₦airaland Forum

Former lawmaker and social critic, Senator Shehu Sani, has reacted to the alleged looting of a warehouse belonging to the National Emergency Management Agency of Nigeria, NEMA, by some residents of the Federal Capital Terrritory, FCT.

According to Sani, the development is a dangerous symptom of an impending revolution.

DAILY POST reported some residents of the FCT had looted a warehouse belonging to the NEMA amid the current economic hardship across the country.

It was gathered that the residents carted away foodstuffs and other items.

“Masses looting foodstuffs from a Government Warehouse in our oil rich Nigeria is a dangerous symptom of an impending revolution that must be averted or contained,” he wrote on his X handle on Sunday.

Recall that the International Monetary Fund, IMF, had said that stalled per-capita growth, poverty and high food insecurity have exacerbated the ongoing cost-of-living crisis in Nigeria.

The report emerged amid rising inflation, exchange rate crisis, weak economic growth and business shutdowns.

The torrential fall of the Naira which has turned the petroleum supply chain into a quagmire is fast eroding the projected gains after the federal government finally removed the petrol subsidy regime.

Oil marketers and government officials also appear not to be on the same page when it comes to the actual landing cost of Petroleum Motor Spirit and the impact that Nigeria’s fluctuating currency has had on the importation of the product.

Presently, it has been calculated that landing cost of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS also called petrol has averaged N1,009 a liter going by prevailing rate of N1,500 per dollar, from N720 per litre recorded in October 2023.

Though, this cannot independent be confirmed by our Correspondent as President of Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Billy Gillis-Harry, said such figures may still be disputed because there are other associated costs like insurance, port charges and cost of hiring vessels.

It has also been reported that the country is paying about N907.5 billion subsidy on petrol monthly as the country’s foreign exchange crisis pushed the actual cost of litre of fuel to N1,203, signalling a return of subsidy regime.

However, an inside source at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, denied the insinuation.

The source said such reports are falsehood and should be disregarded as subsidy has gone.

“I think we should take a look at the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA, which gives the NNPCL the responsibility to ensure energy security at any time. Though it operates as a limited liability company that pays dividend to shareholders, nonetheless the PIA vests that responsibility to the Company to provide buffer and secure the country’s energy demands and perhaps that is what is erroneously being interpreted as return of Subsidy.
The group CEO of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari, had said at the birth of NNPCL that the country was spending over N400 billion monthly on petrol subsidy, but investigations into Nigeria’s petrol pricing dynamics have revealed a significant surge in the landing cost of petrol, attributed to the escalating exchange rate.

In his views, the chief executive officer, CEO, of the Center For The Promotion Of Private Enterprises, CPPE, Dr. Muda Yusuf, said, “Evidently, the currency depreciation has partially eroded the subsidy savings.”
According to Yusuf, this is because the cost of fuel importation has increased, when converted to naira, adding.

Besides, the mounting inflationary pressures has inherently increased the subsidy because the pump price had remained fixed while the landing cost has been on the increase.”
This he said is understandable in the light of the current hardships being experienced by the citizens.

“The government is unlikely to go back to full subsidy. Doing so, would amount to a complete reversal of a major pillar of the current reforms. Besides the government do not have the fiscal space to ensure full restoration of subsidy.

“The objective of the reform is actually to exit completely from fuel subsidy regime. But this will take some time as the economic fundamentals are still weak.” he advised.
Just recently the International Monetary Fund (IMF) claimed that the Nigerian government has, through the backdoor, resumed the payment of subsidies on petrol.

LEADERSHIP WEEKEND writes that on May 29, 2023, President Bola Tinubu announced an end to petrol subsidy, which caused a hike in the prices of goods and services in the country.

Following that announcement, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) collapsed the different exchange rate regimes into one, with the value of the naira to the dollar weakening.
The IMF recently issued a statement on the conclusion of its Executive Board’s Post Financing Assessment with Nigeria, during which it expressed concerns that the government had capped the prices of fuel at retail stations.

The IMF advised Tinubu to completely stop the payment of subsidies on petrol to free funds to run the government.

In reaction, some Groups and individuals rejected the IMF position for what they described as “anti-masses policies”, and called on Nigerian government to explore home grown options that would fix the economy and better the life of the people.

But the minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, on Wednesday, said petrol importation in the country reduced by 50 per cent since the withdrawal of the fuel subsidy.

Idris said this at the third edition of the ministerial press briefing series, where the coordinating minister for Health and Social Welfare addressed journalists in Abuja.

He said,“Petrol importation has been reduced by 50 per cent since the withdrawal of the fuel subsidy. The Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index crossed the 100,000 mark – its highest ever, mainly due to the pragmatic reforms initiated by the President, which inspired investor confidence in the Nigerian economy.
It is also encouraging to state that oil production has risen from 1.22 million barrels per day in the second quarter of 2023 to 1.55 million barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2023.”
President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of petrol subsidy during his inaugural address on May 29, 2023, saying, “Subsidy is gone.”

Idris notes that President Tinubu has also given a directive for the design of a Social Security Unemployment Programme to cater for unemployed graduates.

Equally, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has stated that the decision of his administration to remove subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) was premised on the need to ensure long-term energy security and economic prosperity of Nigeria.

Tinubu stated this in his keynote address at the opening ceremony of the 7th Nigerian International Energy Summit (NIES) at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Tuesday, 27th February, 2024.

The president who was represented at the event by the minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, noted that the petroleum subsidy had, over the years, strained the country’s economic resources, leading to inefficiencies and, most importantly, hindering ability to invest in critical areas of energy security.

He admitted that the decision to remove the petroleum subsidy was a challenging one, but stressed that it was a step that must be taken to secure Nigeria’s energy future and foster economic growth.

He added that by removing the subsidy, “We are creating a more transparent and accountable energy sector. The funds that were previously allocated to subsidizing petroleum products are now redirected towards developing and upgrading our energy and other social infrastructure”.

However, the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) said the only way out of this quagmire is to tap and explore the country’s vast gas deposits and bring it into useful disposition.

The Nigerla Labour Congress has threatened to embark on full blown nationwide strike should government fail to meet its demands on full implementation of 16 point agreement.

NLC President issued the warning at a briefing to give reasons for the suspension of street protests, earlier scheduled for two days.


Ajaero said apart from the success of the demonstrations, it wanted members to celebrate the NLC at 46.

Meanwhile , the NLC has countered government’s reanimation of implementing most of the agreements reached


The latest ultimatum billed to expire on March 13, is issued only by the NLC and not jointly with the Trade Union Congress, as was the last which expired on February 22.

politicoNG:
https://saharareporters.com/2024/02/27/tinubus-sons-seyi-yinka-among-delegates-follow-president-state-visit-qatar-amid-hunger?fbclid=IwAR14TlmJXrjiu8VgbYoxZ4pW3qG1pq-jxCr5y0OMj_7brxTUzlZw_qUwZ_Q

The Federal Government on Monday said it would extend its social security payments net to graduates with qualifications from NCE and upwards.

Addressing journalists after the Federal Executive Council meeting on Monday, the minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, Wale Edun, disclosed that the programme would see unemployed Nigerian youths being paid stipends.

“At this period of heightened food prices, Mr. President has committed to doing all that can be done to assist in giving purchasing power to the poorest and in that line.

“He has committed and instructed that the Social Security unemployment programme be devised, particularly to cater for the youth, for the unemployed graduates, as well as the society as a whole.


“So, we have coming, in the nearest future, an unemployment benefit for the young unemployed, in particular,” the Minister announced.

Similarly, Edun said the FG will urgently establish a consumer credit scheme to alleviate the pains of economic adjustment.

He explained that the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, will lead a committee that includes the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, the Attorney-General of the Federation and himself, the Coordinating Minister of the Economy.


“There is coming a social consumer credit programme. By making consumer credit available, goods become more affordable, the economy even gets a chance to revive faster, because people have purchasing power that allows them to order goods, products,” he stated.

Edun also spoke on the review implemented by the Special Presidential panel on the National Social Investment Programme, which has submitted a preliminary report to the president.

He noted that the president gave the highlights to the Council meeting noting that what was done was “a review of the existing mechanisms, a review of the existing programmes, and where there have been successes, such as the 400,000 beneficiaries of the GEEP programme.”

He added, “So, the direct payments to 12 million households comprising 60 million Nigerians is to resume immediately with the important proviso that every beneficiary will be identified by their national identity number and the bank verification number.

“Therefore, payments will be made into bank accounts or mobile money wallets. So, that whether it is before or after, there is verification of the identity of beneficiaries.

“Each person that receives 25,000 Naira for a total of three months will be identifiable, even after they have received the money, it will be clear who it went to and when it went to them. And that is the big change that has allowed Mr. president to approve the restart of that direct payments to beneficiaries programme.”

On his part, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijjani, explained that beneficiaries would be vetted through their Bank Verification Number and National Identity Numbers to avoid multiple payouts to one individual.


He said, “One of the initial moves that we’re making is leveraging the existing dataset that we have on our people. As you know, the BVN is well known to be extremely credible. NIN on the other side, which is now the most popular data identity system for Nigeriansm, is also to a largest and credible, and it covers quite a significant number of people as well.

“And what we’re looking to do here is the triangulation of this data set to ensure that not only are we using the register that has been properly populated, but that we also do proper verification of every individual that will benefit from that social investment programme, which means we will get commitment to ensuring that no one is paid twice, because you have to be properly IDed before you can benefit from that programme.”

The Nigeria Customs Service has described as unfortunate the stampede at its office in Yaba, Lagos, during the sale of 25kg bags of rice to Lagos residents that led to the death of some seven persons.

Our correspondent learnt that people were trampled to death as a mass of people thronged the venue of the sale of the bags of confiscated rice at the Yaba office of the service on Friday amid the harsh economic conditions in the country.

PUNCH Metro reports that a member of the All Progressives Congress, Comfort Adebanjo, and six others lost their lives in the bid to purchase the rice which sold for N10,000 at the Yaba Customs office.

The coordinator of FKL Ward E1, Lagos State of the APC, Oluwafemi Fadahunsi, and Secretary, Adebari Adewale, confirmed that Adebanjo was one of the seven persons who died during the stampede.

In the obituary released on Saturday obtained by PUNCH Online, the party wrote, “It is with heavy hearts and regret we announce the painful death of one of our members in FKL Ward E1, Mrs Adebanjo Comfort Funmilayo, of house number 104, Ibidun Street by Akinhanmi Street, Ojuelegba.

“She was among the seven victims who died in the course of buying Customs rice at Yaba.

“May God grant all the members of her family and all the residents of Ward E1 the fortitude to bear the irreplaceable loss.”

But the Lagos APC Publicity Secretary, Seye Oladejo, told our correspondent that he could not confirm the report involving the member yet. “I also saw it in the news. I will try and reach out to the local government concerned. I’m not in a position to speak authoritatively about that because I also saw it in the news and I want to hear from our people over there before being categorical about it. Once I get the facts of the incident, I’ll let you know,” Oladejo told PUNCH Metro on Sunday.

Speaking with our correspondent on Sunday, the spokesperson for the Customs, Abdullahi Maiwada, blamed the development on impatience on the part of the people who came for the event.

“At a point, they decided to be impatient. When we saw the crowd, we even suspended the collection of forms and said, ‘Let’s give them free’. We did that, we exhausted everything. After exhausting everything and we told them everything had finished, and that they could go, that we didn’t have any more, they persisted. Some of them broke the fence of that place. We had to put some barricades to cover the area. Some of them went and entered the container. At a point, we used our ambulance, and took them to hospital,” he said.

He added, “I don’t really have the statistics of the lives we have lost, but we made every effort for everyone to be orderly and to rescue them. We took them to hospital. What do you want us to do?”

He said the Customs made use of Yaba because it had formerly demolished the place, saying, “The reason we used Yaba was because we didn’t want to endanger our facilities.”

When asked if the deaths resulted from pushing, he answered, “I can’t say. Some of them went and entered the engine container. Did we cause the death of anybody? We didn’t. We made efforts to rescue them because we took them to hospital. We have learnt our lessons. We have to go and restrategise on how we’re going to continue and sustain this initiative.”

“It is very unfortunate, it is something that we wished did not happen and we are very pathetic about it. We are with them in this trying situation,” he told the victims’ families.

He said further, “I can neither confirm nor deny the number (of deaths). I don’t have that data now, but that people are saying seven. It’s not true, it’s not up to that number but even if it’s one, yes, it’s life. But these are the circumstances that led to what happened, they were avoidable.”

Last week, a protest broke out in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, against economic hardship. In Lagos, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu rolled out measures to cushion the suffering being faced by people including announcing three days of work at the office for civil servants. The government also plans to set up feeding centres.

Mynd44:
“You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”; so says the Scriptures.


https://thenationonlineng.net/cardoso-tope-fasua-and-national-economic-recovery/

JASONjnr:
Lol..


When Buhari took over and made life even harder for us from the soft life of PDP that we used to enjoyed. We endured and kept quiet. At some point, we tried to protest and Tinubu used his thighs to make a mess out of the protest. The entire nort8acted like they were enjoying the lifestyle then. After all, their religion forbids them to challenge their leaders.


Today, the North are challenging a president, simple because, he's not a Northerner.


Believe me, whether we will have no food to eat. This country will exist.

IBB came out to say that he's not in support of any plan of military take over. Apparently, the North wants to use military to take back power.


See, the North should allow Tinubu to finish his regime. After all we allowed their incompetent Buhari to finish his regime.

We endured and we kept enduring Buhari and a certain cabal that would use the president signature to sign contracts and other confidential documents, without the olodo knowing.

Bluntemperor:
Hates and criticism is a hall mark of some people in Nigeria, and falsely thinking they are doing it to hurt some people in Govt!
You are worst off because you should tell us your better ideas,if any.
We can't continue to do same things,since independence,yet getting worst results! No we need to try another styles!

IamAtikulate:
I thought Tinubu wants to float the FX?

Why is he pegging the custom's exchange rate again?

Confused man

TimeManager:
Olodo, you went and bring a news but you can't read to get a proper understanding of it. Bunch of half baked graduates

-kiss the truth!

The Central Bank of Nigeria has pegged the duty rates to be paid by importers to the Nigerian Customs Services during goods clearance.

This was as the bank instructed the Customs to utilise the FX closing rate on the date of the ‘Form M’ submission by importers for the clearance of goods and import duty assessment.

The CBN stated this in a circular signed by its Director of Trade and Exchange Department, Hassan Mahmud, and posted on its website on Friday.

Form M is a mandatory statutory document used as a declaration of intention by importers for the importation of physical goods into Nigeria.

This measure aims to tackle the volatility and frequent updates on the customs website concerning the liberalisation of the foreign exchange market.

Recently, the Nigeria Customs Service through the CBN has been regularly reviewing and adjusting the exchange rate for import duties and clearance of goods on its website to reflect the prevailing market rate following the unification of the forex market in June.

Since the beginning of this year, the service has adjusted the forex rate almost twice weekly.

The last adjustment of the exchange rate by Customs saw the rate move upwards from N1537.07 to N1605.82 per USD.


In response to the complaints from members of the public and the business community, the Comptroller-General of the NCS stated during an interview that the service does not fix the exchange rate rather they follow the directive of the CBN on such matters.

The circular read, “To this effect, the Central Bank of Nigeria wishes to advise the Nigeria Customs Service and other related parties to adopt the FX rate on the date of opening the Form M for importation of goods, as the FX rate to be used for import duty assessment. This rate remains valid until the date of termination of the importation and clearance of goods by the importers.

“This would enable the Nigeria Customs Service and the importers to effectively plan appropriately and reduce uncertainties around varying exchange rates in determining revenue, or cost structure respectively.

“Therefore, effective 26th February 2024, the closing rate on the date of opening of Form M for importation of goods and services would be the rate that would apply for assessment of goods and services. This supersedes the requirement of Memorandum 9, J (2) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Foreign Exchange Manual (Revised Edition) 2018.

“While the CBN is mindful of the initial volatility and price distortions in the aftermath of the FX market liberalization, the Bank is confident that these reforms, would in the medium term, ensure stability in the market and entrench market confidence necessary to attract investment capital for the growth and development of the Nigerian economy.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria in June 2023 unified the foreign exchange market in a move geared towards floating the market. Since then, the naira has lost over 100 per cent of its value on the official window.


The weakness of the naira coupled with other fiscal policy initiatives like the removal of fuel subsidy pushed inflation to a 28-year high as of January at 29.90 per cent.

The inflation is mainly driven by food and transport with the former’s inflation rate at 35.4 per cent in January.

LAGOS — The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA, has advised the Federal Government to eschew pride and review the removal of fuel subsidy and the floating of nation’s currency, the naira, warning of looming unemployment crisis, particularly with the current harsh economic situation.

NECA’s position came on a day oil marketers, under the aegis of the Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of pleaded with President Bola Tinubu to peg the exchange rate of the naira to the dollar at the 2024 budget benchmark of N750/dollar.

‘Anti-business policies of govt’
Reviewing the twin policies of fuel subsidy removal and floating of the naira by the present government, NECA, the umbrella body for employers in the country, lamented that since 2023, government has been implementing policies that do not support operations of the private sector which are the largest employers of labour in the economy.

Director-General of NECA, Mr. Adewale- Smatt Oyerinde, who spoke on behalf of employers in the country, argued yesterday: “Some of the policies that are inimical to business include the currency redesign policy of the CBN, removal of fuel subsidy, floating of the foreign exchange, increase in various taxes, including excise duties and most recently, upward review of the foreign exchange rate for clearing of imports by the Nigeria Custom Service.

“Also included in this is the banning of alcoholic beverage in sachets and pet bottles of less than 200m. These measures are swiftly dragging most private businesses to the brink of collapse. “The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, reported a rise in unemployment rate to 5.0 per cent in the third quarter of 2023, from 4.2 per cent in the second quarter of the year.

“The figure is a product of the new methodology adopted by the bureau, which defines unemployment as the ratio of the working-age population to the total labour force. Retrospectively, using the old methodology for the last time, NBS reported unemployment at 33.3 per cent for the first quarter of 2021.

“Going by analysis done by Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler, KPMG, using the old methodology, the estimated unemployment rate for 2023 is projected to close at 40.6 per cent, a 2.9 percentage point rise over the 37.7 per cent recorded in 2022. “The rise in unemployment rate by 80 points during the quarter could be a presage of looming unemployment crisis in the country, particularly with the current harsh economic condition.

“Therefore, to circumvent such crisis, it is important to question the causes of the current spike in unemployment rate and decipher solutions to mitigate further degeneration in the index. “Since 2023, government has been implementing policies that do not support the operations of the private sector. Incidentally, they are the highest employer in the economy.’’

While expressing dismay over the recent exit of GlaxoSmithKline, a multinational pharmaceutical company and Procter & Gamble, two companies that had operated in the country for decades, Oyerinde noted: “As the economy stands, there are many more companies to join the exit train or close shop if the current harsh operating environment persists. ‘’The implication of the poor macroeconomic and business environments on employment is grave as many businesses are down-sizing as a way of cutting costs to remain afloat.

Worsening employment index
“The employment index may continue to worsen unless there is a deliberate action to review some of the policies that caused the most recent economic dilemma. To address the challenges of unemployment, government should deliberately address the operating business environment to support production in the private sector, which actually engages in productive employment.” Recommending ways out of the current economi situation, the NECA DG said:

‘’The government should end the monetary rationing which is going on at the moment and ensure that the optimum quantity of money needed to stabilize the economy is in circulation. “The government should review and moderate the fuel subsidy removal. Subsidy is a tool for socio-economic stability and growth – fuel subsidy, unemployment allowance, free medicare, social security allowance, old age allowance, child upkeep allowance are all subsidies. Incidentally, only fuel subsidy existed in Nigeria.

“The government should review the floating exchange rate regime to save the country from monetary collapse. No heavily import-dependent nation such as Nigeria allows its currency to swim in the murky waters and vagaries of the invisible hand; it has to be transparently guided.

“Government should review its stance on the tax credit for infrastructure, mostly on road constructions carried out by private sector. “It should also review its tax projections from the private sector, particularly in the present condition. The truth is that high taxes do not help anybody, not even the government. High taxes, as it is currently becoming, has the tendency to crowd out a swathe of businesses in the country.

“Government should eschew pride and take these actions to improve the operating environment so that businesses can return to improved level of stability that would support decent employment.”

Peg forex rate at N750/dollar, oil marketers beg Tinubu
Apparently considering the impact floatating of the naira has had on their operations, oil marketers, operating under the aegis of Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria, NOGASA, have begged President Bola Tinubu to peg the naira at N750 to the dollar. Their appeal came against the backdrop of further crash in the value of the naira to N1,850 to the dollar as at yesterday. NOGASA President, Mr. Benneth Korie, told journalists in Abuja that constant devaluation of the naira against the dollar is at the heart of Nigeria’s economic challenges. Korie, who kicked against free floating of the local currency, said government must be bold in its handling of the foreign exchange market to halt the present slide. He explained that the high cost of the dollar is pushing marketers out of the industry, adding that if urgent steps are not taken, most petrol stations will shut before the end of March.

“I know our budget this year was benchmarked on N750/$, so if the government can maintain it at 750/$, heavens will not fall, inflow or no inflow. “It is not the first time we are seeing prices at N400 and they are selling for N800, so let’s go back and try it, because if we allow this to continue, the dollar may get to what we cannot handle. Now, all our food will be sold at dollar rate if care is not taken. So let us go back to N750 as it was stated in the budget. “You are aware of NARTO withdrawing their services. It is as a result of this high cost of diesel, you cannot go to Lagos to bring premium motor spirit, PMS, or fuel to the north with N1,700 cost of diesel, it is not possible, it is a suicide mission. Nobody will make one kobo, so that NARTO struggle is okay.’’ He urged government to take another look at the deregulation policy, saying it is not working as envisaged. “If government feels it cannot provide subsidies, they can bring the bridging (petroleum equalisation fund) back to the system so that it will reduce the rate, the hardship, because it will help. “We understand that some trillions have been spent on subsidies, so there is nothing bad if we introduce bridging and it will not take up to one quarter of that, it will reduce pressure on transport cost,” Korie said