APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday approved a 30-day implementation plan for the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Federal Government and the Organised Labour dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday.
The Guardian reports that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday approved a 30-day implementation plan for the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Federal Government and the Organised Labour. FEC also took a decision against any external interference in unions activities by external bodies.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, along with Minister of State, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, have met with the factional leaderships of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
Briefing newsmen at the end of FEC, Lalong said a MoU was presented to the Council on the implementation of the agreement with labour. He said: “We presented a memo from the Ministry of Labour and Employment on the agreement between government and labour. You are aware that 15 items are parts of the agreement.
“But we went beyond mere agreement because part of the agreement is to file it in court, which we have set the process already. The other one was presidential approval. There cannot be any presidential approval more than the FEC. So, we presented them to the Council and it was approved for implementation.
“It was agreed that within 30 days, there must be evidence of implementation and that was the basis of presenting to the memo to FEC.”
Fielding a question on item six of the MoU which bothers on the government alleged interference in the activities of the democratically elected leadership of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW and the mandate to him (Lalong) to resolve the crisis in the union on or before October 13, the Minister said he had already met with the various factions.
“Item six in the MoU is about interference specifically with issues that were about road transport workers. Immediately the next day, we embarked on meetings between the two organisations.
“As of today, they have already reached out and have concluded that of Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, RTEAN, today they are making a report to the ministry about their agreement because they went into agreement too and we are also going to get back to their parent association,” he said.
The newspaper says that rising food prices remain a source of concern for Nigerians, as the inflationary trend is not just spiking poverty levels but also increasing the number of people who cannot afford a healthy diet.
Prices of food produce continue to inch higher than historical average, driven by incidence of flooding in food-producing states, effects of below-average planting season on primary harvests, lingering security challenges in the country’s northern region, rising energy costs (diesel for transportation) and unstable foreign exchange rate.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), yesterday stated that headline inflation rose to 26.7% in September as against 25.8% in August, while food inflation maintained its uptrend rising to 30.64% in September.
Though the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has lifted the ban on 43 items from accessing foreign exchange at the official window to reduce pressure in the parallel market, analysts are concerned that the pressure may remain without significant increase in FX supplies.
The rising food prices from these supply chain disruptions have resulted in double-digit food inflation in Nigeria, which means that more people are likely to be unable to afford healthy diets.
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), more than three billion people could not afford a healthy diet in 2020, an additional 112 million more people than in 2019. The increase was partly because of rising food prices, with the average cost of a healthy diet rising by 3.3% from 2019 levels.
As of August 2022, the FAO food price index was up 40.6% from average 2020 levels. Unless income levels increased by a similar magnitude, the healthy diet crisis is likely to have worsened, especially in low-income countries experiencing rampant food inflation. During the period, more Nigerians became multidimensionally poor.
According to the FAO, a healthy diet is one that meets daily energy needs as well as requirements within the food and dietary guidelines created by the country.
The Punch reports that the Federal Government plans to spend 61.63 per cent of its planned 2024 on personnel and debt service costs, The PUNCH has learnt.
The personnel and pension costs of N7.78tn and the debt service cost of N8.25tn make up N16.03tn out of the N26.01tn 2024 budget.
The PUNCH also observed that the government would spend more on debt servicing than it would spend on paying the salaries and pensions of its workers.
Also, the amount budgeted for personnel and pension costs is expected to increase from N5.87tn in 2023 to N7.78tn in the 2024 budget.
This showed an increase of N1.91tn or 32.54 per cent amid concerns for a reduction in the cost of governance.
The PUNCH also observed a 30.74 per cent increase in debt service cost from N6.31tn in 2023 to N8.25tn by 2023.
The World Bank in June 2023 stated that the Federal Government’s spending on personnel costs and debt servicing exceeded total revenues in 2022.
According to the Washington-based bank, this was the first time the Federal Government’s personnel costs and debt servicing surpassed its total revenue.
The bank added that due to this, spending on capital expenditures weakened.
The newspaper says that the Federal Government on Monday said it had secured a budget support loan worth $1.5bn from the World Bank and another worth $80m from the African Development Bank to finance various projects in critical sectors of the economy.
It said Nigeria qualified for the “relatively cheap” loans given its “macro-economic moves” in the past couple of months since President Bola Tinubu assumed office.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, told State House Correspondents that the FG would receive $1.5bn as a whole before the end of the year, provided it fulfilled its end of the deal.
He explained, “Council approved today the application for financing from the World Bank. And in particular, the International Development Association, which is the virtually free or zero-interest lending arm or financing arm of the World Bank.
“The total is $1.5bn. The world today is one of the high-interest rates as the developed world looks to fight inflation. They do it by restricting money, and keeping interest rates high so that you can get inflation down.
“That means that interest rates for everybody else become not just high but very painful, if not unaffordable within that context.”
Edun clarified that Nigeria took macroeconomic moves and tough decisions to restore balance in its economy, warranting support from multilateral development banks.
GIK/APA