Year-on-year Inflation & more –17th Aug 2023

Kedu from BA ! This is the Rorshok Nigeria Update from the 17th of August twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Nigeria

In a report released on Tuesday the 15th, the National Bureau of Statistics (best known as NBS) announced that Nigeria’s annual inflation has reached twenty-four percent. The latest figure is the seventh consecutive rise in the country’s inflation rate this year and is the highest in more than ten years. NBS also said that Lagos, Ondo, and Kogi residents paid more for food in July.

While we’re on the subject of the economy, the steady devaluation of the naira contributed to the outrageous increase in the cost of food and other services especially after President Tinubu announced the unification of all exchange rates. To address the steady decline, on Monday the 14th, the Central Bank of Nigeria (or CBN) said that new measures—that weren’t disclosed— will be taken to stabilize the naira against the dollar.

Speaking of the CBN, on Tuesday the 15th, the federal government said that it will file twenty fresh charges against Godwin Emefiele, the suspended governor of the bank. Recall that Emefiele has been entangled with the law ever since the president ordered an investigation in his office immediately after he was suspended. Earlier, the federal government made an application to withdraw the charge of “illegal possession of firearms” against Emefiele. Mohammed Abubakar, the director of public prosecution of the federation, said that the government decided to withdraw the charge because emerging facts that require further investigation sprung up. Although Abubakar refused to mention the nature of the additional charges that would be filed against the suspended CBN governor, he said the government was thinking about filing twenty charges.

The president has finally appointed new ministers! On Wednesday the 16th, his spokesperson released a list of forty-five confirmed ministers. Recall that last week, the nominees all appeared before the Senate for screening, however, three were not confirmed. Some notable names who made the cut and the sectors they’ll be heading include: Nyesom Wike, former governor of Rivers state, will be the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (best known as FCT), Festus Keyamo was appointed as the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Dave Umahi will be the Minister of Works, Betta Edu will serve as the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Social Welfare and Atiku Bagudu was appointed as the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning. The ministers are expected to be sworn in on Monday the 21st.

On Wednesday the 16th, the FCT command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (best known as NDLEA) said that it has intercepted over three thousand kg of “illicit drugs” between January and August twenty twenty-three. The NDLEA FCT commandant said that the seized drugs were worth over fifty-six million naira (about seventy-three thousand dollars) and that they included cannabis sativa, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, tramadol, rohypnol, diazepam, ecstasy, and megadon. Cannabis sativa accounted for the largest seizure.

In other news, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (best known as NNPC) Limited has secured a three billion dollar emergency crude repayment loan to support the naira and stabilize the foreign exchange market. On Wednesday the 16th NNPC Limited announced it had secured the crude-for-cash funding from the African Export-Import Bank headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. Although the details are still sketchy, TheCable, a Nigerian newspaper, says that the NNPC will repay the loan with crude oil at an interest rate between eight percent and eleven percent. The president’s spokesperson said that the loan will enable NNPC Limited to clear taxes and royalties in advance and provide the federal government with dollar liquidity to stabilize the naira through gradual incremental releases based on the federal government’s needs.

Meanwhile, on Monday the 14th, the court of appeal in Edo state affirmed Julius Abure as the national chairman of the Labour Party (or LP). Recall that there have been some disputes in the party over the leadership position. A court had restrained and arrested Abure to stop parading himself as the LP chairman. However, some party leaders challenged the ruling at a high court and subsequently, at a court of appeal.

In other interesting news, Nigeria has recorded significant progress in English proficiency. According to the latest ranking of countries and their proficiencies in the twenty twenty-two EF English Proficiency Index (or EF EPI) released on Monday the 14th, Nigeria ranked 28th in the world and third in Africa coming behind Kenya and South Africa!

Next, on Monday the 14th, Antony Blinken, United States secretary of state, commended Tinubu’s leadership of the Economic Community of West African States (or ECOWAS) on the situation in Niger. Blinken also said that it was important to maintain pressure on the new military government in Niger so that constitutional order can be restored.

ECOWAS, which Tinubu presides over as chairman, has led the international community in efforts to restore democracy to Niger after the coup that took place on the 26th of July. So far, ECOWAS has rolled out a number of sanctions on Niger including the closure of all land and air borders between ECOWAS member countries and Niger, and the suspension of financial and commercial transactions. Recall that Nigeria also cut the supply of electricity to the country as part of the ECOWAS sanctions. Blinken said that he discussed shared measures to respond to Niger’s situation with Tinubu.

Moving on, throughout last week, there has been a viral letter allegedly from the National Judicial Council (best known as NJC) saying it has transferred powers and functions regarding appointments and promotions of judges to state governors. The letter also stated that Umar Abubakar should be appointed as the substantive chief judge of Kebbi, and listed several key points regarding the order of seniority in the council. However in a statement on Sunday the 13th, the NJC said that the letter has “no iota of truth”. The NJC condemned the fact that some persons would go to great lengths to spread fake sensitive news and added that an investigation into the origin of the memo has begun.

On Monday the 14th, the National Emergency Management Agency (or NEMA) announced that nineteen states and fifty-six communities across the country are likely to witness heavy rainfall in August. NEMA said that this heavy rain can lead to flooding. Some of the states that could be affected include Delta, Ondo, Lagos, Anambra, Ogun, Nasarawa, Cross River, and Sokoto. The agency also advised airline operators to avail themselves of weather reports and periodic alerts from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency so as to decide whether their planes should fly or not.

In some environmental news, on Thursday the 10th, the Cross River government lifted the ban placed on logging in the state after fifteen years. The secretary to the state government said that the anti-deforestation task force on logging has also been dissolved and that the governor had approved all plans. He added that the state forestry commission should be informed of all farming and mining activities in the forest reserves for approval.

Let’s roll over to the fun side of things. Recall that there were rumors that Chidinma, the singer, had been romantically involved with Flavour and Kiss Daniel at different times. After so many years, the singer has now decided to talk about it! In an interview on Tuesday the 15th, Chidinma dismissed the rumors, saying that those kinds of false news always happen in the music industry. She said that she never thought she would have to address it because she was trying her best to avoid distractions and block out the noise. Well, for folks who have always wanted to know the truth, there you have it!

Aaaaand that’s it for this week! Thanks for joining us!

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