The report that as fuel scarcity continues to bite harder in different locations, the Federal Government says it has begun a 15-day emergency fuel supply to ensure the commodity circulates across the length and breadth of the country is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
The Punch reports that as fuel scarcity continues to bite harder in different locations, the Federal Government says it has begun a 15-day emergency fuel supply to ensure the commodity circulates across the length and breadth of the country.
The government also disclosed that vessels importing Premium Motor Spirit would continue to berth at the shore to discharge petrol to different depots, from where the product would be distributed to different filling stations.
The Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria had in a statement on Tuesday said its members in Apapa and other locations in Lagos had been receiving 300 million litres of fuel from eight vessels this week.
This was after the South-West Regional Coordinator of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Ayo Cardoso, confirmed to one of our correspondents that aside from the 240 million litres offloaded at various depots on Monday, close to 85 million litres of petrol were offloaded as of Tuesday evening.
However, The PUNCH observed on Wednesday that the queues in filling stations were yet to subside, even as Nigerians celebrated May Day.
As of Wednesday afternoon, it was observed that roads in Ogun, Lagos and others were deserted as vehicles lined up in filling stations to buy fuel. Some individuals said they had parked their vehicles pending the availability of petrol.
Also, the few filling stations where the fuel was available sold at prices considered to be too exorbitant.
The newspaper says that the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, in collaboration with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and KPMG, is developing open banking frameworks in a move to deepen financial inclusion.
The Chief Executive Officer of the NDPC, Vincent Olatunji, on Tuesday, received the Senior Programme Officer for Regulatory and Consumer Protection Technologies at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Anna Wallace and Partner and Head of Cybersecurity and Privacy at KPMG, John Anyanwu in Abuja.
The commission revealed in a statement on X (formerly Twitter) that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss open banking frameworks for Nigeria, a project coordinated by the Gates Foundation.
Open banking refers to the practice of providing third-party financial service providers with access to bank account information, transaction data, and other financial data through the use of application programming interfaces.
It stated that the meeting served as a pivotal moment in recognising NDPC’s crucial role in the project and formalising engagement to ensure robust input in the areas of data protection and privacy.
Part of the statement read, “NDPC emphasised the crucial role of digital identity in the financial sector and open banking, stressing the importance of implementing measures to safeguard digital identities to foster trust and confidence.”
The NDPC CEO also addressed challenges posed by digital lending companies regarding transparency in their data processing activities.
The Guardian newspaper reports that the organised labour, yesterday, gave the Federal Government, May 31, the deadline to conclude the minimum wage negotiation or face a nationwide industrial action.
This came as President Bola Tinubu, promised that his administration was working on a new minimum and living wage to improve the welfare of workers in the country.
The organised labour during the May Day celebration at the Eagle Square, Abuja, also insisted on N615,000 minimum wage, even as it placed an 18-point demand before the government, threatening to shut down the country if the Federal Government failed to accede to their requests by May 31.
This came as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, congratulated Nigerian workers on this Year’s International Workers’ Day and charged them to resist all anti-people tendencies seeking to compromise and undermine the democratic tenets of freedom, rule of law, accountability and probity in the country.
Also, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the 2023 general election, Mr. Peter Obi greeted Nigerian workers, saying he stands with them in solidarity for their resilience and doggedness to ensure a better Nigeria.
President of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Mr Joe Ajaero and his Trade Union Congress, TUC, counterpart, Festus Osifo, lamented the excruciating living conditions of the Nigerian masses and especially of workers in the last year.
They said: “The last minimum wage of N30,000 expired on April 18 and we should be in the regime of new minimum wage as of today. Discussions were supposed to have been concluded.
“The Federal Government through the National Assembly legislated on it. But we saw that the discussion entered voice mail because the Federal Government refused to reconvene the meeting that was adjourned.
“We think the announcement now appears mischievous because there is no agreed minimum wage that the government is announcing. For them to announce it now, is an issue we are worried about at the NLC and the TUC.”
The newspaper says that African oil and gas executives and Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) operators are set to examine opportunities and collaborations for investment in the industry at the 2024 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas, USA.
Chief Executive Officer, New House International Limited, Mrs Jumoke Oyedun, confirmed in a statement that her company will lead a delegation of African Executives and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, SMEs, to the OTC 2024, taking place from May 6 and May 9, 2024.
Oyedun said that the annual event is one of the largest gatherings of oil and gas industry operators worldwide.
She said that the conference will enable participants to meet with the best and latest technological development in the oil and gas industry worldwide and the opportunities available in the global energy industry.
Oyedun said that the annual event, one of the largest gatherings of oil and gas industry operators worldwide, would attract foreign investments, leading to partnership needed to boost the oil and gas industry.
She said: “The New House International Ltd., is an indigenous Events Management Company (EMC) registered also in the United States of America with a vision of supporting and promoting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) from the African region to the global market.
GIK/APA
Nigeria: Press spotlights 15-day emergency fuel supply plan, others
