APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that political parties have lent their support to the Nigerian military which has described as unconstitutional calls for an interim government after the emergence of the president-elect dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Friday.
The Punch reports that the Defence Headquarters on Thursday described as unconstitutional calls for an interim government after the emergence of the president-elect.
The Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Musa Danmadami, stated this in Abuja during the biweekly update with journalists on Armed Forces of Nigeria operations.
He condemned the clamour for an interim government by those unhappy with the outcome of the presidential election, stating that the ING was illegal and unconstitutional.
The Peoples Democratic Party, the All Progressives Congress and the New Nigeria Peoples Party supported the military’s pledge to defend the constitution.
Some candidates who lost the election and their supporters had been agitating for the interim government, hinging their demand on the reported malpractices recorded during the presidential election which was won by the APC standard bearer, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Sequel to the protests and alleged inflammatory statements by the proponents of the interim government, the Department of State Services alerted the nation to a plot by unnamed politicians to scuttle the transition and install an interim government.
The secret police said it was monitoring the plotters and warned them against fomenting any crisis in the country.
The newspaper says that the naira lost 10.2 per cent of its value in 2022, according to the World Bank.
This came as rising food and fuel prices were responsible for high inflation in the country in 2022. The global bank revealed this in its latest Africa’s Pulse report for April 2023.
It explained that the worst-performing currency in the Sub-Saharan African region was the Ghanaian cedi in 2022, which lost 40 per cent of its value in the year. It stated that the currency has already lost 20 per cent of its value so far in 2023.
Commenting on the naira, the bank said, “Other currencies with significant losses last year include those of Sudan (23.6 per cent), Malawi (20.7 per cent), The Gambia (14.6 per cent), and Nigeria (10.2 per cent).”
It stressed, “Rising food and fuel prices, as well as the depreciation of the exchange rate, were the main drivers of inflationary pressures in the region—and, particularly, in countries like Ghana, Sudan, and Malawi.”
The Washington-based bank noted that the hiking of monetary policy, with Nigeria increasing rates by 650 basis points, has not translated to a reduction in inflation rate.
It stated that the reduced effectiveness of monetary policy can be attributed, among other factors, to persistent supply shocks driving inflation (say, commodity prices and climatic shocks), lack of central bank autonomy, foreign exchange distortions that widened parallel exchange rate market premia, and fiscal dominance.
The bank says it expects 25 per cent of countries in the Sub-Saharan African region to suffer from two-digit inflation rates in 2023. In February, headline inflation in Nigeria rose to 21.91 per cent according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
Nigeria is suffering from both high inflation and high budget deficits, according to the bank. It said, “About half of Sub-Saharan African countries face both high inflation (low monetary policy space) and wider fiscal deficits (low fiscal policy space).
“Notable cases include Ghana, Nigeria, Malawi, Zambia, and Burundi, among others.”
The Guardian reports that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), yesterday, harped on the need to complete the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipeline, Trans-Sahara Gas Pipelines and Nigerian -Morocco pipeline.
The Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, who spoke at the 2023 Oloibiri Lecture Series and Energy Forum of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) in Abuja, noted that progress is being made on the three projects.
The Trans-Sahara Gas Pipelines project is to cost $13 billion, while the Nigerian-Morocco pipeline, a 6,000 kilometre project, which would traverse 13 African nations along the Atlantic coast and supply the landlocked countries, would cost $25 billion and the 614 kilometre AKK pipeline was awarded for $2.8 billion.
Although Nigeria has created a number of initiatives to reinvent gas amid dwindling oil revenue, the Ukraine and Russia war has changed the dynamics in the energy sector, forcing Europe to focus on the resource and Africa as a strategic partner for the product, they once dropped for renewable energy.
Kyari, while speaking at the conference, themed “Effective gas resource utilisation: A lever for enhancing energy security and achieving net-zero emission goals in Nigeria,” submitted: “We are working assiduously to ensure timely delivery of major domestic gas pipeline infrastructure projects, including the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline corridor and associated power plants.
NNPCL is also making progress on the planned Nigeria-Morocco and the Trans-Sahara Gas Pipelines that will connect West African countries to deliver natural gas to the international markets.”
With gas reserves of 209.5 billion standard cubic feet, Nigeria is looking to harness gas as transition fuel amid global push from fossil fuels, but the infrastructure to achieve the goal remained a challenge even as the country depends on export market for local utilisation.”
The newspaper says that the House of Representatives, yesterday, took a significant step to curtail the mass exodus of medical practitioners seeking greener pastures abroad.
A billed aimed at achieving the goal scaled second reading on the floor of the House presided by the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila. The proposed legislation, particularly, stipulates that qualified doctors would only be granted full licences after they had worked for a minimum of five years in the country.
The bill is part of measures to halt the increasing number of medics leaving Nigeria for other countries. Entitled ‘A Bill for an Act to Amend the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act, Cap. M379, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 to mandate any Nigeria-trained Medical or Dental Practitioner to Practise in Nigeria for a minimum of five years before being granted a full licence by the Council to make quality health services available to Nigeria and for Related Matters (HB.2130)’, the amendment bill was sponsored by Ganiyu Johnson (Lagos, APC).
Johnson told the House that it was only fair for medical practitioners, who enjoyed tax-payers’ subsidies on their training, to “give back to the society” by working for a minimum number of years in Nigeria before exporting their skills abroad.
Majority of lawmakers supported the bill, though a number of them called for flexibility and options in the envisaged law. One member, Uzoma Nkem-Abonta, opposed the bill on the ground that it was more like enslavement, as it ties a doctor down for five years in Nigeria, post-graduation, before seeking employment in a foreign country. However, a majority voice vote passed the bill for second reading.
Meanwhile, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, has stressed the need for conducive environment for the nation’s healthcare workers.
Speaking during the commissioning of six elevators at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), yesterday, she noted the expediency of every health worker to have modern equipment to work.
To her, no matter the knowledge, expertise and experience of medical personnel, if the environment is not conducive, they will not deliver optimally.
GIK/APA
Press spotlights political parties support of military’s position on interim government, others
