Mirroring Fuel And Economic Crisis In Nigeria

Fuel crisis in Nigeria is usually attributed to shortfall in supply, activities of militants at the Niger-Delta region, panic buying, speculative activities of oil marketers (racketeering), crash in price at international market and possibly, increase in demand for the product.  

Nigeria imported 6.149 billion litres of refined petroleum products in first quarter of 2018, according to the latest report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The report obtained from the website of NBS, showed that 5.67 billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also called petrol was imported into the country within the period under review.

The Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr Alex Okoh has disclosed that about N550 billion was realised from the sale of some of Federal Government’s 142 assets that had been privatised or commercialised.

Okoh stated this on Thursday in Abuja at a news conference on the organisation’s work plan and other initiatives for 2018, according to NAN.

The leadership of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Wednesday insisted that the September deadline for commencement of payment of new minimum wage to Nigerian workers was feasible contrary to claim by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige. The President of the Congress, Comrade Ayuba Wabba was quoted by Dailypost as saying if all members of the tripod are committed to doing what is right and working within the timeline already set, the new minimum wage can be achieved in September.

An escalating international trade spat is threatening to cut into profit from the export of US whiskey to Europe, just as business is booming, according to Reuters.

U.S. President Donald Trump on June 1 imposed tariffs for aluminum imports from Mexico, Canada and the European Union. As a result, Spiegel expects his bill for recently-ordered steel fermentation tanks, worth several hundred thousand dollars, to be $50,000 to $60,000 higher.

Transactions on the Nigeria bourse sustained positive trend, rebounding further on Tuesday by 2.46 per cent following price appreciation posted by the Nigerian Breweries and Dangote Cement. The All-Shares, at the close of trading, improved by 907.82 points or 2.46 per cent to close at 37,854.92 in contrast with 36,947.10 achieved on Monday.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday, released guidelines for the bilateral currency swap agreement between Nigeria and China. The CBN gave the guidelines in a document signed by its Director, Financial Markets Department, Dr. Alvan Ikoku, and posted on its website. The regulator, in a document titled, “Regulations for Transactions with Authorised Dealers in Renminbi,” said it might conduct bi-weekly trading sessions to ensure liquidity for trade and direct investment between the two countries.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says 7,975,976 workers were registered under the pension scheme in the first quarter of 2018 compared to 7,823,911 registered in the fourth quarter of 2017. The NBS disclosed this in its “Pension Asset and Retirement Savings Account (RSA) Membership data,” released on Tuesday.

Ethiopian Airlines has taken delivery of its 100th aircraft, Boeing 787 Dreamliner, leading the way as the first African carrier to reach the feat in fleet expansion and modernization in the continent.

Mr Tewolde GebreMariam, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Airlines disclosed this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja, according to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

GebreMariam said it was an immense honour for the airline to reach the milestone of 100 aircraft.

The International Air Transport Association on Tuesday said Nigeria has repatriated the $600 million, belonging to international airlines that was trapped in the country due to foreign exchange shortages.

The Director-General of IATA, Mr Alexandre de Juniac, on its website gave the credence at the 74th IATA Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit in Sydney, Australia.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the funds were airlines’ ticket sales and other allied activities which the country could not repatriate due to fall in crude oil earnings in late 2016 and early 2017.