Nigeria: Press zooms in on nationwide protests against economic hardship, others

APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that two major opposition parties, the Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party, have thrown their weight behind the two-day protest declared by the Nigeria Labour Congress is one the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday.
The Punch reports that two major opposition parties, the Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party, have thrown their weight behind the two-day protest declared by the Nigeria Labour Congress. His threat also comes few days after the Department of State Services appealed to the labour to shelve the protest with a premonition that a fifth columnist could hijack it to cause chaos in the country.
Speaking with the Punch correspondent, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Abdullahi Ibrahim, said the people are always ready to resist any anti-people policy.
Ibrahim said, “Labour has always been consistent in terms of expressing their misgivings because they are the ones interfacing with the workers. So it is not going to be the first time. I doubt if there is any government since Independence that has not contended with the protest or expression of agitation by labour.
This was even as the ruling All Progressives Congress expressed concern that the protest may be hijacked.
In separate interviews, the opposition parties told The PUNCH on Monday that the economic hardship is enough to make the masses join labour to kick against the insensitivity of the Federal Government.
The NLC President, Joe Ajaero, had warned that there would be a total shutdown of the economy if any of their protesting members were attacked during Tuesday’s protest.
The newspaper says that the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has said that the protracted foreign exchange crisis in the economy may trigger factory shutdowns if the situation continues to worsen.
The Director-General of the Association, Segun Ajayi-Kadir stated this in a recent interview with AIT.
According to him, manufacturers are unable to source up to 20 per cent of their forex needs at the official market, leaving them at the mercy of the parallel market.
With the rapid depreciation of the naira in recent weeks, the MAN D-G said manufacturers have continued to grapple with high production costs which has led to decreased capacity utilisation.
He said, “There are reports that across the board, many warehouses and plants of many manufacturing firms are stockpiled with unsold goods manufactured last year.
“The development is as a result of the devastating effects of the exchange rate crisis, inflation, fake and sub-standard goods, smuggling and other macro-economic challenges.”
Speaking further, Ajayi-Kadir said that manufacturers might be forced to halt production or downsize their workforce if improvements in sales are not recorded.
Vanguard newspaper reports that the Federal Government says its investigations have revealed that some parody non-governmental organizations (NGOs) within West Africa were funding terror organizations.
It disclosed this at the opening session of a five-day workshop organised by the Inter Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa, GIABA.
GIABA is a specialised institution of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, responsible for facilitating the adoption and implementation of Anti-Money Laundering, AML, and Counter Financing of Terrorism, CFT, strategies in West Africa.
Nigeria was represented at the event by the National Counter Terrorism Centre, NCTC, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, National Defence College and the Department of State Services, DSS.
In his remarks at the workshop which provided a platform for ECOWAS member states to brainstorm and create curriculum and training modules to counter terror financing within the region, the Commandant of the National Defence College, Abuja, Rear Admiral Olumuyiwa Olotu, whose speech was read by Dr. Adam Abdullahi, said efforts were on to block all the sources of funds open to terrorist organizations in the country.
He, however, decried that some of the terror groups had resorted to seeking funds through various less suspectable means.
“The moment we are able to interrupt the financing of terrorist groups, about 50 per cent of our problem is solved. Majority of the sources of funds for these criminal elements are unconventional means, such as kidnapping for ransom and illegal declaration of taxation in the Lake Chad basin.
“The moment we are able to seal off these unofficial sources of income and identify ways of blocking them, as well as some official sources as religious organisations and other parody NGOs who are supporting terrorism, the better for us,” he added.
The newspaper says that Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) has deployed an Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) for a pipeline route survey in the Niger Delta. The USV innovation saves time and cost and reduces exposure to personnel and the environment.
Last month, the remotely operated USV conducted a pipeline route survey at Bonny for a total of 166 hours. It is the first deployment of a USV for a pipeline route survey in shallow water in Nigeria and the longest such single mission in the Shell Group.
“This is the new face of survey in Nigeria, in which on-site and remote operators deployed the Uncrewed Surface Vessel,” said SPDC’s Chief Surveyor and Head, Offshore Survey Operations, Steve Keedwell. “We recorded increased productivity and better data acquisition at the survey at Bonny. Deploying the USV reduced CO2 emissions by 97 per cent because the vehicle is designed as diesel-electric. The efficiency of data acquisition coupled with improved data quality whilst reducing personnel exposure to zero is transforming how we execute surveys.”
SPDC partnered with a wide range of stakeholders to deploy the technology. They include the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission; NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services; Nigerian Content Development and Management Board; Nigerian Navy Hydrographic Office; and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency.
In furtherance of its Nigerian content development programme, SPDC worked closely with a Nigerian vendor, Compass Survey Limited, which deployed the vessel with support from their foreign partners, Unmanned Survey Solutions, UK.
The vendor is training on-site remote operators to build local capacity. “This is an exciting chapter in our efforts to develop Nigerian content in the conduct of surveys,” said SPDC General Manager, Nigerian Content Development, ‘Lanre Olawuyi.
He said: “Already, the innovation in the survey at Bonny is attracting interest from the oil and gas industry and beyond, which means it stands a good chance of being widely used in Nigeria. We will continue to support Nigerian companies in the domestication of technology and innovations.”
GIK/APA