The report of the scarcity of petrol for about a month that has thrown the country into an energy crisis appears to be getting worse, as prices at the pump rose to over N300 per litre in some filling stations across the country dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Monday.
The Guardian reports that almost a month after the scarcity of premium motor spirit threw the country into an energy crisis, indications emerged, yesterday, that the situation may go from bad to worse, as prices at the pump rose to over N300 per litre in some filling stations across the country, especially those owned by independent marketers.
Although the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited had said in Abuja that 2.3 billion litres of additional petrol were being imported into the country to complement existing one billion litres as part of measures to address fuel scarcity, The Guardian gathered, yesterday, that most marketers, especially depot owners who had made payment for products since December last year, were yet to receive the consignment.
While the queues appeared to have abated last week, the situation became worse from Friday, as many petrol stations remained shut, while those that opened and sold at the official price, had long queues of motorists waiting to buy the product.
In Lagos, most of the stations owned by independent marketers that were without queues sold the product for between N200 and N250 a litre.
Amid the disruption in the distribution system, consumers are worried about the lack of monitoring and silence on the part of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) in checking the excesses of some of the marketers that had products but selling above the pump price.
The newspaper says that two years after the first confirmed COVID-19 case in Nigeria and almost one year after the first shot of the vaccine was administered in the country, only four per cent of the 200 million population, that is 8,145,416 persons, have been fully vaccinated against the virus.
Unfortunately, Nigeria and most developing countries could not achieve the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) set target for all countries to vaccinate 10 per cent of their populations by the end of September 2021 due to inequity in the distribution of vaccines.
A consultant public health physician, an epidemiologist and Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Shuaib Faisal, told The Guardian yesterday: “As at the 25th of February 2022, 17,646,781 Nigerians have been vaccinated with the first dose while 8,145,416 Nigerians have received the second dose and are fully vaccinated. 682,108 Nigerians have received the booster dose. 4,317,621 tests have been conducted so far with 254,428 confirmed cases.”
A breakdown of the figures showed 8,145,416 represent four per cent of Nigeria’s population of 200,000 people that have been fully vaccinated and 4,317,621 tests mean that only 2.1 per cent of Nigerians have been tested for COVID-19 two years after the first confirmed case.
On the way forward, Faisal recommended: increasing investment in health care especially primary healthcare and strengthening the nation’s public health infrastructure. “This is not just the work of the Federal Government, we need State and Local actors stepping up to implement and prioritise policies and expenditures to health,” he said.
The Punch reports that the Central Bank of Nigeria has said it will pay exporters N65 for every $1 sold into the economy through the Investors &Exporters window.
The CBN made this known in a guideline on its newly introduced Race To $200bn scheme, titled, “Operating Guidelines for RT200 Non-Oil Export Repatriation Rebate Scheme.”
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had on February 10, launched the RT200 programme at the post-Bankers’ Committee briefing held in Abuja. The RT200 programme is designed to help ease the inadequacy of forex supply and the constant pressure on the exchange rate, Emefiele had declared.
The monetary authority believes that the RT 200 will help the country raise $200bn in forex earnings from non-oil proceeds over the next 3-5 years.
The FX programme is anchored on five key agendas which include: value-adding exports facility; non-oil commodities expansion facility; non-oil FX rebate scheme; dedicated non-oil export terminal and bi-annual non-oil export summit.
On payment incentive, the guideline which was released on Sunday read, “The Scheme shall pay, N65 for every US$1 repatriated and sold at the I & E Window to ADBs for other thirty party use, and N35 for every US$1 repatriated and sold into I&E for own use on eligible transactions only.
The Sun says that the Nigerian Communications Commission’s Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) has discovered a newly-hatched malicious software that steals users’ banking app login credentials on Android devices.
According to a security advisory from the NCC CSIRT, the malicious software called “Xenomorph”, found to target 56 financial institutions from Europe, has high impact and high vulnerability rate.
The main intent of this malware is to steal credentials, combined with the use of SMS and Notification interception to log-in and use potential 2-factor authentication tokens. Xenomorph is propagated by an application that was slipped into Google Play store and masquerading as a legitimate application called “Fast Cleaner” ostensibly meant to clear junk, increase device speed and optimize battery.
In reality, this app is only a means by which the Xenomorph Trojan could be propagated easily and efficiently.To avoid early detection or being denied access to the PlayStore, “Fast Cleaner” was disseminated before the malware was placed on the remote server, making it hard for Google to determine that such an app is being used for malicious actions.Once up and running on a victim’s device, Xenomorph can harvest device information and Short Messaging Service (SMS), intercept notifications and new SMS messages, perform overlay attacks, and prevent users from uninstalling it.
The newspaper reports that barring last-minute intervention from the Federal Government, the Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN), at the weekend, decided to commence industrial action from March 1.
President-general of the union, Adewale Adeyemi, speaking after the union’s meeting with the executive secretary/CEO of Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Emmanuel Jime, in Lagos, said the industrial action, which will lead to disruption of port activities, is to protest the refusal of international oil companies (IOCs) to allow approved stevedoring companies access to their platforms to commence operations, and denying registered dockworkers and stevedoring companies access to operate on platforms as required by law.
According to the labour leader, it is inconceivable that the IOCs, despite the intervention by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, have refused to appoint stevedoring companies and accredited dockworkers to work on oil platforms.
He said, “The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria of today is a union that has this country in its heart; Nigeria first before any other thing. We believe in this country, it may not be better now, but we have belief that it is going to be better when all of us put our heads together.
The Nation says that Nigeria lost about $40 billion to foreign ship owners between 2018 and last year, sources at the Federal Ministry of Budget and Planning told The Nation at the weekend.
Between 2015 and 2017, it was gathered, the country also lost about $25 billion to foreign ship owners.
A senior official said over $10 billion was paid as freight for dry and wet cargoes to foreign ship owners in 2018 due to the absence of Nigerian-owned fleet plying the international route.
The official said the trend had been recurring over the years till date, adding that in 2019, over $9 billion was estimated as opportunity loss.
According to him, about $9.60 billion was freight opportunity loss from import and export of dry and wet cargoes in 2020.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the official said, needs to encourage subsidiaries to engage indigenous shipping companies in their businesses.
GIK/APA