The report that Nigeria’s inflation rate has again surged to 17.71 per cent, according to latest figures by the National Bureau of Statistics and the appeal to the Independent National Electoral Commission to extend the June 30, 2022 deadline for voter registration by 60 days are some of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Thursday
The Punch reports that Nigeria’s inflation rate has again surged to 17.71 per cent, according to latest figures by the National Bureau of Statistics.
In May 2022, the inflation rate increased to 17.71 per cent on a year-on-year basis, the NBS said on Wednesday.
It stated in its ‘CPI and Inflation Report May 2022’ that the latest figure is a 0.22 per cent points lower than the rate recorded in May 2021, which is (17.93) per cent.
The report read in part, “This means that the headline inflation rate slowed down in the month of May when compared to the same month in the previous year (i.e. the year 2021). Increases were recorded in all classification of individual consumption by purpose divisions that yielded the headline index.”
On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate increased to 1.78 per cent in May 2022, this is also 0.02 per cent rate higher than the rate recorded in April 2022 (1.76) per cent.
The urban inflation rate increased to 18.24 per cent (year-on-year); this is a 0.27 per cent decline compared to 18.51 per cent recorded in May 2021.
On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate rose to 1.81 per cent in May 2022, this is a 0.03 per cent increase compared to April 2022 (1.78).
The newspaper says that the House of Representatives has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to extend the June 30, 2022 deadline for voter registration by 60 days, so as to enable more eligible Nigerians to register, get their Permanent Voter Cards and participate in the 2023 general elections.
The House mandated its Committee on Electoral Matters to engage with INEC to “examine and proffer solutions to the shortage of registration machines and manpower.”
The engagement is to also see to the deployment of additional 30 voter registration machines in each of the 774 local government areas, train and deploy ad hoc staff to improve the shortage of manpower at registration centres and provide security for ad hoc staff members.
The committee is to report back in two weeks for further legislative action. A member of the House, Benjamin Kalu, had at the plenary on Wednesday moved a motion titled, ‘Need for INEC to extend the deadline of continuous voters’ registration, deploy additional staff and voters registration machines across the country.’
Kalu, in the motion, noted that the ongoing registration by INEC is scheduled to end on June 30, ahead of the elections.
The Guardian reports that stakeholders are in panic mode over the fate of the nation’s economy, stemming from a sustained energy crisis that has lasted seven years.
Nigeria, according to stakeholders, now has to face worsening situation that will escalate existing high cost of living and goods.
There are also indications that the energy crisis will further increase unemployment as well as borrowing as the N5.5 trillion projected revenue in the 2022 budget remains elusive over productivity challenges in the manufacturing and service sector.
Already, the country is spending over 90 per cent of its earnings from the oil sector on petrol subsidy, and with the energy crisis, experts project tougher times for state governments as the country prepares for the 2023 general election.
While Nigerians are to pay about N876.6 billion on electricity bills in the last lap of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, a development seen by consumer advocates as payment for darkness, manufacturers and small and medium scale entrepreneurs told The Guardian, yesterday, that more businesses are rapidly shutting down, leading to unemployment crisis.
In what is the worst energy crisis for a country that has depended on fuel importation despite being the leading crude oil producers in Africa, stakeholders envisage total collapse of the economy, insisting that increasing cost of aviation fuel, diesel, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), as well as wobbling electricity supply will compound the foreign exchange challenges to cripple economic growth for businesses and standard of living for citizens.
There are fears that companies may be forced to downsize. To compound the high cost of food items and other products in the market, Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) told The Guardian, yesterday, that the cost of lifting farm produce and other goods across the country is now drastically adjusted and may further increase high operational expenses due to energy crisis.
The newspaper says that local airline operators, yesterday, said that a number of them now risk collapse barring availability of affordable aviation fuel to sustain commercial operations.
They said besides the fuel scarcity that is disrupting scheduled operations, the prevailing market rate of N690-N714/litre was unsustainable.
In a related development, other stakeholders in the aviation value-chain also bemoaned the effect of weak Naira-to-Dollar exchange rate on critical services like fuel supply, ground handling, and catering.
Vice President of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Allen Onyema, at the ongoing Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) National Aviation Conference (FNAC) in Abuja, did warn that if the present challenge of aviation fuel was not fully addressed, about three airlines may quit operations due to unbearable cost of operations.
Onyema noted that the aviation fuel challenge was not exclusive to Nigeria, but “ours is made worse because of the slump in naira value against major currencies, especially, the dollars”.
He noted that the recent intervention by the Federal Government led to the approval of 10,000 metric tonnes of aviation fuel, though yet to be accessed by the beneficiary airlines.
Onyema was, however, optimistic that the airlines would start lifting the subsidised fuel by today (Thursday).
The operators said it was regrettable that the aviation fuel that sold for N200/litre barely 18 months ago has increased by more than 300 per cent.
The Nation reports that Nigeria has received over $1.1 billion for HIV intervention from Global Fund, the Director-General, National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Dr Gambo Aliyu, has said.
Aliyu made this known in Abuja during the presentation of the publication entitled: “From the darkest of days to a new dawn,” by NACA, United Nations, Network of People Living With HIV and AIDS (NEPWHAN) and Federal Ministry of Health.
He said the funds made the country the largest recipient of HIV funding, which would span last year to next year.
He urged stakeholders to ramp up domestic funding for HIV, especially as international funding is dwindling.
According to the NACA chief, the publication is based on the evolution of HIV in Nigeria over the past 35 years.
GIK/APA