APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The forecast by notable private sector institutions that Nigeria’s unemployment rate may hit 38.8 per cent this year is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Monday.
The Guardian reports that Nigeria’s unemployment rate may hit 38.8 per cent this year, forecasts by notable private sector institutions, have suggested.
The figure is an average of the two most notable private sector-driven organisations that released forecasts on the likely state of the labour market this year, using different analytical techniques.
Data users have not had the benefit of knowing the actual number of Nigerians without jobs after the COVID-19 pandemic. The most recent official data were released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in early 2021. The data covered the last quarter of 2020 during which the economy was still battling with COVID-19.
In the past two years, the figures have been left to guess and forecast by non-governmental organisations, who have had to use macroeconomic data and the direction of the economy for their estimation.
Earlier in the year, the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) put the country’s unemployment figure at 37 per cent. The report, which also estimated the poverty headcount at 45 per cent in the year, said the services sector would drive economic growth, which falls short of the momentum required to generate significant jobs.
Last week, KPMG, a leading services company, estimated that the rate of unemployment would have climbed up from 37.7 per cent to 40.6 per cent this year.
The newspaper says that some days after the World Health Organisation (WHO) tweaked the Health Workforce Support and Safeguard list, the United Kingdom has also revised its policy on recruitment of health workers from overseas.
The code of practice for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel in England, recently updated, has Nigeria returned to the red list countries, which means, “no active recruitment is permitted”.
In a related development in-country, there is already an outrage against the Federal Government’s plot to forcefully keep doctors in Nigeria through a new bill proposing a five-year pre-licensing practice for Nigeria-trained doctors.
Renowned practitioners and medical associations were at the weekend, unanimous that arm-twisting or “enslaving” healthcare professionals is not the solution to acute brain drain.
By the updated WHO’s workforce safeguard list, and now adopted by the UK government, Nigeria and the likes of Benin, Cameroun, Ghana, Senegal, Zimbabwe, and 47 others – mostly African countries – are now in the no recruitment list.
According to the UK Home Office, “If a government-to-government agreement is put in place between the UK and a partner country, it will restrict UK employers, contracting bodies, recruitment organisations, agencies and collaborations to the terms of the agreement. The country will be added to the amber list and recruitment can happen only on the terms of the agreement.
“Changes to the red and amber country list may be made on an ad hoc basis as government-to-government agreements are signed. All agreements will take WHO guidance on the development of bilateral agreements into account.
“It is recommended that employers, recruitment organisations, agencies, collaborations and contracting bodies check the red and amber country list for updates before any recruitment drive.”
However, the President, World Medical Association (WMA) and former President, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr Osahon Enabulele, yesterday, joined the list of medical professionals kicking against the Bill to mandate any Nigeria-trained medical or dental practitioner to practice in Nigeria for a minimum of five years before being granted full registration/license by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN).
The Punch reports that oil marketers have written to the Federal Government over their proposal to build about 30,000 gas stations to cushion the effects of the proposed subsidy removal on Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol.
Nigerians are currently counting down to the June 2023 projected date for subsidy removal, as the call for palliatives to ameliorate the impact of the halt in subsidy is gaining momentum.
There are also projections that petrol may sell for about N750/litre if the Federal Government removes subsidy by June this year.
To help cushion this, oil marketers, in a letter to the Federal Ministry of Finance, also asked the Federal Government to make the Central Bank of Nigeria release the N250bn intervention fund for the National Gas Expansion Programme as loans to vehicle owner to acquire gas conversion kit.
This came as the organised labour stated that it was considering a meeting with the incoming government on subsidy removal date.
In the letter by the oil marketers, dated April 3, 2023, and received by the Federal Ministry of Finance on the same day, the marketer stated that they were ready to deploy gas dispensers to 30,000 filling stations nationwide to cushion the impact of fuel subsidy removal.
The letter, which was signed by the National President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Okonkwo, and addressed to the finance minister, read in part, “We are writing to request an audience with you to present a palliative solution to cushion the impact of the removal of the unsustainable petrol subsidy.
“Our partners, Gas Analytics & Solutions Ltd, have an agreement with the independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria to co-locate natural gas dispensers on our network of over 30,000 filling stations in Nigeria.
The newspaper says that loan apps on Play Store will lose their ability to access their users’ contacts or photos from May 31, 2023.
This came as the Federal Government said it would enforce the latest policy by Google, saying the action was consistent with the Nigerian authorities’ move to curtail the invasion of customers’ privacy by loan app firms.
The Federal Government had in recent time taken major decisions aimed at tackling the violation of customers’ privacy by loan apps. Notably, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission had recently registered 170 loan apps out of the 200 operating in the country.
Google, in its April 2023 policy updates, said the new policy update would provide respite for loan app users in Nigeria and other places that have become accustomed to crude loan retrieval methods employed by a majority of loan apps.
Google said, “Policy preview (effective May 31, 2023): This article previews changes included in our April 2023 policy updates.
“We are updating our personal loans policy to state that apps aiming to provide or facilitate personal loans may not access user contacts or photos.
“We are introducing additional requirements for personal loan apps targeting users in Pakistan. Personal loan apps in Pakistan must submit country-specific licensing documentation to prove their ability to provide or facilitate personal loans.”
This new policy is coming after the firm announced updates to its Developer Programme Policy, mandating digital money lenders in Nigeria, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Kenya to conform to regulatory rules or be taken down by January 31.
GIK/APA