The declaration of one-month warning strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to protest the non-implementation of a 2009 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) reached with the Federal Government is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday.
The Guardian reports that students and parents are in for tough times as members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) made good their threat to down tools.
The union, yesterday, began a one-month strike to protest non-implementation of a 2009 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) reached with the Federal Government.
Rising from its two-day National Executive Council (NEC) meeting at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), the union said though the decision to disrupt the academic calendar, at this time, is painful, it has no other choice because government has failed to fully meet its demands.
ASUU national president, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, who was supported by past and current officials of the union, also faulted the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and its registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, for meddling in admissions, saying only the Senate of universities are legally empowered to do so.
On the strike, Osodeke said given the Federal Government’s failure to fully implement the Memorandum of Action (MoA) signed with the union, since December 23, 2020, it has no option but to embark on strike.
The newspaper says that by the end of 2021, some 4.75 million telecommunications users were cut-off from the networks in the country. This appeared to be a carryover from the year 2020, where over eight million telephone lines were disconnected from the network.
According to the latest subscription statistics released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday, the December statistics, which completed the data for the year, showed that Nigeria ended 2021 with 195.5 million active telephone lines.
The country began the year 2021 with 200.2 million telephone users. As at the period, the sector contended with the enrolment and verification of the National Identification Number (NIN) to Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards policy imposed by the Federal Government, weak consumer purchasing power and Average Revenue Per User (ARPU).
These challenges, combined with COVID-19, slowed subscribers’ capability at the time. Specifically, the 200.2 million subscribers in January 2021 dropped to 196 million in February and further slid to 192.4 million in March 2021.
By April, the figure dropped further to 188.7 million and 187 million in May. By June, the figure rose slightly to 187.6 million. In July 2021, NCC statistics showed the number rose to 187.8 million and 189.3 million in August.
The Punch reports that the Federal Government’s gross debt profile is projected to grow by 92.11 per cent from N70.85tn in 2022 to N136.11tn in 2026, according to the International Monetary Fund.
The Washington based lender made this projection in a report titled ‘Nigeria Staff Report for the 2021 Article IV Consultation.”
According to the Fund, the gross debt figures of the Federal Government and the public sector include overdrafts from the Central Bank of Nigeria, promissory notes and AMCON debt.
This means debt including Ways and Means have been factored into the total debt profile of the government.
The Debt Management Office put Nigeria’s public debt totalled N38tn as of the end September, 2021. IMF in the latest report said the projections were sourced from Nigerian authorities and its staff estimates and projections.
In a table titled, ‘Nigeria: Federal Government Operations, 2017–26,’ the IMF said Federal Government’s debt is expected to grow to N70.85tn in 2022, N83.17tn in 2023, N97.80tn in 2024, N115.38tn in 2025, and N136.11tn in 2026. The IMF said, “Nigeria’s level of public debt increased sharply last year due to the COVID-19 crisis.
The newspaper says that a total of 27 companies were forced to delist from the Nigerian Stock Exchange between 2016 and 2021, according to data from the Nigerian Exchange Limited.
The data showed that 14 firms underwent regulatory delisting in 2016, four in 2017, two in 2018, two in 2019, one in 2020, and four in 2021.
A regulatory delisting happens when a company is forced to delist itself from an exchange because it fails to meet the listing requirements mandated by the exchange, while a voluntary delisting occurs when a company decides to remove all its shares from the exchange and make it unavailable for trading. Fourteen companies were delisted from the exchange in 2016. Four companies were delisted in 2017.
Two were delisted in 2018. One company was delisted in 2019, while another one was delisted in 2020. According to the NGX, the four companies delisted in 2021 was approved by the board of NGX Regulation Limited on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 in line with the regulatory delisting process of NGX and endorsed by the chief executive officer of NGX because of persistent non-compliance with the post listing rules of the Exchange.
The Sun reports that scarcity is coming after two vessels that arrived and discharged about 300 million litres of petrol last week at Lagos Ports to ease the controversy trailing the quality of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly known petrol imported into the country recently.
Daily Sun learnt that out of the 11 vessels, seven are carrying petrol, two are carrying Automated Gas Oil (diesel), one of Jet A1 (aviation fuel) and one of butane gas.
According to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) shipping position, obtained by Daily Sun, the vessels are carrying 20,000 metric tons (mt) of petrol each; 10,000mt of diesel each; 5,500mt of Jet A1 and 6,000mt of butage gas.
The tanker vessels are marked “stemmed” and currently waiting at the Lagos anchorage.
Meanwhile, the shipping position also showed that no petroleum product is expected into the country through Lagos port between February 11 and 27, 2022, apart from those already on the Anchorage.
However, other consignments such as motor vehicles, bulk wheat, general cargo, containersied items, gymnasium, sulphur and soda ash and inbalast are expected within the period.
Conversely, fuel scarcity has continued unabated in some major cities across the country.
The newspaper says that the European Union on Monday announced a €820 million digital economy package for Nigeria over the next three years, under its Global Gateway Initiative.
Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Ms. Margrethe Vestager, who is currently on a working visit to Nigeria, made the announcement during an interaction with the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami at the Digital Economy Complex in Abuja, Monday.
Vestager said the package will help enhance secure connectivity, digitalise public services, support entrepreneurship and build digital skills, while developing a human-centric, democratic governance framework for technology.
She enumerated the Union’s intervention in the sector to include; Digital Infrastructure Investments, Digitalisation of Public Services, Digital Entrepreneurship, Digital Skills and Digital Governance.
According to her, Nigeria has potential for digitalisation, hence the need to continue to partner the European Union on business opportunities, investments and other developmental issues.
“Nigeria has immense potential for digitalisation and with a combination of €160 million in grants and €660 million in loans, the European Union aims to comprehensively support Nigeria’s digitalization strategy,” Vestager said. In his reponse, Dr Pantami expressed his delight and appreciation for the intervention, and reiterated the Federal Government’s willingness to partner with the European Union.
GIK/APA