| The Punch says that the Senate has said it was not carried along in the planned arrangement by the Federal Government, through its Bureau of Public Enterprises, to either sell or concession some national assets in order to fund part of the 2021 budget.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Privatisation, Senator Theodore Orji, said this in an interview with journalists in Abuja on Tuesday.
He said the position of the Senate Committee on Privatisation was: “We are not aware of the planned arrangement by the Bureau of Public Enterprises to either concession or put for outright sale, some national assets in the country in order to fund the 2021 federal budget.”
The Federal Government had concluded plans to sell the nation’s Integrated Power Plants in Geregu, Omotosho and Calabar at N434bn in 2021. It had also concluded arrangements for the concession of National Art Theatre, Tafawa Balewa Square and all the River Basin Development Authorities at N836m. Necessary plans had been concluded for the concession of the National Stadium in Lagos, the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja, and two others for N100m. Information on the planned sales and concession of the national assest was contained in a document presented by the Bureau of Public Enterprises obtained by our correspondent on Sunday.
The newspaper reports that Nigeria wheat farmers have increased the forecast for the country’s wheat harvest for 2020/2021 by seven per cent on the back of availability of improved seeds.
Wheat is now projected to yield 450,000 metric tonnes, up from 420,000 metric tonnes produced by farmers in the last season, the President, Wheat Growers Association of Nigeria, Salim Muhammad, confirmed this to The PUNCH on Tuesday.
Under the Anchor Borrowers Programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Muhammad said, about 100,000 farmers would be given the necessary incentives to improve wheat production.
After harvesting the wheat, he said the grains would be purchased by flour millers based on a Memorandum of Understanding already signed with them. He said, “In total, we are thinking of cultivating over 150,000 hectares this season.
Our projection for this season based on the test we conducted and available planting materials, we are expecting not less than three tonnes per hectare, meaning we are looking at 450,000 metric tonnes.” Muhammad said the Central Bank of Nigeria’s intervention through the Seed Multiplication Programme planned to support farmers in the cultivation of 80,000 hectares of farmland in order to make seed available for wheat cultivation.
The Sun says that the Minister of Aviation, Captain Hadi Sirika, has assured that international flights may resume at the Akanu Ibiam International airport, Enugu, Mallam Aminu Kano International airport, Kano and the Port Harcourt International airport, Omagwa before the end of the year.
He said all hands are on deck to ensure that all logistic and policy necessities are soon in place to address the difficulties encountered by international travellers, ahead of impending yuletide season.
He expressed his appreciation for the understanding and cooperation of aviation stakeholders in ensuring the smooth reopening of the nation’s airspace.
The minister also revealed that Air France, KLM and Lufthansa have received approval to resume operations.
This follows the approval of their respective flight plans and schedules submitted to the ministry. In granting the approvals, Sirika emphasised the need for airlines operating in the country to employ international best practices in handling Nigerian passengers, as government will not tolerate any form of maltreatment of its citizens by any airline. In a tweet on Tuesday, November 17, Sirika wrote that the European airlines which were suspended from operations are now allowed to fly including Qatar Airways.
The Guardian reports that with Nigeria’s oil industry incurring about 7.4 per\cent of the national budget in personnel and overhead costs, alongside others like logistics, direct handling and lifting of crude, operators may have to do more to achieve the $10 per barrel (bbl) production benchmark set by the Federal Government.
According to stakeholders, Nigeria’s operating expenses lack competitiveness as the country, in 2019, had one of the highest production costs with break-even price for major proposed projects hovering at $48/ bbl, higher than Angola’s $45, and Uganda at $44/bbl.
The revelation comes a few months after the NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari, disclosed that the highest personnel cost in the oil and gas sector remained in Nigeria, a development, which he said, was unacceptable.
Indeed, many operators in the country spend about 50 per cent of their cash flow on personnel costs, which is why some still produce at a high rate of $93/bbl, even in a low oil price regime.
“There is nowhere any company will spend 50 per cent of its cash flow on human resources and survive. It is not possible,” Kyari said.
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