The report by the Debt Management Office on Thursday that Nigeria’s total public debt stock increased to N39.56tn in 2021 from N32.92tn in 2020 dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Friday.
The Punch reports that the Debt Management Office (DMO) on Thursday said Nigeria’s total public debt stock increased to N39.56tn in 2021 from N32.92tn in 2020.
The Director-General, DMO, Patience Oniha, said at a media briefing in Abuja that the total debt included new borrowings by the Federal Government and the sub-nationals.
She also said that the amount helped in financing the budget deficit, capital projects and support economic recovery.
Oniha said, “Nigeria’s total public debt as at December 31, 2021, was N39.56tn or $95.78bn. The amount represents the total external and domestic debts of the Federal Government of Nigeria, 36 state governments and the federal capital territory.
“The comparable figure for December 31, 2020, was N32.92tn or $86.39bn. The public debt stock for December 31, 2021, includes new borrowings by the FGN and the sub-nationals. For the FGN, it would be recalled that the 2021 appropriation and supplementary acts, included total new borrowings (from domestic and external sources) of N5.49tn to part-finance the deficit.
“Borrowings for this purpose and disbursements by the multilateral and bilateral creditors account for a significant portion of the increase in the debt stock. Increases were also recorded in the debt stock of the states and the FCT.”
The newspaper says that the President of the African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, announces that the bank has secured $15.6bn for the construction of the Lagos-Abidjan highway corridor, which would ease transportation across West Africa.
He made this announcement during the 2021 Africa Investment Forum virtual boardroom closing session on Thursday.
The AfDB president said, “The biggest deal for the boardroom is the $15.6bn deal for the Lagos-Abidjan highway corridor. The 46-lane highway corridor will connect Lagos, Cotonou, Lome, Accra and Abidjan.”
According to him, this project would support trade in West Africa, impacting the lives of over 500 million people, reducing transport costs and increasing intra-regional trade volume.
“It will support 75 per cent of the trade in the West African region. The project will impact the lives of over 500 million people. It would reduce transport cost by 48 per cent. It would increase intra-regional trade volume by 15 to 25 per cent. It would connect land-locked cities to port countries,” he added.
The Guardian reports that Russia’s status as the largest exporter of wheat in the world is causing disquiet in many countries following its military incursion into Ukraine.
Currently, wheat is one of the most consumed grains in the world. It is also used for the production of noodles, pasta, cakes and other confectioneries.
Recent reports suggest that the conflict has already driven food prices across the globe, the Food Agricultural Organisation (FAO) warned last Friday.
The agency said poorer countries in northern Africa, Asia and the Middle East that depend heavily on wheat imports risk suffering significant food insecurity.
According to the trade data provided by the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), the world traded $44.1 billion worth of wheat in 2019, representing 0.24 per cent of the global trade. The data further showed that Russia exported $8.14 billion worth of wheat and thus emerged as the largest wheat exporter in 2019.
The United States exported $6.94 billion worth of wheat, while Canada exported $5.97 billion worth of wheat to occupy the second and third positions respectively. And France with $4.54 billion in wheat exports, and Ukraine with $3.11 billion, completed the list of the top five wheat exporters across the world in 2019.
According to the data, 31.3 per cent of the wheat used in Egypt in 2019 came from Russia. Same year, Turkey met 17 per cent of its wheat needs from Russia, while Bangladesh and Nigeria sourced 6.4 per cent and 4.8 per cent of their wheat imports from Russia.
The Nation says that the first batch of smart meters, produced by the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) will hit the market next week.
The innovation which was invented by NASENI was successfully bided for and won by the private sector which commenced mass production and is ready to push the products into the market.
Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive of NASENI, Prof. Mohammed Haruna who made the disclosure said several of the agency’s innovations have offtakers.
He explained that the agency looks out for what the country desperately needs and seeks partnership with the private sector before embarking on projects that are always of international standard.
He spoke at the NASENI Day event held in Abuja at the Technology and Innovation Expo 2022, organised by the Federal Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation (FMSTI).
He said: “The products on display today are not same as last year it has always been our policy to display new exhibitions every year.
“I assure you that several of these products have offtakers already, there are some private sectors already who have agreements with us for mass production, we are not displaying what we displayed last year in terms of the smart meters because the private sector that won the bidding to take it to the market are in the process of mass production, they just assured me that the first batch of mass production will be out next week.
Vanguard reports that the Federal Government on Thursday said it was working on a new trade policy with nations under the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, USSR, with whom it shares important mutual trade relations.
The government also said it has perfected plans to commence a twenty-four hour ports operations in order to resolve the challenge of congestion in Lagos ports.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Trade and Investments, Chief Niyi Adebayo, while addressing State House correspondents during the weekly inter-ministerial briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Minister explained that the policy is meant to immune the Nigerian economy from the numerous sanctions from western countries currently strangling Russia, adding that the new trade policy would be subjected to thorough considerations before being presented to President Muhammadu Buhari and then to the public.
He further said that the trade department of his ministry has been mandated to analyse the crisis in the region as its concerns trade with Nigeria to come up with a report.
Adebayo spoke while appearing on the weekly inter-ministerial press briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Asked if the sanctions imposed on Russia would affect Nigeria, the Minister said, “My ministry is looking at all the issues involved since the war has come up. The trade department is looking at what we import and export to them with a view of coming up with a policy paper which we will present to Mr. President.
“We have mandated our trade department to do an analysis to look at all the issues and come out with a report. Once that report is ready, I will be presenting to the President, after presenting to the President, I will come here to brief you about it.”
The Minister statement came on the heels of the report quoting data from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics that revealed a worrisome impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on Nigeria. It disclosed that since 2019, Nigeria has received $84.3m in capital imports from Russia.
The country also imported N144bn ($346.2m) worth of durum wheat in 2020 and N123.9bn ($297.8m) worth of durum wheat between January – September 2021 from Russia.
GIK/APA