Business
IMF advises Nigeria to probe NNPC, fuel subsidy
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called for a probe of Nigerian National Petroleum Company’s details on fuel subsidy and its financial remittance to the federation.
It expressed concern over the volume of fuel consumption and tax write-offs by the NNPC.
IMF made the statement after it concluded its annual mission in Nigeria.
It stated, “Public finance is under stress with elevated fiscal deficits, high debt servicing costs and public debt projected to increase over the medium term.
“It leaves little fiscal room for vital social spending on education and health, where Nigeria fares poorly compared to peer countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Despite higher non-oil revenues relative to 2021, the General Government (GG) fiscal deficit is projected to widen to 6.2 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2022, mainly due to fuel subsidy costs. Without bolder revenue mobilization efforts, costly fuel subsidies and rising debt servicing costs will keep overall fiscal deficits above six per cent of GDP in the medium term raising public debt to about 43 per cent of GDP by 2027.”
It recommended strengthening of agriculture, saying in 10 years, about 25 million more jobs would be needed to employ the new labour market entrants.
The IMF also said it was worried about elevated inflation, fuel subsidies and foreign exchange crisis.
It said with the recent flooding, high fertiliser prices and other issues could become more entrenched impacting negatively both agricultural production and food prices in 2023.
Volatility in the parallel forex market and continued dependence on the CBN financing of the budget deficit could exacerbate price pressures, the IMF stated.
As an urgent step, the international body urged revenue mobilization and fuel subsidy reforms, and two other reforms to create fiscal savings of close to 6 percentage points of GDP during 2023-27 while also making room for higher social spending.
IMF urged Nigeria to remove fuel subsidy and address oil theft as the subsidy benefited the rich.
“As a near-term priority, the mission highlighted the urgent need to remove fuel subsidy fully and permanently, which disproportionately benefit the well-off, by mid-2023 as planned.”
“The government should also prioritise addressing oil thefts and governance issues in the oil sector to restore production to pre-pandemic levels.
“Nigeria must also step up tax administration reforms by automating tax, expand coverage, modernise customs operations and improve effectiveness of the State Internal Revenue Service’s administration of the Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) system, and strengthen inter-agency coordination and data sharing.”
IMF said Nigeria must adjust tax rates “to levels comparable to the average in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as compliance improves. This includes further increasing the Value Added Tax (VAT) rate to 15 per cent by 2027 in steps while stop various VAT exemptions. Nigeria should also increase excise rates on alcoholic and tobacco products while broadening the base and cutting waivers.”
IMF also advised Nigeria to increase well-targeted social assistance which will reduce food insecurity and cushion the impact of high inflation and fuel subsidy removal on the poor.
Aviation
Disaster averted as bird strike hits Abuja-Lagos Air Peace flight
Disaster averted as bird strike hits Abuja-Lagos Air Peace flight
An Abuja-Lagos flight was on Thursday aborted following a bird strike on the airplane belonging to Air Peace, forcing the authorities to ground the aircraft.
The bird strike experienced in the early hours reportedly prompted a ramp return to ensure the safety of passengers onboard.
All the passengers quickly disembarked and were calmed down before they were moved into another plane for the one-hour journey.
A bird strike is a collision between a bird and an aircraft, or other airborne animal, while the aircraft is in flight, taking off, or landing. And it can be a significant threat to aircraft safety.
Air Peace in a statement by its Head of Corporate Communications, Ejike Ndiulo, said the bird strike occurred at 6:30am, and all passengers disembarked normally.
The statement read, “We wish to inform our esteemed passengers that our Abuja- Lagos 06:30 flight experienced a bird strike before take-off, prompting a ramp return as a safety measure. All passengers disembarked normally.
“We have deployed a replacement aircraft for the affected flight in order to minimize disruptions, thus ensuring that passengers continue their journeys promptly.
“We appeal for the understanding of our valued passengers impacted by this development, as well as those on other flights that may experience delays.
“At Air Peace, we are committed to providing safe, comfortable, and reliable air travel for all our passengers.”
Business
NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production
NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) and its partners have revved up crude oil and gas production to 1.8million barrels per day (mbpd) and 7.4standard cubic feet per day (scfd).
The company which announced this at a press briefing said the feat was achieved in compliance with the mandate of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Speaking on the development, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Mele Kyari, congratulated the Production War Room Team that anchored the production recovery process.
“The team has done a great job in driving this project of not just production recovery but also escalating production to expected levels that are in the short and long terms acceptable to our shareholders based on the mandates that we
have from the President, the Honourable Minister, and the Board,” Kyari explained.
Giving details of the efforts of the Production War Room, the Chief War Room Coordinator and Senior Business Adviser to the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Lawal Musa, disclosed that the feat was achieved through the collaborative efforts of Joint Venture and Production Sharing Contract partners, the Office of the National Security Adviser, as well as government and private security agencies.
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He said the interventions that led to the recovery of production cut across every segment of the production chain with security agencies closely monitoring the pipelines.
He stressed that when the Production War Room team was inaugurated on 25th June 2024, production was at 1.430mbpd, but the team swung into action, culminating into sustaining the production recovery to 1.7mbpd in August and hitting the current 1.808mbpd in November.
“We are confident that with this same momentum and with the active collaboration of all stakeholders, especially on the security front, we can see the possibility of getting to 2mbpd by the end of the year,” he stated.
Also speaking on the development, Chairman of the NNPC Ltd Board of Directors, Chief Pius Akinyelure, who also congratulated the team, said he was happy to be part of the production recovery process, adding: “today, I will leave this place with my heart full of joy”.
He charged the Company’s Management to come up with a cashflow projection based on the new production figures to facilitate planning, stressing that he was looking forward to further production increase to 3mbpd.
On his part, the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, expressed satisfaction with the performance of the team and pledged the Federal Government’s support for the company to do more.
NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production
Business
FG gets fresh $134m loan from AfDB for agric projects
FG gets fresh $134m loan from AfDB for agric projects
The Federal Government has secured a loan facility of $134million from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to help farmers boost seeds and grain production in the country.
This is contained in a statement issued by Anthonia Eremah, Chief Information Officer, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, on Thursday, in Abuja.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, made his know at the unveiling of the 2024/2025 National Dry Season Farming in Calabar, Cross River State capital.
Kyari explained that with the re-introduction of the national dry season farming to boost year-round agricultural production, the loan would be handy and guarantee national food security in the country.
The minister said the initiative is under the National Agricultural Growth Support Scheme-Agro Pocket (NAGS-AP) Project.
He said the federal government had declared an emergency on food production to enable all Nigerians to get easy access to quality and nutritional food at affordable rates.
Kyari also said government wants to use the agricultural sector for national economic revival through increase in production of some staple food crops such as wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, soybean, and cassava during both dry and wet season farming.
He added that 107,429 wheat farmers were supported under phase 1 of the 2023/2024 dry season, and 43,997 rice farmers under the second phase of the 2023/2024 dry season.
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The minister said recently, government supported 192,095 rice, maize, sorghum/millet, soyabean and cassava farmers under the 2024 wet season across the 37 States including the FCT.
He said Cross River was leading 16 other states in wheat production, adding that over 3000 wheat farmers have been listed to benefit from the support to grow the grain.
Kyari noted the Cross River government’s commitment to wheat production.
He said it informed why the federal government is partnering with the state to kick start the maiden wheat production and enlisting them among states commencing the current 2024/2025 dry season farming.
“The 2024/2025 dry season farming, the project is targeted to support 250,000 wheat farmers across the wheat-producing states with subsidised agricultural inputs.
“This is to cultivate about 250,000 hectares with an expected output of about 750,000 metric tonnes of wheat to be added to the food reserve to reduce dependence on importation of the product and also increase domestic consumption.
“Equally the programme will provide support to 150,000 rice farmers under the second phase to cover all the 37 states, including FCT, with an expected output of about 450,000 metric tonnes,” he said.
FG gets fresh $134m loan from AfDB for agric projects
(NAN)
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