The opposition Peoples Democratic Party’s condemnation of the indefensible insensitivity of the ruling party and the Federal Government to the escalated killings in northern states and other parts of the country by terrorists is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Monday.
The Guardian reports that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, condemned what it called “the indefensible insensitivity of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its Federal Government to the escalated killings in Sokoto, Niger, Katsina, Kaduna, Plateau states and other parts of the country by terrorists.”
It alleged that “the manifest numbness of the APC leaders to bloodletting, as well as the failure of the APC, as a party, to proffer any tangible solution or forcefully take its government to task on security, validates apprehensions on APC’s reported complicity in the worsened insecurity in our nation in the last six years.”
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, the main opposition party said it was unpardonable that “while the APC had failed to show empathy on the gruesome murder of scores of travellers, who were burnt alive in Sokoto State, the massacre of over 15 worshippers in Niger State, killing of compatriots in Kaduna, Katsina and other parts of the country in the last few days, its leaders and officials in government had the time to attend the turbaning of President Muhammadu Buhari’s son in the same troubled Katsina State.”
The party continued: “Is it also not provocative, vexatious and indeed the height of heartlessness that APC and its leaders’ party while Nigeria burns?
“Such callous assault on the sensibility of Nigerians, which amounts to dancing on the graves of the victims of the attacks, further exposes the APC as a party that is completely unfeeling to killings, attaches no value to lives and has no commitment towards the fight against terrorism in our country.”
The newspaper says that while airfares offered by the local operators have twice doubled and cost an average of N100,000 for less than an hour flight, the number of flight delays has also hit a frustrating threshold with travellers left to lament and weep at the airport terminals without succour.
Conspicuously missing in the confusion is the consumer protection department of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), two agencies mandated to enforce the rights of consumers and mete sanctions to airlines for deterrence.
The apex regulator, NCAA, at the weekend warned pilots and crew to be wary of the poor visibility and exercise maximum restraint in accordance with safety rules.
Local airlines, though apologised for situations beyond their control, gave assurance of doing everything possible to ease air transport services as the festive peak period beckons.
Indeed, local aviation recorded marginal growth this year with two new airlines bringing the toll of scheduled carriers to 11. Conversely, an increase in fleet capacity and wider route coverage has not lowered airfares; rather, it ballooned it.
A survey of the current airfares showed a slightly varying price range across the airlines and routes. On average, Economy Class one-way tickets on all routes, subject to seat availability, that was earlier sold for N33,000 were on the airlines’ platform quoted between N42,000 and N118,500 as of yesterday.
Over the counter of agencies, it ranges between N71,000 and N121,000. Return tickets for the same class averaged N140,000 on online sales platforms. The one-way Business Class ticket was offered for an average of N135,000, also subject to seat availability.
The Sun reports that barring any unforeseen circumstances, there are strong indications that the Federal Government may go ahead with its planned removal of fuel subsidy before the end of quarter one of 2022.
This was even as organized labour, represented by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has warned against planned fresh fuel price increment, saying it has fixed January 27, 2022 for the nationwide protests over the hike.
Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, says the government can no longer sustain petrol subsidy payments which currently stand at about N250 billion monthly.
In its place, the Minister explained that the Federal Government would end fuel subsidy by 2022 and replace it with an N5000-a-month transportation grant to the poorest Nigerians.
“So, the Petroleum Industry Act has a provision that all petroleum products must be deregulated. And in the 2022 budget, we made a provision to assume that at the maximum by the end of June, we must exit subsidy,” Ahmed said.
NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, at the weekend, however, called on the Federal Government to have a rethink on developing locally produced fuel rather than the craze for imported fuel.
ThisDay says that the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) has raised objection to sections of the proposed Custom Service Reform Bill, pointing out that they tended to weaken and subvert the country’s special economic zones.
In its submission during a public hearing on the bill at the House of Representatives, NEPZA explained that the free zones are areas designated as such by the president to serve as one-stop-shop investment hub wherein incentives are provided in form of tax holidays, simplified Customs and Immigration processes, amongst others, with a view to attracting investors.
The authority argued that the proposed amendment bill seeking to give the service powers to make regulations in the zones will “weaken and subvert” their laudable objectives.
It said, the One-Stop-Shop concept, in furtherance of which regulations were made for all the active free zones, with the involvement of customs and all relevant stakeholders, would be eroded if the provisions of the bill were allowed.
In a statement issued by its spokesman, Mr. Martins Odeh, NEPZA added that by providing regulations for the free zones, the customs would be setting a dangerous precedent, as other agencies would want to follow suit.
The Punch reports that the Federal Government has entered into partnership with Agence Francaise de Development on the decarbonisation of the Nigerian economy as part of measures to mitigate climate change effects.
The Minister of State for Environment, Chief Sharon Ikeazor, disclosed this at the recent inauguration and inception workshop of the Nigeria Deep Decarbonisation Project in Abuja.
She explained that the Deep Decarbonisation Project Nigeria was a national research and capacity building project for the implementation of a Deep Decarbonisation Pathway Programme in Nigeria.
“DDP is a collaboration project between the Federal Ministry of Environment, Nigeria and the Agence Francaise de Development with the International Relation and Sustainable Development Institute as the programme coordinator,” Ikeazor said.
She added, “The decarbonisation of the global economy has long been recognised as an imperative in the fight against climate change. However, this has assumed even a greater urgency since the singing of the Paris Agreement in 2015.”
She said the central role of deep decarbonisation was currently vital, as there had been a compelling scientific case for rapid reduction of emission across all sectors of the economy to avert disastrous and catastrophic climate impacts.
The newspaper says that the Republic of Benin, Niger Republic and Togo made no payment for the electricity supplied to them from Nigeria in the second quarter of 2021, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has said.
In its just-released Second Quarter Report 2021, the NERC stated that the power firms of the three nations and some other special customers were issued a total bill of N770m by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading company and the Market Operator of the Transmission Company of Nigeria.
It, however, noted that nothing was paid by the neighbouring countries and other special customers for the power supplied to them from Nigeria during the period.
The neighbouring countries’ power firms include Societe Nigerienne d’electricite – NIGELEC, in Niger Republic; Societe Beninoise d’Energie Electrique – SBEE, in Benin Republic; and Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo– CEET, in Togo Republic.
The commission said, “During the quarter under review, NBET and MO issued a total of N0.77bn in respect of energy sold by NBET and services rendered by MO to the special (Ajaokuta Steel Co. Ltd and other bilateral customers) and international customers (Societe Nigerienne d’electricite – NIGELEC, Societe Beninoise d’Energie Electrique – SBEE and Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo– CEET).
GIK/APA