Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) Wednesday approved $1.5 billion for the immediate rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of the FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The minister said: “The Ministry of Petroleum Resources presented a memo on the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery for the sum of $1.5bn and it was approved by council today.

“So, we are happy to announce that the rehabilitation of the refinery will commence in three phases. The first phase is to be completed in 18 months, which will take the refinery to a production of 90 percent of its nameplate capacity.
“The second phase is to be completed in 24 months and all the final stages will be completed in 44 months and consultations are approved.
More details later…

In a new charge that may have implications for Nigeria’s financial inclusion drive; Telecommunication operators have insisted customers and everyone who uses USSD will now pay transaction fee.
Before now the controversy has been If banks charge for banking services, then telcos should also be able to charge the banks for USSD sessions.
In October 2019, MTN Nigeria announced that it would begin charging a ₦4 fee every time customers use Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) to make bank transactions.

It was another chapter in a long drawn out squabble between banks and telcos over who should pay for USSD. Initially the plan was for banks to pay those charges which telcos say are around ₦12 for one session and then remit it in bulk to the telcos. The banks balked at that plan and asked telcos to charge customers directly.
Eventually, Nigeria’s Communication Commission stepped in with a price determination template. This is important for a few reasons; USSD is a service that costs money and someone has to pay for it. The NCC determined that a typical USSD session lasts 20 seconds and set a price cap of ₦4.98 for each session.
Yet, when MTN sent out its notification saying that it would charge customers for USSD transactions, the NCC claimed it had not been notified and suspended those charges. It set the scene for two years of disagreements before yesterday’s official decision to peg prices at ₦6.98 for USSD.

According to the statement from NCC and CBN, “this replaces the current per session billing structure, ensuring a much cheaper average cost for customers to enhance financial inclusion. This approach is transparent and will ensure the amount remains the same, regardless of the number of sessions per transaction.”
In December 2019, the Association of Licensed Telecommunications of Nigeria (ALTON) threatened to shut down USSD platforms in Nigeria. The threat came after lingering uncertainty as to who should pay for USSD.

In the end, the issue has been resolved at the expense of the In the end, the issue has been resolved at the expense of the customer and everyone who uses USSD will now pay a ₦6.98 fee per transaction. The key difference in the new charge is that customers will not be billed per session, which is a cheaper outcome than what MTN introduced in 2019. a ₦6.98 fee per transaction. The key difference in the new charge is that customers will not be billed per session, which is a cheaper outcome than what MTN introduced in 2019.

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) reveals that in the last two years, 2019 to 2020, Manufacturers in Nigeria, spent about N143.29 billion on alternative power supply,

The Association said members in 2020 spent N81.91 billion on alternative power as against N61.38 spent in 2019, saying the increase in alternative energy expenditure in the sector was due to general high inflationary pressures on the economy.

It also noted that the increase in petrol pump price exerted significant influence on prices of some of the fuel used by the sector to generate electricity.

In its bi-yearly review of the economy report, the manufacturers’ body called on the Federal Government (FG) to review the recent increase in electricity tariff,  as many Nigerians have decried the increase in monthly electricity bills.

However, Energy information generated from the sector has shown constant improvement in electricity supply to the manufacturing sector. In the second half of 2020, electricity supply from the distribution companies to the sector increased to 12 hours on a daily average from 10 hours per day on the average recorded since the first half of 2019. The average daily power outage had constantly averaged four times per day.

The report further read, “The pandemic had a crushing impact on the manufacturing sector as it sector fell into economic recession in the third quarter of 2020. At the moment and following the impact of COVID-19, productivity in the sector is at its lowest and therefore requires an orchestrated action to rekindle significant productive activities in the sector.

Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) President Ayuba Wabba, who led a recent protest in the Nigeria’s Federal Capital Abuja, decried how little and insufficient the current minimum wage is, especially with the current exchange rate and inflation in Nigeria.

A minimum wage of 30,000 Naira as proposed by the Nigerian Labour Congress NLC, has been overtaken by market forces especially the continued high inflationary level of consumer prices. The new minimum wage translated into so much in the pockets of the workers but so little in the market place where the cost of living and the fate of the workers are determined.

Which leads us to many questions like…should the NLC be going on strike or fighting for a 30,000 naira minimum wage or should there be other negotiations to be discussed with the federal government considering the economic realities on the ground especially with the latest figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics NBS that Nigeria’s inflation rate climbed to a 34-month high, rising to 17.33% in February from 16.47% in January 2021.

Honourable Garba Mohammed (APC, Kano) introduced a bill in the National Assembly; That seeks to allow the federal and state governments each to freely negotiate the minimum wage, It passed the second reading in the House of Representatives on February 23.

Should the bill become law, the federal government will not have exclusive jurisdiction to determine a national minimum wage and states will now have the power to determine their own minimum wages.

US $15 minimum wage Concerns

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden’s proposed minimum wage increase would cut 1.4 million jobs but lift 900,000 people out of poverty, according to a study as many concerns are been raised.

The Congressional Budget Office, for example, projected that an increase to a $15 minimum wage by 2025 could mean an average of 1.4 million jobs lost, a fall in business revenues leading to a $9 billion drop in real income, and increases in the prices of goods and services across the economy.

As arguments for raising minimum wage remains or continues to heat up, new research shows that raising the minimum wage improves workers’ productivity and lifts people out of poverty, but generally Firms respond to these higher labour costs by reducing employment, reducing profits, or raising prices.

According to a report by the US Congressional Budget Office, the overall increase in earnings outweighs those lost through the projected job cuts.  In other words some will win and some will most definitely lose.

In the meantime, NLC, TUC have argued, should the minimum wage be decentralised there will be a lot of confusion and discrepancies. While the National Assembly claims moving the minimum wage from exclusive list to concurrent list would enable each state to handle workers according to their capacity.