The call by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in Addis Ababa for peace and stability in Ethiopia amid the numerous challenges confronting the East African nation is one the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday.
The Guardian reports that President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, in Addis Ababa, called for peace and stability in Ethiopia amid the numerous challenges confronting the East African nation.
In his goodwill message at the inauguration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for a second-five year term in office, the President pledged that Nigeria would continue to support the unity and territorial integrity of Ethiopia.
His words: “We are well aware of the many challenges facing the people of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, and we encourage all parties to come together in the interest of the unity, progress and wellbeing of the country.
“Your Excellency, you therefore have a great opportunity to continue to work for the peace and stability of Ethiopia.”
Buhari delivered his message in the presence of African leaders and a jubilant Ethiopian crowd at the Meskel Square.
He told the premier that Nigeria, like many other countries, was counting on his leadership to unleash the great economic potentials of Ethiopia by expanding investment opportunities, deepening relations and building trust at home and abroad.
ThisDay says that all things being equal, President Muhammadu Buhari, has been scheduled to present the 2022 budget proposal before the National Assembly this Thursday.
This, however, would be after he would have presented same to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) tomorrow, a source in the presidency told THISDAY last night. The presidency source further informed that the rescheduling of the ministerial retreat earlier billed for Monday and Tuesday this week might not be unconnected to the preparations for the budget presentation by the president.
The source claimed that the president did not take with levity, the resolve of the administration to take the budget cycle back to the January to December calendar, hence, the seriousness with which all ministries, agencies and parastatals had since taken the budgeting process. Although the source declined to hint at the possible content of the budget as it were, the federal government had sometime in August this year, said the ministries of works and housing; finance, budget and national planning; and defence would get the highest capital allocations in the 2022 budget.
The newspaper says that the European Union (EU) in collaboration with Germany’s Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) has announced the extension of its €48 million investment in the Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP) till next year.
With the extension, the EU has granted an additional €15 million funding to the initial €20 million dedicated to supporting the Nigerian renewable energy sector while the total funding for the programme now comprises €35million, from the EU, while €13 million is from the German government.
Speaking at an event in Abuja, Head of Cooperation, EU Delegation to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Ms Cecile Tassin-Pelzer disclosed that the programme marks a notable example of how efficient cooperation between Nigeria and the EU.
The NESP is a technical assistance programme, co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by GIZ in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Power (FMP).
The EU and the German government have now agreed to extend the second phase of the NESP until November 2022 for the EU contribution and until May 2023 for the BMZ contribution.
The Punch reports that Nigeria spent N1.47tn on debt servicing payments in the first half of 2021, data obtained from the Debt Management Office have shown.
In the first quarter of the year, the country spent N1.02tn on both domestic and external debt servicing, while a total of N445.45bn was spent in the second quarter of 2021.
From January to March 2021, Nigeria spent N612.71bn on domestic debt servicing, while it spent $1bn (N410.33bn) on external debt servicing.
From April to June 2021, Nigeria spent N322.7bn on domestic debt servicing and $299m (N122.7bn) on external debt servicing. The official exchange rate of the Central Bank of Nigeria ($1 is N410.33) as of October 4 was used for the external debt servicing.
For domestic debt, Nigeria spent N219.29bn in January, N125.09bn in February, N270.33bn in March, N258bn in April, N42.4bn in May, and N22.3bn in June. In Q1, the government focused on principal repayments, while in Q2, the government focused on interest payments.
A breakdown of the statistics in Q2 shows that the Federal Government spent a total of N322.7bn on the payment of interest, with N50.3bn expended on the redemption of matured Nigeria Treasury Bill.
The Sun says that the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has said that development plans of the Federal Government since 1960, can rival the best in the world, as the country’s challenges has nothing to do with planning.
NACCIMA President, John Udeagbala, who made the remark on the Independence Day, noted that the First National Development Plan of 1962 to1968 to the last Economic Recovery and Growth Plan of 2017 to 2020 had great merit from the scholastic point of view, leading to the firm opinion of the general populace that Nigeria’s issues are not with planning.
Commending Nigerians at the country’s 61 independence anniversary, Udeagbala said the celebration comes with mixed feelings as the country is still facing numerous challenges.
Udeagbala noted that the economic growth since independence remains positive, adding that the current state of the economy is partly as a result of two main characteristics of various policies; either the policy design and implementation commenced too late or its positive effect is counteracted by the design and implementation of a different policy.
The newspaper reports that the IKEJA Electric yesterday informed that some parts of Lagos would be experiencing partial power outage to pave way for the replacement of obsolete conductors to modern GAP conductors on some 132KV lines.
Chief Technical Officer for Ikeja Electric, Olajide Kumapayi, explained that the rehabilitation work is a project of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and is expected to last for eight weeks, effective October 11, 2021.
Areas to be affected are; Ojodu, Magodo, Oba Akran, Ogba, Oke-Ira, Omole Estate phase one, Oregun, Olowora and Anifowoshe. Others include Ikeja GRA covering Police Training College (PTC), Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) High Court and Alausa.
Kumapayi explained that the upgrade works will take place from 8am to 6pm Daily during which there would be no power supply for 10 hours daily as 80 nos of 33KV feeders and several maximum demand customers including Ikeja City Mall, housing Shoprite and other stores would be affected in the exercise. According to him the TCN is currently embarking on the upgrade of 132 KV lines from Ikeja West to Ota and the activity is phased into four stages.
The Vanguard says that the raging war over Value Added Tax, VAT in the country got messier yesterday as South-South governors declared their intention to join the suit instituted by Rivers and Lagos state governments against the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS.
The governors also asked the Federal Government and the National Assembly to review unfair aspects of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), contending that the amendments should include a clear definition of host communities and that the trustees should be appointed by state governments.
It will be recalled that the Rivers State Government had, in its bid to wrest control of VAT collection in the state, won its case against FIRS at the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt.
The matter is currently before the Supreme Court, where Lagos State Government applied to be joined in the case. The VAT controversy deepened last weekend, with some northern states — Adamawa, Plateau and Kaduna applying to join the FIRS in its appeal against the judgment of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt.
GIK/APA