APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that crude oil theft may have cost the country a whopping N1.9tn revenue loss in July is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Wednesday.
The Punch reports that crude oil theft may have cost the country a whopping N1.9tn revenue loss in July, according to analysis by The PUNCH.
The estimation was arrived at following a pronouncement by the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, last week when he led a presidential delegation to inspect oil and gas facilities at Owaza in Abia and Rivers State.
Ribadu said Nigeria was losing 400,000 barrels of crude oil daily due to activities of oil thieves and pipeline vandals.
He added that the country had the capacity to produce 2 million barrels of crude oil per day.
“It is unfortunate that few individuals would steal our common resources, and in the process cause unbelievable loss to the nation, communities and the people,” Ribadu said.
“Nigeria has the capacity to produce two million barrels of crude daily, but we are currently producing less than 1.6 million barrels due to theft and vandalisation of pipelines.’’
“So, we’re talking about 400,000 barrels of crude oil going to waste, with few criminals and economic saboteurs not even getting much out of it,” he said.
The newspaper says that as flooding hits some frontlines states following the opening of the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon by the authorities, about 3.04 million Nigerian farmers may struggle to repay over N700bn Anchor Borrowers’ Programme loan of the Central Bank of Nigeria, according to findings by The PUNCH.
The opening of the dam is expected to affect 13 frontline states, according to the National Emergency Management Agency.
Already, water levels have risen some states including Benue and Anambra, while Niger is already experiencing flooding.
Findings showed that farmers in the states are at risk of flooding based on the analysis done by The PUNCH.
Some of the farmers, who spoke with The PUNCH, said the development might make it difficult for them to repay their Anchor Borrowers’ loan.
Aside from the opening of the dam in Cameroon, NEMA had earlier said about 56 communities in 19 states across the country might experience heavy rainfall in August.
The NEMA Lagos Territorial Coordinator, Ibrahim Farinloye, made this known in a statement while giving an update about the downpour that is likely to cause flooding in August.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government, on Tuesday, said it kicked against the opening of the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon by the authorities of the neighbouring country without informing the Nigerian government.
The Director-General, Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency – an agency of the Federal Government, Clement Nze, who disclosed this to journalists, explained that in Nigeria, the month of June every year
Asked whether the Federal Government registered its grievance over the opening of the Lagdo Dam by Cameroon without informing Nigeria, the NIHSA boss replied, “Of course yes, expectedly Nigeria wasn’t pleased with the fact that Cameroon opened their dam without notifying Nigeria.
“It happened in 2012, which though they informed Nigeria, but because of the pressure on the dam in that year, they had to open it before the scheduled date, in order to relief the dam from any breach.
“In 2019, they opened the dam on October 10 till October 31 without informing Nigeria and there was flood. So we now know that whenever there is flood of certain magnitude we begin to ask questions.”
The Guardian reports that industry stakeholders have urged entrepreneurs and exporters to fully tap into e-commerce to benefit from the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) $3.4 trillion market.
Speaking at a masterclass workshop and exporters on-boarding in Lagos with the theme, ‘Operationalising the AfCFTA Agreement for Nigerian Businesses through e-Commerce Channel’, President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Dr Michael Olawale-Cole, noted that AfCFTA would create the largest free trade area in the world, measured by the number of countries participating.
He stated that while the trade agreement had the potential to lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty, achieving its full potential would depend on significant policy reforms and trade facilitation measures; one of which was e-commerce. He noted that the number of internet users in Africa increased to 601.94 million in 2022 from 590.3 million in 2021, resulting in a 43.2 per cent internet penetration rate.
He, however, said that compared to other regions in the world, internet penetration in Africa was the lowest, lamenting that Africa accounted for the lowest contribution to global e-commerce sales. He went on to say that while this appears bleak, they are growth opportunities.
Chief Executive Officer, Traders of Africa (TOFA), Uju Uzo-Ojinnaka, described TOFA as the Alibaba of Africa and said they intend to move traders and manufacturers online, many of whom she said still operate offline. Urging attendees to adopt a mindset of collaboration, she noted that rampant dishonesty from sellers is what causes rejection of goods overseas mostly.
She urged traders and manufacturers to market aggressively at all times and adopt honesty and transparency in order to build trust. She added that AfCFTA is a market of 1.3 billion people and Nigerian manufacturers and traders must be front and center of the market.
Executive Secretary, National Action Committee, AfCFTA (NAC-AfCFTA), Olusegun Awolowo, noted that while trading officially began on Jan. 1, 2021, substantial trade has still not taken place because some critical structures and trading instruments need to be in place.
Awolowo, represented by the coordinator, Policies Regulations and Laws Workstream, AfCFTA, Dr Fatima Bello, said an innovative interim approach, the Guided Trade Initiative (GTI) was developed to stimulate and encourage trading.
The newspaper says that just a month after the military in the Republic of Niger ousted a democratically elected president in a coup d’etat, their counterpart in Gabon announced on television that they had cancelled the country’s election and had seized power.
With the coup in Gabon, seven African countries are currently under military rule: Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Sudan and Mali.
The coup in Gabon came as the country was rounding off voting in the general election that took place on August 26 general elections.
Described as the CTRI (Committee of Transition and Restoration of Institutions), the military officers based their actions on the grave political crises rocking the country due to irresponsible governance.
“Today, our country is going through a grave political crisis due to irresponsible, unforeseeable governance that has resulted in the steady degradation of social cohesion which risks leading the country to chaos.
“So, we have decided to defend peace by putting an end to the regime in power”, they said.
The coup ended the reign of President Ali Bongo, who has been in office since 2009 when he succeeded his Father, Omar Bongo.
Bongo, who was seeking a third term in office, was declared the winner by Gabon’s electoral umpire with 64 percent of the total votes cast at the Saturday’s election.
GIK/APA