News
Oil Price Drop Won’t Endanger Nigeria – Jonathan …As FG Lowers Budget Benchmark To $65
President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday assured Nigerians and foreign investors that contrary to fears being expressed in many quarters, the Nigerian economy will remain stable despite the drop in global oil prices.
A statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, quoted the President as giving the assurance while granting audience to a delegation of multinational industrial giant, General Electric, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The firm’s Vice Chairman and CEO, Mr. John Rice, led the delegation.
The President added that the Federal Government would do everything possible to maintain domestic economic stability. He said the government might even perform better under the current situation since the best always come out of challenging situations, and pleaded with the company to maintain its confidence in the country.
“We promise our people that even with the drop in oil prices, the economy will be stable. I urge you to maintain the confidence you have in this country before the oil price drop, and even expect better management from us.
Sometimes, it is when you are challenged that you do better than when everything looks good. So, I assure you, other investors in this country and all Nigerians that the government will do everything necessary to stabilise the economy and that the drop in the price of crude oil will not create so much distortion in our economy,” Jonathan was said to have told the delegation.
The President thanked GE for its commitment to increase its investment in Nigeria with the attendant benefit of job creation for many more Nigerians. He also welcomed GE’s plans to set up a facility in Calabar to manufacture components for the oil and gas sectors.
Rice told the President that GE has committed about $30 million to the development of the Calabar Plant and was already undertaking the training abroad of some Nigerians who will work there.
He expressed his company’s appreciation of the support and encouragement being extended by the Federal Government to foreign investors and assured the President that fluctuations in global oil prices will not affect the commitment of GE to the country.
Meanwhile, the federal government has lowered its budgeted oil price for a second time in less than a month, signaling government revenue is set to plunge.
The medium-term budget plan for 2015 to 2017 will be based on an oil price of $65 a barrel, Paul Nwabuikwu, an Abuja-based spokesman for the Finance Ministry, said in an e-mail .
On November 16, Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala cut the proposed benchmark price to $73 a barrel for 2015, down 5.8 percent from this year’s budgeted price.
Global oil prices have plunged more than a third since June, roiling Nigeria’s markets, eroding foreign-currency reserves and prompting policy makers to devalue the naira for the first time in three years.
With crude exports accounting for about 70 percent of government income, the revenue slump may force authorities to curb spending in an election year. “It is a realistic price for the country,” Bismarck Rewane, chief executive officer of Lagos-based consultancy Financial Derivatives Co., said by phone from London.
“The cut will mean a significant reduction to the budget. The government has to push for the legislature to accept it.” The revised budget plan was submitted to the National Assembly for approval, Nwabuikwu said.
Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.