The plan by Dangote Petroleum Refinery to begin the sale of petrol in June according to the Chairman of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Monday.
The Punch newspaper reports that the Nigerian Government may cut its approximately N6.2tn yearly fuel import bill if the Dangote Petroleum Refinery begins the sale of premium motor spirit as promised by the Chairman of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote.
Dangote, while speaking at the Africa CEO Forum Annual Summit in Kigali, Rwanda on Friday, assured Nigerians that following the laid-down plans of the Dangote refinery, Nigeria would no longer need to import petrol starting next month.
The country’s petrol import was reduced to an average of one billion litres monthly after President Bola Tinubu removed fuel subsidy on May 29 last year, according to a report by the National Bureau of Statistics.
According to Dangote, the $20bn refinery can meet West Africa’s petrol and diesel needs, as well as the continent’s aviation fuel demand.
He said, “Right now, Nigeria has no cause to import anything apart from gasoline and by sometime in June, within the next four or five weeks, Nigeria shouldn’t import anything like gasoline; not one drop of a litre.
“We have enough gasoline to give to at least the entire West Africa, diesel to give to West Africa and Central Africa. We have enough aviation fuel to give to the entire continent and also export some to Brazil and Mexico.
“We have started producing jet fuel, we are producing diesel, and by next month, we’ll be producing gasoline. What that will do is it will be able to take most African crudes.”
The newspaper says that the Nigeria Labour Congress has warned that it would rather mobilise workers to remain at home with their families or offer free services than accept the paltry N48,000 new minimum wage being offered by the Federal Government when they meet on Tuesday.
The Deputy President of the NLC Political Commission, Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH on Sunday.
On Wednesday, the NLC and the Trade Union Congress had walked away from the negotiation table after the FG offered to pay N48,000, a figure far below the N615,00 the unions demanded as the new national minimum wage.
After the session, the labour leaders told newsmen at an emergency press conference that it was ‘an insult to the sensibilities of Nigerian workers.’
But 24 hours after the revolt, the Chairman of the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage, Alhaji Bukar Goni, wrote the aggrieved unionists to return for another negotiation on Tuesday in a letter dated May 16.
But Ndubuaku vowed that the NLC won’t back down until an improved offer is made.
According to him, organised labour finds it preposterous that the FG and even state governors, whose allocations have witnessed a massive boost, could be giving excuses not to pay a robust minimum wage.
The Vanguard newspaper reports that manufacturers of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) are in dire agony over the continued rise in unsold goods in their warehouses, a development which would lead to a further significant decline in output level in the sector.
The continued rise in unsold goods is caused by two factors namely the rising cost of living and the declining purchasing power of the citizens.
Financial Vanguard’s findings show that due to the downturn in the consumers’ disposable income, the stock of unsold goods for manufacturers in the fast-moving consumer good, FMCG, sector of the economy rose Year-on-Year (YoY) by 27 per cent during the financial year ended December 31, 2023. The sector operators also indicated that the situation is worsening in 2024 as they expect to report over a 30 per cent rise in unsold goods in the first quarter of the year, Q1’24.
Consequently, they hinted that the output levels have been going down steadily since mid-last year, when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the report showed that capacity utilisation in the food and beverages sector fell to 49 per cent from 61 per cent in the corresponding period in 2022, indicating a 20 percentage point decline.
Nigerians have been battling with inflationary pressures with its curtailing effect on consumers’ purchasing power in the last eighteen months.
The headline inflation rate has been on a constant increase, rising to 28.82 percent in December 2023 from 21.34 per cent in December 2022, triggered by various factors including high energy cost, and insecurity, especially in the farming communities in Nigeria, among others.
Within the same period also, food inflation surged to 33.93 percent from 23.75 percent a year ago.
The trend has continued unabated in 2024 with headline and food inflation moving further up to 33.69 per cent and 40.53 percent in April from 29.90 percent and 35.41 percent at the beginning of the year respectively.
The newspaper says that the Federal Government has said that tax revenue is currently the nation’s highest source of income.
The Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Oluwatoyin Madein, disclosed this at the 26th annual tax conference, in Abuja, themed, ‘Sustainable Tax Culture and Economic Roadmap for Nation Building,’ organised by the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN).
Madein said due to the substantial revenue generated from taxes, members of the federation account allocation committee (FAAC) eagerly anticipate the monthly figures from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), as these funds are crucial for distribution among the three tiers of government.
She said the office of the accountant-general of the federation is committed to a sustainable tax culture that will ensure the continuous flow of revenues at an improved level.
“Tax revenue as at today, is the highest source of revenue accruing to the federation. Therefore, at the federation account allocation committee meetings, we eagerly await the numbers coming from the FIRS because the performance keeps on increasing and brings succour to all tiers of government,” she said.
GIK/APA