Day: April 25, 2023

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) says it has so far spent over 1.1 billion dollars on the ongoing construction of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline and Station project from its cash-flow.

The NNPC Limited GCEO, Malam Mele Kyari said this on Monday while touring some of its project sites in Kogi, with newsmen and other stakeholders.

Kyari was accompanied by some top officials of the NNPC Limited and Oilserv Limited, (Pipelines and Facilities), the contractor of the project.

Kyari said the company would continue to fund the massive project which it was delivering in phases and has been active even though it did not have third party finance for the project.

“So far, NNPC Ltd has funded over 1.1billion dollars on the project and to date none of the project activities is abandoned as reported and we reassure all stakeholders that we have a line of sight to project delivery on schedule.

“NNPC Limited remains highly committed towards the delivery of strategic National infrastructure projects through responsive project delivery, active collaboration with government security agencies and communities as well as deployment of technology for delivering the project.

“This is is one of the most massive projects of proportion value to our country for economic growth. It is a must-deliver project and we have continued to fund in spite of not having third party finance support, we will deliver this project.

“We do not owe a dollar to our contractors, there are over 30 sites that are active today in this project, we are very hopeful and optimistic to deliver this project,” he assured.

The GCEO decried the fact that due to insecurity, it had lost some site workers thereby expressed sadness over thier demise and consoled their families whom he said the company shared in their grief.

He said 70 per cent of the welding work had been completed adding that once welding was completed, it could actually flow gas through the pipeline.

He said on completion the pipeline would deliver two billon cubic feet of gas, powering industries, powering power plants and creating gas based industries.

He said the entire welding work would be completed by the third quarter of 2023 then it would actually energise the pipeline.

Kyari further said that the gas pipeline was projected to support power plants with a total of 3,645 Mega Watts, adding that it would soon begin constrution of Abuja- Kaduna power plants in ernest.

Earlier, Mr Steve Nnorom, Project Manager, Oilserv Ltd explained that there were three schematic of the pipeline and station installations which included Brovo, Chalie and Alpha spread segment, that showed progress of the project.

He said they were currently doing full auto welding, completed 73 per cent of its mainland welding works and had done 222 kilo metres remaining 27 kilo metres of welding work to complete.

“We are crossing rivers, railway, existing pipelines. We have other sites where various work activities are ongoing, our target is that concurrently all works will be going on at different spread,” he said

Nnorom, while noting that the project has been active and fully financed said that it has purely 100 per cent Nigerian workers.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) between April 10 and April 16 converged on Washington DC for their Annual Spring meetings.

The meetings brought together central banks, international financial institutions, ministers of finance and development, private sector executives, representatives from civil society organisations, and academics to discuss global economy issues.

It held amidst international efforts to stimulate global economy dampened by post-COVID-19 crisis, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, food shortages and climate-related challenges.

The meeting focused on agriculture and food insecurity, economic recovery, increasing fragility, conflict, and violence, climate change and debt, empowering women entrepreneurs, and the importance of private capital in sustainable development, among others.

The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook Update Report for April 2023: “A Rocky Recovery”, released at the meetings shows global growth is projected to bottom out at 2.8 per cent in 2023 before rising modestly to 3.0 per cent in 2024.

The report showed that advanced economies were expected to see a growth slowdown from 2.7 per cent in 2022 to 1.3 per cent in 2023.

While the outlook growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is expected to slow to 3.6 per cent in 2023 as a “big funding squeeze”, tied to the drying up of aid and access to private finance, hits the region.

The report said the slowdown and subsequent rebound to 4.2 per cent in 2024 in SSA was in line with global recovery, subsiding inflation, and a winding down in monetary policy tightening.

According to the report, this will be the second consecutive year that SSA will record a lower rate of growth than the previous year.

Abebe Selassie, Director, African Department, IMF, while speaking at the new conference on the SSA Regional Economic Outlook during the meetings, said some countries, particularly those in the East African Community bloc, or non-oil resource-intensive countries, were expected to fare better.

He said Nigeria’s economy, a major oil exporter in Africa, was expected to grow by 3.2 per cent in 2023, down from 3.6 per cent in 2022, and projected growth to slow to 3.0 in 2024.

“The rapid tightening of global monetary policy has raised borrowing costs for SSA countries both on domestic and international markets.

“All Sub-Saharan African frontier markets have been cut off from market access since Spring 2022?, he said.

Selassie said the US dollar effective exchange rate reached a 20-year high last year, increasing the burden of dollar-denominated debt service payments.

He also said if measures were not taken, the” funding squeeze” will hamper Sub-Saharan’s efforts to build a skilled and educated population and to be the driving force of the global economy in years to come.

“First, it is important to consolidate public finances and strengthen public financial management amid difficult funding conditions.

“Second is containing inflation. Monetary policy should be steered cautiously until inflation is firmly on a downward trajectory and projected to return to the central bank’s target range.

“Third is allowing the exchange rate to adjust, while mitigating the adverse effects on the economy, including the rise in inflation and debt due to currency depreciations”, he said.

World Economic Outlook, April 2023: A Rocky Recovery

World Economic Outlook April 2023. Source: International Monetary Fund.

Mr David Malpass, World Bank Group President, said the diversion of natural gas to Europe presented grave obstacles to developing countries’ production of electricity, fertilizer, and food.

“These problems are severely constraining future growth and deepening inequality and fragility for developing countries.

“I travelled to West Africa in March, where we are working to provide support in the face of these problems”, he said.

Malpsss, during a news conference in the course of the meetings called on the incoming government in Nigeria to tackle trade protection that blocks importation; address dual exchange rates; and diversify the economy to achieve shared prosperity and sustainable growth.

The Bank’s President said in the Group’s forecast, Nigeria’s growth was 3.3 per cent in 2022 and 2.8 per cent in 2023.

Malpass went on to advise policymakers in Nigeria and other SSA countries to focus on policies that would enhance inclusive growth.

Ms Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, IMF, and Mr Olavo Correia, Cape Verde’s Finance Minister and Chair of the African Caucus in a joint statement after the meetings, said strengthening social protection is key to Africa’s development.

They also said leveraging digital infrastructure, such as mobile phone platforms, could help to increase efficiency and ensure social support was well targeted to the most vulnerable.

The group said in shock-prone environments such as Africa building resilience, including to climate change, remained fundamental.

“Mobilising additional external financing to support the recovery remains critical”, they said.

Georgieva said IMF was aware of the implications of external debt on the economy of African nations particularly the SSA countries would continue to provide technical assistance to them to mitigate the impact.

“The IMF continues to explore ways to make debt resolution more efficient. To this end, the IMF, together with the World Bank and the India G20 Presidency, have launched a Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable.

“The IMF remains steadfastly committed to the region and continues to work towards ensuring that its concessional lending toolkit for low-income countries is flexible, effective, and well-resourced.

“The Resilience and Sustainability Trust is now operational, providing longer-term affordable financing to address longer-term challenges, including climate change and pandemic preparedness.

“Rwanda is one of the first beneficiaries, with several other countries in the pipeline”, she said.

Nadia Calviño, the Chair of the International Monetary and Financial Committee said the meetings resolved enhanced commitment by members to ” coordinate our economic policies and to reinforce our global financial safety net.

“The meetings also resolved to work together in a constructive manner to deliver on our shared roadmap as we start the road to the Annual Meetings in Marrakesh.

The meetings have outlined and suggested pragmatic policies for the SSA region to cushion the effects of the global crisis as well as build external resilience and ensure sustainable growth.

Experts say the onus is on the governments and policymakers in the region to tailor these policies based on their peculiar challenges to steer the continent on the right economic trajectory.

They say it is also important for Bretton Woods Institutions to effectively implement resolutions at their meeting to stimulate economic growth and alleviate poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa countries. (NANFeatures)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Experts in the health sector have urged government and healthcare providers in the private sector, to take advantage of opportunities presented by technologies to boost healthcare delivery in the country.

This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja on Monday by Oluwakemi Eluma, Finance and Compliance Manager, ACIOE associates limited.

Eluma said that the advice was part of the resolutions by experts at a webinar on Human Resources for Health Challenges and Universal Coverage in Nigeria.

It was organised by ACIOE Associates in collaboration with ACOE Foundation.

She said healthcare providers should leverage on and “enhance digital health to improve telemedicine in Nigeria’.

The manager said the participants also advocated increased government spending and private sector support.

“This will include closing the existing gaps by reforming suitable monetary and nonmonetary incentive packages to encourage qualified health workers to work in rural and remote areas”, Eluma said.

On the manpower deficit in the health sector, Eluma said the participants urged both the private and public sectors to attract more experts to train more healthcare workers to match up with the population.

She said they also urged increased capacity of training institutions and streamlining admission criteria.

“Current statistics reveals that one doctor is available to treat 30,000 patients in some southern parts of Nigeria, while states in the north are as bad as one doctor to 45,000 patients.

“WHO recommended that the appropriate ratio of people to doctors is 1: 100.

“We have to adopt transformative strategies in the scale-up of health workers education and strengthen the capacity and quality of health training institutions through accreditation”, she said.

She reckoned that investments in health workers from the public and private sectors should align with population health needs and health system demands.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria