Business
Expert Faults Planned Down Stream Deregulation
It is barely five years since Charles McPherson, the former Senior Adviser, Oil and Gas, World Bank delivered a paper “Drivers of Price and Tax Reform” during Nigeria Gas Policy Stakeholders Workshop in Abuja.
Since September McPherson had been in the country, this time as the managing Director of international Monetary Fund (IMF) on the invitation of the Federal government, yet on another assignment ‘mediation of the current face-off between government and the Foreign Oil Companies’ over the very voyage he set/launched yet without adequate resources for the mission.
Speaking in Port Harcourt, the Chief Coordinator, Institute of Chartered Economists of Nigeria, South- South, Mr. Friday Udoh said the reschedule petroleum downstream deregulation policy of the Federal government is faulty, describing deregulation as a perfect agent that is capable of transforming economic landscapes of any nation only when structuring in a more sustainable way. “The American, Britain and many other nation does it and it works bringing down the prices of oil and gas” of all “what drive this success is adequate structure and capacity, in Nigeria to my understanding, private sector is gone,” he asserted.
The Coordinator, noted that deregulation build-up market based price mechanism for increasing balanced in supply and demand structure, complementing with appropriate instruments to give every consumers and producers alike within products supply chain liberty to exercise its right, at ensuring value for money and quality supply in the market, again shaping the market for appropriate and long- term up-front investment. Where are these instruments? He asked
Citing malfunctioning of the already inadequate 445,000 barrel per day referees in the country and the inability of government given private investor’s necessary cooperation to assists them in speeding up various private refinery projects. “The issue that bothered on the fully taken-off private refineries construction is not just the removal of subsidy alone, but enabling laws to galvanized their relationship with the upstream operator for security of feed stock and difficulty in accessing credit facility due to global and domestic financial structure failure, a situation that call for government intervention in addressing the challenges” “as I am speaking, the major components of the Amakpe Refinery, Eket is ready in United State and I feel that it is the responsibility of government seeking to know their problem and supporting this initiatives for the interest of its citizens by developing collaborative structure for contacts and innovative financial structure to boost local production capacity for appropriate pricing of Petroleum Products in the country, not only Amakpe alone but to others “He noted.
According to Mr Udob, the situation become more worrisome under a weak institutional environment referring to sector-level legal and regulatory framework whose capacity to influence and supporting sustainability and success of reform depend, more so its recognition as the beginning and implementation point of every successful reform, especially in a market oriented reforms as in petroleum sub-sector to protect the consumers, its mandate and clarity of rules defining her/his existence and relationship with other bodies, such as antitrust commission and relevant ministries. Is it the kind of Petroleum Products Price Regulation and Monitoring Agency (PPPRA) a tool for political joggling or Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in the face of disjointed supply chain capability? Earnestly, their activity creates more problem than can solve. He reiterated
Mr. Udoh likened reform measures to macro-economic policies and reform performance to economic indicators such as income per capita and the institutional aspect to the rule of law and property rights, again energy resource independence to geographical advantage of a state, to which careful thought need to be given while pointed out that the quality of institutions in the country can have a significance influence over economic development, sustaining continuity and the dynamic of reform process” At the moment kerosene goes at N300 per litre meaning that in an economy with many leaving in abject poverty and within $1 N140) per day, deregulation of downstream amounts to mass suicide, hence adequate thought must be given to economic indicators” He stated
He listed poverty as one of the greatest problem facing the country today and alarming unemployment rate which radical approach is needed to facilitate income growth through employment and ensure access to basic services and goods for the poor meaning that for successful reform, the Economic, Social, Environmental and Institutional Framework must be given adequate attention, considering that Petroleum product is the only source of energy qualified as “strategic goods” given rise to abuse and absent of standardization and quality control pricing and uncoordinated safety measures.
Business
NASS Engages Agric Minister On Food Crisis
The National Assembly through its joint committee on Agriculture Production Services and Rural Development has engaged the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari on an urgent solution to food inflation bedeviling the country.
The committee chaired by Senator Saliu Mustapha (APC Kwara Central), at an interface with the Minister, interrogated him on plans being put in place to arrest high cost of food prices in the country and make it affordable and available to the poor masses.
In his response, the Minister said the Federal Government has commenced distribution of 42,000 metric tonnes of grains to some focal points of state capitals nationwide.
“We have received directive and approval from Mr. President to distribute for immediate impact 42,000 metric tons of assorted grains free of charge to the Nigerian population.
“This was received in mid-February, as we are speaking, we have a record of the distribution being carried out, but I will want to plead with the honorable house and distinguished senators that some of the movements can’t be made public but a lot of states have started receiving their grains.
“We are distributing to state capitals in the first instance as you all are aware of the risk involved in the vandalism of foodstuff so we are working with the office of the national security adviser and other national security agencies.
“Furthermore, 58,500 metric tonnes of milled rice from mega rice millers will also be released into the market for stabilisation”, he said.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after the interactive session, Senator Mustapha expressed satisfaction with the steps being taken by the federal government.
He said: “From our interactive session, we are on the other side of the parliament; we are fully in the picture of what is happening, we are convinced that the steps being taken by the federal government are in the right direction.
“All we did again is to further emphasise on the need for certain things to be done on time, I think from this collaborative approach by the grace of God, Nigerians will have a better feel of the government policy on food security”.
Business
Obj Harps On Cheap Credit, Policy Consistency For Food Production
Nigeria’s former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has called on the government to provide cheap credit and ensure policy consistency to enable farmers increase food production in the country.
The former President made the call as food inflation and nutrition security concerns grow in Africa’s most populous country.
Obasanjo’s made the call at the 9th Agrofood & Plastprintpack conference in Lagos recently, where he said farmers in the country were yearning for consistency in policy and single-digit interest loans to drive growth in the sector and attain food security.
“Policy sustainability and predictability is what farmers want. It helps them to plan. Availability of finance is also what farmers want. They cannot survive on the double digital interest rate”, Obasanjo, who is also a farmer, said at the conference.
According to him, food and nutrition security start with availability, then affordability by ensuring that everyone who needs food can get it.
He noted that food was one of the major imperatives in life, adding that “there cannot be food without agriculture and agribusiness”.
Obasanjo further stressed the importance of agriculture in changing the fortunes of the economy, with attendant exponential gains by way of earnings, employment, food security and other spin-offs.
He noted that agriculture must be made attractive to the country’s teeming youth population, saying this would address the rising unemployment, worsening insecurity and youth migration through the Mediterranean.
“We have to make agriculture attractive to the youths. We have to think within and outside the box to make it attractive to the youths so they are willing to get their hands dirty and feet wet”, he advised.
He continued that “Part of the security issue is owing to our inability to get them engaged. The need for agro-food and agribusiness is for food security, employment, wealth creation and income generation, particularly foreign exchange”.
Speaking also, Wouter Plom, the ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, said his country had faced challenges similar to those Nigeria confronts – feeding a growing population with limited resources.
He said as partners with a joint vision, the Netherlands and Nigeria recognise that the agricultural sector was one of the prominent drivers for economic growth.
He noted that the Netherlands has further strengthened its partnership with Nigeria to boost the agriculture sector in three main areas- economic growth, improved diets and youth employment.
The ambassador noted that all the challenges in driving growth through the sector, improving diets and tackling unemployment can be addressed when food production is efficient.
Paul Maerz, Managing Director of Fairtrade Messe, said with more investment in agro-food & plastprintpack solutions, products and technologies, brighter days were ahead for Nigeria’s agriculture.
Business
Abuja Farmers, Others Lose N12bn To Ginger Disease
The Federal Government, has confirmed the outbreak of ginger blight epidemic in four States in Nigeria, saying ginger farmers have lost over N12 billion due to the disease.
The government disclosed this at the inauguration of the National Ginger Blight Epidemic Control Taskforce in Abuja, revealing that the fungal disease had inflicted significant damage on ginger farms in Kaduna, Nassarawa Plateau and the Federal Capital Territory.
The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Aliyu Abdullahi, said the blight had caused billions of naira in losses, impacting not only the livelihoods of farmers, but also Nigeria’s position as the world’s second-largest ginger producer.
“Our preliminary estimates suggested that affected farmers in southern Kaduna lost over N12bn.
“Furthermore, considering that over 85 per cent of Nigeria’s ginger cultivation occurs in this region, we can safely assume a substantial loss of cultivated land, potentially exceeding 70 per cent of total land”, he stated.
Abdullahi, however, stated that the Federal Government through the National Agricultural Development Fund would launch a N1.6bn recovery package for affected farmers in ginger-producing areas.
He said the ginger blight epidemic served as a stark reminder of the importance of preparedness in safeguarding agricultural resources, adding that by investing in research, extension services and farmer support systems, “we can build a more sustainable future for our agricultural sector”.
On his part, the Chairman of the task force committee, Abubakar Abdullahi, said there was no doubt that the blight on ginger had negatively affected the Gross Domestic Product earnings from this subsector.
“It is of necessity and great urgency that various subcommittees are put in place to forestall these negative effects”, he stated.
Abdullahi assured the minister of the commitment of the team to salvage the situation, as he pleaded with the minister to give the committee the power to co-opt members that would add value to the task force to discharge their duties efficiently and effectively.
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