The announcement by presidential spokesman that President Muhammadu Buhari will sign the 2022 Appropriation Bill on Friday is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Wednesday.
The Guardian reports that President Muhammadu Buhari is to sign the 2022 Appropriation Bill on Friday, his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said in Abuja, yesterday.
According to him, the 2022 document has been transmitted to his principal, and he will sign the bill into law by 10:00 a.m.
This comes barely a week after both chambers of the National Assembly passed a budget of N17.126 trillion, increasing the benchmark price of crude from $57 to $62 per barrel and raising the total estimates from the proposed N16.391 trillion to N17.126 trillion.
The federal legislature formally transmitted the 2022 Appropriation Bill to the President for assent. A communication from the Clerk to the National Assembly, Ojo Amos, to the Presidency, a copy of which was sighted yesterday, showed that the budget was transmitted on Friday and received by the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President on Saturday.
The letter, with reference number, NASS/CNA/37/Vol.1/35, was addressed to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and titled ‘APPROPRIATION BILL, 2022.’
The newspaper says that the Presidency, yesterday, declared that the rejection of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill was to avert a severe spike in the cost of holding primary elections, as going ahead would amount to spending public money, which would only benefit the richest political parties.
Speaking through the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the Presidency said the prevailing global economic crunch besetting many nations calls for prudence and not engaging in financial frivolities.
His words: “At a time when the nation is seeking to extricate itself from the economic mire of the worst global health crisis in living memory, whatever other merits the new bill may have, now is not the time for such frivolous spending of public money.
“The President’s decision to withhold assent to the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2021 has come under scrutiny from media and political circles. This is quite correct because it is a decision that will impact all Nigerians. The President’s Office has decided therefore to issue an official statement to make its position clear.
“Nigeria’s strength as a nation and its status as one of the wealthiest economies in Africa with one of its highest standards of living owes above all to its proud democratic processes, which are enshrined in the Electoral Act of 2010.”
Shehu continued: “It is this act which the new bill seeks to amend. These amendments have been presented as a means to enhance and build upon our democratic processes. After careful review, the President’s Office has found that the opposite is true.
“Rather, the proposed amendments entail significant legal, financial, economic and security consequences for all Nigerians, principal among which would be a severe spike in the cost of holding primary elections by parties – integral to democracies the world over.”
The Punch reports that there was a reduction in electricity load allocation to some distribution companies on Tuesday as power generation on the grip dropped by 571.5 megawatts when compared to what was generated the preceding day.
Industry figures seen on the 24-hour Grid Performance Dashboard showed that the peak power generation on Monday, December 27, 2021, was 4,761.70MW, but this plunged to 4,190.2MW as at 6am on Tuesday.
The drop in power generation led to a reduction in the quantum of electricity allocated to distribution companies, as the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, for instance, informed its customers that this had warranted supply interruptions.
The Disco explained that the electricity load decrease led to supply disruptions in more than 10 areas in the Federal Capital Territory on Tuesday.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria manages the allocation of electricity load to power distributors and this depends on the quantum of electricity produced on the grid. In a notice to its customers, issued by its management on Tuesday, the AEDC said, “We have noticed a drop in the load allocated to us in the national grid thus leading to interruption of power supply to our customers.”
The newspaper says that the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved an equity investment pool of €10.5m to drive technological innovation across sub-Saharan Africa.
The AfDB announced this in a statement titled ‘African Development Bank Group Board approves €10.5m pooled investment in tech start-up fund to boost innovation across sub-Saharan Africa.’
“The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved an equity investment pool of €10.5m toward the first close of the Janngo Start-Up Fund, a pan-African tech start-up fund,” it said.
According to the statement, the €10.5m pooled investment consists of €7m provided by the AfDB and a €3.5m contribution by the European Union and the Organization of African, the Caribbean, and the Pacific States.
Managed by Janngo Capital, the Janngo Start-Up Fund builds and invests in tech start-ups with proven business models and inclusive social impact, with a focus on agribusiness, financial services, energy, education, and healthcare, primarily in Francophone West Africa.
The bank’s Director for Financial Sector Development, Stefan Nalletamby, said, “Africa is experiencing rapid mobile penetration with Android and other platforms. This provides huge opportunities to develop innovative and high-growth-driven start-ups and SMEs. But there is a severe scarcity of risk capital for the new and upcoming first generation of venture capital funds targeting early-stage businesses.”
The Sun reports that the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), an economic think tank, has advised the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to review its ban on some of the over 41 items, which prevent importers from accessing foreign exchange to bring them into the country.
The CPPE, which stated this in its economic and business environment review for 2021 and agenda for 2022, said there was a need for the CBN to review its foreign exchange policy in 2022 with a view to improving dollar liquidity in order to rescue the ailing naira and help industries grow.
The CPPE added that there is also a need for the CBN to engage stakeholders, as its current forex policy regime is negatively affecting investors, manufacturers and other stakeholders.
“In the bid to reduce the pressure on foreign reserves, the CBN had excluded over 41 items from access to foreign exchange in the official window.
“Some of the products on this list are intermediate products for some manufacturing firms which have negatively impacted some manufacturers. It would be advisable for the CBN to have a robust engagement with the stakeholders to review this list in the New Year,” the CPPE said.
The newspaper says that a World Bank-assisted Agro-Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Support (APPEALS) Project, says fish farmers in Lagos Stat will begin production of locally canned catfish and Tilapia fish in 2022.
The Project Coordinator, Lagos APPEALS, Mrs Oluranti Sagoe-Oviebo, said on Tuesday in Lagos that the canned fish would be produced using locally-fabricated equipment.
She said focus was on the use of locally-fabricated equipment to create jobs for Nigerians. “We trained some fabricators who looked at the foreign-made machines, studied and fabricate them locally.
“The fabricators have looked at the different equipment and they have been able to fabricate quite a number of them making them affordable by our farmers.
“We are trusting God that by early next year, a number of our investors, will be able to adopt them on their own,” she said.
Sagoe-Oviebo also said that about 80 farmers had been trained in basic techniques of preparation, packaging and marketing of canned fish.
GIK/APA