Nigeria: Press zooms in on 3-month ban on foreign trips by ministers

The report that President Bola Tinubu has banned ministers, heads of agencies, and other government officials from embarking on public funded foreign trips dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
The Punch reports that President Bola Tinubu has banned ministers, heads of agencies, and other government officials from embarking on public funded foreign trips.
The ban will last for three months in the first instance and will take effect on April 1, 2024.
This was contained in a letter dated March 12, 2024, and signed by the Chief of Staff to the president, Femi Gbajabiamila; and addressed to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume.
In January, Tinubu issued an order to reduce the number of people accompanying him on both local and foreign trips, noting that his delegation members should not exceed 25 for local travels and 20 for international trip
He also mandated that security agents at his destination should provide his protection instead of being accompanied by many security personnel from Abuja.
This came following the backlash he faced during and after the last twenty-eighth Conference of Parties (COP28) in the United Arab Emirates, which about 590 Nigerian officials attended.
Responding to the public outburst, the government said it provided funding for only 422 out of the 590 individuals in the delegation.
The newspaper says that members of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria have blamed the excess cash in circulation for the accelerating inflation in the country.
This was revealed in the statements they made at the February MPC meeting, which was posted on the website of the apex bank on Monday.
One of the MPC members, Pauline Odinkemelu, said, “On the monetary sector, growth in money supply (M3) rose by 18.25 per cent to N93.72tn at end-January 2024 over the preceding December. Broad money (M2) and narrow money (M1) grew by 17.81 and 3.68 per cent, respectively at end-January 2024.
“The growth in broad money supply was driven by the rise in other deposits, transferable deposits, and securities other than shares. In my view, the growth in M1 could further worsen inflationary pressures in the economy, as it signals rising transactional motives or excess liquidity in the system. The motive for holding excess liquidity is generally classified into precautionary or voluntary motives.”
According to to Odinkemelu, precautionary excess liquidity portion is useful as a buffer for insuring bank capital and uncertainty surrounding customers’ withdrawal, and does not have negative effect on monetary policy.
“However, involuntary motive usually above the desired level– a common feature of developing economies banking system – is not desirable during this period of persistent inflationary pressure, and also influences my decision to vote for monetary policy tightening. In voting for tightening, I am mindful of the implications of a rate hike on the stability of the banking system and therefore, will vote to raise the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 300 basis points from 18.75 per cent to 21.75 per cent,” she stated.
Money Supply statistics from the CBN as of January 2024 revealed that currency in circulation surged by 163 per cent in January 2024 to N3.651tn from N1.39tn in the corresponding period of last year.
The Vanguard newspaper reports that the upward trend in oil and gas exploration activities persisted in February as the rig count, an index of measuring upstream activities, rose year-on-year, YoY, by 23 per cent to 16, in February 2024, from 11 in the corresponding period of 2023.
Also, on month-on-month, MoM, the exploration indicated marginal growth of 6 per cent from 15 in January, 2024, according to the March 2023 Monthly Oil Market Report, MOMR of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC.
The sustained rise in exploration, according to the Chief Executive, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe, was due to the positive impact of Nigeria’s Petroleum Industry Act, PIA.
Komolafe, said: “The PIA is positively impacting as it provides institutional governance, efficient administration, and attractive fiscal regimes while providing for host communities, thus creating a peaceful atmosphere for investment and operations.”
According to him, “We are currently partnering with TGS-Petrodata to acquire about 56,000 Square kilometers of 3D Seismic Gravity data in water depths ranging from 40 to 4,000m to further de-risk the Niger Delta deep and Ultra Deep Offshore. “The government is not paying for the provision of these data. However, the government stands to generate additional revenue. The investors would pay for the data and the revenue is to be shared by the government and TGS.
Expressing optimism on sustaining the rise in oil exploration, Komolafe said 2024 looks bright as the agency has concluded plans to conduct oil licensing round as part of the implementation of the nation’s PIA.
The newspaper says that the naira yesterday appreciated to N1,580 per dollar in the parallel market from N1,590 per dollar on Monday.
Similarly, the naira yesterday appreciated N1,560.57 per dollar in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).
Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative exchange rate for NAFEM fell to N1,560.57 per dollar from N1,572.86 per dollar on Monday, indicating N12.29 appreciation for the naira. The market recorded an intraday high of N1,626.5 per dollar and an intraday low of N1,415 per dollar resulting in a N211.5 margin.
The volume of dollars traded (turnover) in the market fell by 38 percent to $195.13 million from $315.21 million traded on Monday.
Consequently, the margin between the parallel market rate and NAFEM widened to N29.43 per dollar from N17.24 per dollar on Monday.
GIK/APA