Nigeria gets another dubious tag, Emirates has no route to Nigeria, at least for now, more Nigerian state governors take the Astra jab despite anxiety in Europe, why you should expect petrol price to rise and the Nigerian bourse sees red, again
Unemployment headache in Nigeria
Nigeria has added to its growing list of dubious labels after Bloomberg ranked unemployment in Africa’s most populous nation as the second by global ranking.
Nigeria is already the poverty capital of the world and at 33.3% jobless rate in the country has overtaken that of South Africa which has been displaced to the third place.
A third of the 69.7 million-strong labor force in Nigeria either did nothing or worked for less than 20 hours a week, making them unemployed, according to the Nigerian definition. Another 15.9 million worked less than 40 hours a week, making them underemployed.
It is arguably the most poignant sign yet that President Muhammadu Buhari’s economic blueprint, if there is one, is not delivering.
The oil producer surpassed South Africa on a list of 82 countries whose unemployment rates are tracked by Bloomberg. Namibia still leads the unenviable pack with 33.4%.
Nigeria’s jobless rate has more than quadrupled over the last five years as the economy went through two recessions, casting a shadow over the efforts to implement policies to drive growth and create jobs by Buhari’s administration.
No Nigerian route For Emirates
Junketing Nigerians now must take Dubai away from the list of their destinations following a ban placed on Emirates by the Nigerian government.
With this ban, the Dubai based carrier must cease landing and taking from any Nigerian airport with effect from midnight Wednesday, the ministry of aviation announced.
The ban follows the continued refusal of Emirates to fly passengers out of Nigeria without a pre-boarding rapid diagnostic covid test which the Nigerian government considers as an over kill.
Dubai is popular stop for Nigeria’s jet setting elite and with Easter just two weeks away, the action could hit Emirates hard.
Nigeria argues that it was silly for the airline to insist that its Nigerian passengers take a PCR rest within 72 hours before flying and then take another rapid test at the point of boarding and yet another test seven hours on landing in Dubai.
AstraZeneca has no worries in Nigeria
The roll out of the first batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine is continuing unabated in Nigeria despite the growing anxiety in Europe over the vaccine.
Several countries in Europe have suspended the administration of the Astra vaccine over reports linking it with cases of blood clot but this has been dismissed by the manufacturers.
State governors in Nigeria have continue to take the Astra jab and at the last count, more than 8000 doses of the vaccines have been given in the country.
Speaking Monday night, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), said only Kogi state is yet to receive the vaccine because its cold chain facility for the preservation of the doses is under repair. Shuaib also said there is no cause for alarm over the AstraZeneca vaccine, despite its suspension by some European countries.
Why petrol price will rise, again
Nigerian state governors will meet Wednesday to review urgent matters among them the recurring matter of petrol subsidy which takes away approximately N1.6bn daily from the federation account that many of the states depend upon.
The meeting of the governors comes the day South Africans were told to brace up for the fourth consecutive monthly increase in the price of petrol and diesel in that country.
From April 1, motorists in South Africa will buy a litre of the top grade petrol for $1.10 with about a third of that representing a portion that goes to the government as tax.
Petrol still sells for less than half of that in Nigeria and while the government agrees that the expensive habit is unsustainable, it is yet to summon the courage to tell Nigerians so. When it does, petrol price will go up, again
Nigeria’s bourse sees red
Sellers have failed to take a breather on the Nigerian stock exchange as the market continues on the negative path, hitting a year to date level of -4.24% on Monday.
At the close of trading the all share index sank 0.22%.
Afrinvest, the research group linked the sell off to profit taking in stocks that had rallied significantly before the commencement of the earning season.
With investors leaning towards the fixed income space, we may yet see more sell-off.
