Nigeria: Press zooms in on govt reaction to report of coup scare, others

APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that the Nigerian Government, yesterday, dismissed a report of a coup scare in the country, saying it was unequivocally false and a heinous act of disinformation is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Wednesday.
The Vanguard newspaper reports that the Federal Government, yesterday, dismissed a report of a coup scare in the country, saying it was unequivocally false and a heinous act of disinformation.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, who made the position of government known, said the report was the figment of the warped imagination of detractors, whose malicious intent was to destabilise the country and undermine the present administration.
Idris said the government would neither be distracted nor intimidated into abandoning the ongoing reforms aimed at rejuvenating the economy and creating a pathway of prosperity for the citizenry.
He said it was now evident that some desperate individuals had resorted to publishing fake news to erode public trust in the government and sow the seed of discord in the country.
Idris said the government would exercise its rights within the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s laws to contain rogue actions to destabilize national security and the nation’s hard-earned democracy.
He urged the public to exercise discernment and refrain from spreading or amplifying the unfounded report, which was being strategically planted on some pliant and compromised news platforms to subvert the nation’s democracy.
The newspaper says that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday made a 17-point demand to President Bola Tinubu to assuage the poverty, hunger and mass suffering inflicted on the citizens by the policies of the federal government.
However, leaders of NLC, yesterday suspended the two-day nationwide protest after the first day, saying its suspension was based on the fact that the street action achieved overwhelming success.
In a communiqué at the end of its National Executive Council, NEC, meeting yesterday in Abuja, President of NLC and Acting General Secretary, Joe Ajaero and Ismail Bello, said: “The NEC-in-session, therefore, reviewed the execution of the first day of the nationwide protest to assess its effectiveness and take decision on further necessary action to guide congress in its effort at engaging government to protect the people and Nigerian workers from the increasing scourge of hardship.”
Meanwhile, on first day of nationwide protest yesterday, NLC, in a letter to President Tinubu, titled ‘’Tackling the Crisis of Survival and Mounting Destitution in the Land – What Must be Done Now!”, signed by its President, Joe Ajaero, said: “Sequel to the recent nationwide protests called by the National Executive Council, NEC, of the NLC, it is our considered opinion that we write to you at this time of great national distress that has left a huge majority of the citizenry and workers massively impoverished and hungry.
“We believe that together, we can co-create programmes and policies that will not only help reduce suffering on the people but also create a functional path out of this morass which the crushing weight of unmitigated inflation and hardship has imposed on us.
“First, Your Excellency may recall that two policies of your government are responsible for the unprecedented economic downturn facing millions of Nigerians. The first is your inauguration declaration that ‘fuel subsidy gone’. “The impact of that policy is unbridled hike in the price of refined petroleum products, especially petrol.
The second is the foreign currency exchange rate flotation policy which translates to massive depreciation of the naira. “We understand that these policies were at the instance of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Your Excellency may recall the principled opposition of the NLC against hike in the pump price of refined petroleum products over the years.
The Punch reports that the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria has increased the benchmark interest rate by 400 basis points to a record 22.75%.
The CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, disclosed this while reading the communiqué of the first MPC meeting of the year on Tuesday in Abuja.
Addressing journalists at the end of the two-day meeting in Abuja, Cardoso said the committee voted to adjust the asymmetric corridor around the MPR to +100 to -700 from plus 100 to -300 basis points and raised the cash reserve ratio from 32.5 percent to 45 percent
He said, “All 12 members of the committee decided to further tighten monetary policy by raising the MPR by 400 basis points to 22.75 per cent from 18.75 per cent. Adjust the asymmetric corridor around the MPR to +100 to -700 from plus 100 to -300 basis points.
“The committee also raised the cash reserve ratio from 32.5 per cent to 45 per cent while retaining the liquidity ratio at 30 per cent.”
At the last meeting in July 2023, the MPC, headed by the former acting governor of the apex bank, Folashodun Shonubi, increased the monetary policy rate by 25 basis points to 18.75 per cent, from 18.5 per cent in May last year.
The capital requirement ratio was retained at 32.5 per cent while the liquidity ratio stood at 30 per cent.
The newspaper says that members of the organised private sector have stated that harsh economic policies from the government have exacerbated country’s unemployment rate.
In separate chat with The PUNCH, they warned that if the poor economic policies are not quickly addressed, more businesses would fold up and it would worsen the country’s unemployment.
The President of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, warned that the repercussions of inadequate economic policies and a hostile business climate would compel numerous businesses to cut their workforce to mitigate costs.
He recommended that the government implement optimal measures to enhance the business environment and bolster production within the private sector.
“Since the beginning of 2023, the government has been instituting policies unfavourable to the operations of the private sector, which happens to be the largest source of employment in the country,” Oyerinde said.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics in its Labour Force Survey, in the third quarter of 2023, the country’s unemployment rate rose to five per cent from 4.2 per cent in the preceding quarter.
The labour force participation rate, which gauges the proportion of the working-age populace actively involved in the labour market, declined to 79.5 per cent in Q3 from 80.4 per cent in Q2.
GIK/APA