APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has warned those pushing for fuel subsidy removal to forgo the idea and save the country from another round of social unrest is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Wednesday.
The Guardian reports that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), yesterday, warned those pushing for fuel subsidy removal to forgo the idea and save the country from another round of social unrest.
The labour centre gave the warning following announcement by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration that it had left the matter for the incoming regime.
NLC General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, during an interview with journalists in Lagos, said nobody should drag the masses and Nigerian workers into any increase in fuel price in the name of subsidy removal, stating that organised labour would kick against it.
According to him, it will be uncharitable in 2023 for any government to be talking about subsidy or no subsidy for a product that is naturally and thoroughly well endowed in Nigeria.
He said it smacks of wickedness for the nation to be discussing subsidy, instead of production.
Ugboaja lamented that the energy and resources that people are putting into discussing subsidy showed a lack of focus.
He said the development shows a lack of seriousness and appreciation of what governance should be.
“If in 2023, rather than getting people that will make proper use of our natural endowment, we are busy discussing the cosmetic challenge of subsidy or no subsidy, then it is absurd,” he said.
The newspaper says that aggressive global monetary tightening and rising political cum business risk are taking their tolls on the country’s investment market as capital importation contracted last year by 20 per cent.
The figure, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), dropped from $6.7 billion in 2021 to $5.33 billion last year ahead of the country’s general election.
But the impact of the election on the capital inflow, which measures the attractiveness of a market, is more felt in the quarter four performance, especially when measured on year-on-year (y/y) changes.
The country attracted $1.06 billion in Q4, 51.51 per cent lower than the $2.19 billion recorded in Q4 2021. It was also 8.53 per cent lower than the $1.16 million in Q3 2022.
Last year’s figure is also a deep dive when weighed against the COVId-19 year (2020) when the country still managed to pull $9.66 billion from the international market as inflow.
The recent fall in capital importation has been attributed to rising business risk, insecurity, recent political risk and foreign exchange market rigidity, including the high arbitrage between official and black markets.
On state-by-state analysis, Lagos alone accounted for 68 per cent of the inflow or $3.61 billion while the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) recorded $1.63 billion – an equivalent of 31 per cent.
About 27 states, including Abia, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross Rivers and Delta, did not receive an inflow. Interestingly, Ogun and Rivers are among the countries with zero capital importation in the entire year.
The bulk of the capital went into production, banking and telecommunications, which accounted for 37.01, 24.08 and 15.86 per cent respectively. Share and trading also came to over five per cent each while oil and gas, which used to be the toast of foreign investment, received only 0.21 per cent of the total inflow.
An economist, Eze Onyekpere, said the uncertainty that surrounded the 2023 elections and the likely policy direction of the new administration were key reasons for the poor performance of capital inflow.
Onyekpere, who is the Lead Director of the Centre for Social Justice, told The Guardian that the fall was a result of the wait-and-see position of investors in the build-up to the general elections that were held in the first quarter.
“Many investors and stakeholders wanted to see the outcome of the elections, the new policy framework and whether there would be peace in the country before committing in terms of investment,” he said.
He said there would be a likely rebound, if the new administration pursues a policy direction that investors consider favourable, and which offers a positive outlook for the economy.
The Punch reports that Nigerian Government on Tuesday said the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, risked being prosecuted for treason over some of their utterances on the February 25 presidential election.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who gave the warning in Washington, United States on Tuesday, said Obi and Baba-Ahmed’s statements amounted to insurrection.
He added that Obi and his running mate were inciting people to violence over the outcome of the poll.
But the LP candidate and the Peoples Democratic Party refuted the allegations, describing them as reckless.
The PDP and the LP warned the Federal Government against toying with the idea of arresting the ex-governor of Anambra State.
Since the All Progressives Congress candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, was declared as the president-elect, having polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and Obi, who got 6,984,520 and 6,101,533 votes, respectively, the LP candidate and his running mate have been faulting the electoral process.
Despite filing petitions challenging the election result at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, Obi and Baba-Ahmed have insisted on the cancellation of the poll which they claimed was characterised by rigging and violence.
The newspaper says that the African Development Bank has approved a grant of $525,000 for an online digital hub to serve as a repository of knowledge for fintech entities in Africa.
This was disclosed during the signing ceremony for the Letter of Agreement between the AfDB Group and the Africa Fintech Network based on the grant to support the Africa Fintech Hub Project.
Speaking at the signing ceremony in Abuja on Tuesday, the Director-General, AfDB Nigeria Country Department, Mr Lamin Barrow, noted that the project would be executed by the Africa Fintech Network and Cenfri.
He said, “This grant, in the amount of $525,000, will support the operationalization of an online digital hub to serve as a repository of knowledge for fintech entities across the continent, and globally. The Digital Hub, which is to be delivered through a strategic partnership between the Africa Fintech Network and Cenfri, will help to strengthen the fintech ecosystem across Africa, and boost the industry’s competitiveness.”
Barrow further noted that the grant is funded by the Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility, launched by the AfDB Group, alongside its partners, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Ministry of Finance of Luxembourg, and Agence Française de Développement, among others.
He added that fintechs provide powerful, readily available and effective digital financial solutions to help bridge the financial inclusion gap.
GIK/APA
Press zooms in on organized labour’s opposition to fuel subsidy removal, others
