The warning that Nigeria may be heading for another recession by the finance minister and the plan by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commissionto generate a minimum of 2,000mw of electricity from renewables this year are the leading stories in Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday.
The Guardian reports that with the deficit financing of the revised N10.509 trillion 2020 budget rising from N1.847 trillion to N4.563 trillion, the economy might be heading for another recession, according to the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed,
She expressed the fear yesterday in Abuja during a session with the Senate Committee on Finance where heads of revenue-generating agencies made presentations on the revised 2020-2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).
The minister noted that projected revenues from the agencies had been drastically slashed.
The Sun says that with a vast and mostly untapped potential in renewable energy resources, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has set a target to generate a minimum of 2,000MW of electricity from renewables this year.
According to a report obtained from the commission’s website, the agency assured guaranteed price and access to grid as well as feed-in tariff for solar, wind, biomass and small hydro. Apart from the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) based on plant life cycle of 20 years, electricity distribution companies (DisCos) are mandated to procure minimum of 1000MW (50 per cent of the total projected renewable sourced electricity.
NERC has also approved, in line with the National Policy on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, three windows for grid connected renewable energy projects such as net-metering for very small capacities (typically below 1MW), feed-in tariff for capacities up to 5MW of solar, 10MW of wind, 10MW of biomass and 30MW of small hydro.
ThisDay reports that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the relaxation of the restriction on places of worship based on guidelines issued by the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 and protocols agreed by state governments.
He has also approved reopening of hotels and the resumption of full banking operation in the financial sector, which hitherto had operated skeletal services in the last two months as a result of measures put in place to mitigate the spread of the virus in the country.
These measures are aimed at curbing the virus which infected 416 more persons yesterday, bringing to 10,578 the total number of confirmed cases in the country.
The Punch says that Nigerian Coach Gernot Rohr said he made sacrifices in his new contract with Nigeria in order to guide the country to a fourth Africa Cup of Nations triumph.
Rohr, 66, has extended his stay in Nigeria till 2022 after he agreed to a pay cut in the local currency and reside in the country.
Officials said the German-born coach will earn $49,000 a month instead of the $55,000 stipulated in his previous contract and he will live in Nigeria for at least 10 months a year.
“This is a special job because this is my team, I built it with my staff,” the former Niger and Gabon coach said Monday on local television.
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GIK/APA
