The report of attacks on gas pipelines leading to shutdown of power plants as the government and stakeholders in the Nigerian power sector deliberate on what becomes of electricity with the current administration winding down is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Monday.
The Guardian reports that as President Muhammadu Buhari and stakeholders in the nation’s power sector deliberate on what becomes of electricity with the current administration winding down, attacks on gas pipelines are becoming a new normal leading to shutdown of power plants.
Although the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari, and other stakeholders are finding it hard to connect the intention of vandals of gas pipelines as it has no immediate pecuniary advantage to the vandals, prevailing realities have led to the shutdown of over seven power plants in less than two months.
Breach on the Trans-Forcardos Pipeline (TFP) had last month impacted key power plants including Olorunsogo, Omotosho, Sapele, Ihovbor, Geregu and Ughelli East Plant, just as vandals last week, hit the TotalEnergies pipeline, crippling the 504 megawatts Alaoji power plant.
Last month, Nigeria Gas Company (NGC) issued a notice of gas curtailment arising from the abysmal system pressure levels that must be managed to avoid collapse of the gas grid.
This is coming as transmission and distribution bottlenecks pushed average stranded electricity generation to an average of 2,248.50 megawatts in 2021 amid erratic supply to homes and industries.
With the power sector operating mainly with gas-fired generation plants, the country may have more worries to contend with besides existing challenges that have kept electricity at an average of 4,000 megawatts over the past years.
The Punch says that Nigeria’s total debt stock rose from N32.9tn as of December 2020 to N39.6tn in November 2021, The PUNCH has learnt.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, in her presentation of the 2022 approved budget, disclosed that the government borrowed N6.7tn between January and November 2021, according to a copy of the presentation obtained by our correspondent. The new borrowing in the period under review consists of N5.1tn domestic debt and N1.6tn.
The domestic debt, however, includes borrowing from the Central Bank of Nigeria, according to the presentation document. In March 2021, the Debt Management Office had disclosed that the country’s total public debt stock was N32.9tn as of December 2020.
An additional N6.7tn loan means the total public debt stock would be about N39.6tn as of November 2021. The DMO had disclosed that the country’s total public debt increased to N33.1tn at the end of the first quarter of 2021, from N32.9tn in December 2020, showing an increase of about 200bn.
In Q2 2021, the total debt stock rose by N2.4tn to N35.5tn by June 2021.
The increase continued by N2.5tn to hit N38tn by Q3 2021, which was the last figure provided by the DMO. However, based on the minister’s presentation, there was an increase of N1.6tn from September to November 2021.
The Sun reports that the Federal Government’s desire to attract about $48 billion of a projected $194 billion oil and gas investment in Africa may have suffered a huge setback with investors opting for other business friendly destinations.
The development may have been orchestrated by its lack of clarity in gas pricing, licensing requirements and domestic gas delivery obligations among others contained in the recently signed Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had in 2019 projected that the country will attract about $48.04 billion or 24.8 per cent of an estimated $194 billion total oil and gas investment coming to Africa over the next seven years (2019-2026). Its closest rival on the continent, Angola, will take 11.3 per cent of the total expected spend, while emerging jurisdiction, Mozambique, will have as much as 23.8 per cent of that.
The NNPC also stated that within this investment window, the country would have 20 out of the 93 projects funded across the continent’s oil and gas industry. Prior to the signing of the PIA, gas investors had complained about the earlier listed challenges, a development that led to many gas fields undeveloped across the country.
The newspaper says that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, has unveiled plans to shed some of its toxic liabilities under a new legislation – the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
This was even as it said it would be the largest and most capitalised company in the whole of Africa and, potentially, the most profitable on the entire continent.
With Federal Government commencing full implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in earnest, the new legislation has been tipped to provide business opportunities that will enable the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) earn more revenue for the country.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, Mallam Mele Kyari, who disclosed this while addressing staff of the organisation at a town hall meeting held at the NNPC Towers, at the weekend, with staff outside the Corporate Headquarters (CHQ) participating virtually, highlighted the significance of the PIA to the NNPC and by extension the Nigerian economy.
Kyari said the new legislation has raised shareholders’ expectations on the company, even as it has given it a wide room to make progress. According to him, the PIA had put “all money-making options on the table; it is up to us to take advantage of it”.
The Nation reports that startups get $2.5b funding in five years – Startups in Nigeria have raised about $2.5 billion in the last five years, according to various data explored by The Nation.
The amount represented aggregate funding, which startups received between 2017 and last year. For instance last year, startups operating across several sectors raised $1.37 billion.
This was out of about $4 billion funding that startups in Africa received. One of the biggest success stories was Chipper Cash, which raised a total of $250 million.
On the whole, Nigeria boasts of over 200 deals for the year. According to analysts, financial technology services contributed 73.5 percent as Nigerian startups raised $1.09 billion.
In 2020, Nigerian startups raise $117,481,508. The key companies, which benefited from funding included Flutterwave,54 Gene, Helium health,Kuda bank,TradeDepot,Field Intelligence, Medsaf, Autochek and Rensource. In 2019, Nigerian tech startups got $663.24 million out of the $1.34 billion raised in funding in Africa, according to the Decoding Venture Investments.
Foremost among them were Interswitch, OPay, Andela and Palmpay, which accounted for most of the top venture deals on the continent.In 2018, startups raised $ $178.3 million.
That year, Google gave out $2million in grants to 12 Nigerian companies in the inaugural African edition of the Google Impact Challenge. In 2017, out of the $560 million technology startup investments that entered Africa, Nigeria earned $114.6 million.
ThisDay says that owing to the global inflationary trend linked to COVID 19 Nigeria’s economic activity in 2022 will be similar to that of 2021, one of the nation’s foremost economists, Mr Bismarck Rewane has hinted.
Taking a deep dive into Nigeria’s projected fiscal outcomes, Rewane hinted that the lingering global supply shortage, which will weigh on the supply of imported raw materials and continue to impact Nigerian businesses.
Speaking at the Nigerian- British Chamber of Commerce January Breakfast Meeting, themed, “2022 Economic Outlook,” Rewane said, “We can expect to see sustained cost-push factors, including a planned fuel subsidy removal, new electricity tariffs and additional taxes; alongside legacy issues, such as increased debt service burden and exchange rate conversion.
Inflation will remain structurally high at an average of 13.3%, with an increase in Q1 and Q2.”
He, however, noted that the economic outlook for the country was not gloomy, despite its continued dependence on oil.
“The World Bank projects economic growth of 2.5 per cent for Nigeria, with a 3.4 per cent annualised growth rate, driven by the ICT, Financial Services, Manufacturing, Trade and Construction sectors.
Government expenditure will increase especially because of election spending and the Naira will effectively appreciate in the informal market,” he concluded.
GIK/APA