The meetings on cementing the cracks in the bilateral relations between Nigeria and Ghana and the reactions of Nigerians to the hike in the price of petrol are the trending stories in the Nigerian newspapers on Friday.
ThisDay reports that Nigeria and Ghana yesterday began talks to cement cracks in their bilateral relations owing to the diplomatic crisis between them arising from the alleged maltreatment of Nigerians in Ghana.
The report added that senior government officials from both countries have met in Abuja as part of ongoing efforts to resolve the diplomatic crisis.The House of Representatives Speaker, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, has called on Ghanaian authorities to revisit the law that requires a capital base of $1 million for businesses by foreigners, saying as Africans, Ghana should encourage brotherliness.
The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Ferdinand Nwonye, said in a statement that the delegations of both countries had a successful bilateral engagement on improving Nigeria, Ghana relations.
The Punch says that fuel marketers across the country adjusted their pump prices on Thursday to between N158 and N162 per litre of petrol, saying a further increase in global crude oil prices would push the pump price of petrol higher.
Petrol prices have increased for three straight months, rising from N121.50–N123.50 per litre in June to N140.80-N143.80 in July, N148-N150 in August and N158-N162 in September. The Petroleum Products Marketing Company, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation had, on Wednesday, increased the ex-depot price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) to N151.56 per litre from N138.62 per litre but later reduced it to N147.67.
The ex-depot price is the price at which the product is sold to marketers at the depots. When the collapse of global crude oil prices triggered the reduction of the pump price of petrol from N145 per litre to N125 in March, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency said it would advise the NNPC and oil marketing companies on the monthly “guiding retail price” at which the product shall be sold across the country.
The Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, in a statement on May 15, said deregulation was approved on March 19 this year.
The newspaper reports that the Federal Government has released the list of nine airlines granted approval to commence international flights in Nigeria.
Speaking at a briefing of the Presidential TaskForce on Thursday, the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, confirmed the September 5 as the date for the resumption flights, backing an earlier statement issued by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority.
He added that the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja and Murtala Muhammed International Airport would be opened up for operations. The minister noted that Air France, KLM, Etihad, RwandAir, Air Namibia, Royal Air Maroc, Lufthansa, TAAG Angola Airlines were denied approval to commence flight operations.
He said Cabo Verde and South African airlines were denied approval as international flights were yet to resume in their countries. Middle East Airline, British Airways, Delta, Qatar, Ethiopian Airlines, Emirates Airlines, Air Peace, Virgin Atlantic, Asky Airlines, Africa World Airways, Air Cote-d’ Ivoire, Kenya Airways, EgyptAir, Turkish Airlines were all granted approval to resume.
Sirika said, “Abuja and Lagos will be open for operations on the 5th of September. We are satisfied with the preparations so far. We don’t anticipate any hitches.
The Guardian reports that the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has announced a $39 million financing package to build a Continuous Polymerisation PET Resin plant in Ogun State, which would source over 20 percent of its raw materials from local waste plastics, thereby strengthening Nigeria’s recycling and manufacturing sectors.
The financing package includes a $24 million senior ‘A’ loan from IFC and a $15 million subordinated loan from the International Development Association’s private sector window blended finance facility.
The funding, which would be released to Engee Manufacturing Limited, a Nigerian manufacturer of PET resin used in packaging soft drinks, and other household and pharmaceutical products, would help reduce the plastic wastes in the environment.
Nigeria has no efficient disposal, recycling, and waste management system for its plastic and non-plastic waste, with most solid waste ending up in landfills, drainages, beaches and water bodies. With the funding, Engee’s new Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) plant could double the number of plastic bottles recycled in Nigeria through a process of collecting, cleaning, and processing up to 30,000 tons of used plastic bottles every year.
The Sun says that the 2022 completion date of the Second Niger Bridge has been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the construction company handling the multi-billion project has said.
This is coming on the heels of stakeholders’ concern about the missing rail component in the design of the new bridge under construction. President of Onitsha Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ONICCIMA), Chris Ukachukwu, who disclosed this in an interview with Daily Sun at the 32nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Anambra/Enugu/Ebonyi branch of the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN) in Enugu, yesterday, said they got the hint in June while on a courtesy visit to the Project Director.
He said that the contractor might require at least additional six months to the earlier completion date. According to him, the Project Director, Friedrich Wieser, had informed the ONICCIMA delegation that aside the law suit slammed on the contractors by Ogbaru communities claiming N2.5 billion as damages, there was also the challenge posed by the recent COVID-19 induced lockdown. Ukachukwu stated that Wieser had lamented that the gridlock and chaos imposed on the River Niger Bridge by the Anambra and Delta State governments, while enforcing severe restrictions there to contain the spread of COVID-19, adversely affected supply of materials needed for the work.
GIK/APA