ThisDay reports that South Korea appears to have decided to withdraw its trade minister, Yoo Myung-hee, from the race for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director General, paving the way for Nigeria’s candidate, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to be confirmed as the head of the global trade body.
Washington Trade Daily (WTD) quoted people familiar with the development to have disclosed that South Korea was expected to announce its decision to withdraw Myung-hee in the coming days to enable the WTO’s General Council appoint Okonjo-Iweala.
The Washington-based news medium further stated that South Korea had already conveyed its decision to the United States, which had been insisting on the selection of Myung-hee.
Part of the reason for the position adopted by the United States against Okonjo-Iweala, is that she is perceived to be close to the Democratic Party, according to the WTD.
The Guardian says that the Senate Committee on Aviation has alerted the authorities to the grave danger pervading air travel in Nigeria. The panel said operators were cutting corners to maintain aircraft due to their poor financial situation in the absence of sustainable palliatives from government as obtained in other climes
Addressing newsmen yesterday in Abuja, the chairman of the committee, Senator Smart Adeyemi, reiterated that the N4 billion bailout for airlines was inadequate, thus the new development in the industry.
He, therefore, appealed to the Federal Government to review the intervention.His words: “In most nations, there are special palliatives for airline operators because they must not compromise.
“If the part is needed in three weeks, and it is not available and the operators decide to be managing, well you know what will happen.
“Let me explain what they are doing in some African countries so that you can understand what we are saying. When you are convinced with your facts, we would say these are the facts that we have gathered. It is left for those who are in the industry to dispute our position but these are the information we have gathered.
The newspaper reports that the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), which is coordinating the border closure exercise, has approved the release of over N130 billion goods stuck at the Seme border, more than one year after President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the abrupt closure of the borders.
The approval was conveyed in a letter signed by Major General E.A. Ndagi, on behalf of the National Security Adviser, dated November 13, 2020, and addressed to the Comptroller-General of Customs,
Hameed Ali. National President, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Iju Tony Nwabinike, had recently expressed worries that trucks laden with goods worth over N130 billion belonging to private businesses have been trapped since August 18, 2019, when the borders were shut.
| Similarly, the Seme Chapter of ANLCA had in a letter to the National Security Adviser appealed for the release of goods trapped at the border. The Association argued that import duty had been paid on the goods before the abrupt border closure. The letter from ONSA directed the NCS to facilitate release of the affected goods being cleared by members of ANLCA.
The Punch says that the World Bank said on Monday that Nigeria’s per capita income could fall in 2020 to its lowest level in 40 years.
The bank also raised concern about the debt service cost being incurred by the Nigerian government. The Country Director for Nigeria, World Bank, Mr Shubham Chaudhuri, noted that the decline in crude oil prices had dramatically impacted government finances, the balance of payments and remittances from Nigerians living abroad.
According to him, Nigeria’s public debt to GDP is currently somewhere between 20 per cent and 30 per cent. “Nigeria’s problem is that the debt service takes a big part of the government revenue,” he said.
Chaudhuri, who spoke during a panel session at the 26th Nigerian Economic Summit organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and the Federal Government also noted that the country was still recovering from the last oil price shock of 2014-2016 before the COVID-19 crisis hit the economy.
He said between 2015 and 2019, 15 million young Nigerians came of working age but only about four million really found the kinds of jobs and opportunities they aspired for.
The newspaper reports that President, Muhammadu Buhari will lead a team of other top government officials, oil industry regulators and stakeholders to Imo State on Tuesday (today) for the inauguration of the 5,000 barrels-per-day Waltersmith Modular Refinery.
The Waltersmith Group disclosed this on Monday in a statement, saying it would also break ground on a 45,000bpd refinery.
According to the statement, the modular refinery has a crude oil storage capacity of 60,000 barrels and is projected to deliver over 271 million litres per annum of refined petroleum products, including kerosene, diesel, naphtha and heavy fuel oils, to the domestic market.
The Chairman, Waltersmith Group, Mr Abdulrazaq Isa, said the first module of the refinery, to be inaugurated on Tuesday, would process 5,000bpd of crude oil.
|
|
|
