World Bank Chides Nigeria, Others over Poor Statistics

The World Bank has decried the quality and relevance of data from Nigeria and other African countries, which it described as largely obsolete.

The bank’s Director, Department of Economic Policy and Poverty Reduction Programmes, Africa, Mr. Marcelo Giugale, stated this in a report e-mailed to THISDAY at the weekend.
He expressed concern that a lot of money had been invested in improving statistics in a lot of countries in the continent, explaining that most of that money came as donations from well-meaning rich countries.

He said a report tagged: ‘Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century,’ had revealed that between 2009 and 2011, Africa received $700 million to build up its capacity to collect data. He stressed that communication technology is what would revolutionise African statistics.

Giugale added: “First, we don't really know how big (or small) many African economies are. In about half of them, the system of “national accounts” dates back to the 1960s (1968, to be precise); in the other half, it is from 1993. This means that measuring things like how much is produced, consumed or invested is done with methods from the times when computers were rare, the Internet did not exist and nobody spoke about "globalisation. That is, the methodology ignores the fact that some industries have disappeared and new ones were born.

“How badly does this skew the data? Well, to give you an idea, when Ghana used a newer methodology to update its accounts in 2010, it found out that its economy was about 60 per cent bigger than it had previously thought - and the country instantly became "middle-income" in the global ranking.

“Second, the latest poverty counts for Africa are, on average, five years old. So we only have guesstimates of how the global financial, food and fuel crises have impacted the distribution of income, wealth and opportunities in the region. This is because, to count the poor, you need “household surveys” - those face-to-face, home visits where people are asked how much they earn, own, know and so on. In fifteen African countries, this has been done only once since 2000.”

The World Bank official pointed out that the advent of technology now allows for the surveys to be done not only more frequently, but continuously.

“Industrial surveys are even more infrequent than household surveys - only a handful of African countries have done at least one in the last ten years. This is a pity! Knowing what your producers are doing -- and what keeps them from producing more - is critical if you want to design policies that increase employment, productivity and economic growth.

“To be sure, academics, non-governmental organisations, development banks and business organisations carry out sporadic surveys of enterprises for one purpose or another - from understanding how informal jobs are created to selling logistical services. But regular, comprehensive, nation-wide data is, at best, rare,” he stated.

NNPC Restores Vandalised Ije-Ododo Pipeline, Assures on Product Supply

Few days after a major artery in its pipeline networks located at Ije-Ododo, Amuwo-Odofin area of Lagos was vandalised and resulted into a fire outbreak, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced  the comprehensive restoration of the pipeline to normalcy.

The NNPC also said in a statement yesterday in Abuja, from its acting Group General Manager Public Affairs, Mr. Fidel Pepple, that with this development, pumping of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol has resumed in earnest to depots and tank farms in it’s System 2B, spanning from Atlas-Cove to Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

The statement assured Nigerians and motorists that with the restoration of the Ije-Ododo and System 2B pipelines, normalcy had been restored in the supply and distribution of petroleum products across the country.

He said: “I can affirm to you that our engineers from the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Limited (PPMC) have finally fixed the Ije-Ododo pipeline that was ruptured last Monday by activities of pipeline vandals.

“Going forward, the good news for Nigerians is that we have resumed pumping of petroleum products through the pipeline and System 2B is equally working after the restoration of the pipeline.”

Pepple also described media reports that fuel scarcity and queues in some parts of the country may last beyond the new year as mischievious, noting that the corporation still maintains zero tolerance to fuel scarcity and fuel queues in filling stations.
He stated that the recent fuel queues experienced around the country were basically due to the activities of pipeline vandals and closure of a number of filling stations due to the Christmas holidays and not shortage of petroleum products.

According to him, the corporation has product sufficiency that can sustain the country for more than a month just as it is making concerted effort to sustain supply of petrol across every part of the country to ease the movement of people as they travel from one place to the other before and after the New Year.

Pepple also asked petrol marketers in the country to avoid the nefarious diversion of petroleum products to black market operators, adding that stringent punitive actions would be meted out to those found wanting.

He enjoined them to team up with the NNPC to ensure sustained supply and distribution of petroleum products into the New Year, as well as motorists to desist from panic buying, stressing that there is no truth in the on-going rumours that there will be an increase in the pump price of fuel in January 2013.

“The Federal Government has made budgetary provision for fuel subsidy in the 2013 budget which was recently passed by the National Assembly,” Pepple added.

Nigeria Borrows $4.4bn from World Bank in Seven Years

The Federal Government has borrowed a total of $4.4 billion in external loans in the past seven years. Of this amount, which was approved by the World Bank, only $1.8 billion has been disbursed while the balance continues to attract a service charge.

The revelation came just as the House of Representatives endorsed the Federal Government's 2013-2015 External Borrowing Plan.

A report on the investigation conducted by the House of Representatives Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management on the 2013-2015 External Borrowing Plan placed a ceiling on external borrowing at $7.3 billion as opposed to the over $9 billion proposed by the Federal Government.

According to the report, Nigeria has risen to become the largest recipient of disbursements from the International Development Agency (IDA) between 2009 and 2012 and currently has the largest outstanding IDA portfolio in Africa, ahead of Kenya and Tanzania.

However, the report said Nigeria's external debt profile remained at a level where it could accommodate more loans without violating the internationally accepted 40 per cent Debt/GDP ratio and the 25 per cent country specific threshold for debt stock levels.
Chairman, House Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management, Hon. Adeyinka Ajayi, who presented the report to the House, observed that the federal and state governments that have proposed fresh external borrowings have justified their demands and have acceptable debt sustainability levels.

The purposes for which the borrowings are being requested, Ajayi said, were in substantial compliance with the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007, being for capital projects and human capital development.

The facilities, he observed, would be obtained under concessionary terms with zero per cent interest rates, except the China Export-Import (EXIM) Bank loan at a 2.5 per cent rate of interest, and considerable moratorium and amortisation periods.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has demanded the submission of half-yearly reports on all existing external loans taken by federal and state governments to the National Assembly.

The reports, it said, must contain relevant information such as the principle amount, the amount drawn down, the balance, expected use of the credit facility, and what has actually been achieved with the amount borrowed.
Sections 41,42, 44 and 47 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act prescribe conditions for borrowing and verification of compliance limits upon which the National Assembly could base its approval for borrowings.

FG to go tough on private jet owners

There are indications that the Federal Government will impose stringent measures on private jet owners and charter aircraft operators to avert disaster in the general aviation section, investigation by our correspondent has revealed.

This, it was learnt, was the outcome of an emergency meeting between the Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah, and heads of the aviation agencies, with some top players in the aviation sector in Abuja last Wednesday.

The minister reportedly said at the meeting, which ended around 3am, that there was need to look deeply into the operation of the general aviation sector, which involves private and chartered aircraft.

Part of the measures, it was learnt, would include imposing heavy sanctions on any non-compliance with standard safety procedure.

A source at the meeting said the new arrangement would also forbid pilots of private and chartered jets from flying above the normal flying hours to avoid any accident occasioned by fatigue.

“So, nothing will be taken for granted in the general aviation sector now,” the source said.

The recent Naval Augusta crash in Bayelsa State, it was learnt, brought the issue to the front burner.

The development also followed the increasing number of private jets and chartered aircraft, including helicopters in the nation’s airspace.

Although the crash in Bayelsa involved a military aircraft, which Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Aviation had no regulatory power over, the civil aviation authorities saw the crash as a wakeup call and the need to focus more attention on the operations and activities of lighter aircraft, sources close to the ministry said.

It was also gathered that the recent private aircraft crash involving the Governor of Taraba State, Mr. Danbaba Suntai, made development pertinent.

Consequently, it was learnt that government had decided that the ministry and the NCAA would henceforth pay more attention to the activities of airstrips, heliports, helipads, airports, private jets and chartered aircraft.

The ministry oversees airstrips while the NCAA oversees aircraft.

“Most of the people that own private jets in Nigeria are big people who ordinarily may not want to obey rules at times. But the minister said that the recent happening in the military circle was also a wakeup call for the civil aviation as well.

“It now means that the Ministry of Aviation and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority will be paying more attention to the operators of private and chartered jets/ helicopters in the country.”

The source added that the development could lead to a situation where some airstrips, helipads and helidecks would be re-examined or audited.

The general aviation sector in Nigeria has witnessed tremendous growth in recent years and stakeholders are happy that the sub-sector is attracting more foreign and local investors.

But an aviation industry analyst, Mr. Olumide and Ohunayo, said the latest development was not expected to retard this growth, rather it should strengthen it.

No fuel price hike in 2013, says NNPC

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Sunday gave the assurance that the Federal Government would not hike the price of fuel in 2013.
There have been fears that the prolonged scarcity of fuel nationwide might lead to a price increase.
The assurance was given by the NNPC Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Fidel Pepple, in a statement.
The statement also said it had restored the Ije-ododo pipeline in Lagos.
A portion of the pipeline exploded while being vandalised two weeks ago, while the vandals fled.
The Ije-ododo incident occurred some months after another set of vandals destroyed a portion of the strategic System 2-B pipeline supplying petroleum products to the South-West and Ilorin.
NNPC said it had ensured the full and comprehensive restoration of the Ije-ododo pipeline to normalcy.
The corporation said the pumping of premium motor spirit had resumed in earnest to depots and tank farms in the System 2-B, spanning from Atlas-Cove to Ilorin.
Pepple gave the assurance that with the restoration of the Ije-ododo pipeline and the NNPC System 2-b pipeline, normalcy had been restored in the supply and distribution of petroleum products across the length and breadth of the country.
“I can affirm to you that our engineers from the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Limited have finally fixed the Ije-Ododo pipeline that was ruptured last Monday by activities of pipeline vandals.
“Going forward, the good news for Nigerians is that we have resumed pumping of petroleum products through the pipeline and system 2b is equally working after the restoration of the pipeline,” Pepple said.
He stated that the recent fuel queues were basically due to the activities of pipeline vandals and the closure of a number of filling stations due to the Christmas holidays and not shortage of petroleum products.
The NNPC spokesman said the corporation has product sufficiency that can sustain the country for more than a month.
He stressed that concerted efforts by the to wet every part of the country with petrol to ease the movement of people as they travel from one place to the other before and after the New Year, is continuous and will be sustained.
Mr. Pepple called on Marketers to avoid the nefarious diversion of petroleum products to black marketers adding that stringent punitive actions would be meted out to those found wanting. He enjoined marketers of petroleum products to team up with the NNPC to ensure sustained supply and distribution of petroleum products into the New Year.
He also enjoined motorists to desist from panic buying stressing that there is no truth in the on-going rumours that there will be an increase in the pump price of fuel in January 2013, saying that the Federal Government has made budgetary provision for fuel subsidy in the 2013 budget which was recently passed by the National Assembly.