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Wednesday, 23 October 2024 04:52

While global economic growth will generally improve, Nigeria’s economy will decline further, IMF projects

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says the global economic growth rate will stabilise at 3.2 percent in 2024 and 2025, forecasting a slowdown in Nigeria. Speaking on Tuesday at the launch of the World Economic Outlook report in Washington DC, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the economic counsellor and director of the research department of the IMF, said while inflation came down, the global economy remained resilient. Gourinchas said the United States is “expected to cool down”, while other advanced economies will rebound. “Performance in emerging Asia remains robust, despite a slight downward revision for China to 4.8% in 2024. Low-income countries have…

Wednesday, 23 October 2024 04:50

‘Poverty is high and rising in Nigeria’ - World Bank

The World Bank says more than half of Nigeria’s population lives in poverty. In its latest Nigeria Development Update (NDU) report titled ‘Staying the course: Progress amid pressing challenges,’ World Bank said about 129 million Nigerians are living in poverty. The Washington-based institution also said the country needs to create productive jobs to reduce poverty. “Without jobs, poor Nigerians will not be able to escape poverty. Poverty is high and rising in Nigeria,” the World Bank said. “More than half of the population lives in poverty. This partly reflects the modest overall pace of economic growth, which is insufficient to…

Wednesday, 23 October 2024 04:49

FG bans cooking gas export after price increased 114%

The Federal Government has stopped the export of locally produced Liquefied Petroleum Gas, also known as cooking gas, to prioritise domestic supply. The measure announced by the Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, on Tuesday, will begin November 1, 2024, and is to tackle the high gas price in Nigeria. This was contained in a statement by the spokesman of minister, Louis Ibah, in Abuja. Ibah said the decision was reached after the minister convened a high-level meeting in Abuja with stakeholders to address the skyrocketing price and its attendant hardship on Nigerians. The price of cooking gas…

Tuesday, 22 October 2024 04:58

FG halts Shell asset sale, approves Exxon-Seplat deal

The federal government has blocked Shell's sale of its entire onshore and shallow-water oil operations, but approved a similar deal by Exxon Mobil, the upstream oil regulator said on Monday. Shell's asset sale for up to $2.4 billion to Renaissance consortium, comprising five companies, was first announced in January. Exxon's deal with Seplat Energy has awaited regulatory approval for more than two years since a $1.28 billion fee was announced in February 2022. In a speech at an event in the capital Abuja, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) CEO Gbenga Komolafe said the Shell deal "could not scale (the)…

Monday, 21 October 2024 04:46

Nigerian asylum seekers deported from UK in highest ever single flight

The United Kingdom has deported 44 Nigerian and Ghanaian asylum seekers. According to UK Guardian, the number is the highest ever in a single flight. The move comes barely 48 hours after Keir Starmer, UK prime minister, agreed a deal to deport migrants arriving in the Chagos Islands in small boats to St Helena, a British island territory more than 5,000 miles away in the Atlantic Ocean. The Home Office told the UK Guardian on Friday that the deportations were part of a “major surge” in immigration enforcement and returns. Since Starmer came to power in July, 3,600 people have…

Sunday, 20 October 2024 04:58

National grid collapses again for the third time in one week. Here’s what to know

Nigeria faced yet another nationwide blackout on Saturday following the collapse of the national electricity grid. This marks the third collapse within a week, and the eighth recorded in 2024. Data from the Nigerian System Operator’s portal showed that the grid recorded zero megawatts (MW) as of 9:10 AM on October 19, disrupting electricity supply across the country. The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) explained that the collapse was triggered by an explosion at the bus section of a current transformer at the 330-kilovolt (kV) Jebba transmission substation in Niger State. According to a statement by Ndidi Mbah, TCN’s General…

Saturday, 19 October 2024 04:28

Naira’s fall continues, reaches new low at parallel market

The Naira yesterday depreciated to N1,725 per dollar in the parallel market from N1,710 per dollar on Thursday. However, the Naira appreciated to N1,600.78 per dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market, NAFEM. Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative exchange rate for NAFEM fell to N1,600.78 per dollar from N1,660.49 per dollar on Thursday, indicating N59.71 appreciation for the naira. The volume of dollars traded (turnover) in the official market grew by 6.2 per cent to $350.72 million from $330.18 million traded on Thursday. Vanguard

Friday, 18 October 2024 05:05

FAAC: FG, states, and LGs share N1.3trn for Sept

The Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) has distributed N1.298 trillion to the federal government, states, and local government councils (LGCs) for September, 2024. This was disclosed in a communiqué issued after the FAAC’s October meeting, held in Abuja. Bawa Mokwa, the Director of Press and Public Relations at the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (OAGF), shared the details with journalists. According to the communiqué, the total distributable revenue of N1.298 trillion included N124.716 billion from statutory revenue and N543.518 billion from Value Added Tax (VAT). Additional sources of the distributable revenue were N18.445 billion from the Electronic Money…

Friday, 18 October 2024 04:54

FG receives 1m doses of malaria vaccine

The federal government on Thursday received one million doses of the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine donated by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. It is the first-ever malaria vaccine delivered to the federal government, ahead of the rollout in the country. Speaking during the handover ceremony in Abuja, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Ali Pate, said the arrival of the malaria vaccine was a monumental step in the country’s efforts to reduce malaria morbidity and mortality. He said, “With the support of UNICEF, Gavi, and WHO, we are on a path toward achieving our goal of a malaria-free Nigeria.”…

Friday, 18 October 2024 04:51

Nigeria achieves aviation milestone that’ll ‘boost flight frequency, expand serviced routes, lower ticket prices’ - FG

Festus Keyamo, minister of aviation and aerospace development, says Nigeria’s score on the Cape Town Convention (CTC) compliance index has been increased from 70.5 percent to 75.5 percent. The CTC compliance index monitors and assesses compliance by contracting states to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and Aircraft Protocol (the CTC) with their respective undertakings. In a statement on Thursday by Tunde Moshood, Keyamo’s special adviser, the minister said the development marks Nigeria’s official removal from the aviation working group (AWG’s) watchlist of non-compliant countries. “Nigeria’s global aviation compliance score has seen a significant improvement following the signing…

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Thursday, 17 October 2024 05:10

Nigeria, others may need 100 years to eradicate extreme poverty - World Bank

Low and medium countries across the world, which are battling extreme poverty including Nigeria, may need upward of 100 years to end the scourge, the World Bank has suggested. A person is defined as poor if he lives on less than N10,275 or $6.85 per day. However extreme poverty refers to those who live below $2.15 or N3,225 per day.The latest projections are contained in the ‘Poverty, Prosperity and Planet Report’, which offers the first post-Covid assessment of global progress toward ending poverty and increasing prosperity. The report also submitted that ending extreme poverty, which is prevalent in developing economies…

Wednesday, 16 October 2024 05:14

Nigeria’s inflation surged to 32.70% in September. Here’s what that means

Nigeria’s inflation rate climbed to 32.70% in September 2024, up from 32.15% in the previous month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which tracks changes in the prices of goods and services, revealed a 5.98% increase year-on-year, significantly higher than the 26.72% rate recorded in September 2023. The rise in inflation is largely attributed to higher prices across a range of items in the national goods and services basket compared to August 2024. Month-on-month, inflation edged up to 2.52%, compared to 2.22% in August. Food Inflation continues to be a major driver, surging…

Wednesday, 16 October 2024 05:13

World Bank says Naira among worst performing currencies in Africa. This is what to know

The naira has been listed as one of the worst-performing currencies in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2024, according to the latest Africa’s Pulsereport by the World Bank. As of August 2024, the naira had depreciated by approximately 43% year-to-date, placing it alongside the Ethiopian birr and South Sudanese pound as the region’s weakest currencies. Several factors contributed to the naira’s depreciation, including a surge in demand for U.S. dollars in the parallel market, limited inflows of foreign currency, and delays in foreign exchange disbursements by Nigeria’s central bank. These issues have persisted despite reforms in the foreign exchange market, such as…

Tuesday, 15 October 2024 04:50

National grid collapses yet again — sixth time in 2024

The national electricity grid collapsed on Monday, leading to a nationwide blackout. According to a statement on X by Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), the national grid collapsed at 6:58pm. AEDC said a system failure at the national grid affected the power supply from its franchise area. “Please be informed that the power outage being experienced is due to a system failure from the national grid at 6:58pm today, affecting the power supply to our franchise areas,” the company said. “Rest assured, we are working with the relevant stakeholders to restore power as soon as the grid is stabilised. Thank…

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