The views expressed by the President, African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, on the contentious topic on the need to restructure Nigeria is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
The Guardian reports that the President, African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has lent his voice to the contentious topic on the need to restructure the nation.
The AfDB president made his views known, yesterday, in a lecture, titled, ‘Nigeria, a country of many nations: A quest for national integration’, during the 80th birthday celebration of General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye.
He said: “As a way out of the economic quagmire, much has been said about the need for restructuring. I know the discussions are often emotive. Restructuring should not be driven by political expediency, but by economic and financial viability – the necessary and sufficient conditions for political viability.”
Adesina bemoaned a situation where, after one year, participants in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme are often unable to gain employment in governments where they served, because they are not indigenes of those states.
He said: “That in itself, is an irony! The young graduates are often strangers in their own country. A country they pledged to serve. Opportunity is denied just because they were not born in those states! Even if they were born in those states, they are told to return to the states of their origin.”
He also lamented a situation where Nigerians, regardless of how long they have resided in any place, cannot run for political offices in those states or locations, just because they were not born there.
“State governments, therefore, largely reflect nativism not residency, which further sends a message to non-indigenes that they do not belong.
“Over time, this has created greater insularism, splintering, a lack of inclusiveness, the promotion of ethnic and religious chauvinism, instead of promoting national cohesion, trust and inclusiveness.”
The newspaper says that the Director-General of the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion, DanAzumi Ibrahim, has said Nigeria is now exporting software across Africa, stressing the need to develop a policy to regulate the importation of software content.
Ibrahim stated this while declaring open a two-day Naija Inventor/Innovator workshop themed ‘Commercialisation of innovation/invention as a tool for Economic Diversification and Growth in the Nigerian Economy’ in Abuja.
The DG noted that developed countries are enjoying royalty because they were able to protect and commercialise their research and intellectual assets.
According to him, no country can develop without paying critical attention to innovation. He said that the agency was working with the Association of Nigerian Inventors (ANI) to sensitise people on the importance of patenting their inventions and innovations to ensure commercialisation.
Ibrahim stated that Nigerian researchers and members of ANI have demonstrated competence and desire to make their presence felt in the Nigerian market through commercialisation of their inventions and innovations. He encouraged members of ANI to file for a patent through NOTAP to ensure that their inventions are protected.
The Punch reports that the quantity of foreign exchange used for the importation of petroleum products into Nigeria fell to $1.04bn last year from $1.32bn in 2020, according to data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
As the country’s refineries continue to sit idle, fuel imports remain a major user of foreign exchange, even as many businesses still lament the inability to access forex at the official rate.
The nation’s forex reserves have been on a downward trend in recent months, falling to a low of $39.77bn on February 15, 2022 from $40.54bn at the end of last year.
The CBN’s data on sectoral utilisation for transactions valid for forex revealed that $45.76m was utilised in January 2021 for fuel imports; $64.67m in February, and $142.31m in March.
Forex for fuel import transactions fell to $77.96m in April and $85.64m in May but rose to $86.42m in June.
The country utilised $83.73m in July and $103.70m in August for petroleum products importation. The apex bank said $66.66m was used for fuel imports in September, $74.01m in October, $82.65m in November and $131.25m in December.
The Sun says that the scarcity caused by withdrawal of methanol-blended petrol into the country eases off, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd has released details of how it distributed a total of 387.59 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS)in one week to bridge the gap.
According to NNPC, the petrol, distributed to Nigerians through retail filling stations from February 14 to 20, 2022, represents an average daily distribution of 55.4 million litres.
A breakdown of the NNPC weekly national evacuation report released on Wednesday showed that 80 per cent of all the PMS took place at 20 high loading depots, while 20 per cent took place at the other loading depots.
The NNPC said the top 20 high loading depots used are Pinnacle, Lekki, which evacuated the highest volume of 70.8 million litres; NIPCO (22.6 million litres), AITEO (22.3 million litres), Swift (16 million litres), 11 Plc (15.9 million litres), Bovas Bulk (15 million litres) and Frado (14.6 million litres). Others are Keonamex (13.7 million litres), MRS Ltd (11.9 million litres), Rainoil (11.6 million litres), AYM Shafa (11.2 million litres), TSL (11.2 million litres), Rainoil Lagos (11.2 million litres), and Matrix (10 million litres), Conoil, Lagos (9.7 million litres), AA Rano (8.8 million litres), Bluefin (8.4 million litres), HOGL (8.2 million litres), Ibafon Calabar (8 million litres) and Mainland (7.5 million litres).
The newspaper reports that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that rising food insecurity and poverty have remained a challenge to Nigeria’s economic growth rate.
This is contained in its World Economic Outlook (WEO) report released recently by the fund. In the report, low vaccination rate and high debt service are some of the downsides to economic recovery in Nigeria.
“Notwithstanding the authorities’ (Nigeria’s) proactive approach to contain COVID-19 infection rates and the recent growth improvement, socio-economic conditions remain a challenge. Levels of food insecurity have risen and the poverty rate is estimated to have risen during the pandemic.
“The outlook faces balanced risks. On the downside, low vaccination rates expose Nigeria to future pandemic waves and new variants, including the ongoing Omicron variant, while higher debt service to government revenues (through higher US interest rates and/or increased borrowing) pose risks for fiscal sustainability.
A worsening of violence and insecurity could also derail the recovery”, the report said. However, on the positive side, IMF reasons that the non-oil sector and the Dangote Refinery could change the narrative.
ThisDay says that the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr.Mohammad Abubakar has said it’s high time the country exported cocoa powder and other derivatives in order to boost the value chain, enhance the income of farmers as well as earn foreign exchange for the country.
He also said the federal government is working towards ensuring that Nigeria becomes the largest cocoa producer and exporter in the world.
Abubakar, at the presentation of Cocoa production update by the Cocoasoil Group in Abuja, said a lot of articulated research by experts had gone into the cocoa production manual on how to increase production.
The minister insisted that Nigeria should be the best cocoa producing country in the world as the commodity could be grown in many parts of the nation.
He said, “We are seeing what is happening in other countries, and we will replicate it here. In the industry part, farmers will bring their raw materials to be processed from there it will be exported.
“Researchers have also gone to find out why cocoa production is not at its utmost best here, because we have all it takes to be the best.”
GIK/APA