Nigeria: Press spotlights plans by NNPCL to stop fuel importation in 2024, others

APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited plans to end the importation of refined petroleum products by December 2024 as all the country’s refineries would be operational by then is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Friday.
The Punch reports that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, on Thursday, said it would end the importation of refined petroleum products by December 2024 as all the country’s refineries would be operational by then.
It also projected that the national oil firm would grow its revenue to N4.5tn at the end of 2023 adding that the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refining Company, under NNPCL’s management, would be completed by December this year.
The Group Chief Officer of the NNPCL, Mele Kyari, disclosed this when he led officials of the company to a meeting with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, where the lawmaker called for the privatisation of Nigeria’s refineries.
Also, oil marketers, on Thursday, confirmed the readiness of the Port Harcourt refinery, as they stated that its operations, which could begin in January 2024, would lead to a considerable drop in the prices of refined petroleum products.
At the meeting in Abuja, Kyari declared that Nigeria was on track to stop the importation of refined petroleum products in 2024 and would emerge as a net exporter of the commodities in the same year.
He also provided explanations on the commencement of operations of the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries
The newspaper says that the Nigerian currency, the naira fell, on Thursday, to N956/$ on the official Investor and Exporter forex window as dollar supply declined by 46.77 per cent.
This is a 13.78 per cent decline from the N840.53/$ the naira closed trading on Wednesday according to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange. Also, the turnover of dollars traded in the market fell to $105.50m from $198.21m on Wednesday.
The naira began trading at N800.90/$ for the day before hitting a high of N1136/$ and N615/$ within the day. It eventually closed trading at N956.33/$.
The instability of the naira has persisted despite recent moves by the Central Bank to clear the backlog of foreign exchange forward contracts. The naira is one of the worst-performing currencies in the world, losing about 40 per cent of its value since June, the World Bank recently disclosed.
Recently, the Economic Intelligence Unit, the research and analysis division of the Economist Group, disclosed that the CBN does not have the required firepower to clear the backlog of foreign exchange orders. This is expected to continue to put pressure on the naira.
It stated, “In Nigeria, an unsupportive monetary policy implies that the naira will remain under pressure, while the central bank lacks the firepower to adequately supply the market or clear a backlog of foreign exchange orders, which will keep foreign investors unnerved. High inflation and a continued spread with the parallel market will leave the exchange rate regime unstable and result in periodic devaluations.”
The Guardian reports that to support the over 40 million small businesses in Nigeria, the Federal Government is planning to inaugurate the Council for Small and Medium scale Enterprises in Nigeria (SMEs).
This was revealed yesterday in Abuja by the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President of Job Creations and SMEs, Tola Adekunle-Johnson, at the graduation of 5,300 SMBs from Google’s Hustle Academy. This graduation marked the continuation of the programme’s impact, with over 10,300 entrepreneurs having participated since its inception in 2022 with 4,400 from Nigeria.
The Hustle Academy, designed to address specific challenges faced by SMBs in Africa, offers practical skills and resources to help these businesses grow.
Adekunle-Johnson said the SME Council was necessary, going by the significant contributions of small businesses to the Nigerian economy, stressing that SMEs need huge support to thrive, especially now.
While appreciating the efforts of Google, the SSA on Job Creation and SMEs said the FG will support what the technology firm is doing.Corroborating the need to support SMEs, the Director-General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Charles Odii, said SMEs are the life wire of any economy.
Odii disclosed that the likes of MTN, Google and other multinationals are just four per cent of the businesses in the country, while the rest 96 per cent are small businesses doing so much. He said the SMBs created 80 per cent of the jobs in the economy and about 72 per cent of such businesses are led by women within the age range of 20 to 60 years.
The newspaper says that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has once again bemoaned airlines’ trapped funds in African countries, currently estimated at $1.68 billion. IATA, which is the clearing house for over 290 world airlines, said the perennial challenge is hurting the airlines, the concerned economies and growth of air transport on the continent.
Similarly, the body has warned Nigeria and other African countries to avoid imposing higher fees, levies, carbon taxes or new taxes on air transport, trade or tourism – given prevailing realities.
Meeting with delegates at the 55th yearly general assembly of the African Airlines Association (AFRAA), this week, in Entebbe, Uganda, IATA disclosed that $1.68 billion in airline funds remain blocked across the continent. This is despite repatriation from Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe through IATA’s working with the respective governments.
It will be recalled that foreign airlines’ $793 million is trapped in Nigeria (as of August 2023 entry) due to complicated foreign exchange liquidity crisis. Of the sum, $300 million is legacy debt, which the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has taken, but yet to remit to IATA on behalf of the airlines.
IATA’s Regional Vice-President for Africa and Middle East, Kamil Alawadhi, told AFRAA delegates that as of September 2023, $1.68 billion of airline funds were blocked across Africa out of $2.36 billion globally.
“The numbers are alarming and the impact of this on connectivity is devastating,” Alawadhi said. He reiterated that aviation is capital intensive, and cash flow is key for airlines’ business sustainability.
GIK/APA