Inflationary environment is depriving investors of real returns

Nigeria’s public debt stock has soared again according to the latest official record that helps to take the debt burden to the top of the issues that will define the legacy of outgoing president Muhammadu Buhari who has superintended over the biggest debt accumulation in Nigeria’s history.

The Debt Management Office’s (DMO) latest quarterly data release on Nigeria’s debt stock shows that total public debt increased by around three percent q/q to NGN44.1trn or USD102bn as of September 2022. This does not include over N22trn in ways and means borrowing and which the government now seeks to convert to long-term bonds. The Senate has already rejected initial plans by the leadership of the upper house to stream roll this request.

The rising public debt stock continues to raise concerns about the nation’s debt sustainability, particularly in view of underperforming revenues.

The public debt burden of Africa’s most populous nation has been rising steadily, increasing by 16% on a y/y basis, government records indicate.

In terms of composition, the domestic and external debt components make up roughly 61% and 39% of the gross public debt respectively. This compares with the target split of 70% to 30% outlined in the DMO’s debt management strategy for 2020–2023.

A report by analysts at FBNQuest say based on 2021 GDP, the nation’s total debt stock has risen to around 25.4% of GDP compared with 24.7% as of Q2 ’22. Given the DMO’s public debt ceiling of 40%, the total public debt implies excess borrowing of NGN25.3trn above that limit.

The total public debt covers the external and domestic debt stock of the federal and state governments. In line with convention, it excludes sovereign debt owed by state-owned agencies like the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria and the FGN’s ways and means advances.

Negotiation: ASUU Accuses Gbajabiamila of Deceit

By

Rhoda Onuzulike

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December 29, 2022

The House of Representatives has berated the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, over his claim that the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, deceived the university lecturers into calling off their eight-month strike.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Benjamin Kalu, stated that at no time did Gbajabiamila agree with ASUU that lecturers would be paid for the period they were on strike.

In the statement titled ‘House of Representatives response to Osodeke’s allegations of deception against Mr Speaker,’ Kalu pointed out that the Federal Government legitimately withheld the salaries for the period universities were shut down.

But Osodeke, in a recent interview insisted that ASUU called off its strike on October 14, 2022, due to a promissory letter signed by Gbajabiamila stating that a part of the union’s salary would be paid.

A copy of the promissory letter made available to and signed by Gbajabiamila, read partly, “After exhaustive deliberations, which necessitated several visits by Mr Speaker to the President, and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, President Muhammadu Buhari, the Honourable Speaker called for another meeting with officials of ASUU, on Monday, October 10, 2022.

“The meeting came to the following resolutions: the no-work-no-pay policy of the government remains a subsisting policy for all industrial actions, but the government will on the special ground concede ASUU to pay a part of its salaries during the strike period.”

In addition, Osodeke explained that the government made a special concession when they met with them, saying FG promised to pay part of our backlogs.

He added, “When Gbajabiamila wrote to us, he said the government would pay part of the money and it was based on the information that we called off the strike. And we have called off the strike for over two months now, yet, we have not received anything.

“How do you want our members to feel after we told them and showed them evidence that the Speaker promised to pay partly?’’

However, defending the speaker, Kalu faulted some of the claims made by the ASUU president in his recent media interview.

The statement read, “For the record, at no point did the Speaker of the House of Representatives commit to offset the arrears of salaries owed to union members for the time they were on strike.

“The House of Representatives helped resolve the strike by making commitments to improve the welfare package of university lecturers and revitalisation funds to improve the infrastructure and operations of federal universities.

“These commitments are reflected in the 2023 Appropriation Bill, which includes N170,000,000,000.00) to provide a level of increment in the welfare package of university lecturers and an additional N300,000,000,000.00 in revitalisation funds.”

Meanwhile, weighing in on the situation, the National Association of Nigerian Students Zone C has urged the Federal Government to honour its agreement with ASUU to prevent another industrial action.

The association also urged the government to place more emphasis on proper funding of the education sector.

It made the call in a communiqué issued at the end of its convention/election to elect new leadership that will spearhead its activities for one year, held at the College of Agriculture Science and Technology, Lafia, Nasarawa State.

The communique, which was signed by Kayode Adebayo and Muhammed Saba also urged federal and state governments to do more on funding security agencies to tackle security situations currently halting activities in the North Central and the nation at large.

Probiotics in Yoghurt may help curb bad breath – Study

By

Cleopatra Okohai

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December 29, 2022

A new study by China-based researchers has indicated that probiotic bacteria in fermented foods like yoghurt and sourdough bread can help clear the plaque responsible for bad breath from the teeth and tongue.

Probiotics are healthy bacteria that live in the body, break down and absorb the nutrients from food and protect from harmful bacteria.

The researchers from Sichuan University in China, using meta-analysis of existing data, sought to establish if probiotics could expel proteins responsible for the foul odour like they do to bad bacteria.

According to a report, volatile sulphuric compounds are the major cause of persistent bad breath and occur when bacteria living on the tongue’s surface break down proteins too quickly and create a surplus of the smelly chemical.

The study involved 278 people in seven sub-study groups with some participants given probiotics while some were given a placebo as a treatment for bad breath.

The probiotics looked at for the study were: Lactobacillus salivarius, Lactobacillus reuteri, Streptococcus salivarius, and Weissella cibaria which were all in supplement forms.

“The number of participants in each study was small, ranging from 23 to 68, with an age range between 19 and 70. Monitoring periods spanned two to 12 weeks.

“Bad breath severity was determined by levels of the proteins responsible for it – volatile sulphuric compounds – detected in the mouth and on the tongue.

“The researchers also considered the plaque levels found on the tongue and teeth in certain studies, as this build-up is also responsible for bad breath,“.

From the study analysis published by BMJ Open – a peer-reviewed open-access medical journal, it was found that bad breath scores fell significantly in those given probiotics compared with those who were given a placebo.

“A similar result was observed for the levels of volatile sulphuric compounds detected, although these varied ‘substantially’ in the individual studies,” the analysis says.

It, however, noted that the effects were short-lived – up to four weeks – after which there was no noticeable difference, adding that “This means that a person must keep up with the supplements to maintain an odorless breath.”

Speaking, the author of the study, Dr. Longjiang Li, of Sichuan University in China, said, “Probiotics may inhibit the decomposition of amino acids and proteins by anaerobic bacteria in the mouth, thus curbing the production of smelly by-products.”

The researchers however acknowledged that the sample sizes of the study were small, adding that some of the data were incomplete to make conclusions.

To this, Dr. Li added that “more high-quality randomised clinical trials are required in the future to verify the results and to provide evidence for the efficacy of probiotics in the management of halitosis.”

Teenage Nigerian Girl Breaks Record, Solves 34 Questions In 172 Seconds

By

Rhoda Onuzulike

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December 29, 2022

In a record breaking performance, 13-year old Nasara James Dabo, a student of Ideal international college, Kaduna, solved 34 questions in 172 seconds to win International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) In the just concluded International mathematical Olympiad training.

The young prodigy who participated in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) finished the contest gathering a total score of 145 points, solving 34 Mathematical questions in 172 seconds (less than 3 minutes).

This record added a feather to her cap, as she emerged the top scorer, beating over 150 selected participants in the “Junior Category”, as first place & the Olympiad Champion.

She was honoured with a Gold medal.

ASUU May Forfeit 8 Months Pensionable Period Over Recent Strike- Ngige

By

Rhoda Onuzulike

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December 29, 2022

The controversies rocking the Nigerian universities system may be far from over as the Federal Government has given indications that members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, may also forfeit their eight months’ pension entitlements for the period the strike lasted.

Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige gave this indication in Abuja, after a private meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Ngige who described the year 2022 as a year of strikes, noted that members of ASUU triggered the fate which might befall them as a result of the “no work no pay policy” implemented while their strike lasted.

Recall that ASUU and Federal Government have been embroiled in a show of supremacy after the apex university union suspended its eight-month strike but failed to get its full month’s salary afterwards.

Lamenting the situation, Ngige said the government had to contend with industrial disputes from various unions in the public sector as against the private sector which was relatively peaceful all year round.

The Minister of Labour also hinted that government was handicapped by funding challenges, but noted that plans are on to shore up the salaries of workers in the academic system.

The minister said: “ASUU has not pronounced anything on their salary anymore because it’s one of the issues that was referred to the National Industrial Court for determination, whether a worker who is on strike should be paid in violation of Section 43 of the Trade Dispute Act which says when you go on strike, the consequences are these.

“Number one, you will not be paid, you will not be compensated for not going to work to enable your employer keep the industry or enterprise afloat. That money should not be given to you, and that compensation should not be given. It’s there in Section 43 (1). There is a second leg for Section 43, it also said that period you were on strike will not count for you as part of your pensionable period of work in your service.

“That aspect, government has not touched it, but the aspect of no-work-no-pay has been triggered off by that strike. So we are asking the court to look at it. So the matter is out of the hand of the Executive (that’s us) and out of the hand of the judiciary. ASUU has also put up a defence in court, asking the court, “yes we went on strike, but we did that for a reason.” So it’s now left for the court to look at it.”

Commenting on his mission to the presidential villa, Ngige said, he was there to brief Mr President on the labour sector for 2022.

“It’s a year we can call a year of industrial dispute starting from the February Academic Staff Union of the Universities (ASUU) strike which was joined by other sister unions in the university system and even the people in the research institutes and thereafter pressed from various unions, including the Medical Doctors Association and the youth wing of the National Association of Resident Doctors.

“JOHESU which is the Joint Health Sector Union were all asking for a wage increase, and asking for a wage increase can also be understandable because of what inflation had done to the economy and the attendance cost of living for people who have to be workers in the public sector.

“In the private sector, the private sector employers have managed their affairs better, maybe, because their finances and its management is within their very audit and they could control it, they could do collective bargaining very easily with their workers. The banking sector, food and beverages, and finance, insurance, everywhere; there is calm there. We didn’t have the desired calmness on the government’s side because of the government’s finances, “Ngige told State House correspondents.

Quality Assurance: Standards Organisation of Nigeria Sensitizes Local Manufacturers

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December 28, 2022

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The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is sensitizing manufacturers, consumers and other stakeholders on the need for adherence to quality and good standards in locally manufactured and imported products.
The agency said the sensitization programme was in line with its mandate to ensure that all goods both locally manufactured or imported conform to the relevant industrial standards.
Speaking at an event in Asaba, Delta state, the Senior Special Assistant to the Director-General of SON, Chief Emeka Duru, pointed out that SON organised the sensitisation forum which is aimed at strategically projecting the vision with a view to facilitating trade and enhancing the economy.
Duru who spoke on the topic, ‘Facilitating trade, enhancing the economy’, added that the forum was an avenue for SON and the stakeholders to brainstorm on areas they can be of assistance to enable them carry out their businesses positively by following the laid down standardisation procedures.

Fitch Predicts Slow Economic Growth for Nigeria in 2023

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December 28, 2022

A Fitch Solutions Country Risk & Industry Research report has predicted, The Nigerian economy will continue to slump in 2023 due to activities leading to the general elections in 2023, but would likely pick in 2024, with growth rising to 3.3 per cent.
An affiliate of Fitch Ratings, the Fitch Solutions report estimated that economic growth in Nigeria slipped to a six-quarter low of 2.3 per cent in quarter four of 2022, predicting that the country’s economic growth would ease further in 2023.

“We expect that the country’s economy will expand by just 2.5 per cent due to disruptions associated with the February 2023 election and the continued decline of oil production. Growth will accelerate to 3.3 per cent in 2024 as oil output picks up,” it projected.
“Economic growth in Nigeria slipped to a six-quarter low in Q3, 2022, and we expect that it will continue to slow over the coming two quarters,” it added.
The Fitch report recalled the latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which it said showed that economic growth slowed from 3.4 per cent y-o-y in Q2, 2022 to 2.3 per cent y-o-y in Q3, 2022.
“The slowdown was mostly due to a poor performance in the oil sector, where the decline in output worsened from a fall of 11.1 per cent y-o-y in Q2, 2022 to a decrease of 22.3 per cent y-o-y in Q3, 2022,” the report added.

Finland Gets Floating LNG Terminal To Replace Russian Gas

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December 28, 2022

A floating liquefied natural gas terminal, Finland’s first was moored Wednesday at the southern port of Inkoo where it will supply gas to the Nordic country that was cut off from Russian gas imports earlier this year amid the war in Ukraine.
The massive 291-meter-long and 43-meter-wide offshore support vessel Exemplar, which sailed to the Baltic Sea from Spain earlier December, has a capacity of 68,000 tons of LNG and is scheduled to be operational from the beginning of 2023.

The vessel will reconvert LNG to gas which will then be fed into the Finnish network for distribution. The arrival of the Exemplar will also enable gas deliveries to the Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania — and possibly also to Poland through the undersea Balticconnector pipeline between Finland and Estonia that runs near Inkoo.

Russian energy giant Gazprom halted gas exports to neighboring Finland in May, citing Helsinki’s refusal to pay in rubles, as Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded European countries do since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Gazprom’s move marked a likely end to Finland’s nearly 50 years of importing natural gas from Russia. The two parallel Russia-Finland natural gas pipelines were launched in 1974.
Natural gas currently accounts for just some 5% of total energy consumption in Finland, a country of 5.5 million. Until May, nearly all of that gas came from Russia, and has been used mainly by Finnish industrial and other companies with only an estimated 4,000 households relying on gas heating.

House of Reps Passes 21.8TN 2023 Budget

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December 28, 2022