The report that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has approved an upward review in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from N165 per litre to N179 per litre, effective today, Tuesday dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday.
The Guardian reports that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has approved an upward review in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from N165 per litre to N179 per litre, effective today (Tuesday).
The NNPC in a notice to fuel marketers directed them to change the petrol price on pumps to the new price effective today. This was even as the company equally increased the ex-depot price from N148.17 to N167 per litre.
This came after weeks of petrol scarcity resurfaced across the country as fuel retailers were adopting different price bands to force unofficial deregulation attempts.
Already, majority of filling stations in Lagos have adopted different price models. While some filling stations have changed the price on their meters to reflect the current price they are selling at, others have left theirs to show the approved retail price of N165 per litre but were selling above the displayed price.
For instance, the Mobil filling station on Agidingbi sold a litre of petrol at N170 per litre on Friday and that was evidently displayed on their meters.
The development was also the same at Enyo filling station at Chisco bus stop, in Lekki, which now sells for N170 per litre, Eterna filling station at Jankade bus stop, Lekki sells at N180 per litre and Mobil Filing station, by Osapa London, Lekki now selling at N170 per litre.
The newspaper says that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group have sealed a $460,000 agreement for a grant on market surveillance system project.
The deal is expected to modernise Nigeria’s capital market and reposition it to support private sector investment drive.
According to SEC, the grant is to finance capacity building and other technical support for capital market development under the ‘Nigeria Securities Market Surveillance System Project’.
Speaking at the ceremony, Director General, AfDB, Mr. Lamin Barrow, said the grant from the Capital Markets Development Trust Fund (CMDTF) – a multi-donor trust fund administered by the African Development Bank and supported by the Ministry of Finance of Luxembourg and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Cooperation of the Netherlands – will support the acquisition, installation and deployment of a real-time automated securities market surveillance system in the Nigerian capital market.
He said: “Today’s ceremony marks yet another important milestone in our partnership and efforts to modernise Nigeria’s capital market and ensure it is well positioned to support economic transformation driven by private sector investment.
“The introduction of a surveillance system will enhance oversight over securities trading across all existing and future trading platforms and all tradable securities and products by SEC. It will, therefore, preserve securities market integrity, boost investor confidence and enhance financial inclusion, among other expected outcomes.”
He said to ensure sound implementation and sustainability, the design of the technical assistance project embeds training activities to strengthen the capacity of users of the securities market surveillance system, preparation of relevant operational manuals, workflow processing and document management for the surveillance solution.
The Punch reports that power supply will drop by 50 megawatts on Wednesday, The PUNCH has learnt.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria, in a statement on Monday, said the drop would be as a result of planned annual “preventive maintenance” on the line bay at Lekki Transmission Substation in Lagos.
During the maintenance period, about 50MW will be interrupted, affecting power supply to Lekki phase 1, Oniru, Elegushi, Waterfront, Igbo Efon and Twenty-first Century Estate in Lagos state.
“TCN regrets all inconvenience this might cause electricity consumers in the affected area,” the statement said.
The announcement came on the heels of a promise by the Nigerian electricity Regulatory Commission to deliver atleast 5000MW of electricity to Nigerians starting from July 1.
Checks by The PUNCH showed that peak generation as of 3:24 PM on Monday was put at 3, 967MW, while the lowest generation was 3, 539MW, according to statistics from the Nigerian Electricity System Operator, NESO.
The NERC had responded to a widespread public clamour following consistent system collapsing of the power grid, over four incidents recorded so far this year.
According to the commission, all hands are on deck to ensure boost in power generation and supply to electricity consumers, adding that all stakeholders, including gas firms had signed binding contracts to the effect.
The newspaper says that traders and buyers in Lagos markets have expressed dismay over soaring prices of food items as Nigeria’s food inflation figures again recorded an upward tick, moving from 19.50 per cent recorded in May to 20.60 per cent in June.
According to figures by the National Bureau of Statistics, the composite food index rose to 20.60 per cent in June 2022 on a year-on-year basis; the rate of changes in average price level declined by 1.23 per cent compared to 21.83 per cent in June 2021.
The NBS in a report titled “Consumer Price Index May 2022”, said the rate of changes in food prices compared to the same period last year was higher due to higher food prices volatility caused by COVID 19.
This rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, food products, potatoes, yam, and other tubers, meat, fish, oil and fat, and wine.
Speaking with our correspondent on the impact of the soaring food prices on business, a trader who identified herself as Gladys said food prices had never recorded the level of instability witnessed in the past year.
She said, “I’ve been in this business for more than 12 years, but right now it is very discouraging. When coming to the market I always make sure I carry more than what I need because prices go up everyday. You can buy this small bag of rice for N10,000, by the time you come back next month, they will tell you it is N11,500.
“This one litre of vegetable oil, we used to sell it N800 but now we’re selling for N1600. The profit we were making when we were selling N800 is even more than what we make when we well at N1600.” 00.”
GIK/APA