The value of manufactured goods trade deficit has grown to N27.33tn in two years, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

In its ‘Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics’ for the four quarters of 2020 and 2021, NBS disclosed that manufacturing imports rose from N12.71tn in 2020 to N16.73tn in 2021, while exports rose from N960.7bn in 2020 to N1.15tn in 2021.

Cumulative imports for both years under review totalled N29.44tn, making up 93.30 per cent of foreign manufactured trade. Exports for both years totalled N2.11tn, making up 6.69 per cent of the same trade.

Total manufactured goods for both years grew to N31.55tn. According to NBS, used vehicles, motorcycles, and machines for the reception, conversion and transmission or regeneration of voice, images drove import.

In 2021, total value of imports of used vehicles was N418.34bn, motorcycles was N367.39bn, while import of machines for the reception, conversion and transmission or regeneration of voice and images was put N366.83bn.

In 2020, the total value of imported used vehicles was N593bn, while that of motorcycles was put at N415.87bn. The nation imported used vehicles from the United States, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Brazil, and Canada.  It imported motorcycles from India and China.

It imported machines for the reception, conversion and transmission or regeneration of voice, images from China, Hong-Kong, and Sweden.

According to the statistics body of the nation, vessels and other floating structures, aluminum alloys, and floating or submersible drilling platforms formed the major component of exported manufactured goods.

NBS said Nigeria exported manufactured goods to Ghana, Cameroon, China, and Japan majorly in 2021.

In its, ‘Nigeria Selected Issues,’ report released in February 2022, the International Monetary Fund disclosed that Nigeria’s high economic dependence on oil was impeding its ability to develop its manufacturing sector.

It added that some components of what Nigeria exports as manufactured trade items could be classified as imports since they were once imported into the nation for use.

It said, “In turn, high economic dependence on oil impedes diversification through overshadowing, among others, the competitiveness of other tradable sectors, particularly manufacturing.

“Caution is warranted not to interpret rising machinery exports as an expansion of the manufacturing sector in Nigeria, as helicopters, vessels, and other floating structures are foreign manufactured goods that were re-exported from Nigeria (according to data from the NBS trade report for 2021Q1).

“Re-exports are goods of foreign origin which entered Nigeria to be consumed but are subsequently sold to another country without any substantial transformation. In other words, they are exported in the same condition as imported. In 2021Q1, they represented 83.5 per cent of the total manufactured goods exported from the country.”

Officers of the Nigeria Police across the country on Sunday, have been directed to stop requesting Customs papers from drivers.

Acting Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Olumuyiwa Adejobi, issued the directive via his Twitter handle.

Adejobi added that the issuance of tinted glass permits remains suspended.

He said officers are only expected to stop such vehicles, search it as well as the occupants.

“No policeman should demand your customs papers. Except they are on joint operation, but not just on mere routine checks.

“We have suspended issuance of tinted glass permits, so we don’t expect our men to disturb Nigerians on this.

“We are to stop any vehicle with tints, search the vehicles, and its occupants, but not to delay for not having tinted glass permits”, he tweeted.

The police spokesman further urged Nigerians to report personnel who delay them for this purpose.

..Nigeria on the brink of debt distress -Muda Yusuff

...debt is costly, vulnerable and unsustainable-world bank

Federal Government has incurred N950bn new domestic borrowing between January 2022 and March 11, 2022, the Debt Management Office has revealed.

The fresh borrowing was disclosed on March 17 in the presentation of the Public Debt Data as of December 31, 2021, by Director-General of the DMO, Patience Oniha.

In the document, Oniha disclosed that the Federal Government was considering all options to raise funds externally.

She said, “All options for raising funds externally are being considered. These include funding from multilateral and bilateral sources, the International Capital Markets and the $3.35bn Special Drawing Rights allocated by the International Monetary Fund to the Central Bank of Nigeria.”

According to the document, the Federal Government still plans to borrow an additional N1.6tn, while the 2022 debt target for domestic borrowing is N2.57tn.

There is also a plan to borrow N2.57tn from foreign creditors, while N1.16tn is expected from multilateral/bilateral drawdowns.

In total, the Federal Government plans to add N6.3tn new debts to the current debt stock, which would push the country’s total debt stock to N45.86tn by December 2022.

However, the Federal Government, in the National Development Plan 2021-2025, hopes to push the total debt stock to N46.63tn for 2022.

A tabular illustration in the document showed that the government targets N39.59tn debt stock for 2021, N46.63tn for 2022, N50.22tn for 2023, N50.53tn for 2024, and N45.96tn by 2025.

In March this year, Nigeria acquired $1.25bn Eurobond debt from the International Capital Market, making Nigeria the first African country to access the ICM in 2022.

This happened a few days after the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, had told Reuters that there was no plan to enter the Eurobond market in 2022.

DMO said the proceeds of the Eurobond would be used to finance critical capital projects in the budget in order to bridge the deficit in infrastructure and strengthen Nigeria’s economic recovery, while the Finance minister said that proceeds from the $4bn acquired from the Eurobond market the previous year would be used to fund fuel subsidy.

The World Bank has said that Nigeria’s debt, which may be considered sustainable for now, is vulnerable and costly.

According to the Washington-based global financial institution, the country’s debt is also at risk of becoming unsustainable in the event of macro-fiscal shocks.

Experts have kicked against the Federal Government’s proclivity for debt, which they have described as unsustainable.

Speaking on the development, an economist and Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Muda Yusuf, said the country is on the brink of debt distress.

He said, “Nigeria is on the brink of debt distress because our debt profile now is not sustainable. We had a debt service to revenue ratio getting to 76 per cent as of November last year. The situation is likely to get worse because our deficit in the 2022 budget is N6.4tn, and we need to borrow to finance the deficit. Also, the Federal Government has submitted a supplementary budget proposal for subsidy for N2.55tn after the budget was passed. Adding that to the deficit, we will get about N9tn.

“How much is the revenue? It is just about N10.7tn, and we are not likely to get the full revenue, maybe 70 per cent. So, we are getting to a point whereby the time we service our debts, which should be around N4tn, and spend another N4tn on subsidy this year, we have consumed almost all our revenue for the year. Does that now mean that we are going to be using debt for personnel costs; for overhead; for capital budget? That is where we are heading to.”

He further lamented that instead of the country gaining from the increase in oil price like other oil-producing countries, the government was losing money on fuel importation and fuel subsidy

“With the increase in oil price, the subsidy price will have to increase beyond what the NNPC requested. While other oil-producing companies are ‘happy’, as their reserves are increasing and currency are getting stronger, we are lamenting because we are not getting the full benefit of the oil windfall,” he added

A security alert has emerged revealing that three serving governors are secretly planning to incite violence in the country, particularly the North.

According to reports, the three governors who would be completing their 8 years in office in 2023, are from North Central, North East and South-South geopolitical zones.

The governors are said to have met in a secret location and mapped out their plan to stage a nationwide protest that would be worst than the 2020 #EndSARS protest.

Report says that the move was to bring the nation to its knees and to make Nigerians kick against the current administration and force a change in the forthcoming 2023 general elections.

It was gathered that the North East governor reportedly met with several interest groups, such as civil society organizations, labour leaders, students and disgruntled politicians in Kaduna earlier in the week, seeking their consent for the planned mass protests.

An official of the Nigerian secret police, who spoke to Vanguard, said the Kaduna meeting, discussed in detail how to mobilize aggrieved Nigerian students who have been forced home by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, face-off with the Federal Government, CSOs, NGOs, and aggrieved politicians to join the planned mass protests so as to register the kind of impact that the 2020 EndSARS protest recorded nationwide.

Earlier, it was reported that the Department of State Services, DSS, on Saturday, alerted of a sinister plan to stoke violence in some parts of Nigeria.

The Public Relations Officer of the Service, Peter Afunanya, who raised the alarm in a statement, said the aim was to cause ethno-religious crisis, ignite reprisals and heat up the polity.

Lauretta Fagbohun, Ogun

Two suspected armed robbers who snatched a motorcycle and subsequently killed the rider have been arrested by officers of the Ogun State Police Command. 

The suspects, according to a statement issued by the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO of the command, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi are Hammed Ismail and Osoba Yakubu.

According to Oyeyemi, the suspects were apprehended following a report lodged at Sango divisional headquarters on the 15th of March 2022,  by one Buhari Saliu.

Saliu had reported that his 25 year old son, Yusuf Buhari left home with his motorcycle a day before he was found dead in an uncompleted building at Araromi Village via Ilogbo town, and his motorcycle is nowhere to be found.

"Upon the report, the DPO Sango Ota division, SP Saleh Dahiru detailed his detectives to the scene where the corpse was evacuated and handed over to the family who insisted on burying him according to their religious belief".

"Determined to unravel the mystery behind the gruesome murder of the victim, the DPO and his men embarked on technical and intelligence based investigation in conjunction with the community vigilante and So Safe Corps.

The investigation yielded when Ismail Hammed was arrested with the motorcycle of the victim".

"His arrest led to the apprehension of his accomplice, Osoba Yakubu".

The Police statement indicates that the "suspects have confessed to committing  the crime and are helping the police in their investigations", Oyeyemi added.

Meanwhile, the State Commissioner of Police, CP Lanre Bankole has ordered the immediate transfer of the suspects to the state criminal investigation and intelligence department for discreet investigation.

An 85-year-old man, Jimoh Oladiran has been reportedly killed by some persons said to be his relatives, a father and his son in Ogun State.

Oladiran, a resident of Somorin Alagbonmeta in Obantoko area of Abeokuta, Ogun State, was lured by his relatives, identified as Alfa Mufatiu and his son, Ibrahim Mufatiu, to Asipa village for an unknown event on Saturday 12th March, 2022.

It was further gathered that in the evening, the children of the late old man became worried when their father did not return home from Asipa, a village located after Opeji, in Odeda Local Government Area of the state.

On Sunday, the children said they went to the village, but they did not see their father.

On enquiry, Mufatiu’s wife was said to have “lied” that the deceased had gone to a neighbouring village.

However, they later discovered their father’s dead body beside a small river, covered with a rusty roofing sheet.

They suspected that he must have been hit with a stick in the head as he bled to death.

Sulaiman Oladiran, the eldest son of the deceased, said: “My father told me around 10:00 am on Saturday that he was going to Asipa with a man we have known as his relative, Alfa Mufa. He said they have a programme there. On Saturday night, we did not see him.

“I called our brother, who is the Baale of Asipa, Chief Kehinde Omirinde, and told him about it. He told me to wait until the next day before taking any steps to locate him.

“When we did not see him until 12pm on Sunday, I called the Baale again; he said we should not wait any longer. So, we went to Asipa. 

“At Asipa, we met Ibrahim Mufa's wife, who told us to calm down, saying our father went to the next village, that he would soon return. But with the way she was nervous, I suspected all was not well. So I told my two other brothers.

“We saw Ibrahim Mufa coming from the river. We asked him where our father was and he said we should be patient. Later he said we should handle him gently or kill him. We just insisted on seeing our father. He started running away. 

“At this point, the villagers have come out with sticks and cutlasses to attack us. Two of us ran away, but one of us was seized by the villagers.

“As we were running to Abeokuta with our motorbike to call the police, we met operatives of OP-MESA at Opeji. We told them what happened and they escorted us back to the village.

“When we returned to the village, they had already beaten my brother, Kazeem to stupor. The OP-MESA men arrested Alfa Mufatiu and handed him over to the police at Bode Olude.

“The following day, the police accompanied us to Asipa and Alfa Mufa took us to where our father was killed by the river. We observed that he was hit with something on the head. We saw blood on the mat they said he slept on. At the river side where his corpse was dumped, we saw that his head was wrapped with a cloth full of blood.

“We took his body on Monday. It was already decomposing. We want Nigerians to assist us. We seek justice.”

Confirming the incident, the Baale, Chief Omirinde, said it was the late Oladiran who told him to allocate land to the suspects, who were unknown to him.

The village head said he did not know the men, adding that was why he did not go for the event they planned to hold on Saturday.

His words: “These suspects, Alfa Mufatiu (father) and Ibrahim Mufatiu (son) were brought to me by this same Jimoh Oladiran, a maternal cousin to my own father.

“One day, they called me that they needed land for farming, I don't know how they got my phone number. I said no land for them.

“Three days after, they brought the deceased to plead on their behalf and I said they would get the land if the whole family endorsed it. 

“But they told me they wanted to have a feast in the village, I said no problem. 

“On Thursday, March 10, Ibrahim Mufa called me that the event would hold on Saturday; he told me to be there. But that day, I didn't go.

“Surprisingly, late Oladiran went for the feast and he didn't tell me, I would have told him not to go. It was the children that came to me when they didn't see him to return home. 

“It is so sad, they killed the man and threw his body near the river. I have captured Ibrahim Mufa myself at Elega market and we have taken him to Fadage police station at Bode Olude.”

When contacted, the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said he is yet to get the details but promised to revert. 

A governorship aspirant of the People's Democratic Party, PDP,  Mr Jimi Lawal has been accused of being a mole sponsored by the All Progressives Congress, APC to disrupt the party in Ogun State. 

A Special Assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri, who disclosed this in a viral video warned the State Chapter and the National body of the PDP, to be cautious of the antics of the APC aimed at causing crisis in the party. 

In his words, he said, "Look at the way we are right now and you will see that the APC are desperate. They are going to try to plant a mole in our party. And in ogun State I have identified the mole. The mole in the party that they tried to put is Jimi Lawal".

Omokri explained that "Jimi Lawal was for about 8years a special adviser on investment to Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, one of the strongmen of APC, one of their Chief propagandist, the governor of kaduna state and he's been close to him for a very long time."

"People speculate about their relationship, I don't want to go into such sordid details, but they are very very close. In 2019, Jimi Lawal ran for the APC gubernatorial ticket in Ogun State and he came last, he was woefully defeated. Now they are trying to bring him under the PDP", he fumed. 

"Now you know that Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has variously said and just recently said that the PDP are criminals that Nigerians should not vote for the PDP to return to power. Why is his golden hen point ,why is his right hand man now coming to contest for ogun state gubernatorial primaries under the PDP?" Omokri asked. 

"It can only be for one reason, this man is a mole! So I ask all of you to reject him. You know the last time, he came last in the APC gubernatorial primaries, this time around I will be disappointed if he has one vote. If he gives money take his money. I will be disappointed if he has one vote. There are better candidates than Jimi Lawal, much better candidates. You can vote for any one of them you know, vote your conscience but this Jimi Lawal disgrace him , reject him, send the APC and Nasir El-Rufai the message, let them know that we in the PDP are not children that they can just bring a mole and deceive us."

"Disgrace Jimi Lawal. Now I encourage you to share this message to all registered members of the party in Ogun State. This man should be disgraced, you know he's picked the form yes , that is his constitutional right but let us disgrace him."

It would be recalled that Jimi Lawal recently picked an expression of interest form to contest for governor of Ogun State, at the national headquarters of the PDP in Abuja, immediately after a former member of the house of Representatives, Chief Ladi Adebutu showed interest officially to contest same position by picking the expression of interest and nomination forms.

SEE VIDEO

Academic Staff Union of Universities has kicked against the initiation of new bills for the creation of new universities in Nigeria.

ASUU wondered why the government would push for the creation of new universities while ignoring the existing ones currently in dilapidated states.

National Universities Commission, the regulatory body of universities in Nigeria, puts the total number of federal universities at 49; state-owned universities, 55, and private-owned universities, 99.

Though NUC had earlier argued that the number of universities and lecturers in the country might not be enough to cater for the academic needs of Nigerians, ASUU told the government to focus on fixing the existing universities and the entire university system.

An analysis conducted by Punch, however, revealed that since the ninth National Assembly came into power in 2019, no fewer than 186 bills had been initiated for the establishment of new universities.

In 2019 for instance, a total of 48 bills were initiated for the creation of new universities; there was a drop in 2020 when only 43 bills for new universities were pushed. Further analysis of total bills passed in 2021, however, revealed that no fewer than 80 bills were pushed for the establishment of new universities.

15 bills initiated in 2022

Notable among the bills are the bill for the establishment of Federal University of Tourism, Wamba 2021; Federal University of Entrepreneurship Onitsha, 2022; Federal University of Transport, Daura 2021; University of Broadcast and Film studies, Jos; Nigerian Police University of Information and Technology, Abeokuta among others.

In an interview, ASUU National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, wondered why the government would abandon existing universities and lecturers while focusing on new establishments.

“These are some of the things we are fighting for. When you go to Nigerian universities, you see dilapidated buildings; lecturers are not even being treated well. Why create new universities when you cannot even take care of the existing ones?

Reacting to the statistics of the NUC about the number of lecturers available in Nigerian universities, Osodeke said, “We do not have up to 100,000 lecturers in Nigerian universities, there is brain drain.

“Lecturers are leaving because of unfair treatment and they will continue to leave until the government does the right thing by making sure that adequate funds are released into the university system.”

Federal High Court in Umuahia, Abia State, on Friday struck down an innovation captured in section 84(12) of the recently amended Electoral Act, a Premium Times report says.

The novel statutory provision had prohibited political appointees from voting as delegates in party conventions or congresses for the election or nomination of candidates.

Delivering judgement on the suit challenging the constitutionality of the provision, the judge,

Evelyn Anyadike, held that the section was “unconstitutional, invalid, illegal, null, void and of no effect whatsoever.”

Adjudging the provision to be in conflict of the constitution, the judge held that it “ought to be struck down as it cannot stand when it is in violation of the clear provisions of the Constitution.”

Anyadike ordered the Attorney General of the Federation to “forthwith delete the said Subsection 12 of Section 84 from the body of the Electoral Act, 2022”.

The decision upholding the case of the plaintiff on Friday aligns with the recent protest by President Muhammadu Buhari against the provision.

A lawyer and top member of Action Alliance (AA), Nduka Edede, had filed the suit to challenge the constitutionality of the provision, with the Attorney General of the Federation sued as the defendant.

The contested section 84(12) of the Electoral Act reads: “No political appointee at any level shall be a voting delegate or be voted for at the convention or congress of any political party for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election.”Buhari’s protest

Buhari had, after signing the bill into the law, written the National Assemblyrequesting that the provision be expunged from the Electoral Act.

He argued in the request that the provision constituted a disenfranchisement of serving political office holders from voting or being voted for at conventions or congresses of any political party, for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election, in cases where it holds earlier than 30 days to the national election.

The Senate rejected the bill seeking the deletion of the provision earlier this month.

How law conflicts with Constitution

But in agreement with the concerns expressed against the provision, the Federal High Court in Umuahia struck down the provision on Friday.

Anyadike held that the Nigerian constitution stipulated that appointees of government seeking to contest elections must resign at least 30 days to the date of the election.

Thus any other law mandating such appointees to resign or leave office at any time before that “is unconstitutional, invalid, illegal null and void, “to the extent of its inconsistency to the clear provisions of the Constitution”.

The judge, in the judgement on the suit marked, FHC/UM/CS/26/2022, agreed with the submissions of the plaintiffs that Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act was inconsistent with the rights of Nigerian citizens.

The court tordered the Attorney General of the Federation, to forthwith delete the said Subsection 12 of Section 84 from the body of the Electoral Act, 2022.

The judgement came less than two weeks after another judge of the Abuja division of the same court, Inyang Ekwo, barred President Buhari, the AGF, and the National Assembly from tampering with the newly amended Electoral Act 2022.

Ekwo, ruling on an ex-parte application by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), held that the Electoral Act having become a valid law could not be altered without following the due process of law.

Suit

The plaintiff, Edede of the AA party, had approached the court to seek proper interpretation of Section 84(12) of the New Electoral Act.

Edede, through his lawyer, urged the court to determine whether Section 84(12), when read together with Sections 66(1)(f) 107(1)(f)(137(1)(f) and 182(1)(f) of the 1999 Constitution, was not inconsistent.

Edede’s lawyer, Emeka Ozoani, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), told journalists after the court’s judgement was delivered on Friday that the National Assembly no longer had to proceed with the amendment of the legislation.

He said “by this judgment, the National Assembly is not required to further make any amendments to the section as the import of this judgment is that Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act is no longer in existence or part of the Electoral Act.”

PRESS RELEASE

There are ominous signs that danger of high magnitude is looming in Nigeria as the conventional media, that has been the key factor in maintaining political stability, security and peace of the country is under serious threat due to the harsh economic environment

1. Even before the announcement of the collapse of the National Electricity Grid, public power supply had been epileptic, at best, and bills for the non-available power supply kept and keeps rising unabated.

2. There is a lingering scarcity of petroleum products and diesel, which fuels the generating sets of these organisations, has more than doubled in price over the last four months.

3. The value of the Naira has tumbled so badly while remaining very scarce affecting the repairs and replacement of broadcast equipment, all of which are imported.

4. The National Broadcasting Commission’s levy of 2.5 % on turnover (not profit) outside of Station License fees, Federal Statutory taxes, State and Local Government taxes and Levies combine to impose a huge burden on the retained revenues of Broadcast Licensees.

5. All broadcast stations (Radio and Television, Private and Public) are supported by the same pool of advertisers and while broadcast stations are increasing in number, the advertising spend has been reducing over the last ten years, owing to the dwindling economy, and this has adversely affected the income of Broadcast Organisations even as operating costs are increasing daily.

Radio and Television stations typically need approximately N500,000 to N700,000 and N700,000 to N1,000,000 each daily to run generators, which have become their main sources of power supply, to maintain their transmissions and keep the equipment at the optimal temperatures necessary for the efficient performance and sustaining the projected lifespan of their equipment.

Broadcast media, being the source that the public turns to for authenticating breaking news, must gather information, produce programmes and transmit same to keep the public informed and entertained. With diesel costs averaging N700 per litre and having to resort to buying petrol, from the black market, at more than N200 per litre, Broadcast Organisations are recording such huge deficits that have resulted in staff salaries being delayed.

These issues have to be addressed urgently to avoid the total shutdown of operations by Broadcast Organisations, most of whom have resorted to reducing transmission hours.

The Nigerian Public and indeed Governments at all levels, are served by these Radio and Television Stations; ensuring that the society is well informed and providing outlets for the governments in its obligation for public enlightenment.

Broadcast organisations that are, and have been for a while now, struggling to keep their stations on air are doing so in order to ensure unfettered access to verified and authentic information which helps to avoid the chaos that could arise from Fake News which could lead to public disorder.

It the issues raised above are not addressed immediately, it portends grave consequences for the Nation as accurate, verified and information dissemination, pubic enlightenment and entertainment provided by conventional media organisations might no longer be available giving way to the uninhibited proliferation of fake news and unverified information.

If this happens, it will be difficult to counter hate speech and misleading information that could heat up the polity and exacerbate the already precarious security and fragile peace of the country.

We advise that:

1. Both the Executive and Legislative arms of Government take advantage of the current amendment of the constitution to resolve the lingering issue of Radio and Television License fees with which Public Broadcast Stations are funded in Europe, South Africa and Ghana. The amendment will be to remove the collection of these License fees from the Local Governments and have same be collected by the Federal and State Governments as the local governments do not have any role in Broadcast Operations.

This should resolve the funding for Public Broadcasting in Nigeria.

2. There be an immediate audit of the Digital Access Fee (DAF), currently being collected on behalf of Broadcasters in the Digital Switch Over process. The collection of this fee over the last 5 years should have amounted to a huge sum running into billions of Naira and the funds should be used to ameliorate the current liquidity challenges of the broadcasters much as the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) was used to relieve the transportation costs from the ports of landing of petroleum products to the remote areas of Nigeria

3. The collection of the Digital Access Fees should be domiciled in the National Broadcasting Commission immediately.

4. Federal and State Broadcast organisations should be designated as Public Broadcasters which should only be funded through the Radio and Television License Fees and should not play in the advertising space.

Signed:

Yemisi Bamgbose

Executive Secretary