The report that a group of Nigerian students have been thrown off university courses and ordered to leave the United Kingdom after they struggled to pay tuition on time dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
The Punch reports that a group of Nigerian students have been thrown off university courses and ordered to leave the United Kingdom after they struggled to pay tuition on time.
According to the BBC reports, the Teesside University students lamented that the devaluation of the naira made it difficult for them to pay their tuition, leading to a breach of visa sponsorship requirements.
As a result, some of the students were blocked from their studies, reported to the Home Office, and ordered to leave the UK.
The university claimed it had no choice but to take this action, citing strict external regulations.
The affected students have, however, expressed their distress and disappointment, feeling that the university was being “heartless” and not providing adequate support.
The group of 60 students, who chose to share their names with the BBC, banded together to urge the university to offer support after several of their peers faced severe consequences for defaulting on payments.
These students were abruptly locked out of their university accounts and forcibly withdrawn from their courses.
The newspaper says that no fewer than 75,809 beneficiaries received credit funding worth N496.72bn from the Bank of Industry in 2023.
The loans were disbursed to beneficiaries which include large, medium, small and micro enterprises, creating approximately 2,198,953 direct and indirect jobs across the country.
The Chairman of the shareholders committee of the bank, Muhammed Bala, revealed the figure at the 64th Annual General Meeting, held on Wednesday in Abuja.
This was as the bank announced a profit before tax of N153.81bn for 2023, marking a 117.69 per cent increase from the previous year’s N70.7bn representing the highest in the history of the bank.
He said the bank’s total assets surged by 64.6 per cent, rising from N2.37tn to N3.91n. It said this was indicative of BOI’s strengthened financial foundation and expanded capacity to support Nigeria’s industrial sector.
The committee chairman added that BOI’s total equity experienced a substantial boost, growing by 57.7 per cent from N427bn to N678bn while loans and advances witnessed a remarkable increase of 41.5 per cent, growing from N803.6bn to N1.14tn
This, he noted, reflects the bank’s ongoing efforts to provide essential financial support to businesses across various sectors.
The Vanguard newspaper says that the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), the umbrella body for employers in the country and the voice of business in Nigeria, has warned that the continuous hike in the MPR can worsen the upward trend in inflation unless the government addresses the foreign exchange, FX, crisis.
Speaking on the MPC decisions, Director General of NECA, Mr. Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, insisted that “The successive increase in the policy rate by the Committee will continue to hurt investment decisions in the private sector. The cost of borrowing for investment by organized businesses has increased since March 2024 when the policy rate was raised to 24.75 percent. The new policy rate of 26.25 percent will further affect private investment negatively.
“It is implausible to control the current high inflation by continuously raising interest rate. Implementing tight monetary policy stance when firms’ investment expenditure and household consumption is at the lowest ebb may further incapacitate production and capacity utilization in the already challenged private sector.
Given the triadic nature of relationship among interest rate, inflation rate and exchange rate, it will be most improbable to address inflation crisis by elevating policy rate, since exchange rate has continued to degenerate.
The persistent high depreciation in the value of Naira will continue to feed inflation, while constraining firms’ investment and household consumption.
Consequently, raising policy rate will further exacerbate inflationary pressure as growths in factor costs and commodity prices become unbounded.
There is urgent need to nip the root cause of recent spike in inflation in the bud. The deferring inflationary pressure to the liberalization of FX in the country notwithstanding that the economy is heavily import dependent. Before the total floating FX regime was implemented, the economy was better-off with inflation anchoring below 20 percent mark. The government must reconsider the guided FX floating regime, which is a dynamic and flexible FX management regime and has proven to be better than the current regime.”
The newspaper says that in a bid to ensure that its operations have minimal impact on the marine environment, Bonny Gas Transport Limited, BGT, a subsidiary of Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG), has chartered a new build vessel, AKTORAS, in a strategic move to diversify and reduce the carbon footprint of its shipping portfolio.
Founded in 1989, BGT provides shipping capacity to NLNG’s operations and has been instrumental in solidifying NLNG’s reputation as a major LNG supplier on the global stage. The newly chartered vessel, AKTORAS, owned by Capital Gas Limited, symbolizes a pivotal addition to BGT’s fleet, leased under a Bareboat Charter arrangement.
The vessel is equipped with MEGA propulsion systems that reduce emissions and increase efficiency. It is a 174,000 m3 capacity class LNG carrier, with a length of 299.6 metres, breadth (moulded) of 46.40 metres and deadweight of 81,194 tons.
Speaking at the Christening ceremony week, at the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in Mokpo, South Korea, Mrs. Olu Verheijen, Special Adviser to Nigerian President on Energy, said that the vessel would carry the spirit of Nigeria across the vast oceans and into the hearts of nations worldwide.
Verheijen said: “This ceremony symbolizes the unwavering commitment of Bonny Gas Transport Limited and its parent company, Nigeria LNG Limited, to adapt and thrive in the ever-evolving global energy landscape. Their dedication to futureproofing their business resonates deeply with me, recognizing it as a crucial strategy to maintain relevance and competitiveness in the dynamic LNG market.
“In the spirit of progress and renewal, this newly constructed vessel replaces ageing steamships, breathing new life into the fleet and bolstering BGT and NLNG’s capacity to meet the growing demands of the LNG market. This signifies a corporate milestone and a testament to Nigeria’s ambition to assert itself as a leading economic force in Africa and beyond. We are amidst a transformative journey, leveraging our resources to build a resilient economy that fosters development and prosperity. We assure our partners, including those present here, that we mean business.”
GIK/APA
Nigeria: Press zooms in on expulsion threat of Nigerian students in UK, others
