Business
Italy Scales Down Migrant Sea Rescue Operations
Italy has announced a ma
jor scale back of migrant sea rescue operations, in spite of criticism from human rights organisations, on the eve of the launch of a new European Union border patrol mission.
Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti, said government was determined to significantly reduce the assets of Mare Nostrum, as the monthly budget was going to be cut by two thirds, from 9.4 million euros to 3.5 million euros.
He said the fleet would also be reduced from five large ships to one large ship and three smaller vessels.
Pinotti said the reduced funding was going to cover the next two months.
“It is unclear whether government will then shut down the mission completely. Any decision will be “coordinated” with EU partners’’, he said.
Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Italy had done its duty.
He insisted that Mare Nostrum was a stop-gap measure that could not be kept on indefinitely.
Alfano said since it was launched in mid-Oct. 2013, it had rescued 100,250 migrants from the sea.
“The Italian navy also arrested 728 suspected human traffickers and seized eight boats used for the illegal trade in migrants.
“Mare Nostrum fought against “the biggest and most criminal travel agency in the world”, he added.
The Minister said Italy had faced a record influx of migrants, fuelled by unrest in Syria, the Gaza Strip and elsewhere.
He said many of them had moved on to northern Europe, sparking intra-EU tensions on how to share the burden of incoming asylum-seekers.
Alfano said 153,000 people arrived in Italy since Jan. 1, compared to less than 43,000 in 2013.
He also said that during the Mare Nostrum mission, 499 migrant deaths had been recorded, and 1,446 people were reported as missing by survivors.
Several NGOs, including Amnesty International, Doctors without Borders and the Association for Legal Studies on Immigration, had urged Italian authorities not to go ahead with their plans.
“We are seriously concerned about the humanitarian impact of this decision, because Triton would not have a mandate to perform search-and-rescue missions in the Mediterranean.
“It had to patrol maritime borders and this will represent only a partial solution to the problem”, they said.
Nicolas Beger, Head of Amnesty International’s EU office, said Italy’s Mare Nostrum had saved thousands of lives, while the other member states idly watch on.
He said they must now share that responsibility with them, and not hide behind an operation that was not fit for the very real search and rescue needs in the Mediterranean Sea.
Beger said as long as war, poverty and persecution prevailed, desperate people would continue to take terrible risks.
“The EU and its member states cannot and must not turn their backs on them, leaving them to drown at Europe’s doorstep”, he said.
Some Commercial drivers in Port Harcourt have said that the Federal Government’s N1,350 fuel discount is yet to reduce their daily operating cost.
A cross session of commercial drivers who spoke to The Tide correspondents in Port Harcourt said they are yet to feel the impact of the government discount, adding that most filling stations in the city are even selling above the pump price
A driver Jude Ogbo who operates the mile 1 Rumuokoro axis of Port Harcourt said plies the discount has not reflected in his daily fuel expenses.
“Since the discount was announced, many filling stations still sell at the old price. When you go there, you discover they sell you two litres at the price of one. For now, we have not seen any reduction,”_ he said.
Another commercial driver, Comrade Ishmael Uzeho who operates within the Port Harcourt metropolis, said the discount is not being implemented across the country.
“How has the discount affected us? I will say it has not. Many stations are not working. Only NNPC is working and that is just one person in the whole country. If government really wants to help, let the fuel price go down properly,”_ he said.
Uzeho added that if the price of fuel goes down, transport fares will also go down. He noted that his route fare has remained at N500.
On his part, Mr. Moses Dapa, Supervisor at Sam Jaja Foundation Transport Company, said the company has not increased its fares despite the high cost of fuel.
“We are still running normal price. We charge N2,000 and N5,000 depending on the destination. We will not increase our price. I don’t know about other parks, but for Sam Jaja, we are maintaining normal price,”_ Dapa said.
He appealed to passengers to understand that drivers are not using high fuel price as an excuse to charge excessive fares.
Other drivers who spoke said the federal government should monitor the NNPCL retail stations to ensure that the directive is implemented.
Recalled that The Federal Government in abid to reduce transportation cost in the country had announced a 30-day margin discount at NNPC Retail stations across the country from October 1 to 31,
However investigation revealed that the policy is yet to affect transportation cost in the country.
By; Stephens Sopakriba and Saint Davies
In a press statement released to The Tide’s source on Friday in Abuja, the group said Nigeria had a significant resource advantage due to its vast natural gas reserves.
“At a time when global energy markets face unprecedented volatility and rising operational costs, Nigeria stands on a massive resource advantage with its vast natural gas reserves,” the group said.
Highlighting this potential, Alfa Designs urged the nation to move past complaints over energy costs and aggressively embrace Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as a sustainable engine for economic growth.
While federal policy adjustments have sought to cushion the impact of global energy shocks, industry experts emphasised that long-term relief hinges on a rapid, nationwide transition to gas.
“Transitioning away from expensive traditional petroleum products promises to ease the financial burden on ordinary citizens.
“It will also reposition Nigeria as an attractive industrial hub capable of drawing foreign direct investment and driving job creation,” it said.
To demonstrate the practical feasibility of this transition, the group said it recently partnered with a global Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to lower the entry barriers for commercial drivers.
“By negotiating directly with the manufacturer, we reduced the total cost of acquiring and installing a CNG conversion kit for commercial tricycles (commonly known as Keke NAPEP) from up to N700,000 down to under N450,000.”
The group said this shift offers dramatic immediate financial benefits for local operators, with petrol currently selling at roughly N1,390 per liter.
It said that, in comparison, at a CNG equivalent price of about N98 per liter, a daily commercial driver using 10 liters of fuel reduces its daily energy expenditure from N13,900 to N3,980.
“This represents a daily net savings of N9,920, or more than 71 per cent.
“Over a standard 26-day working month, drivers save over N257,000, allowing them to fully recover the cost of the CNG conversion in less than 46 operational days.”
The company further stated that when scaled nationally, the economic implications are monumental.
“Nigeria consumes approximately 50 million liters of gasoline daily, costing roughly N69.5 billion per day.
“A nationwide 71 per cent reduction in fuel expenditure would generate daily national energy savings of N49.6 billion.
“On an annualised basis, this shift equates to approximately N18.1 trillion, or $13.5 billion, kept within the domestic economy.”
The group added that those recurring national savings would offer a vital mechanism to help address Nigeria’s estimated $2.3 trillion infrastructure deficit.
It said reinvesting those funds into the economy helps eliminate the 30 to 40 per cent operational overhead currently consumed by imported fossil fuels.
“The resulting boost to corporate margins expands the national tax base, generates reliable user-fee revenues to make major transit projects bankable, and creates a self-sustaining financial cycle,” it said.
