The report that unemployment rate worsened last quarter, rising from 27.1 percent in the second quarter to 33.3 percent and the deadly activities of bandits in northern Nigeria are some of the leading stories in Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday.
The Guardian reports that Nigeria’s unemployment rate worsened last quarter, rising from 27.1 per cent in the second quarter to 33.3 per cent. This translates to a percentage point increase of 5.2.
On the bright side, the rate of underemployment, people who work less than 40 hours a week, declined from 28.6 percent to 22.8 percent during the period.
The report said 23.2 million of 69.7 million Nigerians in the labour market were jobless.
The figures were contained in the Labor Force Statistics: Unemployment and Underemployment Report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) yesterday.
The document showed: “The number of persons in the labour force (that is, people within ages 15-64, who are able and willing to work) was estimated to be 69,675,468.
“This was 13.22 percent less than the number of persons in Q2, 2020. Of this number, those within the age bracket of 25-34 were highest, with 20,091,695 or 28.34 percent of the labour force.
“This is the estimated number of persons within the economically-active population or working population that are available and willing to work. This implies that as of Q4 2020, only 57.09 percent of Nigeria’s economically-active population is in the labour force.”
The newspaper says that armed bandits stormed a primary school in Kaduna State yesterday and kidnapped three teachers and an unspecified number of students in Birnin Gwari local government area.
The raid by the motorcycle-riding gunmen is the latest in a series of attacks targeting schools in the country. This is coming just days after nearly 40 students were kidnapped in the state. The latest is the fifth mass school abduction since December.
The Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, however, told newsmen yesterday that Rema Primary School was attacked around 8:50 a.m. He said the pupils fled as gunmen stormed the school.
“This led to two pupils going missing. We are happy to inform you that the two missing pupils have been found. We can also confirm that no single pupil was kidnapped from the school. The government can confirm that three teachers have been kidnapped.” Aruwan had earlier said an unspecified number of pupils and teachers were kidnapped.
The Commissioner also said troops of the Nigerian Army on patrol in Faka, Chikun Local Government Area, rescued a young boy wandering in the forest.
The Vanguard reports that no fewer than 8,000 persons have so far been vaccinated in 35 states and the FCT, the Presidential Task Force (PTF), on COVID-19, said on Monday in Abuja.
The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, made the disclosure at the PTF briefing, on Monday in Abuja.
Shuaib, however, said Kogi remained the only state yet to receive the vaccines because its cold chains for preservation of the vaccines were under repair.
He said the vaccines had been tested and verified to be effective and safe for use, dismissing rumours and concerns about the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines as causing blood cloth.
On the price of the vaccines, he said the vaccine was cheaper than other available vaccines in the market as the producers were concerned about human safety over making profit.
He said Nigerians should concern themselves with the efficacy of the vaccine rather than reject it because of its market price, saying countries like the UK and many others were still using it.
The Punch says that Nigeria’s total public debt rose to N32.9tn at the end of December 2020, the Debt Management Office said in a statement on Monday.
From its last report on public debt, the figure stood at N32.2tn as of the end of September 2020, which showed an increase of N700bn.
The DMO disclosed that the total public debt to the Gross Domestic Product was 21.61 per cent, adding that it was within Nigeria’s new limit of 40 percent.
The DMO stated that new borrowing to part finance budget deficits had declined steadily from N2.36tn in 2017 to N2.01tn in 2018, N1.61tn in 2019 and N1.59tn in the first 2020 Appropriation Act.
This trend was reversed in 2020 due to the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as new borrowing in the revised 2020 Appropriation Act was N4.2tn.
ThisDay reports that the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has described as regrettable that out of the $75 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) flowing into Africa,
Nigeria has a meagre share of just $3 billion. Speaking in Abuja in separate consultative meetings with leading Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and forum of oil, gas and mining companies in the extractive sector, the Executive Secretary, NEITI, Dr. Ogbonnaya Orji, said the situation underscored why all hands must be on deck to eliminate all bottlenecks in the country’s business environment.
Orji called for closer collaboration and partnership with civil society, oil, gas as well as mining companies towards the implementation of ongoing reforms in the extractive industry in Nigeria.
He stated that the new approach by NEITI was to work with the government, companies and civil society to rebuild trust urgently required to promote inflow of FDI into the oil, gas and mining sectors.
The SUN says that the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) Governing Council has approved 96 new Nigerian Industrial Standards for national use.
The standards cut across Chemical Technology, Electrical/Electronics, Food/Agriculture, Textile/Leather and Services.
The approval, which was given at the first meeting of the Council following the appointment of Mallam Farouk Salim, as the Director General brought the total number of Standards approved by SON Governing Council to 264 in year 2020 following the earlier approval of 168 Standards.
The Chairman of the Council, Dr. Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, commended the new SON helmsman for being able to convene the Council meeting few months after his appointment in spite of the challenges of the health pandemic and other socio-economic events.
He enumerated the approved standards to include those that are essential for the production of medical and other supplies required for the management of the Covid-19 pandemic such as syringes, face barriers, alcohol based hand sanitizer, medical electrical equipment, Health and Safety Measures for Tourism and Hospitality Establishments – Post Pandemic (Covid-19) Resumption amongst many others.
According to him, others of great economic, regulatory and industrial importance include standards for agricultural, petroleum and automobile gas products, electrical/electronic standards for smart energy meters and renewable energy, all of which support the Federal Government policies, strategic priorities and plans.
GIK/APA