Nigerian press spotlights indefinite strike warning by Organized Labour, others

APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that the organised labour on Tuesday threatened to begin an indefinite strike should the Federal Government fail to meet its demands at the end of a 21-day ultimatum which will expire in approximately one week’s time dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Wednesday.
The Punch reports that barely one week after leading a two-day nationwide warning strike, the organised labour on Tuesday threatened to begin an indefinite strike should the Federal Government fail to meet its demands at the end of a 21-day ultimatum which will expire in approximately one week’s time.
The workers union said the proposed strike was necessary following the failure of the Federal Government to provide palliatives to assuage the Nigerians hardships as a result of the fuel subsidy removal.
The Nigeria Labour Congress said the industrial action which may commence any day from next week would lead to an indefinite shutdown of commercial and economic activities across the country.
Speaking with The PUNCH on Tuesday, the National Assistant General Secretary of the NLC, Mr Christopher Onyeka, said the FG was wrong to share a bag of rice to a dozen citizens while reportedly giving N100m palliative to each member of the National Assembly.
The union had on September 1 handed down a 21-day ultimatum to the FG over the delay in sharing of palliatives, saying it might be compelled to declare an indefinite labour action if its demands were not met.
The newspaper says that the acting Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Adewale Adeniyi, on Tuesday, announced that Nigerian importers would soon be able to clear their goods from the ports in Cotonou, Benin Republic.
He disclosed this in Abuja at the end of a two-day working visit by the director-general and senior officials of the customs service of Benin Republic.
Customs personnel from both countries entered into various agreements during the two-day meeting in order to boost trade relations between Nigeria and Benin Republic, as well as curb smuggling.
While responding to a question at the event, Adewale said, “We are building confidence in the system offered by the Republic of Benin, our importers are using their ports and vice-versa. If there are people in Benin Republic who want to use our ports, we try to build trust in our systems.
“And by virtue of this agreement, what it means is that Nigerian importers willing to use the ports in Cotonou can have their goods cleared in those ports because there would be an opportunity for them to pay duties on goods that are liable for payment of duties.
“We can account for the duties on those goods in the ports of arrival. So they will now be free to enter Nigeria.”
Reacting to concerns about vehicle smuggling, he said, “It goes beyond vehicles. Any goods arriving in Cotonou ports, duty can be accessed and payment can be made and from there, it comes into the Nigerian territory.
The Guardian reports that in fulfillment of its promise towards actualising the ease of doing business in the country, the Federal Government, yesterday, flagged off the first movement of import units of containers from Apapa port, after two years of its inauguration amid several setbacks.
Respite came to the congested Apapa corridor as movement of containers commenced on one of the three $1.5 billion standard gauge rail line constructed by the Federal Government from Apapa port to Moniya in Ibadan, Oyo State.
While inaugurating the wagon freight train haulage at APM Terminal, Apapa, the Minister of Transportation, Saidu Alkali, said the wagon freight train from Apapa Ports to Ibadan would move 90 container cargoes daily, which would not only decongest the ports but also save shippers from accumulation of demurrages.
The construction of the 157km rail line was inaugurated on June 10, 2021, with the aim of supporting cargo evacuation from Apapa port to reduce the burden of cargo movement on the roads, as well as congestion at the ports and access routes.
Recall that there have been setbacks to the construction of the three rail tracks due to the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) scanner building, which is now impeding two tracks.
The Minister of Transportation, while flagging off the freight movement with three coaches of 30 wagons loaded on the completed one rail track, said efforts are on to remove the Customs scanner building impeding the other two tracks.
Alkali said the freight services would start with three coaches per day, totaling 90 trips per month, while the Nigerian Railway Corporation’s capacity would be strengthened to scale up the numbers.
He said by the time the Customs building is removed with the remaining two standard gauge lines ready for use, NRC would be doing 270 train trips from Lagos to Ibadan in a month, and nine train trips in a day.
“The ministry is going to liaise with the Minister of Finance and the Customs concerning demolition of the scanning centre, which is affecting completion of the remaining tracks into the ports.
“With the movement of containers from Apapa to Ibadan, we expect the Apapa port to be decongested and our roads to be free of container-carrying trucks,” he said.
The newspaper says that the completion of the second expansion of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA-3) could bring more than 400 unique information technology (ICT) products under the ITA’s tariff-eliminating framework, which would add more than $750 billion to the global economy in 10 years.
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), which disclosed this, noted that the expansion of trade agreements and elimination of tariffs on IT products could fetch Nigeria $10.3 billion of the $750 billion in a decade.
But the ITIF noted that while IT is at the core of an ever-expanding range of products, the ITA – the trade agreement that eliminates tariffs on those products—has not been updated since 2015. It stressed that the economic benefits mentioned earlier would further be enhanced if this is updated.
ITIF in a document that studied 22 countries, including Nigeria, explained that expanding the ITA could bring products such as 3D printers, industrial robots, commercial-use drones, patient monitoring systems and other medical devices, lithium-ion batteries, solar cells and high-definition televisions into the agreement.
According to it, if the 82 signatories of the original ITA were to join an expanded ITA-3, the global economy would grow by nearly $766 billion over the ensuing 10 years.
The report disclosed that India, Kenya, Pakistan, and Nigeria would enjoy the largest relative gross domestic product (GDP) growth over 10 years — 2.5 per cent, 2.3 per cent, two per cent, and 1.7 per cent, respectively—though all 22 countries studied would realise larger economies over that period.
ITIF said an ITA-3 expansion could help grow U.S. GDP by $208 billion over a decade, increase U.S. exports of ICT products by $2.8 billion and help create almost 60,000 U.S. jobs.
GIK/APA