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OPEC Plans Increase In Oil Production …Considers Two Scenarios At Summit …As FIRS Posts N1.5trn In Q1, 2019
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies are set to debate at least two scenarios that would increase oil production beyond current levels, according to sources.
If the group ultimately chooses to increase production, there’s a hitch: The cartel’s internal simulations suggest the global crude market could experience a glut if producers relax their current curbs on production too quickly.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a group of key OPEC producers and Russia-led allies are set to hold a consultative meeting yesterday as rising tensions in the Middle East add to output outages in the region. No decision will be made at the summit.
Those gathered will merely debate the issues and make recommendations to be acted on at OPEC’s next full meeting in Vienna in June.
OPEC and its partners agreed in December to output cuts of 1.2 million barrels a day.
The curbs have led to a rebound in oil prices CLN19, -0.08% this year, but the agreement ends in June.
The officials gathering this weekend are looking for a way forward—for the second half of this year—that won’t upset oil markets.
One scenario, presented to delegates late Friday, assumes OPEC and non-OPEC countries are fully complying with their commitments through May and June, the people said.
Since some countries are currently cutting more than agreed, if all the countries reverted to the December agreed levels, their collective output would be the equivalent of an increase of 396,000 barrels a day for participating members of the cartel and 411,000 barrels a day for the Russia-led non-members from April levels, based on OPEC data.
Another scenario would allow individual producers to use as their baseline for cuts the maximum level they reached in one of the last four months of 2018—before they started a new round of cuts of 1.2 million barrels a day—throughout the second half, the people said.
The scenario of strict compliance to the December agreement would lead to a decline in inventories in the second half but the other simulation would lead to a new increase above the five-year average by the fourth quarter, the people said.
Meanwhile, The Federal Inland Revenue Service ((FIRS) generated N1.5 trillion revenue in the first quarter (Q1) of 2019, according to its Chairman, Mr Babatunde Fowler.
Fowler disclosed this to newsmen in New York at the weekend.
He said the amount included revenue from non-oil taxes that were 11 per cent higher than what the agency realised from that sector in Q1 of 2018.
“In the first quarter (of 2019), what I will say is that in the non-oil sector, we generated 11 per cent higher than what we generated in 2018.
“Basically, we have generated about N1.5 trillion,” Fowler told newsmen on the sidelines of a high-level meeting on illicit financial flows hosted by the United Nations General Assembly.
The 2019 amount is N330 billion or 28 per cent higher than the N1.17 trillion reported by FIRS in the same period of 2018.
Our correspondent reports that the Q1 figure also represents 18.7 per cent of the agency’s total revenue target of N8 trillion for 2019.
Fowler said the target, described by economy watchers as quite ambitious, was realistic with the cooperation of tax payers, among other factors.
He said, “It is quite realistic as long as we have the cooperation of tax payers in addition to deployment of technology.
“We have already started the enforcement of over 50,000 accounts that have banking turnover of 100 billion and above that have not filed their returns.”
The FIRS boss also spoke of plans by the agency to surpass the over N1 trillion it realised from Valued Added Tax (VAT) in 2018.
“We will get more people into the tax net and deploy more technology.
“We have what we call Auto VAT Collect, and that basically assists tax payers at the point of transaction, and the VAT portion is sent straight into the federation account.
“So, we know that there is more room for growth in the VAT sector,” he explained.
The N8.83 trillion proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari for spending by the Federal Government in 2019 was based on a revenue target of N6.97 trillion.
The expected income consisted of oil revenue estimated at N3.73 trillion and non-oil oil projected at N1.39 trillion.
To actualise this, the Federal Government in a January launched a ”Strategic Revenue Growth Plan” to be implemented by FIRS and other revenue generating agencies.
Fowler said all hands were on deck to actualise the plan, adding that that everything “seems to be on course”.
Letters
Obi Should Do More, Discordant Tunes On Minimum Wage, Akpabio’s Unguarded Comment
Obi Should Do More
The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, Mr Peter Obi, has continued to voice out his opinion on the happenings in the country. On the budget padding scandal currently rocking the upper chamber of the National Assembly, he has told the Senate to provide Nigerians with some explanations on the matter.
He said the claims and counter-claims over the alleged N3 Trillion which was alleged by Senator Abdul Ningi to have been padded into the 2024 budget, requires proper explanation as to what Nigerians must need to know regarding management of the nation’s, insisting that the suspension of Senator Ningi for three months does not address the issue.
The Labour party chieftain had also expressed his concern over the hunger in the country a few days ago. He raised the alarm that Nigerians were spending all their money on food.
It is commendable of Obi to have stood with the masses at this critical time in the nation’s history and be critical of negative happenings in the country and bad government policies. However, Obi should do more than just criticising. It is said that “a tree cannot make a forest”. Therefore, Obi should galvanise all the law makers both on the national and state levels to tow the same line with him, which should be seen as the position of the Labour Party.
In 2023, there was a revolution in the country. People of all walks of life, of various religions and tribes trouped out in support of the labour party because they believed in Mr Peter Obi. People saw the Labour Party as a needed alternative to the two most populous political parties, PDP and APC. Based on Obi’s personality and popularity, some people who ordinarily would not have won councillorship positions in their communities were elected into state and national assemblies. Many of them won the elections for free, spending no shi shi.
Painfully, after assuming the exalted positions, many of them, especially those in the national assembly seem to have forgotten the masses. It is now business as usual. Among the seven senators and 36 House of Representative members of the Labour Party in the National Assembly, which one of them has moved a strong motion about the hardship currently being faced by the masses and how to address it? How many of them stood by Senator Ningi on the budget padding revelation? What out the exotic cars distributed to them, how many of them advised that they should go for less expensive cars and the excess money channelled into developmental projects? It has become a case of one not talking while on the dining table, right?
Obi should be able to organise his party to form a formidable opposition and a party that does things differently, a party that stands with the people. If the labour party elected political office holders carry on the way they have done since they came into office, they will keep de-marketing their party, forgetting that 2027 is just around the corner.
Ngozi Omeje,
Umuahia, Abia State.
Discordant Tunes On Minimum Wage
I have followed the discussion on the proposed new minimum wage with keen interest and I just hope the leadership of the organised labour will be firm enough to represent the workers and refuse to fall prey to the ploy to disunite them.
It is disheartening seeing workers come up with different amounts as the proposed minimum wage. While the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, demanded that South-West states should pay N794,000 the Trade Union Congress, TUC, asked for N447,000. Similarly, workers in the Federal Capital Territory demanded N709,000, while their counterparts in the North-West clamoured for N485,000.
This idea of singing in discordant tunes is not good for strong unionism. I recall my days as a civil servant in Ibadan, Oyo state. That was during the time of Adams Oshiomhole as the National President of the NLC. The labour union was a force to be reckoned with and whenever the workers barked, the government caught cold. The increase in workers’ wages was fought for as body. There was nothing like federal workers going to the left and the state workers going to the right. Of course then, in 2000, the TUC did not exist as a separate body. The entire workers spoke in unison.
Yes, the states did reserve the right to say whether they can pay the national minimum wage or not but the national body of the NLC was carried along in the negotiation. Please, the NLC and TUC should come together and present a common front in the new minimum wage quest and ensure that workers in the states also get a fair deal. If not, some of the greedy governors will continue to subject the workers to hardship.
Pa Micheal Adeniran,
Rumuogba Housing Estate, Port Harcourt.
Akpabio’s Unguarded Comment
“Today, he’s responding to a remark by the Governor that has nothing to do with him. The opposition is urging the Senate president to be mindful of his utterances. How can he turn the burial of late Access Bank CEO, Herbert Wigwe, wife and first son, such a sad moment, to a political attack?. It’s disappointing. That’s political recklessness taken too far. We, the opposition parties, won’t tolerate such utterances anymore if it continues.”
Above was the response of a member of the House of Representatives and Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere, to the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, unguarded remark on Gov. Siminalayi Fubara’s comment during the burial of the late Access Holdings Plc GCEO, Herbert Wigwe, wife and first son last weekend.
It is hoped that Akpabio will heed to the advice and learn how to talk in public. Tracing his character as a public servant and political office holder in various capacities over the years, one would notice that the senate president lacks the act of public speaking and carriage.
Was it not recently that he announced that the clerk of the house had sent money to each of the senators’ personal account for their holiday enjoyment only to be called to other and he changed it to ”In order to allow you to enjoy your holiday, the senate president has sent prayers to your mailboxes to assist you to go on a safe journey and return.” What about the “honourable minister off your mic” shameful display.
Whoever wants to die seeking public/political office should go ahead but leave our dear governor alone.
Loveth Opusunju
Minima, Opobo, Rivers State.
Featured
Fubara Promises Rivers Support For Wigwe Varsity …Cautions Political Class On Power Tussle
Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has promised the state government’s commitment to supporting Wigwe University.
Fubara disclosed this on Saturday after the funeral service of the late Chief Executive Officer of Access Holdings Plc, Herbert Wigwe, in Isiokpo, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Wigwe, alongside his wife, Doreen, and son, Chizzy, died in a helicopter crash in California near the Nevada border, United States of America.
Also involved in the crash was the Chairman of Nigerian Exchange Group Plc, Abimbola Ogunbanjo.
The governor said, “I want to say our brother has finished his work, though short. We, as a government, will do everything with the Wigwe Foundation to immortalise one thing.
“It is not the bank, the bank might have a new identity, a new boss to run it, other ventures will also have their names; but one thing that has his name is Wigwe University.
“We will do everything within our power to make sure the dream will continue to live just as he has planned it.”
Fubara questioned the mourners as to why they kept chasing worldly desires, stressing the significance of impacting lives rather than struggling for power.
“This one has to do with the political class, what is all these struggle all about? You want to kill, you want to bury, what is it all about?
“This is a man who was not a politician, he made his money through our investments, he had the world in his palm financially, he controlled even the political classes; but today, with all the power financially couldn’t control life. Is it not enough to ask ourselves why are we struggling? Why are we not making an impact on the lives of our people?” he queried.
Dignitaries present at the funeral service include the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio; Chairman, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria , Sanusi Lamido; Governors Alex Otti (Abia) Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), and Babajide Sawwo-Olu (Lagos).
Other dignitaries are former governors Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Peter Obi (Anambra), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Bukola Saraki (Kwarra), and James Ibori (Delta), among others.
Featured
Muslims Begin Ramadan Fasting, Today
Muslims all over the world will begin the 30-day Ramadan fasting, today.
This followed the announcement of the sighting of the lunar moon of Ramadan by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, yesterday.
The sighting of the moon paves the way for the beginning of the Islamic 30-day fasting.
The Kingdom announced on its Twitter platform, @Haramaininfo, yesterday, that the Crescent of Ramadan 1445/2024 has been sighted in Saudi Arabia.
The tweets partly read, “Crescent of Ramadan 1445/2024 has been sighted in Saudi Arabia!
“Subsequently, Ramadan 1445/2024 begins tomorrow, 11 March 2024.
“Taraweeh Prayers will begin in the Two Holy Mosques after Isha Prayers.”
The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs had earlier announced the tentative dates of March 11 and March 12, 2024, as the commencement dates for the annual Ramadan fast, pending the sighting of the moon after sunset on Sunday, March 10.
In a statement by the Deputy Secretary General of the NSCIA, Prof Salisu Shehu, the Council urged Muslim Ummah to search for the crescent of Ramadan 1445 on the given date, equivalent to 29th Sha’aban 1445 AH.
The NSCIA also urged Muslim faithful who had credible sightings of the crescent to inform members of the National Moon Sighting Committee.
However, as of the time of filing this report, the Sultan is yet to make an official announcement about the commencement of the fasting in Nigeria despite the announcement from Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar have also declared today as the first day of Ramadan, according to Emirati state news agency, WAM.
The starting date of the dawn-dusk fasting month is determined by both lunar calculations and physical sightings of a new moon.
Ramadan is observed by more than 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide and is considered a month of fasting and spirituality.
Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam and is mandatory for all healthy Muslims. However, young children, sick individuals, travelers, and women who are pregnant, nursing or menstruating are exempt.
Muslims have followed the tradition of looking for the crescent moon for thousands of years to determine the start of Ramadan as well as the two major holidays in Islam, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.
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