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Nigeria’s debt profile increased by 2.15% in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2020 to close at ₦32.92 trillion. The fourth quarter saw external debt increased by 4.26%, while domestic debt increased by 0.87%. Total external debt at the end of Q4 was ₦12.71 trillion, and domestic debt closed at ₦20.21 trillion.
Apart from cases involving cash, HEDA also documents cases of influential government officials using their seats to upturn justice favouring politically exposed individuals.
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A total of 158 agencies scheduled for software acquisition and update in the 2021 budget; The total amount stands at ₦24.6 billion; A centralized approach would see the government spending less on software and in the process unifying her administration for all MDAs; Moreover, given the government’s penchant for missing out on its reve
Cash-strapped, and faced with limited options, the Federal government (FG) will once more rely on borrowing to fund the 2021 budget deficit.
Given the reality of the continuing pandemic, a decline in Nigeria’s total trade is not unexpected. But, a 27% drop in trade between the first and second quarters of 2020?
New petrol prices to dent Nigerians savings by adding to their monthly budget;
Marijuana has grown to become a cash crop of international value and might soon dominate oil, the global trade
The task ahead is enormous for Nigerian banker and AfDB President, Akinwumi Adesina;
As of March 2020, the federal government (FG) decided it was deregulating the oil sector. Mixed reactions and scepticism followed this announcement, and rightly so as the June template from the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) still shows allocation to the Bridging Fund. And the icing on the cake, Mr Sylva’s explanation of deregulation to mean marketers, still could not determine prices. Counterintuitive, some might say, which begs the question, did the government truly deregulate oil and gas? If yes, why then is the PPPRA still functioning under the same mandate?
In the last six months, Nigeria witnessed little to zero appreciation in economic activities; the novel virus of 2019 takes credit in part for that. The second fiscal quarter further ushered in a 6.05 per cent slump in gross domestic product, per the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report. And while the oil sector typically takes the blame for these economic issues, non-oil economic activities contributed to the negative returns witnessed. Most noteworthy, the decline in the non-oil sector would be the first since the notorious slump of 2016.
On Monday, the National Bureau of Statistics announced Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) decreased by -6.1% in the second quarter (Q2) of 2020. By implication, we might just be one quarter away from another economic recession; the last noteable downtrun being in 2016.
Divergent views greeted the Statistical Agency of Nigeria’s new GDP figure as the economy entered the first contraction since its last recorded recession. In 2016. Nigeria witnessed an economic recession at a time oil price dropped below $50. Since then, the economy grew in a snail-like scenario under the Muhammadu Buhari-led government.
It is no longer news that unemployment in Nigeria was 27.1% for Q2, 2020. This estimate represents a 4% increase from the 23.1% unemployment rate recorded in Q3, 2018. In actual figures, 21.8 million Nigerians had no jobs as at the second quarter of 2020. In contrast, 44.3 per cent of Nigerians had work (fully employed). Underemployment rate was 28.6 per cent. Further, 15.4 per cent worked for less than 20 hours weekly. And per the recently published Labour Force Statistics, 11.7 per cent of our population are “lazy”.
Nigeria’s agriculture contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) makes it the largest sector in the country. In 2014, the sector achieved a GDP of $113.64 billion. Even with low agriculture yields, conflicts, and armed insurgency, the sector still contributed $78.45 billion to the GDP in 2017. The sector contributes a cumulative of 25 per cent of the GDP and accounts for 48 per cent of the labour force. In the last five years, the sector has maintained a growth rate of 4 per cent.
Everything increased in price, salary reduced”, Joy Agnes, a low-income earner in Abuja told us. Following the structured resumption of work after the COVID-19 lockdown, Agnes’ employers had renegotiated her contract. The new arrangement meant that instead of working five days a week, she would only work on three alternate weekdays. And while this new arrangement implied lesser pay, she was excited to still have a job; some of her laid off colleagues did not share the same “luck”. Yet, increased responsibility with less pay amid increasing market prices is not the “Nigerian dream”. Not to mention, the increased cost of transportation; a tall order!
