The Federal Government says it will collaborate with the World Bank to provide decent jobs directly or indirectly to no fewer than 10 million youths within the next five years.

Mr Ayodele Olawande, Minister of Youth Development, communicated this when he hosted the World Bank team lead by Mr Maheshwor Shrestha, World Bank Economist, on Thursday in Abuja.

Olawande said that the forum would enable him to update the team on the various activities and engagements of the ministry in the past months.

“The focus of the ministry has been to achieve the establishment of a strong coordinated mechanism for all youth intervention focused on economic inclusion and we want data to inform all we do.

”Provide decent jobs directly or indirectly for at least, 10 million youths within the next five years and ensure that every youth is proficient in at least, two income generating skills.

“Expand our credit support funds by 50 million dollars to reach more young people, including businesses led by going women, people with disabilities and young people in rural areas.’’

The minister said that the current reality showed that 60 million youths were in the labour bracket and an additional 5.5 million would join the labour market every year.

He said that almost 58 per cent of Nigeria’s informal workforce was young people.

“Despite these data, we see these opportunities for the development of the country if harnessed effectively,” he said.

Olawande said that the challenges hinged on deficient skills for job market, relevant vocational training and lack of access to capital and funds safety with infrastructural deficit.

In his speech, Shrestha said that no fewer than 60 million youths in Nigeria were underage at the moment.

According to him, it means that Nigeria needs to create enough opportunities for a huge pool of youths that are already there and who will be joining the way.

He said that every year, 5 and a half million would reach paid working age.

Shrestha said that only seven per cent of the youths were engaged in paid jobs.

“And even those are not permanent jobs; there are still informal jobs.

“So, if we look at overall, 93 per cent of the youths are working in an informal sector.’’

According to him, the bank is figuring out how to improve safety net support towards such people.

“What we are doing now is to think about how the framework applies at the state level.

“So, I think we are starting to work with the Governors’ Board of Secretaries to see how this approach applies at the state levels,” he said.

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has commenced exporting refined petroleum products to nearby West African nations, signaling to traders that the refinery’s operations might soon disrupt regional fuel markets.

According to a Tuesday report by Bloomberg, citing data from Vortexa, Kpler, Precise Intelligence, a port report, and a ship-tracking platform, a tanker has transported a shipment of gasoline from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery to waters near Togo, a neighboring West African country.

The report mentioned that the vessel CL Jane Austen recently loaded over 300,000 barrels at the refinery and headed westward.

It is worth noting that last month, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, Chairman of Ghana’s National Petroleum Authority, revealed that Ghana is exploring the option of purchasing petroleum products from the Dangote Refinery. This move aims to reduce reliance on costlier imports from Europe, which currently cost the nation around $400 million monthly.

The head of the NPA in Ghana, speaking at the OTL Africa Downstream Oil Conference in Lagos, stated that sourcing imports from Nigeria instead of Europe would lower the cost of other goods and services by eliminating freight charges.

“If the refinery reaches 650,000bpd a day capacity, all that volume cannot be consumed by Nigeria alone, so instead of us importing as we do right now from Rotterdam, it will be much easier for us to import from Nigeria and I believe that will bring down our prices,” Hamid said.

In the same vein, The PUNCH reported exclusively two weeks ago that the refinery was prepared to start exporting fuel to South Africa, Angola, and Namibia.

The statement also mentioned that four additional African nations – Niger Republic, Chad, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic – have begun discussions with the refinery.

A reliable source, who shared this information exclusively with one of our reporters, revealed that the management of the refinery, with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, is in the final stages of negotiations with these countries to begin fuel shipments.

“I can confirm to you that talks are actually at the advanced stage with Ghana, Angola, Namibia, and South Africa, while the initial discussion is coming up with Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic,” the source said.

The report also mentioned that the shipment of petroleum products is currently drifting near the coast of Lome, a well-known location for ship-to-ship transfers.

It remains unclear where the cargo of the CL Jane Austen will eventually be delivered.

While it is located off the coast of Togo, this area is frequently used for ship-to-ship transfers, suggesting the fuel could eventually be transported to another destination.

“While the shipment is tiny in the context of the global gasoline market, it signals the ramp-up of Dangote’s production and the potential to export significant volumes of gasoline beyond Nigeria, which could upend regional markets.”

The refinery sent its initial shipment of gasoline by sea to the commercial center of Lagos last month.

It is still uncertain if a significant portion of Dangote’s gasoline production will be exported.

In the previous month, the Federal Government lifted the state-owned oil company’s exclusive right to purchase fuel from the plant for domestic consumption, while still permitting the ongoing importation of fuel from Europe and the US, as per the regulatory framework.

The report states that a representative from Dangote did not reply to a request for comment.

The Naira on Monday depreciated at the official market trading at N1,690.37 against the dollar.

Data from the official trading platform of the FMDQ Exchange, revealed that the Naira lost N38.12.

This represents a 2.3 per cent loss when compared to the previous trading date on Friday, November 15th when it exchanged at N1,652.25 a dollar.

Also, the total daily turnover reduced to $173.14 million dollars on Monday down from $296.63 million dollars recorded on Friday.

At the Investor’s and Exporter’s (I&E) window, the Naira traded between N1,699.00 and N1,633.52 against the dollar.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has alerted Nigerians of the activities of
fraudsters purporting to be in receipt of award letters of contracts related to construction
works.

According to a statement by CBN’s Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Mrs Hakama Ali, the fraudsters also usually lay claims to procession of special financial interventions on behalf of the CBN.

She said that it was false, as such individuals were solely motivated by the desire to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians.

“Any such assertions are fraudulent and should be
disregarded.

“The CBN hereby reiterates that, in line with the focus of its current management, it has discontinued direct development interventions and special projects funding,” she said.

She further said that the apex bank had not authorised public notices for such interventions on social media platforms or any other news outlet.

“The CBN remains committed to its core mandate of ensuring monetary and price stability, and a sound and efficient financial system in Nigeria.

“We, therefore, encourage the public to remain vigilant and promptly report any suspicious
activities or publications to the relevant law enforcement agencies,” she said.

Nigeria’s economy would be headed for trouble if states are allowed to collect Value Added Tax (VAT), Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele warned on Monday.

Recalling previous efforts of some states to challenge the legality of the federal government collecting VAT, Oyedele expressed concerns that allowing states to collect VAT could lead to a chaotic tax system that would harm the economy.

He stated this while briefing members of the House of Representatives on the Tax Reform Bills before the National Assembly.

VAT has been a contentious issue for years between the federal government and the states. Some states have previously challenged the legality of the federal government collecting VAT.

The Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, in 2021 issued an order restraining the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) from collecting value-added tax (VAT) and personal income tax (PIT) in Rivers State.

Rivers State argued that the FG’s powers to tax were limited to stamp duties and the taxation of incomes, profits, and capital gains, stressing that the power to administer VAT must be delegated to a state agency.

But while providing clarification on the contentious derivation-based model for Value Added Tax (VAT) distribution proposed in the new tax bill, Oyedele said states should stop being under the illusion that they would make more money when they collect VAT.

Part of the proposal in the new bill changes the sharing formula of VAT, reducing the federal government’s share from 15 percent to 10 percent.

However, the proposed legislation includes a caveat that the allocation among states will consider the derivation principle, a proposal that was rejected by the Northern Governors Forum.

Currently, under Section 40 of the VAT Act, VAT revenue is allocated 15 per cent to the Federal Government, 50 per cent to the States and FCT, and 35 per cent to Local Governments.

Oyedele recalled that VAT was introduced in Nigeria in 1993 by the VAT Act No. 102 of 1993 as a replacement of the sales tax.

He said that despite the states’ government collecting sales tax at that time, there was no meaningful progress.

Oyedele explained: “Some states believe that if they can make VAT a state thing, they will make a lot of money. We all know that states like Rivers state went to court. Lagos state has been to court so many times, and Lagos has a VAT law. Rivers too has a VAT law. When I read those VAT laws, my heart broke. Those VAT laws are worse than when we introduced VAT in 1993.

“In 1986, the military introduced sales tax. Sales tax was collected by states. Five years later in 1991, no progress. They were struggling. Then the military set up a committee and that committee considered and said VAT is a better consumption tax for Nigeria but can’t work as state tax, it has to be collected centrally.

“So if there is any state that is under the illusion that they will start doing VAT at the state level, they will lose more than half of what they are getting now. When states start collecting VAT, all of us will be in trouble”.

The latest outlook report of the International Monetary Fund, IMF, for sub-Saharan Africa has indicated that the broad-based economic reforms embarked upon by the current federal government are still struggling for a positive impact, 18 months after commencement.

Also, stakeholders in the food sector have indicated that the reforms have failed to uplift the necessities of life in the country.

The IMF report rolled out yesterday acknowledged a few countries that have recorded little success in reforms but Nigeria was not mentioned, rather it mentioned Nigeria amongst those failing to meet desired results.

According to the report, the average economic growth rate in the region would remain at 3.6 per cent for the full year 2024, but Nigeria’s growth rate, put at 3.19 per cent, is below this average.

Presenting the report at the Lagos Business School, LBS, IMF Deputy Director, Catherine Patillo, indicated that macroeconomic imbalances in the region have started reducing with notable improvements in some countries, but she excluded Nigeria in the good news.

She stated: ‘‘More than two-thirds of countries have undertaken fiscal consolidation. With the median primary balance is expected to narrow by 0.7 percentage points alone in 2024. And these have included notable improvements in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Zambia, among others’’.

Further on the improving macroeconomic situations in the region, Patillo stated: ‘‘On the imbalances side, median inflation has declined in many countries. And it’s already within or below the target band in about half the countries’’.

But contrary to this position, Nigeria’s inflation which had slowed down in July and August returned to uptrend in September 2024 with further rise in October while analysts predict that November and December would sustain the uptrend.

Also at current 33.8 percent, Nigeria’s inflation rate is largely off the 21 percent target for 2024.

The IMF report actually mentioned Nigeria as one of the countries that have been unable to tame inflation.
She stated: ‘‘Inflation is still in double digits in almost one-third of countries, including Angola, Ethiopia, and Nigeria, and above target in almost half of the region, particularly where monetary policy is not anchored by exchange rate pegs’’.

Patillo further said that exchange rate was improving across most countries in the region. She stated: ‘‘Looking further at exchange rates, we do see that foreign exchange pressures have largely abated since the end of 2023’’.

But Nigeria has recorded the worse exchange rate instability and local currency depreciation so far this year.

The IMF report also highlighted the impact of debt burden on fiscal stability listing Nigeria amongst the suffering countries.

It stated: ‘‘Debt service capacity remains low by historical standards. In almost one-quarter of countries, interest payments exceed 20 percent of revenues, a threshold statistically associated with a high probability of fiscal stress. And rising debt service burdens are already having a significant impact on the resources available for development spending.

‘‘The median ratio of interest payments to revenues (excluding grants) currently stands at 12 percent. Some three-quarters have already witnessed an increase in interest payments (relative to revenue) since the early 2010s (comparing the 2010–14 average with the 2019–24 average). In Angola, Ghana, Nigeria, and Zambia, this increase in interest payments alone absorbed a massive 15 percent of total revenue’’.