The report that after eight months of decline, Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 15.63 per cent in December 2021, from 15.50 per cent recorded in November last year is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday.
The Guardian reports that after eight months of decline, Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 15.63 per cent in December 2021, from 15.50 per cent recorded in November. This was disclosed, yesterday, by the Statistician-General of the Federation, Simon Harry, during a press briefing at the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Abuja.
Earlier data from the NBS showed that headline inflation has been on a downward trajectory since April 2021. However, the trend was broken in December when month-on-month (MoM) inflation climbed 0.23 points higher than figure recorded in November.
Nigeria’s headline inflation realigned with global concerns over rising prices of essential commodities, leaving the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) with hard choices as they meet next week.
The seeming return of a faster inflation rate comes about a week to the first meeting of the MPC in 2022. The meeting is scheduled for January 24 and 25, and it will see the committee members debate and vote for holding, reducing or increasing the going Monetary Policy Rate (MPR).
The policy rate was last reduced by 100 basis points in September 2020. The MPC battled against the tide and resisted the pressure to increase the interest rate last year amid troublesome inflation.
The newspaper says that commuters plying the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway are currently in fear of being kidnapped, following reports of several abductions on the road.
It was learnt that the kidnappers on Saturday, January 8, 2022, abducted five passengers, while another person, Ibrahim Tiamiyu, was shot in the thigh.
Eight days after the last operation by kidnappers on the highway at Onigari axis, the bandits struck again on Saturday, January 15, 2022 and kidnapped three persons at Ishara-Remo axis in Ogun State.
It was gathered that the bandits, about 10 in number, emerged from a bush along the road dressed in military uniform and started shooting sporadically, aiming guns at vehicles and their occupants.
Some were able to escape, including a Nollywood actress, Bimpe Akintunde and her daughter.
According to Akintunde, she was on her way to Lagos when she ran into the bandits at Oni-Garri. She further disclosed that the bandits were shooting directly at the vehicles on the road.
Staff of an undisclosed company who attended a ceremony and were returning home were not so lucky as one of the three vehicles conveying them broke down. It was learnt that while repair was being carried out on the faulty one, the kidnappers suddenly emerged from a nearby bush and abducted three of the occupants of the vehicles.
The Nation reports that the Agricultural commodity trade circle in the country is expected to propel the private sector to take over the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), in food and manufacturing, the President, Information Marketing and Management Institute (IMMI), Dr. Ekenechukwu Aloefuna has said.
Aloefuna, who spoke at a press conference on Agricultural Commodity Value Chain Expansion project in Abuja, said the reason for the conference is to take the sector to a viable business community synergy engagement that will bring about a full turn around in the entire value chain operation.
He said the programme is also geared towards expanding commodity trade through implementation of agricultural research outputs, innovative best practices and multiple channel database, farm mapping, space technology-based farm monitoring, farmers reporting, flood and environmental impart mitigation. trillions of naira has been put into the agricultural sector, with the result clearly showing that much needed to be done as the surface is only being scratched by mere lending.
ThisDay says that the Nigerian manufacturing sector fared positively in the fourth quarter of 2021. This was revealed by the Manufacturers CEO Confidence Index (MCCI) report that was released by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) on Friday, January 14.
The index is the barometer used by MAN to aggregate the views of CEOs of manufacturing companies on changes in the economy.
The standard diffusion factors considered in the MCCI processes include the current business condition, business condition for the next three months, current employment condition (rate of employment), employment condition for the next three months, and production level for the next three months.
The MCCI report stated that the aggregate MCCI score increased to 55.4 points in the quarter under review (Q4 2021) from 54.0 points obtained in the preceding quarter (Q3) thus, showing improved performance in the period and growing confidence of manufacturers in the economy.
The MCCI report stated that the aggregate MCCI score increased to 55.4 points in the quarter under review (Q4 2021) from 54.0 points obtained in the preceding quarter (Q3) thus, showing improved performance in the period and growing confidence of manufacturers in the economy.
The Punch says that BudgIT Nigeria, a civic-tech organisation, on Monday, announced its discovery of 460 duplicated projects valued at N378.9bn in the 2022 Appropriation Act, accusing the National Assembly of padding the Federal Government’s budget, among other allegations.
The National Assembly kept mum on Monday as BudgIT Nigeria, a civic-tech organisation, announced its discovery of 460 duplicated projects valued at N378.9bn in the 2022 Appropriation Act, accusing the legislature of padding the Federal Government’s budget, among other allegations.
The organisation called on the citizens, civil society organisations, the private sector and the international community to “urgently prevail on the National Assembly and Presidency to urgently amend and eliminate the loopholes in FG’s 2022 approved budget”.
It raised the alarm in a statement signed by its Communications Associate, Iyanu Fatoba, and issued via its Twitter handle.
BudgIT said, “Our preliminary analysis of the 21,108 capital projects in the 2022 approved budget revealed 460 duplicated projects amounting to N378.9bn.
Recall that BudgIT observed 316 duplicated projects inserted into the 2021 FG budget approved by NASS. “ICPC verified 257 duplications, while the Budget Office confirmed the existence of only 185 duplicated projects worth N20.13bn, after which it informed the public that funds were not released for the projects in 2021.
The Sun reports that the Director General, National Pension Commission (PenCom), Mrs Aisha Dahir-Umar, has described the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014 as one of the most important socio-economic reform initiatives of the Federal Government that has led to a pension industry accumulating pension assets in excess of N13 trillion invested in various aspects of the Nigerian economy.
Dahir-Umar made the remarks in Abuja at a retreat organised by PenCom to review PRA 2014. The retreat aimed to identify salient issues to be reviewed in the PRA 2014 as a prelude to advancing legislative action on the Bill.
It is expected that the National Assembly would subsequently organise a public hearing to provide an avenue for stakeholders to formally make input into the proposed amendments.
The PRA 2014 was enacted following a review of the initial Pension Reform Act of 2004, which introduced legal and institutional frameworks of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) and established PenCom to regulate and supervise all pension matters in Nigeria.
The PenCom boss noted that the review was a corollary to some implementation challenges encountered with certain sections of the Act not long after its enactment in July 2014.
GIK/APA