Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 29 November 2022
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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 29 November 2022
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ü Musk feuds with Apple over Twitter advertising
ü Crypto firm BlockFi files for bankruptcy after FTX collapse
ü Online Safety Bill: Plan to make big tech remove harmful content axed
ü South Africa turns to solar to help stop power cuts
ü Anglian Water fined £560k for sewage release in Essex waterway
ü North of England faces rail chaos, warns business lobby
ü Bridgnorth retailers discuss business improvement scheme
ü Norwich: City council bid to claw back £100K in Covid payments
ü Nigeria: Govt Banks On Energy Transition Plan to Pull 100m Nigerians Out of Poverty
ü Africa: With the right policies, the AfCFTA can drive Africa's industrialization
ü Nigeria: Inflation - Diesel Prices Rise By 215%, Gas 70.6 %, Petrol 17% in One Year
ü Nigeria Earned $741.48bn From Oil, Gas Sales in 21 Years - NEITI
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Musk feuds with Apple over Twitter advertising
Elon Musk has said Apple has halted most of its advertising on Twitter and accused the company of threatening to remove the platform from its app store.
The feud comes as many companies have halted spending on Twitter amid concerns about Mr Musk's content moderation plans for the site.
Apple has not responded to requests for comment from the BBC.
Mr Musk has said Twitter has seen a "massive" drop in revenue, blaming activists for pressuring advertisers.
In a series of Tweets on Monday, he accused Apple of "censorship" and criticised its policies, including the charge it levies on purchases made on its app store.
"Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter. Do they hate free speech in America?" he said.
He appealed directly to Apple's CEO - asking: "What's going on here @tim_cook?"
The owner of the social media platform also claimed Apple had threatened to withhold Twitter from its app store, but did not say why.
Mr Musk, who purchased Twitter for $44bn last month, is under pressure as some companies halt spending.
He has said he hopes to make money by turning Twitter verification into a paid subscription service, but currently the vast majority of the site's revenue comes from advertising.
The Washington Post reported Apple was the top advertiser on Twitter, spending $48m on ads on the social network in the first quarter of 2022.
Companies including Cheerios maker General Mills and Volkswagen are among the firms that have halted their spending in recent weeks.
Media Matters, a watchdog site, reported last week that half of Twitter's top advertisers had pulled their advertising on Twitter after concerns about the direction of Twitter.
Apple's media agency Omnicom recommended the Silicon Valley giant pause advertising on the platform out of concern for Apple's "brand safety", according to US tech site The Verge.-BBC
Crypto firm BlockFi files for bankruptcy after FTX collapse
The troubled crypto firm BlockFi has filed for bankruptcy in the US, as the dramatic collapse of FTX continues to reverberate across the industry.
The company had already halted most activity on its platform, citing "significant exposure" to FTX.
BlockFi said it was seeking court protection to restructure, settle its debts and recover money for investors.
BlockFi had received a rescue deal from FTX earlier this year as the values of cryptocurrencies plunged.
But FTX, a crypto exchange, ran into its own problems this month, as people rushed to pull money from the platform amid doubts about its finances.
Former boss Sam Bankman-Fried, the so-called "crypto king", resigned and the firm declared bankruptcy.
The collapse has shaken faith in the crypto industry and drawn scrutiny from regulators.
BlockFi, which offered loans and other financial services backed by borrowers' crypto assets, described the collapse of FTX as "shocking".
In a court filing, New Jersey-based BlockFi said it owed money to more than 100,000 creditors. It listed crypto exchange FTX as its second-largest creditor, with $275m owed on a loan extended earlier this year.
It also owes $30m to the US financial regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, which earlier this year found the firm had failed to properly register its products and misled the public about the risk levels in its loan portfolio and lending activity.
BlockFi said the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing would allow the firm to develop a "reorganization plan that maximizes value for all stakeholders, including our valued clients".
The company said it had almost $257m in cash on hand.
"From inception, BlockFi has worked to positively shape the cryptocurrency industry and advance the sector. BlockFi looks forward to a transparent process that achieves the best outcome for all clients and other stakeholders," said Mark Renzi of Berkeley Research Group, the company's financial advisor.
Founded in 2017, BlockFi had promoted itself as building a bridge between cryptocurrencies and traditional financial products.
It has won hundreds of millions of investment from big-name tech investors, including Bain Capital Ventures and Tiger Global, in recent years. Last year, as crypto values soared, it said it managed more than $15bn in assets.
It is not the only firm to be hit after cryptocurrency prices plunged earlier this year. The value of the most well-known digital currency, Bitcoin, dropped from more than $64,000 a year ago to less than $20,000 in June.
Celsius Network and Voyager Digital are among the other firms that have also filed for bankruptcy.
-BBC
Online Safety Bill: Plan to make big tech remove harmful content axed
Controversial measures which would have forced big technology platforms to take down legal but harmful material have been axed from the Online Safety Bill.
Critics of the section in the bill claimed it posed a risk to free speech.
Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan denied weakening laws protecting social media users and said adults would have more control over what they saw online.
The bill - which aims to police the internet - is intended to become law in the UK before next summer.
But some have criticised the latest changes, including Labour and the Samaritans who called it a hugely backward step.
Ian Russell, the father of teenager Molly Russell who ended her life after viewing suicide and self-harm content online, said the bill had been watered down and the decision may have been made for political reasons to help it pass more quickly.
The bill previously included a section which required "the largest, highest-risk platforms" to tackle some legal but harmful material accessed by adults.
It meant that the likes of Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, would have been tasked with preventing people being exposed to content like, for example, self-harm, eating disorder and misogynistic posts.
Instead, tech giants will be told to introduce a system allowing users more control to filter out harmful content they do not want to see.
Ms Donelan told the BBC the bill was not being watered down - and that tech companies had the expertise to protect people online.
"These are massive, massive corporations that have the money, the knowhow and the tech to be able to adhere to this," she said.
She warned that those who did not comply would face significant fines and "huge reputational damage".
Some critics of the provision in the bill have argued it opened the door for technology companies to censor legal speech.
It was "legislating for hurt feelings", former Conservative leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch said.
And in July, nine senior Conservatives, including former ministers Lord Frost, David Davis and Steve Baker, who has since returned to the government, wrote a letter to then Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, saying the provision could be used to clamp down on free speech by a future Labour government.
Adults will be able to access and post anything legal, provided a platform's terms of service allow it - although, children must still be protected from viewing harmful material.
Mr Davis told the BBC he was glad that the legal but harmful duties had been taken out the bill but he still had other "serious worries" about the threat to privacy and freedom of expression which could "undermine end-to-end encryption".
In some scenarios the bill permits the government to direct companies to use technology to examine private messages.
"I urge the government to accept the amendments in my name to fix these technology notices so that they no longer pose a threat to encryption, which we all rely on to keep safe online," he said.
Lucy Powell MP, Labour's shadow culture secretary, criticised the decision to remove obligations over "legal but harmful" material.
She said it gave a "free pass to abusers and takes the public for a ride" that it was "a major weakening, not strengthening, of the bill".
And the boss of charity the Samaritans, Julie Bentley, said "the damaging impact that this type of content has doesn't end on your 18th birthday".
"Increasing the controls that people have is no replacement for holding sites to account through the law and this feels very much like the Government snatching defeat from the jaws of victory."
But Ms Donelan told BBC News the revised bill offered "a triple shield of protection - so it's certainly not weaker in any sense".
This requires platforms to:
remove illegal content
remove material that violates their terms and conditions
give users controls to help them avoid seeing certain types of content to be specified by the bill
This could include content promoting eating disorders or inciting hate on the basis of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender reassignment- although, there will be exemptions to allow legitimate debate.
But the first two parts of the triple shield were already included in the draft bill.
At its heart this complicated bill has a simple aim: those things that are criminal or unacceptable in real life should be treated the same online.
But that means reining in the power of the big tech companies and bringing an end to the era of self-regulation.
Getting the bill this far has been a complex balancing act. Dropping the need to define what counts as "legal but harmful" content may have satisfied free speech advocates.
Including new criminal offences around encouraging self-harm or sharing deep fake porn could feel like a win for campaigners.
But it won't satisfy everyone - the Samaritans for example don't feel it adequately protects adults from harmful material.
The Molly Rose Foundation set up by Molly Russell's family believes the bill's been watered down. It's not about freedom of speech, it said in a statement, it's about the freedom to live.
And there's much about the bill that is still unclear.
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Internet safety campaigner Mr Russell told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think the most harmful content to [Molly] was content that could be described as legal but harmful."
He added: "It is very hard to understand that something that was important as recently as July, when the bill would have had a full reading in the Commons and was included in the bill, this legal but harmful content, it is very hard to understand why that suddenly can't be there."
Culture Secretary Ms Donelan told Today that "nothing is getting watered down or taken out" of the bill when it comes to children.
She added: "The content that Molly Russell saw will not be allowed because of this bill and there will no longer be cases like that coming forward because we're preventing that from happening."
Molly Russell
Campaign group the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) said platforms might feel "off the hook" because of the new focus on user controls "in place of active duties to deal with bad actors and dangerous content".
Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter indicated tough rules were needed, it said. Twitter recently reinstated a number of banned accounts, including that of Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, which had been suspended over anti-Semitic posts.
But CCDH chief executive Imran Ahmed added it was welcome the government "had strengthened the law against encouragement of self-harm and distribution of intimate images without consent".
It was recently announced that the encouragement of self-harm would be prohibited in the update to the Online Safety Bill.
Fine companies
Other changes will require technology companies to assess and publish the risk of potential harm to children on their sites.
Companies must also explain how they will enforce age limits - knowing users' ages will be a key part in preventing children seeing certain types of content.
And users' accounts must not be removed unless they have broken the law or the site's rules.
Tech policy expert at the Open Rights Group, Dr Monica Horten, said the bill lacked definition about how companies will know the age of their users.
"Companies are likely to use AI systems analysing biometric data including head and hand measurements, and voices," she said.
"This is a recipe for a gated internet, currently subject to minimal regulation and run by third-party private operators."
Much of the enforcement of the new law will be by communications and media regulator Ofcom, which will be able to fine companies up to 10% of their worldwide revenue.
It must now consult the victims' commissioner, the domestic-abuse commissioner and the children's commissioner when drawing up the codes technology companies must follow.-BBC
South Africa turns to solar to help stop power cuts
Young engineer Nolwazi Zulu says that when she was a teenager she decided that she would "go out and do something" about the regular power cuts that bedevil her community.
Now 25 years old, Ms Zulu is from rural Kwazulu-Natal on the eastern coast of South Africa.
Like the rest of the country her home province has had to endure frequent blackouts, called "load-shedding", since 2008.
This has been caused by South Africa's aging, state-owned power grid, and its mainly coal-fuelled power stations, struggling to keep up with demand.
To try to help solve the problem, and boost its environmental credentials, the South African government is now continuing with efforts to boost the amount of solar-power generation in the country. To do this it is encouraging firms in the sector to tender for contracts.
It currently wants to secure an additional 1,000 megawatts from solar power, enough to provide electricity for approximately one million homes in the country. This is in addition to a desire to boost onshore wind power generation by 1,600 megawatts.
Currently only 11% of South Africa's power comes from renewables, and mostly wind. Just 0.9% so far comes from solar, in a country that gets an average eight to 10 hours of sun every day, compared with the UK's four.
One firm that has won one of the solar bids is Art Solar, the only South African-owned solar panel manufacturer. The word Art stands for "African Renewable Technology".
It is at this company that Ms Zulu works in the design team as she continues to study for a diploma in electrical power engineering at the Durban University of Technology.
In addition to helping the national power grid, she says that solar panels can bring power to the many rural homes that aren't connected to the mains.
"I want to open an Art Solar branch in Ulundi [where she grew up], and bring solar to my village," says Ms Zulu. "It is cheaper and better than how we are living through load-shedding, and will change so many lives."
Durban-based Art Solar started 12 years ago, building solar panels under licence from German firm Bosch. It now manufacturers panels in partnership with fellow German company Talesun for both the South African and international markets.
General manager Viren Gosai says that the government's solar push has given the company the confidence to open a new facility that is capable of producing 650,000 panels per year.
It also supplies private homes and businesses, despite its panels being more expensive than lower-quality imports that don't face any import tariffs.
"Covid-19 and lockdowns were bad in many ways," says Mr Gosai. "But the one positive I noticed is that it made people patriotic.
"People want to buy local, rely on the resources at home, and are loyal."
Presentational grey line
New Tech Economy
New Tech Economy is a series exploring how technological innovation is set to shape the new emerging economic landscape.
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One high-profile recent contract for Art Solar was providing the solar panels last year for a private hospital in Durban. It means that the Ahmed Al-Kadi Hospital is protected from the risk of power cuts.
Up in East African countries including Tanzania, fellow solar energy firm Zola Electric has a solution to power supply that ignores national grids. Instead of connecting solar panel farms to nationwide power systems, it wants to create independent "mini-grids" for villages and other communities.
Zola's chief executive Bill Lenihan says we need to "move beyond legacy ways of thinking about energy access, especially in Africa".
He adds that in emerging markets, alongside moving from fossil fuels to renewables, people are thinking that having a single energy grid may not work.
"Everyone in their minds was saying: 'We're going to build a grid.' Well you are not building grids.
"One hundred years later in places like Africa people don't have access to working grids, and they are not going to get working grids, because it is a flawed technology for emerging markets. This isn't controversial to say this any more."
Back in South Africa, Jay Naidoo, a former government minister under Nelson Mandela, is a fan of the idea of such separate mini-grids for the 20% of South African households not connected to the grid of state energy firm Eskom.
Today he is a trustee and resident of the Earthrise Trust, an eco-farming project in rural Free State province.
"Our aim is to empower rural communities, particularly women and the youth contributing to economic growth," says Mr Naidoo. "Power though is still an issue, halting the prospects and self-sufficient nature of the farm.
"Imagine if we could have a community-owned, micro-solar grid and meet our own needs? It could electrify so many communities and create community-owned assets."
South African environmental campaigning organisation Earthlife Africa has been calling for more renewable power in the country for some time.
"We've missed out on investing in solar," says Earthlife director Makoma Lekalakala. "We would be beyond the [power cuts] crisis if we had."
"Instead we have leaned into the narrative that we have coal, and coal is the baseline."
South Africa should have moved towards solar "long ago", she says, adding: "We have wasted a lot of time and disregarded the climate commitments we made in international spaces."
South Africa's Department of Mining Resources and Energy did not respond to a request for a comment.
As Art Solar plans a big increase in production, Ms Zulu says she is thrilled that the company is indeed now planning to open a branch in her local community.
Meanwhile, Mr Gosai says he is confident for the future of solar power in the country. "The light is amazing in South Africa, a lot of daylight hours means a high return on investment. [And] our people back us."-BBC
Anglian Water fined £560k for sewage release in Essex waterway
A water company said it "deeply regretted" failures that resulted in the release of millions of litres of sewage into a river and a £536,000 fine.
Anglian Water admitted failures in managing its water recycling centre near Brentwood in Essex.
The pollution killed fish along a 3km (1.8 miles) stretch of the River Wid in 2018, the Environment Agency said.
District Judge Sam Goozee described Anglian Water's record as "lamentable".
The offence of causing water discharge activity took place between 27 September and 2 October 2018.
Chelmsford Magistrates' Court was told a fault in an aeration process at the Doddinghurst water recycling centre at Wyatts Green meant 3.9 million litres of sewage was discharged into Doddinghurst Brook - a tributary of the River Wid.
It went unchecked for nearly three days, damaging the river's ecosystem and killing a number of a protected fish species, including the freshwater bullhead, the agency said.
It added that the pollution could been avoided had Anglian Water spent £205 on software for an early alarm system.
It was the second time in six months that Anglian Water had been fined for polluting the same stretch, the agency said.
The water company, whose headquarters are in Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, was also ordered to pay costs of £27,439.21 and a victim surcharge of £170.
Environment Agency officer Gavin Senior said the public demanded tough action when it came to water quality.
"The invertebrate and fish population in this area, including a protected species, suffered significantly because of this sewage pollution and it took time for the local ecosystem to recover," he said.
In a statement, Anglian Water said it "deeply regretted any negative impact" and had donated £60,000 to the Essex and Suffolk Rivers Trust.
"We take our duty of care to the environment incredibly seriously .. and find it deeply distressing when incidents like this occur," the company said.
"We know there's no room for complacency, and we're absolutely determined to improve further and progress towards achieving our zero pollutions goal."-BBC
North of England faces rail chaos, warns business lobby
Business leaders in the north of England are warning rail services could "collapse into utter chaos" by January unless the government takes action.
Members of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership have written to ask the transport secretary to address a crisis they say is "wreaking havoc".
Rail travel in northern England has been severely disrupted in recent months by strikes and cancellations.
The government agreed the current situation was "unacceptable".
It said it was "investing billions" in northern transport and was "working closely with train operators" to resolve problems around the recruitment of new drivers.
But Juergen Maier, former chief executive of Siemens UK and a vice chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said the government had failed to "use the levers only it can pull, to sort out or train services".
Although train travel has been disrupted across the whole of the UK this year, northern operators, including Avanti West Coast and TransPennine Express have come under particular scrutiny.
Passengers to, from and across the region have faced reduced timetables, crowded services, last-minute cancellations and delays.
The Northern Powerhouse Partnership said recruitment of new train drivers, one source of the disruption, was held back by the failure to agree new overtime working arrangements at some rail operators, including at TransPennine.
They called on the government to open the way for new "rest day working" arrangements. Drivers at most operators can choose to work on their days off - or "rest days" - when they are expected to give training and be on standby to cover drivers who call off sick.
TransPennine had a rest day working agreement in place until last autumn, but it has not been able to agree on new terms with its drivers since then. That leaves the operator more at risk of last-minute cancellations.
"We are not able to continue as we are," said Mr Maier. "If we do not get approval for a rest day working agreement to be negotiated this week it will be too late."
Without a new agreement the system would collapse into "utter chaos", he said.
Cancellations have already cut off the Humber for "days at a time" and reduced access to Manchester Airport, forcing people into their cars instead, the Northern Powerhouse Partnership said.
'Havoc'
Transport Secretary Mark Harper, who is due to meet city mayors from across the region later this week, said services would be improved by having "a proper seven-day railway".
"We have days in the week when train services are completely dependent on the goodwill of people coming in to work on their days off. That isn't how you run a modern railway that people depend on for running their daily lives," he said.
In their letter to Mr Harper, the vice chairs of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, Mr Maier, and crossbench peer Lord Jim O'Neill, said the situation was already "wreaking havoc on the northern economy".
TransPennine apologised for the disruption and said work was continuing to address the impact of sickness and a shortage of drivers, which would normally have been significantly mitigated by rest day working arrangements.
"We are sorry to anyone who has been affected by this ongoing disruption," a spokesperson said. "This has been caused by high levels of traincrew sickness, an intensive crew training programme (which includes a training backlog as a direct result of Covid), and infrastructure issues outside of our control."
The operator said it had invested in a fleet of new trains and now had 70 more drivers than the 500 it had in 2019.-BBC
Bridgnorth retailers discuss business improvement scheme
Retailers from a town in Shropshire are in talks over creating a Business Improvement District (BID).
Some businesses in a BID area would be asked to pay a levy for services such as maintenance and marketing.
Sally Themans of Love Bridgnorth, a Facebook group which helps promote the town, said proposals were at "very, very early stages".
"This is purely an exploratory time at the moment," she said.
Similar schemes currently run in Shrewsbury and Oswestry in the county, with dozens more in towns across the UK.
A meeting was attended by Shropshire County Council and "a good array of Shropshire businesses," said Ms Themans.
One of the advantages of the scheme would be "having someone full time and dedicated" to promoting the town, she said.
But she added: "Should we be asking hard-strapped businesses, whether they're large or small, to pay a levy, which is how a BID works?"
A decision on whether the scheme goes ahead was purely down to the businesses, she explained.
Brian Millington, of Our Green Shop, said it would "clearly be an opportunity for retailers and businesses to sit together and come up with some solutions to how Bridgnorth does business".
Charlie Butler, from Pamper that Pooch, said he had recently counted 15 empty shops in the town.
The BID levy would not affect him due to the rateable value of his shop, he explained, but businesses could voluntarily pay into to the scheme.
"But with the current climate of utility bills, I don't think that's going to get a lot of enthusiasm for voluntary donations," he added.
Jessica Lewis, of Mike and Sarah's butchers, said retailers were already paying business rates and questioned whether they should be asked to pay additional funds towards the BID.
"We need to get our priorities right," she said.
"It's more things like the roads the parking and everything else that needs to be sorted first."-BBC
Norwich: City council bid to claw back £100K in Covid payments
A council is fighting to claw back almost £100,000 claimed fraudulently or in error during the Covid crisis.
Norwich City Council said the money was intended to help struggling businesses at the height of the pandemic.
A total of £743,822 was paid out in error, it said, with 13 people claiming money fraudulently.
The authority had successfully reclaimed £652,146, leaving £91,676 still unaccounted for, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported.
Fraudulent claims included cases where there was no eligibility but the grant had been paid "in good faith", the council said.
A further 92 grants were paid in error, including situations where there were "grey areas" in the guidance, and it was subsequently discovered a business could not have a grant.
Taxpayer left to pay billions due to Covid fraud, say MPs
The total lost amounted to less than one per cent of the total paid out in Norwich, which came to £75.8m.
The council refused to share any information about whether the cases of fraud had been passed on to the police.
While the money was handed out by local authorities, it came from central government and should not affect council budgets, it said.
The Norwich cash is a fraction of the cash being reclaimed nationally, with almost £1.5bn expected to be recovered by the end of the financial year 2022-23.
Lenders also stopped almost £2.2bn of potentially fraudulent claims for the separate Bounce Back loan scheme - and another £743m for schemes like Eat Out to Help Out.
If the council fails to recover the support grant cash the case can be passed back on to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) which will continue the enforcement process.
Green councillor Ben Price, chair of the audit committee at Norwich City Council, said: "The council operated in a very professional and diligent manner under extreme circumstances working to fulfil the guidance laid down by central government.
"Ultimately any system is open to abuse and I believe the council has done its due diligence to minimise that and recoup any potential losses due to fraud.
"We had to get money into the hands of people under financial constraints during the pandemic as soon as possible."_BBC
Nigeria: Govt Banks On Energy Transition Plan to Pull 100m Nigerians Out of Poverty
For the umpteenth time, the federal government has hinged its target of pulling 100 million Nigerians from the shackles of poverty on the implementation of Nigeria's Energy Transition Plan (ETP).
The Minister of State for Power, Mr. Goddy Jedy-Agba, stated this yesterday, at the Nigeria Energy Forum (NEF2022), which was held virtually, insisting that delivering net-zero target required $1.9 trillion spending up to 2060.
Also at the forum, the European Union (EU) promised to support Nigeria in its energy transition plan by contributing some €400 million worth of projects and programmes to achieve the plan.
The minister stated that aside pulling 100 million Nigerians out of poverty, the ETP would also help to drive economic growth of the country.
"It will also bring modern energy services to the full population and managing the expected long-term job loss in the oil sector due to global decarbonisation. The plan focuses on the rapid build out of sustainable energy systems to tackle energy poverty in the nation," Jeddy-Agba added.
He explained that in designing the plan, key targets from relevant policies and initiatives such as the 2020 Economic Sustainability Plan, the Nigeria Electrification Project, the National Decarbonisation Programme, and the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) would be met.
He said the plan had been approved by the Federal Executive Council and adopted as national policy, noting that an Energy Transition Implementation Working Group (ETWG) had been established to drive the implementation of the ETP along with key international partners.
The ETWG, he said is chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and made up of several key ministers including the Ministers of Environment, Finance, Works and Housing, Petroleum Resources, Foreign Affairs, and Power.
"The Working Group and its secretariat, the Energy Transition Office, have been engaging with in-country stakeholders, development partners, financiers and the international community for the delivery of the plan," the minister said.
He added that the ETP analysis showed that delivering Nigeria's net-zero target required $1.9 trillion spending up to 2060, including $410 billion above business-as-usual spending.
Earlier, the Team Lead, Green Economy Co-operation Section, European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ms. Inga Stefanowicz, said Nigeria was not standing alone in this ongoing transition.
She said the EU would contribute some €400 million worth of projects and programmes to the ETP, explaining that, "This amount may seem modest when compared with the needs and the ETP estimates, but it is also the role of our funds to act as catalysers of change, reforms, private sector and international development finance investment.
"We are proud to have achieved such positive spillovers for Nigeria already and we look forward to working together more."
The Chairman of NEF 2022, Dr. Daniel Adeuyi, said, "practical actions on project financing, people development and policy implementation must progress at pace to achieve the target of 30GW installed generation capacity by 2030 with 30 per cent share of renewable energy Nigeria."
He said the NEF2022 webcast was focused on capacity building for energy professionals, policy makers, business leaders and consumers.
Adeuyi said that it demonstrated cross-industry collaboration and contributions towards ensuring a sustainable, just and people-centric energy transition.
-This Day.
Africa: With the right policies, the AfCFTA can drive Africa's industrialization
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will spur Africa’s industrialisation and deepen regional integration provided the continent institutes supportive policy reforms and foster trade, experts predict.
The AfCFTA which entered into force in May 2019, is the world’s largest free trade area and a single market for goods and services of almost 1.3 billion people across 55 countries in Africa. The trade area aims to reduce tariffs among members and covers policy areas such as trade facilitation and services, sanitary standards and technical barriers to trade.
Speaking at a panel discussion on Industrializing Africa: Renewed commitment to inclusive and sustainable growth, trade and economic experts noted that Africa can leverage the AfCFTA to drive its industrialization and economic transformation by implementing the right trade measures.
The discussion, hosted by the International Growth Centre and the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa at the London School of Economics and Political Science, was part of events to mark the Africa Industrialisation Week 2022. It explored key questions regarding the industrialisation strategies that different African countries have adopted and on how the AfCFTA will influence industrialization strategies that contribute to poverty reduction and environmentally sound industrial development in Africa.
Contributing to the discussion, Mr. Stephen Karingi, Director, Regional Integration & Trade Division at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) said the African Union Summit on Industrialization and Economic Diversification, hosted by the Republic of the Niger from 20-25 November 2022, discussed industrialization on the continent extensively. Key discussion themes included the question of regional value chains and special economic zones, standards and quality policy, decarbonisation and industrialization.
“There is consensus that one of the key reasons we have the AfCFTA was basically to foster industrialization and transformation of the continent. The questions is how do we do that,” Mr. Karingi told the panel discussion moderated by Mr. David Luke, Professor in Practice and Strategic Director at the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa.
Describing the questions of creating regional value chains are critical, Mr. Karingi said while African countries had committed to tariff reduction and removing non-tariff barriers to boost inter-African trade, AfCFTA sought to exploit the comparative advantages in the different African economies.
“There is a question of how do you have regional value chains that allow you to get intermediate inputs from other African countries considering that today a lot of the raw materials that are being used in most of the global value chains are normally coming from the continent,” said Mr. Karingi, remarking that special economic zones were a perfect tool to promote regional value chains.
“The African consumer is as demanding as any other consumer outside Africa and so it is important for African consumers to be able to demand and buy what is produced under the industrialization agenda of the continent,” Mr. Karingi said, noting that with some African manufacturers being uncompetitive, the AfCFTA was an opportunity to trade in services.
According to the World Bank, the AfCFTA is a major opportunity for countries to boost growth, reduce poverty, and broaden economic inclusion by lifting an estimated 30 million Africans out of extreme poverty and boost the incomes of nearly 68 million others. Furthermore, implementing the trade area would boost Africa’s income by $450 billion by 2035 and increase Africa’s exports by $560 billion, mostly in manufacturing and agro processing.
Mr. Olawale Ogunkola, Professor of Economics, Department of Economics at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, said by all indicators industrialisation was still low in Africa as some policies and strategies that would foster value addition were not effective as were established special economic zones.
“We moved to export strategies but we are yet to take off in terms of increasing manufacturing value addition not only for our benefit but to address some of the basic things we think will help us in terms of development,” said Mr. Ogunkola.
“For some countries economic zones are like military zones, keep off. They are so disconnected from the domestic economy,” charged Mr. Ogunkola, calling for special economic zones to be connected to the economy of host countries in terms of sourcing of inputs and skills training. He added that an integrated kind of approach and policy coherence were key in making special economic zones relevant.
While, Ms. Fatima Haram Acyl, Vice-President, Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) said the ACFTA is an enabler of employment opportunities but it must be inclusive of women who make up half of the population on the continent and constitute 58 of self employed people yet they suffer from gender wage gap.
“If we are serious about our development we cannot operate at half of our capacity. We need to include women all over and we need to empower them … policy makers need to be deliberate and intentional with regard to complementary policies in higher education with emphasis on STEM,” said Ms. Acyl.
Commenting on the financing gap for infrastructure development in Africa, the panelists felt that integration was key to infrastructure financing. Multilateral finance institutions should be part of the free trade area and countries need to enhance their capacity to come up with bankable projects that will attract funding.
The African Development Bank estimates that Africa needs $170 billion a year for infrastructural financing with an estimated gap of about $100 billion.
Mr. Karingi noted that involving the private sector was one way of fixing the infrastructure financing gap as well as tapping innovative finance through instruments such as carbon credits.
Nigeria: Inflation - Diesel Prices Rise By 215%, Gas 70.6 %, Petrol 17% in One Year
Nigerians continued to grapple with growing energy prices caused by the challenges in the global oil and gas industry, the Russia-Ukraine war as well as local distortions in Nigeria's petroleum transportation and supply infrastructure in October, latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), has shown.
According to the NBS numbers, the average retail price of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) or diesel used by many Nigerian businesses to power their generating plants in the absence of reliable power supply in October 2022 was N801.09 per litre.
This represents an increase of 215.30 per cent paid by individuals and businesses, from N254.07 per litre recorded in the corresponding month of the previous year, that is 2021.
The implication is that there has been no respite for Nigerians and their businesses in the last one year, with skyrocketing energy costs, food prices as well as transportation bills, a development that has in turn led to increasing inflation.
The problem has been further exacerbated by the country's inability to refine products locally as well as the impact of a tumbling naira exchange rate to the American dollar.
While the government has retained subsidy payment on petrol, it has deregulated the prices of diesel, gas and kerosene, essentially leaving the rates to market forces.
But on a month-on-month basis, diesel increased by 1.42 per cent from N789.90 per litre reported in September 2022, the report stated.
On state profile analysis, the highest average price of the product in October 2022 was recorded in Ebonyi with N858.33, followed by Bauchi with N857.50, and Plateau with N856.25.
On the other hand, the lowest price was recorded in Akwa Ibom with N748.18, followed by Benue with N750.00 and Edo with N765.91. Furthermore, analysis by zone showed that the North-central had the highest price with N818.41, while the South-south recorded the lowest price with N774.96.
In the same vein, the average retail price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) or cooking gas on a year-on-year basis, rose by 70.62 per cent from N2,627.94 in October 2021.
However, it increased by 0.21 per cent on a month-on-month basis from N4,474.48 recorded in September 2022 to N4,483.75 in October 2022.
On state profile analysis, Kwara recorded the highest average price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of cooking gas, with N4,955.00, followed by Niger with N4,950.00, and Adamawa with N4,940.29.
On the other hand, Abia recorded the lowest price with N4,045.45, followed by Kano and Delta with N4,100.00 and N4,139.29 respectively.
In addition, analysis by zone showed that the North-central recorded the highest average retail price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of gas with N4,726.07, followed by the North-east with N4,577.86, while the South-south recorded the lowest with N4,275.92.
According to the data, the average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of cooking gas, increased by 1.45 per cent on a month-on-month basis from N9,906.44 in September 2022 to N10,050.53 in October 2022.
On a year-on-year basis, this rose by 51.40 per cent from N6,638.27 in October 2021. On state profile analysis, Cross River recorded the highest average retail price for the refilling of a 12.5kg Cylinder of cooking gas, with N10,986.11, followed by Oyo with N10,826.56 and Kogi with N10,783.33.
Conversely, the lowest average price was recorded in Yobe with N8,533.33, followed by Sokoto and Katsina with N9,100.00 and N9,202.86 respectively.
As for petrol, the average retail price paid by consumers for October 2022 was N195.29, indicating a 17.93 per cent increase when compared to the value recorded in October 2021 (N165.60).
Likewise, comparing the average price value with the previous month, that is September 2022, the average retail price increased by 1.90 per cent from N191.65.
On a state-wide analysis, Kebbi state had the highest average retail price for petrol with N211.00, followed by Kano with N210.14 and Gombe with N210.00.
On the other hand, Sokoto had the lowest average retail price for the product with N185.00, followed by Taraba with N185.42 and Abia with N186.56.
In addition, analysis by zone for the product showed that the North-west recorded the highest average retail price in October 2022 with N198.28, while the South-west had the lowest with N192.42.
Meanwhile, the NBS has said that Nigeria's oil sector contributed 5.66 per cent to the country's total real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Q3 2022.
The 5.66 per cent recorded in Q3/2022 is down from the figures recorded in the corresponding period of 2021 and the preceding quarter, where it contributed 7.49 per cent and 6.33 per cent respectively.
For about a year, Nigeria has been unable to meet its Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) allocation as it continues to battle massive crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism.
0This Day.
Nigeria Earned $741.48bn From Oil, Gas Sales in 21 Years - NEITI
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative ((NEITI) has said that the country earned N741.48 billion from oil and gas sales between 1999 and 2020, a period of 21 years.
The Executive Secretary of the organisation, Dr Ogbonnaya Orji, who made the assertion at a stakeholders' engagement forum on the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in Abuja, further revealed that NEITI had conducted and published 25 cycles of audit reports in the oil and gas sector, covering the same period.
Orji said that from the reports, the amount accrued to the Nigerian government from the oil and gas sector during the period, stressing that NEITI had recently embarked on an expansion of its operations to support government's revenue growth plan.
"The 2021 oil and gas sector audit is currently ongoing and will soon be released," Orji added.
"This is guided by a five-year strategic plan (2022-2026) which will enable the agency to establish a presence and operate at sub-national levels to support government's revenue growth plan and resources mobilisation," he explained.
He expressed delight that NEITI's reports had led to the recovery of several billions of dollars by government from companies operating in the sector.
According to him, the recommendations made by NEITI in its reports also triggered huge reforms in the sector.
Orji assured that NEITI would provide the information and data in the oil and gas sector that would help the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC), of which it is a member, to effectively implement the PIA.
He added: "As an agency charged with promoting transparency and accountability in the extractive sector, NEITI has responsibility to facilitate and strengthen participation by diverse stakeholders for a successful implementation of the PIA."
While emphasising the need for effective implementation of the PIA, Orji noted that the PIA provided wider roles for NEITI in Nigeria's oil and gas sector, clearly spelling out the need for transparency and accountability.
"Therefore, the implementation of the Act and full operationalisation of its provisions are of great interest to NEITI and its stakeholders.
"NEITI has been working with relevant stakeholders and leveraging on our experience and exposure in the oil and gas sector to ensure that the implementation of the PIA delivers its objective and desired results," Orji said.
Orji said the programme was designed to provide a platform for stakeholders, and state and non-state actors to discuss and engage with the process of PIA implementation and make meaningful contributions, explaining that it will also serve as a platform to update the public and galvanise the needed public support for the implementation of PIA.
According to him, the primary responsibility of the steering committee was to guide the effective and timely implementation of the PIA and ensure that the new institutions created are fully prepared and positioned to deliver on their mandates under the new legislation.
As an agency with the mandate to promote transparency and accountability in the extractive sectors, with a multi-stakeholders platform for dialogue on natural resources governance, NEITI, he said, has a huge responsibility to facilitate and strengthen the participation of diverse stakeholders for a successful implementation of the PIA.
" So far, NEITI has conducted and published 25 cycles of audit reports in the oil and gas sector, covering the period 1999-2020. From the report, a total of $741.48 billion was recorded as revenue earnings to government coffers from the sector.
"Besides, NEITI reports have led to the recovery of several billions of dollars by the government from companies operating in the sector. Recommendations of our reports are also triggering huge reforms in the sectors, one of which is the PIA we are discussing here today," he added.
In his remarks, Chairman of NEITI's Governing Board, Mr Olusegun Adekunle, said the board has resolved to prepare NEITI to deliver on Nigeria's international obligations and meet Nigerians' expectations on transparency and accountability.
Adekunle said the move was expected to position Nigeria to attract the much-needed Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in the oil and gas sector while supporting her revenue growth plan and resource mobilisation.
"The board resolved to prepare NEITI to deliver on Nigeria's international obligation and meet citizens' expectations on the twin components of transparency and accountability and to position Nigeria to attract the much-needed foreign direct investment in the sector while supporting Nigeria's revenue growth plan and resource mobilisation," he stated.
-This Day.
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