metro

FG considers cushioning measures for Trump’s tariffs

Published

4 weeks ago

April 17, 2025

FG considers cushioning measures for Trump’s tariffs

The federal government has said it will soon unveil a series of intervention schemes aimed at mitigating the impact of the recent tariffs imposed by the United States government on imported goods.

Speaking yesterday at a ceremony where the Nigeria Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME) honoured the Chief Executive Officer of Cutix Plc, Ijeoma Odunoye, with an award for excellence and entrepreneurial success, the Special Adviser to the President on Job Creation, Mr. Adekunle Tola Johnson, affirmed the government’s readiness to respond to the tariff shock.

“I’m aware that the Ministry of Finance has issued a statement with regard to the tariff by the American government under Donald Trump. And whatever the Minister of Finance has said is more than sufficient. However, I know that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be announcing a number of schemes to absorb some of the shocks that will come out of the tariff implementation,” Johnson stated.

He also recalled that in 2023, the President introduced designated business hubs equipped with international-standard equipment to support SMEs operating in sectors such as Information and Communication Technology (ICT), agriculture, and fashion. These hubs offer SMEs access to facilities for up to eight hours daily, depending on their production needs.

“Last year, the President announced places SMEs can do businesses with international equipment—ICT, agriculture, fashion, etc. By the end of this year, we will do another eight or 10 more so we could have about 20.

This is inclusive of having job creation. SMEs can go and log in to these facilities eight hours a day. It depends on what you want to produce,” he said.

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Meanwhile, Ijeoma Odunoye, who also serves as NASME’s Deputy President (South), was celebrated for her outstanding leadership at Cutix Plc. The company reported a remarkable financial performance in 2024, with a revenue of N12.18 billion, profit before tax of N1.62 billion, and profit after tax of N1.07 billion—representing year-on-year growth of 32%, 36%, and 35% respectively.

In her acceptance speech, Odunoye dedicated the award to the board, management, and entire workforce of Cutix Plc, stressing the company’s unwavering commitment to quality.

“I appreciate the board of directors of the company that had worked hand-in-hand with the management to reach the milestone we are celebrating today,” she said.

“I appreciate the management team and every staff member of Cutix. I appreciate every contribution because I couldn’t have done it alone and I believe God will take us to greater heights.”

Sharing the philosophy behind the company’s enduring reputation, she added: “My advice has always been, for everything you want to do, let the quality speak for you. For every business you want to go into, try to find out what the rudiments and standards guiding it are, and you work according to these. That has kept Cutix going.”

“People will come to the market and say Cutix is expensive, but buy Cutix and sleep with your two eyes closed. Even the electricians will tell you, that if you don’t want to be spending on repairs and maintenance, use Cutix. It is expensive because we don’t cut corners. I’m telling people as a member of NASME, whom I call my family, quality will speak for you,” she said.

Cutix Plc is a leading Nigerian manufacturer of electrical, automotive, and telecommunications wires and cables. The company has earned widespread recognition for product quality and has consistently won the Standards Organisation of Nigeria’s NIS Gold Award since 2003.

FG considers cushioning measures for Trump’s tariffs

metro

Nigeria’s inflation rate drops again to 23.7%, says NBS report

Published

10 hours ago

May 16, 2025

Trends Admin

Nigeria’s inflation rate drops again to 23.7%, says NBS report

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported a decline in Nigeria’s inflation rate, which eased to 23.7 percent in April 2025, down from 24.23 percent recorded in March.

This was disclosed in the April Consumer Price Index (CPI) and inflation data released on Thursday.

According to the report, inflation dropped by 1.86 percent on a month-on-month basis.

The food inflation rate also showed a slowdown, standing at 21.26 percent year-on-year in April.

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“In April 2025, the headline inflation rate eased to 23.71 percent relative to the March 2025 headline inflation rate of 24.23 percent.

The MoM headline inflation rate in April 2025 was 1.86 percent. The food inflation rate was 21.26 percent (YoY),” NBS wrote on its X account on Thursday.

The CPI report comes just days before the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee meeting scheduled for May 19 and 20, 2025.

Recall that the inflation rate had surged to 24.23 percent in March following the CPI rebase introduced in January. The CBN had paused interest rate hikes in February after inflation appeared to ease.

Nigeria’s inflation rate drops again to 23.7%, says NBS report

Education

UTME: Father of candidate who committed suicide over low score speaks

Published

10 hours ago

May 16, 2025

Trends Admin

Opesusi Timilehin

UTME: Father of candidate who committed suicide over low score speaks

A 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) candidate committed suicide on account of her low score.

The Lagos candidate, now identified as Faith Opesusi, was said to have scored 146 out of 400 points.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) released the results for its 2025 UTME on May 9.

An analysis revealed that more than 78 per cent of candidates scored less than 200 points out of the 400 maximum obtainable points.

The metrics, believed to have signalled mass failure, spurred protests from candidates who challenged the integrity of the exam.

Oluwafemi Opesusi, Faith’s father, said his distraught daughter took a liquid substance that led to her death after checking her result.

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In an interview with BBC, Oluwafemi said his 19-year-old daughter wanted to study Microbiology but the dream was cut short.

He said JAMB did not release the original result of his late daughter.

Oluwafemi said his daughter was devastated and disappointed after seeing her result.

“She had a high score in 2024 UTME. This year, she was given 146. The pain of it drove her to commit suicide,” he said.

The father said he would have tried to console his daughter if she had opened up about her trauma.

He added that the family was disappointed that her daughter had taken her own life.

On May 14, JAMB admitted that a technical error in Lagos and south-east states compromised UTME results across 157 centres.

A teary-eyed Ishaq Oloyede apologised to the affected candidates and Nigerians in a televised conference on May 14.

The JAMB registrar said the error, caused by one of its service providers, affected nearly 380,000 candidates.

These candidates, he added, will now be made to resit the examination between May 15 and May 19, 2025.

As of this reporting, JAMB has yet to directly address the Faith Opesusi case.

UTME: Father of candidate who committed suicide over low score speaks

metro

Shadow Govt: Nigerians mobilisiing 500 lawyers for me- Utomi

Published

11 hours ago

May 16, 2025

Trends Admin

Pat Utomi

Shadow Govt: Nigerians mobilisiing 500 lawyers for me- Utomi

Renowned political economist and former presidential candidate, Professor Pat Utomi, says a group of Nigerians is mobilising legal support in response to a lawsuit filed against him by the Department of State Services (DSS).

Utomi made the disclosure on Friday via a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“It’s energising (that) some want to put together 500 lawyers to defend me against the DSS,” he stated.

The DSS recently dragged Utomi to the Federal High Court in Abuja, accusing him of attempting to institute what he termed a “shadow government” in Nigeria. The security agency is urging the court to classify the action as unconstitutional.

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In court documents dated May 13 and filed by Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Akinlolu Kehinde, the DSS argued that Utomi’s initiative was not only improper but posed a serious threat to national stability and the current democratic order.

Utomi, who contested the presidency in 2007 under the African Democratic Congress (ADC), is the sole defendant in the case.

Despite the legal action, he expressed gratitude for the messages of support he has received from around the country.

“I am heartened by messages of solidarity from across Nigeria on this shadowy business of chasing shadows of shadow cabinets. Reminds me of the Nigeria I used to know. I want to thank all,” he wrote.