Segun Ajayi-Kadir, director-general (DG) of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), says government officials must face consequences for making policies that ruin businesses.

Ajayi-Kadir spoke on Tuesday during a forum themed ‘Nigeria’s Challenging Economy: Strategies For Recovery,’ organised by Channels Television to commemorate Nigeria’s 64th Independence anniversary.

He emphasised the need for consequences when policies lead to economic setbacks for industries.

“There must be consequence for government officials who make policies that ruin businesses,” Ajayi-Kadir said.

“I mean, you make a policy today, it becomes a disaster for industry and government simply changes it, and you walk away. We don’t have this luxury in the private sector.

“If you make a mistake, your business is gone, and you could distrain your property. So I think we need to see that movement also on the part of government.”

He said the challenges caused by the ongoing rise in interest rates should be alleviated.

The DG said borrowing at rates of 30-35 percent makes it nearly impossible for businesses to survive, particularly in an economy where consumer purchasing power has drastically declined.

“We should be able to assuage the challenges we are having with continuously raising interest rates,” he said.

“You’ve done it for more than 18 months plus, and you’ve not done any impact assessment on the productive sector.

“I think you need to be able to insulate that sector so that you can inflate the economy.”

‘THERE’S NEED FOR INDUSTRIAL POLICY’

Ajayi-Kadir said there is a need for an industrial policy to guide the government’s approach to industrialisation.

According to the DG, the policy would promote better coordination between key government ministries such as the ministry of industry, trade, and investment, the ministry of finance, and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

“I must say that policy coordination is extremely important for us because you can’t operate in such a way that you don’t know what to expect tomorrow,” he said.

“It will basically define where we want to be, and it will guide our operations.”

He also questioned the effectiveness of Nigeria’s embassies abroad, calling for key performance indicators (KPIs) aimed at facilitating foreign market penetration for Nigerian products and attracting foreign investments.

While commending the efforts of Wale Edun, the minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, Ajayi-Kadir called for a more deliberate government policy, urging the government to avoid playing politics with economic policies.

Also, Ajayi-Kadir advocated for a coordinated approach with clear expectations, deliverables, and accountability measures to ensure that the government and industry move in the same direction.

‘FG SHOULD LOOK BEYOND OIL SALE TO GET FX’

Ajayi-Kadir said Nigeria does not need to rely solely on oil sale for foreign exchange (FX), urging the government to diversify its revenue streams, particularly by tapping into the potential of diaspora remittances.

“We don’t really also have to depend on the sale of oil for us to be able to get forex. First, we must realise all the income that we can get from oil and we shouldn’t have any impediments, whether human, structural, or system-imposed. I mean, we should be clear about it. It’s our natural resource,” he said.

“We should fully recover all the forex that we can get from there. We need to address the issue of diaspora remittance that has a very great potential of bringing in far more forex than Nigeria is receiving. Those ones can help to address the foreign exchange challenges that we have.

“There’s one presently that I still cannot understand why we’ve not been able to overcome it and it’s the N2.4 billion unredeemed forwards with the CBN.”

The DG also said the FX exposure has caused massive losses for manufacturers.

“I believe that it will require the intervention of Mr. President, because I have a member, for instance, who has lost N7.2 billion because of this forex exposure for no fault of his and eight of our members, because of the forex exposure, have actually lost 918 billion in the last one year,” he said.

Ajayi-Kadir said addressing the pressing issues does not require new laws or executive orders but a coordinated effort to resolve FX challenges.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked the federal government to review policies causing economic hardship in the country.

In a statement on the nation’s 64th independence anniversary, the PDP said Nigeria has never had it this bad.

President Bola Tinubu’s policies have driven petrol prices to record highs and depreciated the naira to record lows since he assumed the reins on May 29, 2023.

The party asked Nigerians “not to surrender” in the face of “emasculating policies”.

The opposition party said Nigerians should “reawaken the spirit of nationalism in defence of our democracy and national sovereignty against the emerging totalitarianism being foisted on our nation by the All Progressives Congress (APC)”.

“The Independence Day celebration is not the symbolic marching at parade grounds, taking of salutes, inspection of guards and making of speeches but it is the freedom of the citizens to express themselves, pursue legitimate endeavours and freely participate in the process to choose those who lead them through an unhindered expression of their will at elections,” the statement issued by Debo Ologunagba, PDP spokesperson, reads.

“The independence of a nation is embedded in the respect for the Rule of Law and constitutionally guaranteed rights of citizens by a transparent and responsible government that is democratically elected, answerable and committed only to the good of the people.

“Since its calamitous arrival in the Nigerian political space, the APC continues to barefacedly stifle these fundamentals of our nation’s independence.

“It is, therefore, an irony that the APC deludes itself that Nigerians should celebrate independence whose essence has been completely diminished by the anti-people policies and programs of the APC that have not only discounted the lives of citizens but also deprived them of the independence to legitimately pursue their endeavours and freely participate in governance.”

The PDP alleged that the APC is not interested in the wellbeing of the people and is “returning our nation to a state of bondage, where the government is a cabal that has no respect for citizens but relishes in inflicting pain and hardship, where dissenting voices are treated as enemies of state”.

The party said citizens are being suppressed and exploited “through excruciating tariffs and taxes are now instituted as state policies”.

“It is indeed agonizing that all the gains achieved by the PDP in the development of our democracy and credible electoral process, personal freedom, liberty and security of citizens, good governance that resulted in better living standards and flourishing investments in education, healthcare, electricity, housing, railways and roads infrastructure, manufacturing, hospitality, real estate among others have all been reversed by the APC,” the party said.

The PDP said the APC-led administration must listen to Nigerians and “review all its anti-people policies and actions that are suffocating life in the country”.

“The Federal Government should, without further delay, reduce the pump price of fuel and stem the slide in the value of the Naira by immediately reordering resources to jumpstart the ailing productive sector,” PDP said.

“Again, the PDP urges President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to listen to the heartbeat of Nigerians.

“Indeed, Nigerians are hurting. He must act now by channelling resources to projects that have a direct bearing on the wellbeing of Nigerians so that the people can have the life they deserve as free citizens of an independent nation.”

Some supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday protested outside the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) office in Edo.

The protesters chanted anti-establishment slogans and songs, while demanding a reversal of the result of the recent governorship poll.

They held aloft placards with inscriptions that read: ‘INEC give us our mandate back’, ‘APC stole PDP mandate and they must return it’, ‘INEC sack Edo state resident electoral commissioner’, and ‘INEC why did you manipulate IReV results’.

Police operatives could be seen milling around and guarding the gates of the office.

On September 22, Monday Okpebholo, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was declared winner of the Edo governorship election.

Okpebholo, a serving senator, won the election with 291,667 votes to defeat his closest rival, Asue Ighodalo of the PDP, who polled 247,274 votes.

Olumide Akpata, candidate of the Labour Party (LP), came a distant third with 22, 763 votes.

Before the final declaration, some PDP supporters staged a protest against the collation of the results outside the INEC office.

After the declaration, Ahmadu Fintiri, governor of Adamawa and chairman of the PDP campaign council for the election, said the poll was marred by “vote-buying, disruption of collation processes, and suspicious results”.

“I weep for Nigeria’s democracy after witnessing the shameful Edo gubernatorial poll,” Fintiri had said.

Ighodalo has vowed to challenge the outcome of the election in court.

Governor Seyi Makinde’s government of Oyo State has announced a plan to recruit 791 new civil servants for the mainstream service.

The Chairman of the State Civil Service Commission, Alhaji Kamoru Aderibigbe, announced this on Wednesday in Ibadan during a press briefing. 

Aderibigbe indicated that the recruitment will include the integration of 230 education officers along with 561 other positions into the mainstream civil service.

The government official noted that this recruitment would represent the largest intake into the mainstream civil service in the past twenty years.

Prospective candidates can submit their applications to the state government job portal at www.jobportal.oyostate.gov.ng from October 7 to October 11.

He highlighted that the online application process is designed to promote diligence, fairness, and equity throughout the recruitment procedure.

“Applicants into cadres requiring a degree must be university graduates with a minimum of second class honours division, while applicants into cadres that require Higher National Diploma certificate must be polytechnic graduates with a minimum of lower credit.

“All university and polytechnic graduates must possess NYSC discharged certificates or exemption certificates as at the time of the recruitment process.

“Equally, applicants into cadres requiring the Nigeria Certificate in Education must be graduates with a minimum of merit,” he said.

Aderibigbe said that the commission would ensure competence in discharging its duties without any political interference.

The Director-General of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Chinyere Almona, has criticized President Bola Tinubu for calling on citizens to exercise patience with his administration while the politicians are living big.

Dr. Chinyere Almona said the President is not being sincere with the citizens. She decried that politicians are living more comfortably than manufacturers who are producing and creating jobs for the citizens.

In an interview with Arise TV on Tuesday, Mrs. Almona explained that the country’s environment is not business-friendly.

While admitting that Nigeria is full of opportunities, she noted that the youths who need jobs cannot harness the opportunities because of corruption, inflation, high interest rates and unfavourable policies of the government.

The LCCI DG said, “I think in most sectors in Nigeria there is opportunity to drive development. What has been lacking is the ease of doing that. So you have a lot of businesses, you have a lot of entrepreneurs who want to go into business. Even the young ones, like we talked about just now, they want to go into business, start their own business, employ people and do so much more in the different sectors. But they are hampered by several things.

“They are hampered by regulation and the fact that regulation stifles rather than promotes. They are hard hit by the inflation, they are hard hit by inability to access finance and the fact that interest rate is so high. They are hard hit by just the basic difficulty in living. And so it just then makes it challenging to operate.

“There are opportunities. I think Nigeria is filled with opportunities. We are rich with opportunities in the different sectors. In mining, there are opportunities in agriculture, there are opportunities. But the private sector isn’t allowed to move. And so you have situations where companies are leaving Nigeria and they are increasing the rate of unemployment because every factory that shuts down, you shove 50,000 people into the employment market. So that’s what the challenge is.

“There are opportunities, but how do we harness those opportunities? How does the government create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive? I was listening to the President’s speech today and he talked about how he wants to harness the youth and the energy of the youth, how he wants to bring them together, how he wants to create jobs. Bringing youth together to talk is great, but then after the talk, then what next?”

Speaking on the 30 days National Youth Conference announced by the President in his Independence Day broadcast, Mrs Almona noted that unless policies are made to create ease of doing business, the result of the conference may not have much effect.

She added that the country’s problem remains leadership, stating that everything falls and rises on the back of leadership.

“So if you have a conference, after the conference, what next? Have you created an enabling environment for them to thrive? The environment is still rife with corruption. And when you have corruption, that means people don’t get the right opportunities or the right access to the right avenues that they need to succeed.

“Leadership is a problem. Leadership, everything falls and rises on the back of leadership, and we need to get leadership right. Today, with the hard economic conditions, we want to see, and what the President did say, oh, we should be patient and watch and wait for the reforms to kick in and begin to give us some positive vibes, as it were.

“I think about it, and the private sector is bleeding. The youth are struggling. But the political circles are living big. We see them all the time. We see them on social media. We see them in the media. They don’t seem bothered. They don’t seem affected by the hardship that Nigerians are facing. And that is a real problem, where you have the political sect being richer than the private sector, who are in the production area. That’s a problem. We need to support production. We need to power production as much as possible,” Dr Almona added.

The House of Representatives has rejected the National Honour conferred on Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas.

The lawmakers accused President Bola Tinubu of discriminating against the lower chamber of the National Assembly after conferring a higher honour to Senate PresidentGodswill Akpabio.

Naija News reported earlier that President Tinubu, while addressing the nation to mark Nigeria’s 64th Independence Anniversary celebration, stated that the Senate President,Akpabio and Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun had been conferred with honour of the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON).

Others mentioned for awards include the Deputy Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Abbas and Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau were conferred with the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR), respectively.

However, following a motion of urgent public importance moved by Philip Agbese on Wednesday, the House resolved the Reps are not inferior to Senators, and therefore, both leaders should be treated equally.

The motion, signed by 360 members of the House, called for the abolition of the “upper chamber and lower chamber nomenclature”, stating that both chambers are equal.

President Bola Tinubu has left Abuja, the nation’s capital, for a two-week vacation in the United Kingdom, which is part of his annual leave.

Naija News reports the President left the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport at about 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, along with Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila, and other top government officials, were at the airport to bid farewell to the president.

See the video.

Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have arrested 24 suspected internet fraudsters in Edo state.

According to a statement by the anti-graft agency, the suspects were arrested on Monday, September 30, 2024, at different locations within Benin City, the Edo state capital.

The agency said 11 exotic cars, laptops, phones, and N160,000 were recovered from the suspects.

“The suspects were arrested following actionable intelligence of their suspected involvement in computer-related fraud,” the statement reads.

“Items recovered from them include 11 exotic cars, laptops and phones. The sum of N160,000.00 (One Hundred and Sixty Thousand Naira) was also recovered from one of the suspects.

“The suspects have made useful statements and will be charged to court as soon as investigations are completed.”

In June, EFCC operatives arrested 50 suspected internet fraudsters in Akure, Ondo state.

The alleged fraudsters were arrested during a raid of two hotels and nightclubs.

The operatives subsequently seized vehicles, laptops, high-end smartphones, and other items from the suspects.

Ten persons lost their lives on Tuesday night when a Toyota Sienna bus ran into a stationary truck at Abule Osun, inward Iyana Iba, along the Lagos-Badagry expressway.

In a statement on the accident, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, permanent secretary of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), said “in response to distress calls received via the 767/112 Toll-Free Lines at 2307hrs, LASEMA activated its Dolphin Response Team from Igando Base”.

“On arrival at the scene of the road traffic accident at Abule Osun, inward Iyana Iba, along Lagos-Badagry Expressway, it was discovered that a Toyota Sienna bus, registration number BDG 342 FS, laden to capacity with passengers from the Eastern part of the country was involved in a road accident with a parked SHACMAN truck, registration number unknown,” the statement reads.

“Further investigations revealed that the truck, which was laden with granite, was parked on the road, shutting down about half of the carriage way, while the Toyota Sienna on top speed, unknowingly crashed into the parked truck from behind.

“Ten people lost their lives to the unfortunate incident, while three were criticalIy injured.”

Among the dead are three male adults, four female adults, two female children and one male child.

One female adult and two children were taken to a nearby hospital by officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).

“The accidental Toyota Sienna was recovered with the aid of the agency’s lite tow truck and towed to the FRSC station,” the statement added.

“The remaining female adult, and the 2 rescued children (a male and female) fortunately, survived the incident after receiving immediate medical attention from LASAMBUS at the incident scene when they were returned there, before being taken to LASUTH for further treatment.”

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says 20.30 billion litres of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, was imported into Nigeria in 2023.

In its ‘Petroleum Products Distribution Statistics for 2023,’ released on Tuesday, the report said the PMS imported last year decreased by 13.77 percent compared to the 23.54 billion litres recorded in 2022.

“In terms of imported products, 20.30 billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) were imported in 2023 relative to 23.54 billion litres in 2022, showing a decrease of 13.77%,” the bureau said.

“In 2023, PMS truck out stood at 20.22 billion litres, indicating a 16.96% decrease relative to 24.35 billion litres recorded in 2022.”

For automotive gas oil (AGO), also known as diesel, the report said 109.39 billion litres were locally produced in 2023.

NBS said the figure represents a 6.76 percent growth, compared to 102.47 million litres reported in 2022.

“Also, 4.94 billion litres of Automotive Gas Oil were imported in 2023, indicating an increase of 23.66% compared to 4.00 billion litres in the previous year,” NBS said.

“About 69.71 million litres of Household Kerosene (HHK) were locally produced in 2023 compared to 44.68 million litres in 2022, indicating a growth rate of 56.02% over the period,” NBS said.

On September 21, President Bola Tinubu said Nigeria’s daily consumption of petrol reduced to about 30 million litres after subsidy removal.

Tinubu announced the end of petrol subsidy on May 29, 2023.