Officials of the National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) have warned the 19 Northern governors against selling the comatose Kaduna Textiles Limited (KTL).

The textile union leaders also challenged the Federal Government to be more committed to the revival of the industry by ensuring that every Nigerian patronises locally-made fabrics.

Besides, the union leaders called for the revival of the Kaduna textile industry and asked the Northern governors to pay the outstanding entitlements, amounting to N687 million, owed laid-off workers.  

The NUTGTWN President, John Adaji, said the laid-off workers had suffered untold hardship following the non-payment of their entitlements.

Adaji said: “The union’s attention has been drawn to a plan to sell some of the assets of KTL. We shall mobilise our members and take all legal means to stop the sale of the company’s assets without settling the outstanding benefits of the workers in line with the court order since 2005.

“These workers have suffered untold hardship due to lay off without pay. Urgent settlement of their entitlements, including a support to them and their families, will go a long way in reducing their burden and alleviate their increasing destitution, poverty and desperation. KTL is the oldest textile company in Nigeria and, indeed, Africa and the proud legacy of the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello.

“Textile industry remains the key driver of sustainable jobs and development for most national economies of developing nations like Nigeria. We commend the practical initiatives and efforts by the federal government to revive the cotton, textile and garment (CTG) sector as part of the effort of the current administration to diversify the economy and create mass employment.

“The Nigerian CTG sector can transform Nigeria’s rural economy and revive the textile and garment industries by creating mass decent employment, improve internally generated revenue across three tiers of government, reduce over $4 billion import bill incurred annually on textile and apparel according to the CBN and help the country safeguard and earn foreign exchange. A revived textile industry provides sustainable jobs and living wages as well as necessary revenues for the government to provide the needed infrastructure for development.”

In the bid to stabilise and cap oil Production, Nigeria is to ramp up crude oil production; this Follows the agreement reached by members and allies of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase output.

Nigeria is a long time member of OPEC, collaborating with the organisation for more than 50 years running.

OPEC and its allies had agreed on Sunday to adjust crude oil production upwards by 400,000 barrels per day.

It disclosed this in its Declaration of Cooperation resolutions reached at the 19th OPEC and Non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting held virtually.

On decisions agreed upon by participating countries, the organisation stated that they decided “to adjust upward their overall production by 0.4mb/d (million barrel per day) on a monthly basis starting August 2021 up until phasing out the 5.8mbd production adjustment.”

Commenting on what the decision meant for Nigeria, the Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Garba-Deen Muhammad, told our correspondent on Tuesday that the country would increase its production.

He said, “The increase is usually across board. Whenever there is a cut in production, it is across board and now that we have an increase, it is also going to be across board.

“It is divided in accordance with OPEC quota but I don’t have the numbers now.”

On whether the country would ramp up production any time soon, Mohammed replied, “Yes. I will get the numbers.”

Also, the Group General Manager of the Group Public Affairs Division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Kennie Obateru, confirmed that OPEC would deploy its parameters to determine the oil production of its members going by the 400,000 barrels’ increase.

“The (petroleum) minister will be able to speak on that in details but what I know is that they (OPEC) have parameters for arriving at who gets what; so I think they may use the same parameters,” he stated.

Nigeria’s crude oil production dipped by 240,000 barrels in June 2021 as the cost of the commodity extended its monthly rise in the month under review.

Data from the July 2021 Oil Market Report released by OPEC showed that crude oil production in Nigeria dropped by 8,000 barrels per day in June.

Figures from OPEC crude oil production based on secondary sources showed that in May this year Nigeria produced 1.407 million barrels of oil per day, but this dipped to 1.399mbpd in June.

By shedding 8,000 barrels of crude daily, the country recorded a drop of 240,000 barrels in the month of June 2021, going by OPEC’s data.

But going by the latest agreement by the group to increase output, government officials stated that the country’s production would be increased, as this might lead to a rise in revenue for Nigeria.

British public borrowing last month was almost a fifth lower than a year earlier, when the economy was feeling the full force of the pandemic, but rising inflation put upward pressure on debt costs.

Public sector net borrowing, excluding public sector banks, fell to 22.8 billion pounds ($31.0 billion) in June, still the second-highest June figure on record. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a drop to 21.6 billion pounds.

Reflecting the surge in borrowing by British finance minister Rishi Sunak to soften the hit from the pandemic, the data showed Britain’s budget deficit leapt to 14.2% of gross domestic product during the financial year to the end of March 2021, its highest share of GDP since World War Two.

“We still expect borrowing to undershoot the OBR’s latest forecast for this year. But we are not out of the woods yet, with the recent surge in COVID-19 cases putting some parts of the economy at risk of further restrictions later in the year,” KPMG economist Michal Stelmach said.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies, a think tank, said in a report with economists from Citi that borrowing in the 2021/22 financial year would drop to 9.3% of GDP. This is 30 billion pounds less than the government’s forecasters expected in March but would still be the third-highest on record.

The Office for National Statistics said June’s debt servicing costs – which include an inflation uplift to index-linked gilts’ future redemption values as well as actual interest payments – rose to a record 8.7 billion pounds.

A rise in the rate of retail price inflation was largely to blame, it added.

However, debt servicing costs as a share of GDP remain low by historic standards, and most economists say the pace of economic recovery will be the key factor in improving the public finances.

“The economy can do more of the job in ‘fixing’ the public finances than a fiscal tightening,” Ruth Gregory of Capital Economics said.

Public borrowing for the first three months of the financial year totalled 69.5 billion pounds, down more than 40% from the three months to June 2020, when Britain recorded its heaviest-ever borrowing in cash terms due to its COVID spending surge.

But public debt as a share of GDP, excluding public sector banks, was 2.218 trillion pounds or 99.7% of GDP in June, its highest since March 1961.

Power generation in Nigeria dropped below the 4,000 megawatts mark during the holiday.

The total generation in the country stood at 3,958.7MW as of 6am on Tuesday, down from 4,270.7MW on Monday, according to data obtained from the Nigerian Electricity System Operator.

On Monday, the peak generation stood at 4,611MW, while the lowest generation was 3,732.1MW, the NESO data showed.

The total energy generated on Monday was 100,974.45MW, out of which 99,272.98MW was sent out.

Although the NESO data did not state the cause of the decline in generation on Tuesday, gas and transmission constraints are the major challenges facing power stations in the country.

The power firm gave the assurance that its technical team would be on hand to clear faults and resolve customer complaints all through the period of the holiday.

Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company also expressed its commitment to uninterrupted services during the holidays.

The Chief Operating Officer of the company, John Ayodele, highlighted the need for strict observance of safety precautions such as proper supervision of children to prevent electrical accidents, not cooking or trading under high-tension wires and not engaging quacks to fix faults.

“IBEDC is committed to ensuring that its customers enjoy uninterrupted service during the holiday as much as it is within our control,” he said.

Power generation companies had earlier this month lamented that the country’s available electricity capacity had dropped by about 3,000MW.