The report that Nigeria’s crude oil revenue jumped to N11tn in the first six months of 2022, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics’ Foreign Trade Statistics for the second quarter of 2022 is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday.
The Punch reports that Nigeria’s crude oil revenue jumped to N11tn in the first six months of 2022, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics’ Foreign Trade Statistics for the second quarter of 2022.
According to the report, this was a 83 per cent increase in crude oil earnings from N6tn recorded in the first half of 2021.
A breakdown of crude oil exports in the first half of 2022 showed that in the first quarter of the year, crude oil valued at N5.6tn was exported by the country, increasing to N5.9tn in the second quarter.
In comparison, in the first quarter of 2021, the NBS said Nigeria earned N2tn from crude oil exports and N4trn in the second quarter.
Furthermore, in the third and fourth quarter of 2021, Nigeria recorded crude oil exports of N4tn and N4.3tn respectively.
The NBS noted that crude oil exports in the first six months of 2022 accounted for 79 per cent of total exports in the period under review and 45 per cent of total trade in the same period.
The NBS put Nigeria’s total trade in the first half of 2022 at N26tn, comprising N13tn and N13tn in the first and second quarters of the year, respectively, while total export trade for the first half of 2022 stood at N14tn, with N7tn and N7.4tn export recorded in the first and second quarter respectively.
The newspaper says that the amount spent by Nigeria on servicing Eurobonds and Diaspora bonds has risen by 85.67 per cent between the first and the second quarter of 2022.
An analysis of data on actual external debt service payments from the Debt Management Office showed that Nigeria spent a total of $246.16m on servicing its foreign bonds in the first quarter of 2022.
By the second quarter of the same year, the total debt service cost on these loans rose to $457.01m.
Hence, the debt service has risen by 86 per cent between the two periods.
A Eurobond is “a debt instrument that’s denominated in a currency other than the home currency of the country or market in which it is issued,” according to Investopedia,
Similarly, a diaspora bond is “a government debt security with investors drawn from the country’s nationals living abroad, their descendants, or those with another connection to the nation,” said the Migration Policy Institute as cited by the Brookings Institute.
A breakdown for Q1 2022 showed that the country paid the entire $246.16m on servicing Eurobonds.
However, a breakdown for Q2 2022 showed that the country spent $148.57m on Eurobonds and on $308.44m Diaspora bonds.
While debt servicing cost on foreign bonds made up 44.86 per cent of total external debt service in Q1 2022, it was 76 per cent of total external debt service by Q2 of the same year.
In March this year, Nigeria acquired $1.25bn Eurobond from the international capital market, making the country the first African country to access the market in 2022.
The Guardian reports that the Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria has called on the Federal Government and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure that Nigerians have credible elections in 2023.
It said Nigerians desire a genuine variation.
TUC President, Festus Osifo, in a statement, to mark the country’s 62nd independence, stated that while ensuring the votes of Nigerians count, he said the polls were another litmus test for the current administration.
He lamented that at 62, Nigeria is still a toddler and in the league of never-do-well.
Osifo said at independence in 1960, the citizens had high hopes and a relatively functional system, but today, he noted, that corruption, insecurity, high cost of living and decayed infrastructure, among others “have practically eroded the gains of our heroes past.”
He submitted that favouritism and nepotism have been enthroned as driving factors in placing people into leadership positions instead of knowledge, character and willpower.
According to him, this is one among several factors that are responsible for where Nigeria finds itself today.
“Similarly, daily, our government decries the spate of oil theft and pipeline vandalism, which has affected the daily production and reduced it to less than a million barrels per day. It is disgusting that nobody has ever been punished for such criminality against Nigerians. It will be right to suggest that the government knows those perpetrating the crime as it has severally threatened to name individuals and organisations behind heinous acts. We urge the government to expedite action towards exposing these culprits.
“Never again shall four men sit in a room to choose who will preside over Nigeria. The scales have fallen off the eyes of the masses and they can now see clearly. We can see a better Nigeria, where the children of nobody can become somebody. Nigeria belongs to all of us.”
The newspaper says that cargoes worth billions of naira are trapped at the Apapa and Tin Can ports as truckers have withdrawn services following continuous extortions and harassment they face at the ports and access roads by government agencies, security operatives and non-state actors.
According to the truckers, their ordeals were yet to be addressed by the government despite several calls for intervention.
The truckers, under the aegis of the Council of Maritime Transport Unions and Associations (COMTUA), had made known their intention to withdraw their services at the ports from today, October 4 to Thursday, October 6, in a letter to the Inspector General of Police, Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), AIG Maritime Police Command, Commissioner of Police, Lagos Command and the Lagos Ministry of Transportation, a copy of which was made available to The Guardian yesterday.
National President of COMTUA, Mr. Adeyinka Aroyewun, said there was no going back on the withdrawal of services until the issues are addressed, noting that the truckers will protest within and around the ports corridors and the office of the Governor of Lagos State.
He said this became necessary as a result of the failure of the state and Federal Government to address the issues raised in its previous letters of complaints sent to relevant agencies, which include, the preferences given to trucks accompanied by military personnel in the return of empty containers to the port and non-admission of some trucks into pre-gates, thereby, giving such trucks advantage over their members.
Other issues highlighted were: High cost of an electronic call-up, illegal deduction from truckers’ wallets in the name of demurrage by Trust Transit Park (TTP), expansion of garages for favouritism by the management of NPA and TTP, and harassment of truckers by law enforcement agencies.
The COMTUA boss said NPA’s non-challant attitude to the plight of truckers, regarding the failure of TTP to deliver on their deliverables, can no longer be tolerated, hence, the action taken by truckers.
Aroyewun said the strike action was to press further truckers’ demand for a better working environment within the port area, which include an immediate abolition of the electronic truck call-up system/TTP regime and immediate disbandment of all checkpoints on the port roads, which have turned to an avenue for extortion.
The COMTUA boss said truckers have made several efforts to reach the regulators, but all proved abortive, while also informing freight forwarders to brace up for the consequences of their actions.
GIK/APA