The report by the National Bureau of Statistics that air transportation rose by 96.87 per cent in one year in Nigeria and the probe into the massive crude oil theft in the Niger Delta are some of the leading stories in Nigerian newspapers on Monday.
The Punch reports that the National Bureau of Statistics has stated that air transportation rose by 96.87 per cent in one year.
In its report titled ‘transport fare watch’ (September 2022), the Bureau noted that the average fare paid by air passengers for specified routes single journey, increased by 96.87% from N36,922.97 in September 2021 on a year-on-year basis.
According to the statistics body, on a month-on-month basis, it increased by 11.76% from N65,041.89 in August 2022 to N72,690.54 in September 2022.
Data from the report indicated that the average fare paid by commuters for bus journeys within the city per drop increases by 2.19% on a month-on-month from N602.48 in August 2022 to N615.69 in September 2022.
In another category, the average fare paid by commuters for bus journey intercity per drop rose to N3,790.06 in September 2022 indicating an increase of 0.27% on a month-on-month compared to the value of N3,779.96 in August 2022. On a year-on-year, the fare prices rose by 44.61% from N2,620.90 in September 2021.
Further analysis by our correspondent revealed that the average transport fare paid on Okada transportation was N434.73 in September 2022 which was 1.15% lower than the rate recorded in August 2022 (N439.80) on a month-on-month basis.
Meanwhile, on a year-on-year, the bureau noted that the fare rose by 41.79% when compared with September 2021 (N306.80).
The NBS added,” the average fare paid for water transport (waterway passenger transportation) in September 2022 increased to N980.18 showing a growth of 0.61% on a month-on-month basis, from N974.26 in August 2022. On year-on-year, the fare rose by 15.44% from N849.06 in September 2021 to N980.20 in September 2022.”
The newspaper says that Nigerian Government has stepped up its probe into the massive crude oil theft in the Niger Delta, as all those found guilty are going to face prosecution, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has said.
It said the oil company was also working with security agencies and the private firm contracted to carry out pipeline surveillance in the oil-rich region.
In August, it was reported that the Federal Government awarded a pipeline surveillance contract worth N48bn per annum to a firm run by Government Ekpemupolo, popularly called Tompolo, to curb the massive oil theft in the Niger Delta.
Within two months after the contract was awarded, Ekpemupolo announced the discovery of at least 58 illegal points in Delta and Bayelsa states where crude oil was being stolen.
The former leader of the militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, told journalists recently in Delta State that a 4km illegal oil pipeline was discovered in the Forcados area of the state.
“I think we have found over 58 points that have been tapped in both Delta and Bayelsa states. We are doing this work together with the security agencies. We are only providing intelligence for the security people to assist to do the work,” he reportedly stated.
When told about the discoveries by Tompolo and asked if the Federal Government would probe the theft and punish those responsible, the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC Limited, Garba-Deen Muhammad, said culprits would be prosecuted.
“Since it is a breach against the law, whether on pipelines or not, the law will certainly take its course. But it is not NNPC that will handle that aspect,” he stated.
The Guardian reports that a total of 542 stranded Nigerians in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), evacuated by the Federal Government, arrived at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, 4:29 a.m., onboard a Max Air chartered flight, yesterday.
The evacuees consisted of 79 males, 460 females and three infants. On arrival, the returnees were screened by health officials, profiled by various relevant agencies and cleared by the Nigerian Immigration Service, after which they were given a token as fare before leaving the airport.
Earlier, the Director General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Habib Ahmed, who officially received the returnees on behalf of the Federal Government, admonished them to learn from their experiences and be law-abiding citizens.
The Guardian reports that the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Lamido Yuguda, has said the West African capital markets integration programme is aimed at creating an enabling environment for cross-border transactions in the sub-region.
Yuguda stated this at a meeting with the Director General of SEC Ghana, Daniel Tetteh, in Accra.
According to Yuguda, the enormous potential of cross-border listings of capital markets in the region is expected to develop a tool of cooperation to enable effective policing of respective markets.
This was contained in a statement, yesterday signed by the Head of Media., SEC, Efe Ebello and made available to The Guardian in Abuja.
He said: “Without the readiness of all concerned, the lofty aims of the programme may as well remain a dream. It goes to say, unequivocally, that this goal can only be achieved seamlessly when all member states of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) come on board and actively commit to achieving the noble objectives of the enhanced collaborative structure that these nature of agreements entail.
“On this note, SEC Ghana and SEC Nigeria are desirous of achieving these ideals and have taken the lead in driving this project in the sub-region while hopefully aiming to, someday, expand their coverage beyond the sub-regional frontiers onto other parts of the continent.”
The SEC DG further explained that the enduring relationship between the two jurisdictions is more amplified by the fact that Ghana and Nigeria have the largest markets in the West African sub-region and it will only be foresighted that both countries seize the advantage of size and peculiarities, and explore viable areas of cooperation.
“We need to come closer and take deliberate steps to achieve bilateral cooperation. We are very keen on this relationship.
There is a strong relationship between us; so we need to continue to nurture and grow it and create institutions that will help our people have better living standards. I hope we can achieve a lot by bringing our capital markets together. We need to make our institutions stronger as well as our economic activities,” he said.
Tetteh commended Yuguda, stressing that Ghana and Nigeria could push forward in ways that would bring about the mutual benefits of leveraging the capital market. He added that the region needs to open their markets to each other so that the countries could achieve more and then attain one big capital market.
The Guardian also reports that President Muhammadu Buhari in the course of the week assured that the promised National Carrier would commence flight operations on or before December this year.
The president gave the assurance at the 3rd Ministerial Performance Review Retreat on Monday in Abuja.
According to him, the establishment of the National Carrier for Nigeria is at 91 per cent completion, saying the feat is being boosted with the certification of Lagos and Abuja International Airports by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
He said Kano and Port Harcourt Airports are undergoing similar certification processes.
The report quoted the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) as saying that Nigeria Air gulped N14.6 billion, under five per cent government’s equity share.
The report noted that the Federal Government had already taken delivery of nine out of the 20 training aircraft meant for the smooth preparation for the Nigeria Air project.
On the economy at the retreat, the President restated that the country had witnessed seven consecutive quarters of growth, after negative growth rates recorded in the 2nd and 3rd Quarters of 2020.
According to him, high-impact projects have also been implemented across the country meeting the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians.
The president highlighted remarkable progress made in the areas of agriculture, infrastructure, security, health and anti-corruption, among others.
He told participants and guests at the retreat, including the Keynote Speaker and immediate past President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, that over 3,800km of roads had been constructed across the country.
The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who also addressed the participants on Tuesday, pledged to build on the legacies of President Muhammadu Buhari if elected as president in 2023.
Tinubu, who made an appearance at the retreat on the invitation of the organisers, commended Buhari for doing so well for Nigeria since he assumed office in 2015.
GIK/APA