Category: Business

Business

Nigeria Air: EFCC probes officials, invites ex-Aviation Minister Sirika

Aminu Imam

Former Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika, has been summoned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), to explain the Nigeria Air project, which he claimed cost N3 billion, but is denounced as a scam by federal lawmakers. Sources said the EFCC will investigate the N3 billion spent, an amount some stakeholders insisted is actually more than N80 billion. A source told newsmen, I can confirm that there is an ongoing investigation in that regard. We have already questioned some officials of Nigerian Air. We have invited the former Aviation minister,…

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Inflation rate hits 22% in May 2023 – NBS

Aminu Imam

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), says Nigerias headline inflation rate increased to 22.41 per cent in May 2023. This is according to the NBS Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report for May 2023, released in Abuja, on Thursday. According to the report, the figure is 0.19 percent points higher compared to the 22.22 percent recorded in April 2023. It said on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate in May 2023 was 4.70 percent higher than the rate recorded in May 2022 at 17.71%. This shows that the…

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Subsidy grounds small business owners’ operations

Abdul-Azeez Ahmed Kadir

Some small-scale business owners in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), on Wednesday decried the low patronage of their businesses, saying the situation became pronounced since the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government. May 29, President Bola Tinubu, at his inauguration speech, said that the Federal Government had removed the subsidy on fuel. Due to the removal, all facets of the economy witnessed a hike in prices of goods and services in the country. Mr Abdul Mohammed, a vulcaniser at Area 10, Garki, said since the removal of the…

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We launched Virgin Nigeria, but one of my successors drove Branson away Ex-Minister

Aminu Imam

A former Minister of Aviation, Isa Yuguda, has shed light on the events that led to the early demise of Virgin Nigeria. Founded in 2004 as a replacement for the then-defunct Nigeria Airways, Virgin Nigeria operated as a joint venture between Nigerian investors and British billionaire, Richard Bransons Virgin Group. However, a feud with the Federal Government led to the Virgin Group pulling out in 2009. This prompted the airline to be renamed Nigerian Eagle Airlines and later Air Nigeria. The business ultimately ceased operations in 2012. Yuguda, who was…

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Ex-JOMLIC Executive Chairman, Ramalan Tasks New Tinubus Administration On Indigenous National Carrier for Crude Oil Lifting

Aminu Imam

Aminu Imam Former Executive chairman of the board of the Defunct Nigerian Maritime Labour Industrial Council (JOMALIC), Alhaji (Dr.) Ahmed Tijjani Ramalan has urged the new Federal Government of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to look into the possibility of establishing a national carrier for the Nigerian shipping and oil and gas sector. The Ex-JOMALIC Chair told Voice of Liberty in Abuja on Wednesday that the re-establishment of a national carrier is an imperative for the realisation of the objective of Local Content Act of jobs, wealth creation, and the reinvigoration…

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FG approves ratification of 6 maritime conventions, protocols

Aminu Imam

The Federal Government has approved ratification of six maritime conventions and protocols that promote cleaner marine environment, ship-breaking criteria, global standard for fishing crew and response to oil pollution casualties. Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Bashir Jamoh, made this known in an issued statement by Osagie Edward, Assistant Director, Public Relations of the agency yesterday in Lagos. The approved instruments for ratification are: Hong Kong International Convention for Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships 2009; International Convention on Standards of Training Certification and Watchkeeping…

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CBN multiple exchange rates may increase debt burden World Bank

Aminu Imam

The President of the World Bank Group, David Malpass, has warned that Nigerias parallel exchange rate is harmful, as it worsens future debt service payments and increases the risk of debt distress. Malpass said this in a blog post, titled: Parallel Exchange Rates: The World Banks Approach to Helping People in Developing Countries, published on Wednesday on the banks website. According to Malpass, about 24 emerging and developing economies, including Nigeria, have an active parallel currency market. The World Bank chief noted that parallel exchange rates are expensive and can…

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Senate holds Emergency Session, amends CBN Act,

Aminu Imam

The Senate has approved the upward review of the Ways and Means loan accessible to the Federal Government from five to 15 percent. According to the lawmakers, the very essence of the Bill was to enable the Federal Government to meet its immediate and future obligations in the approval of the ways and means by the National Assembly and advances to the Federal Government by the Central Bank of Nigeria”. Ways and Means, by definition, are the revenues and methods of raising the revenues needed for the functioning of a…

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Dangote Refinery will address supply shortages, price hike IPMAN

Aminu Imam

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) says the new Dangote refinery will address fuel shortage and price hikes in the country. Chairman of IPMAN, Enugu Community depot in charge of Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu states, Chinedu Anyaso, stated this in an interview with the Newsmen in Awka, the State capital, on Monday. The 18.5 billion dollar Dangote refinery with 650, 000 barrel production capacity was inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday. Anyaso envisaged an initial increase in pump price, but said it would decrease in the long…

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Electricity: Over $7.5bn spent on transmission under Buhari, yet darkness persists – Report

Aminu Imam

The projected gains expected from the over $7.5 billion loans taken by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to overhaul the transmission segment of the electricity sector and deliver stable supply have remained a mirage with a few days to the end of the administration. Recall that the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), Japan, France Development Agency and other financiers borrowed Nigeria over $7.5 billion to improve the weak wheeling capacity of the transmission network and the grid. But alleged widespread corruption, political considerations, non-alignment of the infrastructure, and the…

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