalled that on his assumption of office, the outstanding bills of the international customers were over $100million.

Stressing that Nigeria does not supply any customers electricity for free, he noted that the Federal Government disconnects the international customers just as it does to Nigerians when they owe electricity debts.

The WAAP chairman said that the Federal Government has now restricted its electricity supply to only contracted international customers.

According to him, Nigeria has insisted that the indebted international customers that were disconnected from the grid pay up their debts before they are reconnected.

His words: “It is not because I am the chairman of the West African Power Pool (WAAP) that I will be allowing international customers to cheat Nigeria.

“When I took over as MD TCN, both Benin and Togo were owing Nigeria more than $100 million. The debt now remains $7million.

“Niger is owing less than $2million. In short, we are not leaving them. We disconnect them as we disconnect customers here in Nigeria. Electricity is not charity. We cannot just allow people to consume electricity and leave us like that.

“As at now, we have restricted their supply to only their contracted ones. We are insisting they pay all their outstanding before we reconnect them and we increase the off- take.”

He corrected the impression that electricity across the border is charity, noting that it is a business from which Nigeria makes millions of dollars like any other exported commodity.

Mohammed said that Nigeria has a comparative advantage of electricity generation in Africa.

Brightgem:
Hello, now I don't know if you mean this or not. But the question, is it ever possible to go into huge projects without loans?

Cuz I'd thought this too when I saw her building. All these loans, property seized later, huge interest are worrisome.

ezenwajosh:
Nigeria A DEAD ZONE FOR CREATIVITY

Even have government agency against INNOVATIONS

Nigerians can't do what haven't been done and they can't innovate what has been done

They only under do what have been done or don't do it @all

I see REWANDA RISING ABOVE CURRENT AFRICAN STATES

989900:
The only way forward in this country is to privatise our 'major' roads, else, it will forever be the same sad story.