The justification of the huge debts incurred by the Buhari’s administration by Nigeria’s Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, and the debts of N2trn owed by the electricity distribution companies are some of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Friday.
The Punch reports that the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said that the Buhari administration has justified all its debts by constructing various infrastructures across the nation.
Fashola stated this at the closing ceremony of the 28th National Council of Works meeting held in Kano on Thursday.
He said the ongoing projects across the country had justified the debts, especially when compared with what the previous administrations had done.
“Our first budget in 2016 was over N250bn, up from the N18 billion we met in 2015. That was an increase of over a thousand percent, even though the price of crude oil was dropping, we did not raise taxes.”
The Minister explained that the Federal Government had been able to deliver more than 1,800 kilometers of roads across the six geo-political zones so far, stressing that the Buhari-led Administration was determined to complete all the ongoing projects before the expiration of its tenure in May next year.
In his remarks, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State said there was a need for synergy between the federal highways and states to achieve the set objectives.
He commended the Buhari administration for initiating various projects in his state.
The newspaper says that power generation companies have blamed low power generation for the inability of the utility firms, also known as the DisCos, to pay up the N2trn debt owed them.
This was revealed by the Executive Secretary, Association of Power Generation Companies, Dr Joy Ogaji, at the Association of Energy Correspondents of Nigeria annual conference held in Lagos on Thursday.
While speaking during the ‘Power Sector Dilemma: Issues, Challenges, Opportunities And Strategic Key Solutions’, she argued that the GenCos were not owed N500bn as being reported but N2trn.
“GenCos are not owed N500bn as accepted by NBET. We are owed N2 trillion, while we owe suppliers N1trn,” she said.
She further explained that the GenCos had not been able to make power available due to the huge debts being owed them by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc.
NBET is the manager and administrator of the electricity pool in the Nigerian electricity supply industry, NESI. It collects tariffs on behalf of the market – DisCos, DisCos and the TCN.
Ogaji further explained that although the GenCos currently had enough power generating capacity, the market was not available as the DisCos had not been able to take all power generated.
The Guardian reports that the Federal Government and operators in the oil and gas sector have raised concerns about the issue of crude theft and insecurity in the country, noting that operating expenses are rising, affecting profit margins and ability of the country to meet its $10 per barrel production cost target.
Speaking during the yearly conference of the Association of Energy Correspondents of Nigeria (NAEC) in Lagos, yesterday, the stakeholders noted that the fiscal environment, especially in the upstream sector remains undermined by insecurity and crude theft.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mr. Mele Kyari, had decried the country’s high cost of production in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, stating that the cost of crude oil production in the country was within the range of $15 to $17 per barrel, adding that some leaders in the Industry such as Saudi Arabia’s cost of production is between $4 and $5 per barrel.
He had noted that due to the uncertainties of the global crude oil market, countries that produce at the cheapest price would remain in the market, while jurisdictions with high cost of crude oil production would not be able to cope with the competing prices.
Yesterday, Kyari confirmed that the country’s production is very low mostly because of the security challenges in the Niger/Delta, adding that if the country resolves the security issues, production will get back to 2.1 million barrels per day.
Notwithstanding the challenges with oil production, Kyari said the NNPCL, in the last three weeks, has settled issues with its partners, having met the terms and conditions in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
However, despite crude oil selling at a premium presently, the country has been unable to optimise the benefits due to poor production, theft and high subsidy costs.
Nigeria’s oil production slumped by 28 million barrels between January and July 2022, threatening the Federal Government’s N9.37tn oil and gas revenue target by the end of the year.
The Federal Government, in the 2023-2035 Medium Term Expenditure Framework & Fiscal Strategy Paper recently presented by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr Zainab Ahmed, blamed oil production shut-ins owing to pipeline vandalism, crude oil theft and high petrol subsidy cost.
The newspaper says that no fewer than five international carriers have completed plans to relocate Lagos operations into the new terminal at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, to end months of underutilization of the $100 million facility.
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) raised the optimism as it also assured that the Federal Government was working on evacuation modalities of buildings obstructing parking space of the new facility ahead of ramp expansion.
The Guardian earlier reported that the ultra-modern facility, inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari, in March 2022, has remained deserted in the last five months due to apron space constraint for operating aeroplanes to park.
Only Nigeria’s flag carrier, Air Peace, has migrated operations from the old international terminal to the new one. It was learnt that only Ghana’s African World Airline (AWA) and Togolese Asky expressed interest to migrate too.
However, dominant airlines like British Airways, United Airlines, Air France-KLM, Emirates, Lufthansa, Qatar, Ethiopia, Etihad and Kenya Airways that fly wide-bodies allegedly declined offers to move into the new facility despite its world-class customer experience.
Managing Director of FAAN, Capt. Rabiu Yadudu, on the tour of the facility with the Minister of Information and Culture, confirmed that arrangements had been concluded to move five carriers into the facility on September 1. Yadudu said about eight carriers did indicate interest and five had been cleared, putting into consideration many parameters.
“I would like us to understand that aviation is a very sensitive subject. We would rather take out time than to start on the wrong footing. But that does not mean that nothing is done. From September 1, five more airlines are scheduled to start operations from the new terminal. The lots of network and integration that ought to be done took time. More than eight showed interest and five are starting soon,” he said.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, described the new terminal as one of the poster projects of the government in its critical infrastructure drive, adding that no administration has shown enough commitment to change the narrative about the aviation sector.
Mohammed said the new terminal would not displace the old terminal, but would complement it for transiting passengers. Besides changing the travel experience of many Nigerians, the new terminal will provide job opportunities directly and indirectly for over 10,000 people.
“This new terminal at the Lagos International Airport is a world-class edifice put together with the collaboration of Nigeria and the People’s Republic of China. With the capacity to process 14 million passengers yearly, it is an exciting travel experience with facilities in any airport, anywhere in the world. There is a whole new experience in terms of aesthetics, comfort and friendly customer service.
“This edifice and the others are testaments to the commitment of the Buhari administration.”
GIK/APA