The new price of petrol fixed at N212.6 per litre by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency for the month of March is the trending story in Nigerian newspapers on Friday.
The Vanguard reports that the Nigerian Government has officially confirmed the return of fuel subsidy, as the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) yesterday, fixed the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as petrol, at N212.61 per litre, for the month of March.
The new price, according to the PPPRA’s PMS guiding price, released to stakeholders, is supposed to commence from March 1st and run till March 31st, 2021.
However, the fact that the price of the commodity is still been sold at an average of N170 in petrol stations across the country, meant that the Federal Government, through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC is spending an average of N42 to subsidise a litre of the commodity for Nigerians.
The PPPRA confirmed that fuel subsidy actually officially returned in February 2021, as according to the downstream oil sector regulator, the actual pump price of PMS for February was between N183.74 and N186.74 per litre, meaning that the Federal Government paid an average of N16 per litre for PMS in the month.
However, in January 2021, the PPPRA disclosed that the price of the commodity was between N163.36 per litre and N166.36 per litre.
According to the PPPRA, based on the average cost for the period, February 1st to 28th 2021, and an average FMDQ Importer and Exporter (I&E) Naira/US Dollar Exchange Rate of N403.80, the expected retail price of PMS for March 2021, stands at N209.61 per litre and N212.61 per litre, being the lower and upper band respectively.
ThisDay says that gunmen invaded the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Kaduna on Friday and abducted several students.
The school is located along the Airport road. The spokesman of the Kaduna State Police Command Mohammad Jalige comfirmed the incident.
He said the bandits invaded the school around 3.00am on Friday and abducted some students.
“The bandits invaded the school at about 3:00am this morning and abducted some students. I can’t say how many students, we have no details of the number of students and I can’t say if they are all female,” Jalige said in a telephone interview.
The newspaper reports that the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, has said the country had lost huge opportunities in its agricultural exports drive as a result of lack of extension workers to educate and guide export activities.
He noted that over the past four years, Nigeria had also been banned from the exporting its red beans into the European market because of the level of chemicals application in the crop, which is considered high for human consumption.
Speaking in Abuja at the opening of a training workshop for extension services agents in the 36 States of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the minister argued that these problems wouldn’t have arose, if there were extension workers to guide the farmers.
He pointed out that for local commodity crops including sesame seeds, herbiscus, soybeans and cassava among several others, to have meaningful export market, extension services must become a priority for the government and private sector.
The minister stated that over the years, extension work had been extremely useful in guiding farmers on how to plant, apply fertilizer, weed as well as time to harvest.
The Punch says that Deposit Money Banks owe telecommunications companies N42bn for services provided by the mobile network operators through the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) announced on Thursday.
The Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, announced this during his lecture at the virtual 2021 edition of the Bullion Lecture.
He explained that the indebtedness of the banks to mobile network operators had been an issue over time, but stressed that the NCC was working hard to address the concern.
Danbatta said, “The issue of the USSD has become an issue between the telcos and the banks. The telecommunication companies provide the infrastructure which the banks leverage on to provide banking services of all kinds.
“Therefore, it is expected that for this service someone should pay. No service is free. The investment in infrastructure that is driving the USSD service is a huge investment that the telcos made.”
The NCC boss added, “It is expected that they (telcos) will recoup their investments in order to continue and to expand the service. About N42bn that is owed the telcos has not been paid by the banks for the provision of this service.”
The newspaper reports that the increasing debt service of Nigeria is an economic threat to the country, the Securities and Exchange Commission declared on Thursday.
But this might not stop the Federal Government from borrowing to fund the 2021 budget, as the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, insisted that government had to borrow.
In January, The PUNCH reported that Nigeria spent almost N2tn on debt servicing payments from January to September 2020, based on data obtained from the Debt Management Office.
At the 5th Annual Budget Seminar of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with the theme, “Financing Nigeria’s budget and infrastructure deficits through the capital market,” the SEC also stated that shocks to commodities were affecting revenue generation.
It disclosed this in a presentation delivered by the Head, Economic Research and Policy Management Division, Office of the Chief Economist, SEC, Afolabi Olowookere.
The commission said, “Total public debt has increased from N5.24tn in 2010 to over N32tn in 2020. Still fine at around 20 per cent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
The Punch also reports that the Credit Bureau has launched CRC Returnex, a data enabled solution that provides lending institutions the means of using artificial intelligence to identify and retain borrowers in their portfolio.
A statement on Thursday titled ‘CRC Credit Bureau launches CRC Returnex’ said with this product from CRC, lenders could effectively profile borrowers that would likely take loans again, those that may borrow from other institutions and those who may stop borrowing in entirety or for a duration of time.
It stated, “This innovation in Nigeria, the first in the credit reporting industry, is a solution that enables lenders manage their credit risk exposure while cost effectively channeling their marketing communications activities to the right customer base, thereby saving on marketing spend “CRC Returnex offers lenders a means of prompt identification and retention of customers through an effective customer management process.
With this solution, lenders can detect delinquent customers on time while driving customer loyalty.”
GIK/APA