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Tag: April

  • Inflation dropped to 12.48% in April – NBS

    Inflation dropped to 12.48% in April – NBS

    The National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday released the Consumer Price Index which measures inflation, with the index dropping from 13.34 per cent in March to 12.48 per cent in April.

    The bureau said this in the CPI report, made available to our correspondent in Abuja.

    The bureau, in the report, said this was the 15th consecutive months that the inflation rate would be experiencing continuous decline.

    The report reads in part, “The Consumer Price Index which measures inflation increased by 12.48 per cent (year-on-year) in April 2018.

    “This is 0.86 per cent points less than the rate recorded in March 2018 (13.34) per cent and represents the fifteenth consecutive disinflation since January 2017.

    “On a month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 0.83 per cent in April 2018, up by 0.01 per cent points from the rate recorded in March.”

  • Police speak on short salary payment to officers in April

    The Nigeria Police said that the salary short payment for some personnel, for April was due to system error.

    The Force spokesman, ACP Jimoh Moshood, in a statement in Abuja on Friday, said that the force in conjunction with Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation,(OAGF) would resolve the problem.

    “All other issues relating to payment of salary to police personnel are being addressed.

    “The affected personnel will, according to OAGF, get the salary differential paid on or before Monday, May 7,”he said.

    He advised affected officers not to panic, adding that the Force was doing everything possible, in conjunction with OAGF, to ensure that all the identified problems in the payment were permanently resolved.

    Some personnel of the force claimed that they were short paid by the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).

     

  • FAAC: FG, States, LGs settle differences with NNPC; share N626.8b for April

    The federal government, states and local governments shared N626.8 billion for the month of April.

    Ahmed Idris, the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), said this on Thursday in Abuja, while briefing Journalists on the outcome of the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting.

    Giving a breakdown of the revenue accrued in March, Mr Idris said N480.59 billion was received as gross statutory revenue, lower than N557.94 billion received in March by N77.34 billion.

    He said the reduction in revenue was due to a decrease in the crude oil export sales by 13 per cent when compared to 5.42 million barrels from the previous month.

    “The issues that negatively affected production were the Shut-ins and Shut-downs at various terminals for repairs and maintenance.

    “This resulted in reduced revenue from federation crude oil exports sales by 33.58 million dollars.

    “However, the average crude oil price increased from 63.08 dollars to 65.72 dollars per barrel.

    “There was a considerable rise in oil royalty for the month, while Companies Income Tax (CIT) and Import Duty recorded marginal increases.

    “Value Added Tax (VAT) decreased slightly but there was a significant drop in income from Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT).’’

    He said N83.7 billion was received from VAT, showing a decrease of N5.74 billion as against N89.4 billion received in February.

    Mineral revenue was N360.5 billion, indicating a decrease of N83.7 billion from the previous month, while non-mineral revenue was N120 billion, with an increase of N7 billion.

    For the Excess Crude Account (ECA), Mr Idris said the balance stood at 1.83 billion dollars from 2.3 billion dollars in the previous month.

    The shared amount comprised the month’s statutory distributable revenue of N480.5 billion, VAT of N83.7 billion and Forex Equalisation of N62.52 billion.

    Giving a breakdown of the distribution, he said N263.1 billion was allocated to the Federal Government, N167.5 billion to states and N126.29 billion was received by the local governments.

    Speaking on the issue of reconciliation of accounts with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Idris said it was ongoing.

    “There is no public finance system that will be devoid of reconciliations at any time.

    “So reconciliation is part of the order and in that particular instance, reconciliation that has started last month, continued this month and there is nothing new.

    “We could not meet yesterday because we felt certain milestone has to be reached and on getting to those milestones, we sat today and have considered the figures for distribution.

    “There was this gentleman agreement between FAAC and NNPC that whatever NNPC generates should be paid into the federation account and whatever expenses NNPC incurs, they should write to claim it.’’

    He said as far as the operations of the NNPC was concerned, vis-a-vis the retirement of FAAC, these were issues being considered during the state level discussion and there would be reports when they had been sorted out.

    He, however, said the amount being expected from NNPC after the reconciliatory process was not confirmed and would not want to speculate.

    “We do not talk on mere speculation or on hearsay, we have to wait for the amount to come and we pay to the last kobo.

    “We know what will be distributed and that is accounting and that is public finance.

    “We do not base our projections on speculations because there has to be factual data,’’ Mr Idris said.

     

  • We’ll declare state of emergency in education sector in April – FG

    The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, on Monday, said the Federal Government would declare a state of emergency in the education sector in April.

    He made this disclosure when he received Gov. Abubakar Sani-Bello of Niger and some members of his cabinet at the Federal Ministry of Education Headquarters in Abuja.

    Adamu requested the support of all states governors to do the same in their respective states.

    “By the end of April, we are proposing there will be a declaration of a state of emergency in the education sector all over the country.

    “We request all the state governors to do same in their states and we hope that once this is done our educational sector will improve.

    “I will also meet with the governors to appeal to them to give special emphasis to address the problem of low standard of education especially at primary level,” he said.

    The minister said the ministry was planning to present a proposal to the National Council of State for graduates of education to henceforth be employed on Grade Level 10 of eight.

    He said the proposal would also include offering employment to students studying education in tertiary institutions.

    Earlier, Bello said that the state government was revamping the educational sector through the provision of good infrastructure in schools and training of teachers.

    He said that the state government planned to establish three teachers professional institute in the three zones, adding that one was already being established in Munya Local Government Area.

    The governor solicited the support of the minister on the development of the institutions.

  • Pope Francis to begin Egypt trip promoting peace

    Pope Francis to begin Egypt trip promoting peace

    Pope Francis begins a two-day visit to Egypt on Friday as he embarks on a peace-focused journey to the North African country where increasing attacks have targeted the Christian minority.

    Tight security measures have been imposed and welcoming banners were placed across Cairo carrying the motto for the trip: “Pope of Peace in Egypt of Peace.”

    Francis is scheduled to meet with President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi and Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II.

    He will address an international peace conference at al-Azhar, the world’s foremost seat of Sunni Islamic theology, hosted by Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of the institution.

    On Saturday, he will hold a mass at the military-run Air Defence Stadium, on the outskirts of Cairo, before meeting with Egyptian Catholic church leaders.

    Francis becomes the second Vatican leader to visit mostly Muslim Egypt, after John Paul II visited in 2000.

    His trip comes weeks after the April 9 suicide bombings at two Coptic churches killed at least 46 people on Palm Sunday.

    The attacks were claimed by the Islamic State extremist militia.

    Christians are among the oldest religious communities in the Middle East, but their numbers have dwindled in the face of wars and persecution.

    Egypt has the largest Christian community in the region, accounting for around 10 per cent of the country’s 92 million population

  • APC set to hold National Convention in April

    APC set to hold National Convention in April

     

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) will hold its National Convention in April.

    This was contained in a statement released on Wednesday by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi, in Abuja.

    Abdullahi explained that the decision was taken, following the meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party on Wednesday in Abuja.

    He also added that the processes leading to the National Convention, would commence with the Congress to fill some of the vacant positions in the states.

    “The vacancies to be filled occurred principally from political appointments, deaths and resignations,” Abdullahi said.

    “The congress to fill the vacancies will be followed closely by another congress to nominate delegates into the mid-term non-elective convention of the party”, he added.

    Abdullahi further added that after the Congresses, the National Caucus Meeting will be held and then the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party.

    The last APC National Convention was held in Lagos in 2014.

    It was there, that former Governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, was elected National Chairman of the party.

    Similarly, former Governor of Ekiti State, Chief Segun Oni, emerged Deputy National Chairman (South) unopposed.

    The interim spokesperson of the party at the time, Alhaji Lai Mohammed also returned unopposed as National Publicity Secretary.