Nigeria: Press zooms in on Tinubu’s appeal to Faye to persuade Niger, others to come back to ECOWAS fold

The appeal by Nigerian President to visiting Senegalese President, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, to collaborate and meet the leaders of the ECOWAS member states who resigned from the regional body and persuade them to come back to ECOWAS fold is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Friday.
The Vanguard newspaper reports that President Bola Tinubu has appealed to his Senegalese counterpart, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, to collaborate and meet those other brothers and persuade them to come back to the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS).
Recall that some of the ECOWAS countries under the military regime, Mali Burkina Faso and Niger had recently announced their resignation from the West African regional body.
But receiving President Bassirou Diomaye Faye of Senegal on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the Nigerian leader called for an alignment of purpose and structure in West Africa to effectively address the challenges confronting the region.
President Tinubu said West Africa must work together to defeat the hydra-headed problems of terrorism, banditry, human trafficking and poverty.
He advised that leaders in the region must make the people the point of convergence in governance, noting that the essence of democracy is lost when the people are not the focal point.
The Nigerian leader emphasized that democratic governance, democratic values, and constitutional order are sacrosanct and must be protected.
He also stated that critical institutions and precepts, like the judiciary and the rule of law, must be respected and observed for the sustenance of democracy.
“Constitutional democracy is what Senegal proved to the rest of the world and Africa. It is a joy to have you here; to meet the hope and aspiration of our youths. You fit in perfectly well.
“A critical time it is in the history of constitutional democracy, particularly in West Africa. What you have embarked upon, a struggle couched in freedom, is remarkable,” President Tinubu said.
The President described Nigeria and Senegal as brotherly nations, recounting both countries’ long history of cooperation.
In his remarks, President Faye acknowledged Nigeria and Senegal’s shared values, ideals, and challenges, emphasizing that both nations have always had good relations since the 1960s.
“The good relations we have and the relations between our private sectors should be beneficial to our countries,” he said.
The newspaper says that Dangote Refinery is set to buy at least 24 million barrels of US crude over the next year as it ramps up its processing capabilities.
A report by Bloomberg revealed that the $20 billion refinery has issued a term tender for the purchase of 2 million barrels a month of West Texas Intermediate Midland (WTI) crude for 12 months starting in July, which amounts to 24 million barrels of crude in one year.
The call for US oil reflects Nigeria’s struggle to lift its own crude production, which remains well below theoretical capacity, as well as Dangote’s willingness to tap cheaper supplies than it can find at home. It also highlights how influential the refinery will be in global crude and fuel trading.
Elitsa Georgieva, Executive Director at Citac, an energy consultancy specializing in the African downstream sector, said: “Supply of Nigerian crude is insufficient or unavailable and sometimes unreliable. WTI on the other hand, is available, with reliable supply and competitively priced.
“Buying different feed stocks also provides flexibility and optionality for the refinery, so the tender makes economic sense for Dangote,”
Nigeria has not been able to meet its Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) + quota for at least a year. The nation pumped about 1.45 million barrels a day of crude and liquids in April, still far below its estimated production capacity of 2.6 million barrels a day.
Crude theft, aging oil pipelines, low investment, and divestments from oil majors operating in the country have all contributed to declining production.
The Punch reports that the Nigerian Government on Thursday denied an allegation that it intended to borrow the N20tn pension fund for infrastructure development.
Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, in a statement in Abuja, said the government would comply with the established rules and regulations governing the pension fund.
The minister was reported to have told journalists, after a two-day Federal Executive Council meeting at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday, that the government would unveil a plan to harness local funds, including the fund, to finance infrastructure development.
However, in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, Edun noted that the pension industry, similar to other sectors in the financial industry, is strictly regulated by specific legal frameworks.
He said the Federal Government did not plan to exceed these legal boundaries, emphasising that the government was committed to protecting workers’ pensions.
“It has come to my notice that stories are making the round that the Federal Government plans to illegally access the hard-earned savings and pension contributions of workers. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
“The pension industry, like most the financial industries, is highly regulated. There are rules. There are limitations about what pension money can be invested in and what it cannot be invested in.
“The Federal Government has no intention whatsoever to go beyond those limitations and go outside those bounds which are there to safeguard the pensions of workers.
“What was announced to the Federal Executive Council was that there was an ongoing initiative drawing in all the major stakeholders in the long-term saving industry, those that handle funds that are available over a long period to see how, within the regulations and the laws; these funds could be used maximally to drive investment in key growth areas,” Edun clarified.
The newspaper says that the Chief of Mission to the Taiwanese Government in Nigeria, Andy Liu, has disclosed that the value of trade between Nigeria and Taiwan was halved to $500m in 2023, from $1bn in 2021.
Liu stated this recently in Lagos while speaking at the 2024 Taiwan Business Forum in Nigeria.
He explained that Taiwan was a net importer of Nigeria’s agricultural products, especially sesame seeds.
The envoy maintained that despite the decline in trade volume, Nigeria remained a destination for Taiwanese businesses.
“The highest peak of trade reached about $1bn in 2021. It was the peak of COVID-19, with Nigerians enjoying surplus trading with Taiwan. We imported more of Nigeria’s agricultural products, such as sesame, aside from oil-related products. In 2021, we had a huge demand for agriculture products for our food processing industries,” Liu stated.
He added that in 2022, the trade declined because the providers of Nigerian food products had already matched their demand.
GIK/APA