The report that Nigeria and the United Kingdom have restated commitment to removing bilateral trade barriers between the two countries is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
The Guardian reports that Nigeria and the United Kingdom (UK) have restated commitment to removing bilateral trade barriers between the two countries.
They also pledge to establish an official working group to enhance the trade partnership for mutual benefits. Besides, they have agreed to channel their energy towards how the bilateral relations could be exploited and enhanced for the benefit of all.
These were part of the communiqué issued at the end of the seventh ministerial meeting of the UK-Nigeria Economic Development Forum held in London, yesterday.
The Nigerian delegation was led by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo his counterpart in the Ministry of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, and Nigeria’s Chief Trade Negotiator, Dr. Yonov Agah.
The UK delegation was led by the Minister for International Trade, Penny Mordaunt, accompanied by the United Kingdom’s Trade Envoy to Nigeria.
A release from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment quoted Adebayo as saying that the goal of the meeting was to deliberate on specific economic challenges facing both countries while strategising on how best to surmount them.
According to the Minister, the meeting also provided an opportunity for trade ministers of both countries to be updated on the outcome of a lower-level business dialogue between UK business operators in Nigeria and the Federal Government.
The newspaper says that to boost electricity supply, the Federal Executive Council (FEC), presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, again approved multi-billion naira contracts for the power sector yesterday.
Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, while briefing State House correspondents, said all three memos presented by his ministry scaled through, adding that the approvals were for the purchase of major electricity transmission equipment.
According to him, the cost of the projects, which includes procurement of power transformers and construction of 260km transmission line in Kebbi State, will cost N21.7 billion.
He also disclosed that the Council approved a contract of N853.25 million to engage consultants that will prepare the concessioning of Ajaokuta Steel Plant and National Iron Ore Complex, Itakpe, in Kogi State to prospective bidders.
The Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu, on his part said FEC approved Nigeria’s Revised Energy Policy (2022). He explained that the revision of the policy became imperative to enable Nigeria take optimum advantage of all the available sources of energy in the country.
He noted that Nigeria has abundance of crude oil, fossil fuels, and variants of renewal energy (solar, hydro, wind, geothermal and biomass), in commercial quantities, and a good mix of all these will greatly improve energy supply in the country.
The Punch reports that clearing agents operating in the nation’s maritime sector have taken the Federal Government to the cleaners over the recent re-opening of four land borders.
The Federal Government had, on Friday, approved the second phase of the reopening of the remaining four land borders at Idiroko, Jibia, Kamba and Ikom.
This is coming a few years after shutting the land borders due to the incessant smuggling of arms and different contraband goods.
In December 2020, the Federal Executive Council re-opened the country’s four major land borders, which were Seme, Ilella, Maigatari and Mfun.
The newly re-opened borders bring the number to eight.
The newspaper says that the subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, between January and March 2022 has risen to N675.93bn, the latest data obtained from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited on Wednesday showed.
Also, the NNPC has informed the Federation Account Allocation Committee that it will deduct or recover N671.88bn from April 2022 proceeds due for sharing at the May 2022 FAAC meeting.
It described the N671.88bn as a value shortfall incurred by the NNPC, as the oil firm has remained the sole importer of petrol into Nigeria and has been subsidising the commodity using billions of naira monthly.
Figures obtained by our correspondent from NNPC in Abuja on Wednesday showed that the oil firm spent N210.38bn, N219.78bn and N245.77bn as subsidy on petrol in January, February and March 2022 respectively.
This implies that within the three-month period the oil company had spent N675.93bn on PMS subsidy. NNPC, however, described its subsidy spending as an under-recovery of PMS/value shortfall.
Meanwhile, in its presentation to FAAC during the committee’s April 26, 2022 meeting, NNPC told the committee members that it would deduct over N671bn at their next meeting in May.
It said, “The estimated value shortfall of N671,882,996,685.81 (consisting of N519bn for estimated April 2022 recovery plus N152bn of March 2022) is to be recovered from April 2022 proceeds due for sharing at the May 2022 FAAC meeting.”
The Nation reports that the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) has announced a $15 million funding for African Development Bank’s Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI) to women-owned small and medium businesses in Nigeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya and Mozambique.
It is its fourth round of financing of $54.8 million to benefit almost 69,000 women entrepreneurs in developing economies with access to digital technology and finance.
The funds will enable the Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility to design and implement programs to improve digital access to finance for women entrepreneurs, reducing the $42 billion financing gap, and improving their operational efficiency to build back better following the COVID-19 crisis.
Empowerment is under pressure due to conflict and insecurity, rising prices, and the continuous fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic around the world,” said Parliamentary State Secretary of Germany’s Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Bärbel Kofler., adding: “I am pleased to see our Implementing Partners preparing such strong proposals to support women-led businesses. Access to technology and financing will be key to unlock the potential of women entrepreneurs.”
“Digital financial solutions are key to improving the quality of life of people in Africa and to reducing the gender access-to-finance gap. The funding, which is complementary to the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa Initiative (AFAWA), will be used not only to broaden access to finance for women small and medium businesses but also to provide an avenue for their increased economic empowerment and resilience,” said Director, Financial Sector Development Department, African Development Bank Group Stefan Nalletamby.
Three other multilateral development banks received allocations in this fourth round: The Islamic Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank Group, and the World Bank Group.
The Sun says that the Federal Government has said that the Badagry Seaport is estimated to generate about 2.6 billion dollars and create 5,000 direct and indirect jobs when operational.
Mr Micheal Ohiani, the Acting Director-General, Infrastructure Concesion Regulatory Commission (ICRC), said this when he led a team to visit the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, on Wednesday in Abuja.
Ohiani also presented said the Full Business Case Compliance Certificate, for the Badagry Deep Seaport and the Modular Floating Dock to the minister.
Speaking on derivatives of the projects, Ohiani said it would create a total ecosystem in terms of shipping, transportation, job creation amongst others.
He said one of the most notable attribute of the Badagry port was that it would enable the country compete favourably with the Contonou seaport .
“In respect of the Dry Dock which is handled by NIMASA, the revenue that will come to the Federal Government within that period is $65 million and it’s going to create a job opportunity of over 800,000”, Ohiani said.
Responding, Amaechi thanked the ICRC for its diligence, noting that the presentation reflected that the project was financially viable.
GIK/APA