The declaration by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission on Wednesday that subsidy on power amounting to about N600bn during some period had now been stopped by the Federal Government is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
The Punch reports that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission on Wednesday declared that subsidy on power amounting to about N600bn during some period had now been stopped by the Federal Government.
It also revealed that electricity tariffs were raised in February this year, and was quick to, however, state that the tariff payable by some customers in the franchise area of one of the distribution companies was reduced.
This came as power generation companies condemned the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading company, stating that the NBET was failing in its obligations in terms of payment for power generated by the Gencos.
Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja on the challenges in the power sector and other issues, the Chairman, NERC, Sanusi Garba, stated that subsidy on electricity was a policy issue of the Federal Government that had to be halted.
He said, “The role of the commission is to make a determination of the rates that consumers should pay. So we strike a balance between consumers and investors.
“Now subsidy is a policy issue determined by the government. The government will decide that the rates calculated or agreed by the regulator may at this time not be passed on to consumers. It has happened many times.
“In the past four, five years the level of subsidy has gradually been reduced, because you cannot run the electricity market on life support and say that investors cannot get their return on investment until government steps in to provide the required funding.”
Garba added, “So that policy decision (stopping electricity subsidy) is as announced by the Minister of Finance. The subsidies have been, at one time as high as N600bn a year, and gradually coming down to about N30bn or so this year.”
The newspaper says that the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Retailers Branch of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers on Wednesday raised the alarm over the recent rise in price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, popularly called cooking gas.
It said the cost of the commodity had been on the increase in the last two weeks and urged the government to intervene considering the current energy crisis in Nigeria as seen in the drop in power supply and petrol scarcity.
The NUPENG LPG retailers’ branch Chairman, Chika Umudu, said, “The branch union decries the return of LPG price rise which has led to an increment of up to N1,000 for 12.5kg size or N80 for 1kg within the last two weeks throughout the country.
“Consequently, the price of the average size cylinder (12.5kg) is now being sold at about N8500 from N7500 two weeks ago in Lagos and neighbouring states.
“Similarly, in parts of Northern Nigeria, South-East and South-South, the price has risen to N9000/N9500 from N8000/N8500. Prices at the depots have similarly risen to about N11m for 20 metric tonnes from N10m and less sold about two weeks ago.”
Umudu, who disclosed this in a statement, stated that the worrisome aspect of this development was that it had continued to rise on daily basis for weeks now but began to escalate in the last one week leading to significant increases in both depots and retail outlets.
The Guardian reports that shareholders in the nation’s capital market have expressed displeasure over consistent fall in share prices of quoted companies despite improved scorecards and low stock prices.
The investors who are still counting their losses urged the Federal government to address all constraints impeding the growth of the market to boost investors’ confidence and achieve sustainable recovery this year.
According to them, the constraints range from inconsistent macro-economic policies and regulatory environments, lack of transparency in economic management, multiple taxation, among others.
The investors decried that more listed companies are currently hitting 10-year lows, contrary to expectations that the 2021 earnings and dividend declarations churned out by quoted companies would trigger share price appreciation in the market especially for stocks that have ‘bottomed out’.
Already, they have linked the downturn to rising insecurity, weak economy, uncoordinated fiscal and monetary policies that had kept many foreign and domestic investors on the sideline.
In addition, the stakeholders also bemoaned the rising delisting of firms, especially the 27 companies that were forcefully delisted from the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) between 2016 and 2021 in new data from the Exchange.
The newspaper says that President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, waded into the leadership crisis rocking the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), backing Governor Mai Mala Buni as chairman of the Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) and sanctioning the March 26, 2022 national convention.
Buhari made this known in a letter addressed to the Chairman, Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) and Kebbi State Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu.
In the correspondence, which copied Acting CECPC Chairman, Governor Abubakar Bello of Niger State, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Director General of the Department of State Services and Inspector General of Police, Buhari based his intervention on the need to prevent the party’s implosion and non recognition of its activities, elections and probable invalidation of all its other actions by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The President stressed the “urgent need for the party to, as much as possible, avoid all controversies, litigations and all other necessary distractions and quickly get its acts together.”
He specifically directed all members of the Governors’ Forum and their followers to “desist from any behaviour or utterance that will likely lead to disunity in the ranks of the party, and ultimately jeopardise the transition to the convention.”
He said: “The issue of the leadership of CECPC should immediately return to status quo ante and that the Mai Mala Buni-led CECPC should be allowed to proceed with all necessary preparations to hold the convention as planned, unfailingly, on March 26, 2022.”
The Vanguard reports that the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, yesterday expressed fears over the increasing divestments by the International Oil Companies, IOCs, from Nigeria, begging the Federal Government to provide more incentives to the IOCs to remain in Nigeria.
In a statement by its President and General Secretary, Festus Osifo and Lumumba Okugbawa, respectively, PENGASSAN noted that the trend, which started in 2012, spread quickly in the industry and had reduced the fortunes of developments in the Oil and Gas fields.
According to the statement, “While we are not averse to indigenous participation in the Nigerian Oil and Gas industry, we will not fold our arms and allow mediocre to take hold of our national assets and ruin the fortunes of future generations for immediate gains.
“It is on record that since IOCs started divestment in 2012; most of the companies that purchased such assets do not have and cannot attract the requisite finances for capital expenditures in such fields or have made reasonable efforts to provide the required human and technical developments of Nigerians within their establishment.
“Most of these companies practically draw from the existing wells until it dries up. They do not substantially if at all invest in work over operations or drilling of new wells. A country whose major source of foreign exchange earnings is Oil and Gas cannot afford to allow this depletion to continue and this charge PENGASSAN has decided to lead.
“More so, most of these companies do not only refuse the unionization of workers, but also subject their employees to sub-optimal conditions. This is reprehensible and against all known laws and conventions.”
GIK/APA