Metro

U.S. applauds Nigeria’s monetary policies

Published

2 months ago

May 11, 2024

The United States government has commended Nigeria’s monetary policies under President Bola Tinubu which it says has fostered economic growth within the short period he has been in power.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs, State Department, Joy Basu, who made the assertion at a digital news conference with select Nigerian journalists, said the government’s policies were conducive for businesses to thrive, as well as strengthening and positioning the nation’s economy for overall growth.

Basu, stressed that the U.S. was committed to fostering its collaboration with Nigeria in order to “tackle myriad pressing issues and obstacles, which Nigeria, being Africa’s largest economy, was facing.”

The envoy said her country was working closely with the U.S. Treasury, Nigerian authorities and African central banks towards ensuring public and private sector economic restoration, stability and prosperity across Africa.

Basu stated that the U.S. was also working on curbing Africa’s security, infrastructure and energy challenges against the backdrop of the recently concluded 16th U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Dallas, Texas,

“We just came back from a meeting in Abuja, which was between the Secretaries of State and the United States is committed to being a good partner of prospect,” Basu said.

“We have made commitments to work on the security situation, infrastructure and energy, which is a common challenge not only in Nigeria but in some other countries in the continent.

“We have made concrete commitments to work on an enabling business environment in Nigeria and to make sure that American companies that are investing in Nigeria are having a transparent experience.

“We are working closely with our U.S. treasury, and with the central banks of African countries, particularly Nigeria and the World Bank, to restore the economy, help the people and ensure public and private companies to thrive,” she added.

Also speaking at the event, Reta Lewis, President, U.S. Export-Import Bank, highlighted U.S. efforts towards bolstering trade and investment across Africa, and emphasised the importance of transparency and accountability in fostering stronger U.S.-Africa partnerships.

“We are prepared to work with African countries and stakeholders from these MoUs to partner and foster competition.

“88.5% of the transactions that Exim does on a yearly basis is in small businesses.

“We feel small businesses are going to be part of the work we do, not only in the U.S. but in Africa,” Lewis said.

She also urged the participating journalists to always highlight the positive strides being made by U.S. to support businesses and bolster economic growth in Africa against the backdrop of the continent’s prevailing challenges.

Related Topics:Economy Featured Nigeria Policies President Bola Tinubu United States

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Metro

Zambia: President Hichilema under fire as UKA women accuse him of failing to end nepotism in govt offices

Published

11 hours ago

July 3, 2024

Isaac Dachen

Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema has come under fire following accusations by the United Kwacha Alliance (UKA) Women’s Council that he has failed to eliminate nepotism in government offices.

The National Chairlady of the Council, Faith Muntali, who made the allegations at a press conference in Lusaka on Tuesday, said since 2022, experienced individuals had been losing their jobs due to favoritism towards relatives of government officials.

“This has caused concern in our nation as qualified and experienced people are losing their positions based on tribal lines,” Muntali said.

She further alleged that experienced and qualified citizens were being sidelined, intimidated, and mistreated because they did not belong to the preferred tribes in the country.

“President Hichilema, we call on you to uproot this tree of nepotism,” Muntali said.

She also challenged President Hichilema to review the details of employees in parastatal and public offices, including the names of the employees, date of employment or promotion, and the predecessor in the position.

Metro

‘In 2023 alone, Nigerians spent N16.5trn to buy diesel, petrol, generators’— FG

Published

17 hours ago

July 3, 2024

Isaac Dachen

The Nigerian government says in 2023 alone, citizens spent a total of N16.5 trillion to buy diesel, petrol and generators in order to get electricity.

Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, who revealed this at the 2024 Nigeria Oil and Gas conference in Abuja, also stated that the formal power sector, including electricity generation, transmission, and distribution companies, made a total revenue of N1tn last year amid the over N16tn spent by power consumers in the informal sector.

He, however, noted that electricity consumers on Band A category now get up to 24 hours supply of power as the government had geared up efforts at improving the power sector.

“If you know how much our people spend buying diesel, petrol, generators, and servicing them in a year; the last study we had in 2023, a total of N16.5tn was spent on this in self (power) generation,” Adelabu said.

“Even a number of the industries are off the grid. They now have their captive power between their environments with gas-powered generators.

“So spendings in this sector out of the grid is close to N20tn. And let me blow your mind, the revenue for the entire industry, the grid, I mean the formal power sector was just N1tn for 2023 that goes to the generation companies, transmission company and the distribution companies.

“Just N1tn formal revenue. But the informal spendings on generators, diesel, petrol, was close to N20tn.

“Even if it is just a quarter of that is put in the official power sector, we are talking about incremental revenue of N5tn that will bring the sector’s revenue to N6tn, sincerely we are going to have something close to uninterrupted 24/7 power supply in Nigeria.”

The Power Minister said the “government is currently working hard to earn the trust of power consumers,” stressing that it would be better to spend on electricity provided by the national grid because it is cheaper than spending on diesel or petrol-powered generators.

“That is what we are working on to ensure that that trust is back, that that confidence is back. And all the manufacturing companies that are doing self-generation can cut it off and reconnect to the national grid because it is the cheapest source.

“As at the last study, Band A customers are enjoying uninterrupted supply and pay N206. For the companies that have their captive power using gas, they pay about N290/kwh.

“For those that are using petrol generators, it is about N450 per kilowatt-hour. And for those using diesel to power their generators, it is upward of N900. So it is still the cheapest, most efficient and the least cost for our productive activities.”