The earnings of $565.5m from crude oil and gas export sales in the first quarter of 2022 by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Friday.
The Punch reports that Nigeria made $565.5m in crude oil and gas export sales in the first quarter of 2022, according to data from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd.
According to the data, the nation made $177.86m from crude oil exports and $387.72m from gas feedstock to Nigeria LNG Limited which amounted to
The NNPC data indicates that in January 2022, the nation earned $75.88m from crude oil and $84.45m from gas; in February, the nation earned $13.05m from crude oil and $159.58m from gas.
In March, Nigeria earned $88.93m from crude oil and $143.69m from gas.
The NNPC said, “Feedstock gas receipt was $143.69m, which also includes receipts of $54.72m and $21.29m, which were expected in the previous month but slipped into the current month. Other related NLNG receipt was $7.67m.”
The newspaper says that the trade volume between the European Union and Nigeria has increased by 25.8 per cent to peak at €28.7bn in 2021.
The EU’s imports from Nigeria stood at €17.5bn, while its exports were valued at €11.2bn, with the trade balance at €6.4bn in favour of Nigeria.
The Head of the European Union Delegation to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States, Amb Samuela Isopi, disclosed these at a press briefing on Thursday, ahead of the Europe Day 2022 coming up on May 9.
She said the EU would continue to pursue with increased vigour its bilateral engagement and friendship with Nigeria, to deliver better and more results in their partnership.
The envoy affirmed that the EU is working with its member states, the European Investment Bank and other EU Development Finance Institutions in the implementation of the agreed priorities, as Team Europe.
Reeling out the gains of the union’s bilateral relations with Nigeria, she stated, “The EU remains Nigeria’s biggest trading partner, first investor, top donor of humanitarian and development aid, and the biggest diplomatic network. The volume of EU-Nigeria trade stood at €28.7bn in 2021 – a 25.8 per cent increase over that of 2020.
The Punch also reports that the Federal Government through its Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission on Thursday officially released different documents indicating the approved power tariff increase payable by consumers to various electricity distribution companies in Nigeria.
In different orders to the 11 Discos operating in Nigeria, the commission stated that the tariff hike was based on the extraordinary review of the Multi-Year Tariff Order, as it explained that the order took effect from January 1, 2022.
It further noted that the order shall only be subordinated to a new tariff review order as might be issued periodically by the NERC, but this hike in tariff by NERC was kicked against different power consumer groups, as they called for the complete reversal of the sector’s privatisation.
The NERC provided myriads of reasons why it had to effect an upward review of the tariff payable to Discos, as figures from the individual approvals for each Disco showed that the commission hiked the amount to be paid by consumers for electricity beginning from February 2022.
In the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, for instance, non-Maximum Demand power users in Band A had their tariff increased from N51.75/kWh in January this year to N56.28/kWh from February to December 2022.
Also, non-MD consumers in Band B had their tariff increased from N49.72/kWh to N54.13kWh, while the non-MD power users in Bands C and D had their tariff raised from N45.65/kWh to N50.65/kWh, and N29.70/kWh to N33.20/kWh respectively, under Abuja Disco.
For non-MD customers of AEDC in Band E, their tariff was raised from N29.38/kWh to N32.88/kWh.
The Guardian says that the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has raised Nigeria’s oil production quota from the 1.735 million barrels per day (mbpd) target approved in May 2022 to a new target of 1.772mbpd for June 2022.
A statement issued yesterday said OPEC took the decision at its 28th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting, despite Nigeria missing its approved target for April 2022 by 40,000bpd.
The new target is 19,000bpd higher than the approved quota for May 2022.
OPEC also adjusted upward the monthly overall production by 432,000bpd for the month of June 2022 with a target production of 42.558mbpd.
“Following the conclusion of the OPEC 28th and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting, held via videoconference on May 5, it was noted that continuing oil market fundamentals and the consensus on the outlook pointed to a balanced market.
“It further noted the continuing effects of geopolitical factors and issues related to the ongoing pandemic,” the statement said.
The Sun reports that President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the greatest investment Europe and America can make in Africa now is helping the continent accomplish inter-basin water transfer to recharge the Lake Chad.
Mr Femi Adesina, the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, said in a statement on Friday, that Buhari stated this when he hosted the Chairman of the African Union Commission, Mr Moussa Faki Mahamat, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Buhari noted that Lake Chad, which provided a means of livelihood to several millions of people in four countries – Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria – had shrunken to 10 per cent of its original size, due to the impact of climate change.
He observed that people who depended on the Lake for fishing, farming, animal husbandry, and many others, had been thrown into dire straits.
“That is one of the reasons youths now dare the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea, to seek greener pastures in Europe.
“But helping to recharge Lake Chad will help a great deal in curbing irregular migration,’’ he said.
The Nation says that the Debt Management Office (DMO) has warned that the sovereign debts of Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African Countries will continue to grow.
This is contained in a press release issued by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) yesterday in Abuja.
The press release said the Director General of the DMO Mrs Patience Oniha spoke at the Debt Management Roundtable (DMR), an initiative of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), where the formal presentation of the full sovereign debt grew from 49.1 percent of GDP in 2014 to 57.9 percent in 2019, and in sub-Saharan Africa, from 35.1 percent of GDP in 2014 to 55.4 percent in 2019.’
The respective figures for 2021 were 66.7 percent and 60.3 percent”.report on debt management and sustainability in ECOWAS was made to the DMO.
Based on these figures the DMO boss stated that “the indications are that the trend will continue as the economic consequences of COVID-19 may linger for a longer period, coupled with the increased economic pressures in the form of rising inflation from higher food and energy prices caused by the Russia-Ukraine war”.
This, she said, is corroborated by the IMF’s World Economic Outlook for April 2022 which says that “the average Debt to GDP Ratio in West Africa is expected to rise to 67.2 percent in 2022 from 56.4 percent in 2019.”
The DMR Chairman, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, identified corruption in public spending, insecurity, geopolitical challenges, resource overdependency, and a shallow tax base as some of the major drivers of unsustainable debt.
GIK/APA