The assurance by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that the results of the 2023 general elections will be transmitted electronically dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Monday,
The Guardian reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured Nigerians that the results of the 2023 general elections will be transmitted electronically.
It clarified that it has not jettisoned electronic transmission of results for manual process.
The National Commissioner (Information and Voter Education Committee), Festus Okoye, who made the clarification in a statement, yesterday, said the procedure for results transmission in next year’s polls will remain the same as obtained in the recent governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states.
Okoye was reacting to a report that quoted the commission as saying collation of results during the general elections will be done manually, despite the adoption of electronic transmission of results.
The report received negative reactions from the public, including the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who accused the commission of a plot to rig.
Atiku, reacting through his spokesman, Daniel Bwala, alleged: “INEC is laying the foundation for the rigging of the 2023 elections.”
But Okoye said there would be no change in future elections, including next year’s polls.
He said the commission’s explanation of results was interpreted to mean it had jettisoned electronic transmission and reverted to the manual process.
The newspaper says that dire implications await the Nigerian economy should foreign airlines make good their threat to withdraw flight services over stuck funds estimated to have reached $464 million as of July 2022.
Specifically, the exit of foreign carriers that account for 80 per cent of commercial aviation earnings to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will hobble the projected growth of the air transport sector and cost Nigeria $1.36 billion or N567.12 billion (at $/N417) yearly.
The losses, The Guardian learnt, will not be unconnected with well-off Nigerian travellers (in the absence of foreign airlines) departing for neighbouring African countries to board the same international flights or paying for those bookings in foreign currencies only.
Similarly, should the airlines demand payment in US dollars, the already saturated parallel foreign exchange market may witness a further weakened naira, as demand outweighs supply for the greenback.
Already, things are also not looking up for the country’s sole carrier on the international front. Air Peace airline, yesterday, announced its withdrawal from the Lagos-Johannesburg route over low patronage on account of the South African Embassy’s delay in granting approval to visa applicants in Nigeria, among other operational reasons.
Apparently aware of tougher times that await Nigerian aviation in such circumstances, major stakeholders have urged the Federal Government to exercise caution and parley more with “the business partners” over the precarious foreign exchange liquidity crisis and sundry constraints.
Indeed, these are not the best of times for the air transport sector and the economy at large. While the local operators are surviving by the skin of their teeth over the high cost of aviation fuel and depleting capacity, their foreign counterparts are hard done by the inability to repatriate foreign exchange equivalents for flight tickets already sold in naira.
After an earlier warning by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Emirates Airlines’ threat to slash Nigeria-bound flights by August 15, the carrier last week hinted at total withdrawal from Lagos and Abuja routes, effective September 1. The airline has about $90 million in yet-to-be repatriated funds in Nigeria.
The Guardian learnt at the weekend that more legacy carriers are considering the “commercial decision” to avert losses on stuck funds in a “volatile economy”, should the situation persist.
The Punch reports that the Academic Staff Union of Universities has raised the alarm over the exodus of lecturers from the nation’s universities for greener pastures abroad.
The union attributed the development to the Federal Government’s poor treatment of its members which it said had forced many to venture into other sources of livelihood.
Speaking to The PUNCH, on Sunday, the National President, ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, lamented that many lecturers had taken to farming and other economic activities, while a large number had left the country.
Osodeke spoke in reaction to the government’s refusal to meet some of their demands, including the payment of seven months’ backlog of salaries accrued during the strike.
The PUNCH reports that the union had embarked on four strikes totalling 578 days under the Muhammadu Buhari regime. The current strike by ASUU started on February 14, 2022, and entered its day 188 on Monday (today).
In 2017, the union went on strike for 30 days; in 2018, the lecturers shunned work for 90 days while in 2020, the public universities were shut down for 270 days.
ASUU accused the government of failing to release the revitalisation funds for universities; failure to deploy the University Transparency Accountability System for the payment of salaries and allowances of university lecturers.
ASUU had also demanded the release of earned allowances for its members; release of the whitepaper report of visitation panels to universities and renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/2009 agreement.
Speaking on the mass exile of lecturers from the university system, Osodeke stated, “So many lecturers are leaving to engage in farming and others; lecturers are tired of the treatment they’re receiving from the government and because of this, they are looking for alternatives. So many more will leave even after the strike too.”
The newspaper says that undisbursed loans may drive Nigeria’s debt to the World Bank from $12.72bn to $21.15bn, the PUNCH has learnt.
This shows that the yet-to-be disbursed loans can increase Nigeria’s debt to the lending institution by 66.27 per cent.
The audited financial statements of the World Bank for the fiscal year 2022 showed that the bank was yet to disburse about $8.12bn to Nigeria as of June 30, 2022.
A breakdown further showed that the undisbursed loans included $7.60bn from the International Development Association, IDA, and $514m from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IBRD.
These undisbursed loans encompass loans approved but not signed as well as the signed loan commitments.
Explaining the reason for the yet-to-be disbursed loans, particularly the signed loan commitments, the bank said that these “loans are not effective and disbursements do not start until the borrowers and/or guarantors take certain actions and furnish documents.”
The IBRD and the IDA, which make up the World Bank, have, over the years, advanced loans to Nigeria.
The IBRD lends to governments of middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries, while the IDA provides concessionary loans – called credits – and grants to governments of the poorest countries.
The Debt Management Office had disclosed that Nigeria’s debt to the Washington-based bank was $12.72bn as of March 31, 2022.
GIK/APA