The statement by Senate President that President Muhammadu Buhari has not directed anyone to implement fuel subsidy removal, is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Wednesday.
The Guardian reports that President Muhammadu Buhari has not directed anyone to implement fuel subsidy removal, President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has declared.
He spoke after meeting Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday, stating that he had gone to convey the feeling of constituents to him on some concerns, including the proposed removal of subsidy.
Specifically, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, had last October, said the Federal Government made provision for subsidy only for the first six months of this year and looked towards complete deregulation of the sector.
IN the meantime, the upper legislative chamber has implored the current administration to immortalise the former Head of Interim National Government (ING), the late Chief Ernest Shonekan, who died on January 11 at the age of 85.
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by Senate Leader, Abdullahi Yahaya (APC: Kebbi) at plenary.
He noted that the Ogun State indigene was a British-trained lawyer, consummate administrator, renowned industrialist, seasoned businessman and politician.
The departed Nigerian held sway briefly as the country’s leader from August 26 to November 17, 1993.
The newspaper says that the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) has so far supported over 4.8 million smallholder farmers across Nigeria for the production of 23 agricultural commodities including maize, rice, oil palm, cocoa, cotton, cassava, tomato and livestock, President Muhammadu Buhari has said.
Also, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has disclosed that the Federal Government is set to introduce a new variety of rice capable of delivering eight tonnes per hectare. Speaking yesterday in Abuja at the unveiling of the FCT mega rice pyramids,
Buhari argued that the Anchored Borrowers Programme had increased access to finance by rural farmers, who before now were excluded from the financial system.
Buhari hinted that rice production in Nigeria has increased to over 7.5 million metric tonnes yearly, adding that before the introduction of ABP, the average production in Nigeria between 1999 to 2015 was less than four metric tonnes yearly.
Buhari stated that as a critical policy of the government, the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme is expected to catalyse the agricultural productive base of the nation, which is a major part of his government’s economic plan to uplift the people, create jobs, reduce reliance on imported food and industrial raw materials, and conserve foreign exchange.
The Punch reports that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, on Tuesday disclosed that rice production in the country rose to nine million metric tonnes in 2021 from about 5.4m MT in 2015.
Emefiele, who disclosed this at the unveiling of 13 rice pyramids in Abuja by the President, Major General, Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), attributed the increase in production to interventions in the agricultural sector by the Federal Government.
According to him, one of such interventions is the CBN Anchors Borrower’s Programme which has built a sustainable framework for financing smallholder farmers in Nigeria.
He added that the programme had also helped to reduce Nigeria’s import bill from countries like Thailand. Emefiele said, “The Anchor Borrowers’ Programme has catalysed the rural economy and has built a sustainable framework for financing smallholder farmers in Nigeria.
“For example, Thailand alone exported 1.3 million metric tons of rice to Nigeria in 2014. The ABP was launched in 2015 to curtail these imports, and since then, we have seen incremental reductions in rice imports from Thailand.
“By 2016, rice imports from Thailand had fallen to only 58,000 metric tons. As of the end of 2021, they only exported 2,160 metric tons to Nigeria, thereby saving us foreign exchange and helping preserve jobs in Nigeria.
The newspaper says Trade Union Congress (TUC) on Tuesday, lampooned the Federal Government for flaunting dead refineries after wasting $9.5 billion on them in the last 10 years in the name of Turnaround Maintenance.
National President of the TUC, Quadri Olaleye, also frowned at what he described as deep-seated corruption and legendary tardiness that ruined the nation’s refineries, leaving the country with no option than to become a net importer of refined petroleum products.
Olaleye, who spoke in Abuja at the inauguration of new executives of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association (IPMAN), tasked the government to take pragmatic steps to put the ailing refineries in order and ultimately encourage private sector participation in establishing modular refineries to mitigate the huge cost of importation of refined petroleum products.
He said:” Even with Nigeria’s status of being one of the largest oil producing countries, the energy crises that have befallen us as a nation are well known and this is solely due to the incompetence and corruption of the government.
The fuel subsidy and the proposed hike in fuel price is a rather prominent and recurring one. Nigeria is the only OPEC member country that imports more than 90 to 95per cent of refined petroleum products for consumption.
ThisDay reports that though already operational for over one year, the Nigerian Finance Act 2020 has remained a topic of debate, particularly among operators in the economy, who feel being burdened by the aggressive revenue drive of the Federal Government.
Nume Ekeghe writes Nigeria’s fast-rising debt profile, which has triggered concerns across board, understandably put the Federal Government under pressure to diversify its revenue sources in such a way that would not roll a burden down the road for future generations.
With a N16 trillion budget for 2022, which has over N6 trillion deficit, the Federal Government hopes to slow down its borrowing spree by looking inwards to raise the needed revenue. Taxation became an easy resort.
The Finance Act, 2020, which was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on 31st December, 2020, alongside the 2021 budget, introduced sweeping changes to a number of tax and major legislations governing taxation in the country.
With the 7.5 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT), which was originally pegged at 5 percent, becoming effective since last year, other aspects of the Act that come into effect this year have become contentious issues pitching the government and operators in the Nigerian economy.
The newspaper says that a total of 12 banks generated N1.86trillion as fees and commission income from current and saving accounts of customers between 2018 and 2020, data gathered by THIDAY has revealed.
Analysis of the banks’ numbers revealed that these 12 of them generated N684.03 billion from fees and commission income in 2020 as against N630.4billion and N550.33billion between 2019 and 2018.
Banks generate the fees through account maintenance fee, electronic transfers, commission on turnover, credit related fees, among others.
Further analysis showed that United Bank for Africa Plc, followed by Zenith bank Plc led the others in fees and commission generated in the last three years, while Unity Bank Plc recorded the lowest fees and commission in the period under review.
UBA Plc in the last three years generated N331.5billion from fees and commission income, while Zenith Bank Plcc accounted for N310.04billion fees and commission between 2018 and 2020. Others are; Access Bank Plc N270.64billion, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc N221.4billion, Guaranty Trust Holdings Plc N167.97 billion, Fidelity Bank Plc N65.5 billion, Sterling bank Plc N65.53 billion, FCMB Group Plc N58.18 billion, Union Bank Plc N42.6 billion, Wema Bank Plc N22.93 billion and Unity Bank Plc N12.5 billion.
GIK/APA