Category: Business

The National Bureau of Statistics NBS in its latest report has put unemployment rate in Nigeria at 27.1% in the 3rd quarter of 2020 as against the last figure which stood at 23.1%.

According to its Labour Force Statistics report released on Monday, the number of unemployed Nigerians went from 20.93 in 2018 to 21.76 million in the second quarter of 2020.

This means more than 17 million Nigerians have become unemployed since December 2014, while the total working age population has grown by almost the same number in those six years.

For the first time in the history of the revised NBS unemployment reports, the number of people in the labour force willing to work dropped.

The number of people in the labour force willing to work dropped by at least 10 million, according to NBS.

“A rise in the unemployment rate is not entirely equivalent to an increase in job losses. Rather, an increase in unemployment can occur as a result of several reasons, of which loss of an existing job is just one,” NBS noted.

The bureau stated that unemployment could increase due to “people previously outside the labor force (e.g students, housewives, etc)” deciding to join.

PwC had predicted that the unemployment rate in Nigeria would jump from 23.1 percent in 2018 to 35 percent in 2020 — but the current unemployment rate, according to NBS, stands at 27.1 percent.

The report also revealed that unemployment is prevalent among the age group 25 to 34, where over seven million people are unemployed.

The governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has flagged off 279-hectare organic farm in Badagry, Lagos. This was contained in a statement released via his official twitter handle and read thus:

Sanwo-Olu said, “today, I took a tour of our 279-hectare Avia-Igborosun Organic Farm in Badagry. We are focused on sustaining food security and increasing agricultural output with the creation of Food Production Parks across the state.

The Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture has done well to keep the project afloat. The Food Production Park will be a trigger to other value-adding agro-allied businesses that will open up Badagry’s economy for more growth.

I also visited a 105-bed Mother and Child Care Hospital recently completed within the Badagry General Hospital. The MCC will be commissioned in September.

Providing better access to healthcare delivery in every part of the state is top on our agenda.”

In a statement released today by the Executive Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun stated below:

Dapo Abiodun said “I have approved certain tax reliefs to be immediately effected by the Ogun State Internal Revenue Service towards cushioning COVID-19 economic effects on our taxpayers. These include:

1. 6-month deadline extension for filling of 2019 income tax returns by the self employed/informed sector from March 31, 2020 to September 30.
2. 8-month extension of filling of 2019 annual PAYE returns by PAYE operators/tax agents from January 31, 2020 to September 30, as well as complete waiver of interest and penalty for late filling for the extension period.
3. Complete waiver of interest and penalty for late remittance of monthly PAYE for the extension period.
4. Same waiver for late payment of Direct Assessment/Personal Income Tax by the self employed from January 1, 2020 to December 31.
5. Waiver of weekly tax by operators and promoters of pool and betting businesses from April 1, 2020 to June 30.

The Tax Audit Reconciliation Committee (TARC) will also henceforth adopt video conferencing as the default mode for their meetings to continue ensuring ease of doing business while maintaining physical distancing.

As taxpayers make payments to the State’s designated accounts in approved banks, I urge them to make the best use of these reliefs.”

Since last week, there has been insinuation from different quarters that the petrol price might go up soon owing to series of meetings held throughout last week by the stakeholders in the sector on the need to review the price so as to fill the gap exiting between the returns on investment and cost.

Recently, N138.62 was approved by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) as ex-depot price for a litre of petrol, and with the current reviewed price, Nigerians will have to pay more for petrol.

Many filling stations in Lagos were shut on Tuesday in anticipation of the price hike. National Vice President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) Abubakar Maigandi told newsmen last night that the PPPRA raised the depot price from N132/N133 by N6 per litre.

In a trading update filed at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) on Monday morning, the retail giant said it was planning to discontinue its operations in Nigeria.

“Following approaches from various potential investors, and in line with our re-evaluation of the Group’s operating model in Nigeria, the Board has decided to initiate a formal process to consider the potential sale of all, or a majority stake, in Retail Supermarkets Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Shoprite International Limited,” the update read.

“As such, Retail Supermarkets Nigeria Limited may be classified as a discontinued operation when Shoprite reports its results for the year. Any further updates will be provided to the market at the appropriate time.”
In Nigeria, sales declined by 6.3 percent in the 2020 fiscal year.

Shoprite launched in Nigeria nearly 15 years ago, opening its first store in Lagos in December 2005.

That chain has grown from one to more than 25 retail stores across Nigeria — including some of the biggest retail stores in west Africa.

Outside South South Africa, Shoprite sales grew by only 0.1 percent in the second half of the year under review.

“In equally, if not more difficult circumstances resulting from COVID-19 lockdown regulations, Supermarkets Non-RSA’s second-half reported an increase in sales of 0.1%,” the company said.

This resulted “in an overall decline in sales of 1.4% for the year but in constant currency increased by 6.6%.” OduduwaNews also learnt that fall in Naira to dollar due to the devaluation of Naira by the CBN also accounts for the loss.

I Warned Against China Loans —Ayodele Fayose

The former Governor of Ekiti State, Peter Ayodele Fayose has lent his voice in joining some Nigerians who berate the agreement signed by the Federal Government and China which borders on some parts of Nigerian sovereignty ceded to the Chinese government.

Fayose said, “Nigerians should remember that in April 2016, I warned against these Chinese loans. I even wrote a letter to the Chinese Government but those still clapping for this government then criticized me.”

“The loan agreement, which was signed in 2018 according to Oduduwa News was between Nigeria and Export-Import Bank of China. The clause in the loan allegedly “wills the sovereignty of Nigeria” in the $400 million loan for the Nigeria National Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Infrastructure Backbone Phase II Project.

Last week, National Assembly decried the agreement entered into by the FG and Chinese Government on the purported loan and called for proper scrutiny before anything could be done further. In the meantime, Socio-Economic Rights And Accountability Project SERAP has dragged the Federal Government to Court to come and explain what has been done with the loans received in the past.

Akinwumi Adesina, President of the Africa Development Bank, has been exonerated of all charges by the independent review panel led by Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland.

Some whistleblower allegations of favouritism had been levelled against Adesina and although he had been cleared by the ethics committee of the bank, the US had requested for an independent investigation saying it was not satisfied with the report of the committee.

The panel of three experts, led by Robinson alongside Gambia’s Chief Justice Hassan Jallow and the World Bank’s integrity vice president Leonard McCarthy, cleared Adesina of all charges alleged by whistleblowers.

“The Panel concurs with the Committee in its findings in respect of all the allegations against the President and finds that they were properly considered and dismissed by the Committee,” Monday’s report concluded.

The African banking institution and Adesina – who is the sole candidate for the bank’s August’s presidential elections – had been in the eye of the storm over allegations of impropriety levelled against him by some whistleblowers working in the bank.