Okonjo-Iweala urges Nigeria to begin fossil fuel transition, pledges WTO’s trade assistance – Newstrends
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Okonjo-Iweala urges Nigeria to begin fossil fuel transition, pledges WTO’s trade assistance

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Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has expressed the WTO’s willingness to assist the country in surmounting its trade challenges, boost its economy and increase its global share of commerce.

She also spoke on ARISE TV and urged Nigeria to begin to transit from fossil fuel as the world is moving to cleaner energy.

Okonjo-Iweala, on a visit to the country, said agriculture could also boost Nigeria’s share of African trade, currently at about 19 per cent.

She urged the country to exploit the huge potential in the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) to increase its share of the world trade, stressing that Nigeria’s 0.33 per cent share of global trade is poor.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who received her at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Monday, attributed her emergence as WTO DG to her past record of performance locally and internationally.

Speaking during separate visits to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Chief Adeniyi Adebayo, and his Finance, Budget and National Planning counterpart, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, Okonjo-Iweala expressed WTO’s willingness to assist the country in surmounting limitations to trade in order to increase its global share of commerce.

To achieve that, the former minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance called for value addition to Nigeria’s huge agricultural products for export.

Speaking during separate visits to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo and his Finance, Budget and National Planning counterpart, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, the WTO DG said, “Nigeria’s share in world trade is 0.33 per cent. This is a very small fraction of what we could do. Our share in African trade is 19 per cent, a little bit higher and below our share of Africa GDP, which is almost a quarter of Africa’s GDP.

“What this means is that we can either look at it negatively or say it is a small portion of what world trade is, or we can turn it around and say it is a glass half full, optimistic side, and say that there is potential for us to do much more. That’s the message I want to convey to the country and Mr. President.

“This means we must step up our action on the economy. We must strive to do better and harder in several ways. The reason we are concerned about that is our youth. Majority of our population are young people who are looking for jobs.”

She added that trade could be instrumental to job creation and economic growth with value addition to products and good logistics to deliver trade.

Okonjo-Iweala further lamented that Nigeria currently ranks 103 out of 167 counties in terms of logistics.

Commending Nigeria for signing on to AfCFTA, the former minister noted that Nigeria accounts for 19 per cent of Africa’s trade, adding that the country could do much better.

The WTO DG called on Nigeria to urgently transit from fossil fuel to renewable energy, saying, “Before we know it, everywhere will be electric cars. So, not only because of trade, but it’s existential for us as a country that we begin to think about what we have.”

She also urged Nigerians not to despair over the current difficulties, adding that the focus should be to identify those areas where there was potential and turn the economy in that direction.

On the fossil fuel transition, she said, “The fact that fossil fuels are being phased out in the world as every country is announcing that as from 2025, 2030, 3040, they would no longer allow the use of fossil fuels; they would not allow cars that burn petrol and is all moving to electric cars and renewables.

“This is huge for the Nigerian economy. It means we’ve to begin thinking of the transition now. Gas is our transition fuel. Some of us are trying to argue for a little more time for countries that depend on gas to have a transition period.

“But it’s inevitably, the way the world is going, we’ve to transition out. And what does that mean? That means we’ve to start thinking what other sectors of the economy are going to bring in revenue to enable us to support imports and exports and create jobs because we’re very dependent on the oil and gas sector now.”

She said her visit was to thank the Federal Government and all Nigerians for the overwhelming support they gave her without which she would not have emerged as the WTO DG as well as to sort out where the organisation could support investments.

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Aviation

Disaster averted as bird strike hits Abuja-Lagos Air Peace flight 

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9 hours ago

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November 14, 2024

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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.”

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Business

NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production

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9 hours ago

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November 14, 2024

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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

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Business

FG gets fresh $134m loan from AfDB for agric projects

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November 14, 2024

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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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