1. Corona virus: 74.2% of businesses no longer operating says NECA
Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA, has raised the alarm that 74.2 per cent of businesses have stopped operations due to COVID-19 pandemic.
At a briefing, weekend, in Lagos, acting President of NECA,Taiwo Adeniyi, disclosed that 15.8 per cent of businesses were either fully on site or teleworking.
While commending the Federal Government’s efforts through various stimulus packages to aid small and medium scale enterprises, SMES, NECA lamented that organised businesses were basically left in the lurch to weather the challenges of COVID19 pandemic alone.
Adeniyi said: “With the view of gauging the specific impact of COVID-19 on businesses to aid our advocacy efforts, we conducted a research into the effects of the pandemic on businesses. Outcome of the research showed, among others, that 74.2 per cent of surveyed enterprises have stopped operating due to COVID-19, while 15.8 per cent are either fully on site or teleworking.
‘’Over 90 per cent of surveyed enterprises noted that limited cash-flow was an impediment to operations and over 90 per cent stated that demand for their goods and services had significantly reduced.
‘’The disruption of supply chains resulted in 78.2 per cent of enterprises having supply challenges as suppliers were unable to fulfill orders.”
2. 10 soldiers and 20 Boko Haram terrorists has been killed in Borno gunfight
AT least 10 soldiers and 20 insurgents were killed on Saturday in a gun fight, following the ambush of troops by Boko Haram sect along Maiduguri-Damboa-Biu road in Borno State.
One of the soldiers lost his life along Pulka-Ngoshe road in another fire fight.
The incident, according to multiple sources, happened separately around vicinity of Dogon Waye (Defunct NITEL Masts, which is about 45km drive along Maiduguri – Damboa road.
On Pulka -Ngoshe road, the source said the “incident took place around Bokko settlement (Pulka/Bokko ward) in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno state, with 10 others seriously injured, while some soldiers are missing uptill now. The troops were said to be heading to their base at Ngoshe town when the attack occurred. Bokko settlement is situated along Pulka – Ngoshe road , behind Gwoza Mandara mountain which shares border with Cameroun.
One of the eye witnesses, a passengers, Ali Isa, who managed to escape the attack, said: “Several members of Boko Haram sect laid ambush along Damboa road at about 2pm and opened fire on military escort vehicles. This led to exchange of gunfire, a situation that left many victims to flee into the bush for safety.”
He noted that a lot of people, including some members of Civilian Joint Task Force, CJTF, in company of the security escort vehicles, had to engage the terrorists, with many victims still missing at press time.
A member of the Civilian-JTF, who is not authorized to talk to the press, but luckily escaped unhurt during the ambush, confirmed to Vanguard yesterday that over 20 terrorists and nine soldiers died in the attack.
3. No going back on petrol price control – PPPRA
The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency on Sunday insisted that it would continue fixing price bands for petrol despite opposition by oil marketers to the move.
It also declared that a regulation for Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, had been established in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation.
The Executive Secretary, PPPRA, Abdulkadir Saidu, disclosed this while addressing questions on the PMS pricing regime, which commenced on March 19, 2020.
Since the introduction of the regime, marketers had expressed concerns over the issuing of monthly guiding prices for petrol.
Responding to this, Saidu argued that different sectors of the economy operate under the guidance of national regulators.
He said, “The Central Bank of Nigeria regulates the banks and other financial sector operators; the Nigerian Communications Commission regulates telecommunications and the same exists for operators in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector.
“To this end, it is not out of place for the agency (PPPRA) to provide a guiding price band with the aim of protecting consumers against price gouging.
“It is important to also state that there is nowhere in the world that deregulation means total lack of control, supervision or oversight.”
Saidu noted that while the market-based pricing regime was a policy introduced to free the market of all encumbrances to investment and growth, it should not be misconstrued to mean a total abdication of government’s responsibility to the sector and citizenry.
4. Flight resumption: House of Representatives okay safety standards
House of Representatives Committee on Aviation has expressed satisfaction with safety measures put in place by the Ministry Aviation and other critical stakeholders for the resumption of flight operations after 3 months of shutdown over the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chairman of the Committee, Nnoli Nnaji, who stated this in Abuja yesterday, also commended major airlines for conducting test flights to ascertain the air worthiness of their aircraft before full resumption.
He said: “Test flight successfully conveyed members of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 from Abuja to Lagos in line with COVID-19 set down safety standards by the Ministry of Aviation, including the use of robots to profile passengers and also other security protocols like removal of facemasks by passengers for security checks and identification.
“The test flight was necessary to ascertain the safety operational standards of the airports and we are satisfied by the progress and commitment of critical stakeholders.
“As the nation prepares to gradually open up the airspace, Nigerians should be rest assured that the House Committee on Aviation, will in line with our oversight mandate, continue to collaborate with the Ministry of Aviation and other stakeholders to not only ensure the smooth resumption of flight operation, but also a strict observance of the safety protocols to contain the pandemic in the aviation industry.”
Nnaji, however, urged Nigerians to embark “only absolutely necessary” air travels upon the resumption of flights, saying that COVID-19 remained a real threat to humanity.
Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA, has raised the alarm that 74.2 per cent of businesses have stopped operations due to COVID-19 pandemic.
At a briefing, weekend, in Lagos, acting President of NECA,Taiwo Adeniyi, disclosed that 15.8 per cent of businesses were either fully on site or teleworking.
While commending the Federal Government’s efforts through various stimulus packages to aid small and medium scale enterprises, SMES, NECA lamented that organised businesses were basically left in the lurch to weather the challenges of COVID19 pandemic alone.
Adeniyi said: “With the view of gauging the specific impact of COVID-19 on businesses to aid our advocacy efforts, we conducted a research into the effects of the pandemic on businesses. Outcome of the research showed, among others, that 74.2 per cent of surveyed enterprises have stopped operating due to COVID-19, while 15.8 per cent are either fully on site or teleworking.
‘’Over 90 per cent of surveyed enterprises noted that limited cash-flow was an impediment to operations and over 90 per cent stated that demand for their goods and services had significantly reduced.
‘’The disruption of supply chains resulted in 78.2 per cent of enterprises having supply challenges as suppliers were unable to fulfill orders.”
2. 10 soldiers and 20 Boko Haram terrorists has been killed in Borno gunfight
AT least 10 soldiers and 20 insurgents were killed on Saturday in a gun fight, following the ambush of troops by Boko Haram sect along Maiduguri-Damboa-Biu road in Borno State.
One of the soldiers lost his life along Pulka-Ngoshe road in another fire fight.
The incident, according to multiple sources, happened separately around vicinity of Dogon Waye (Defunct NITEL Masts, which is about 45km drive along Maiduguri – Damboa road.
On Pulka -Ngoshe road, the source said the “incident took place around Bokko settlement (Pulka/Bokko ward) in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno state, with 10 others seriously injured, while some soldiers are missing uptill now. The troops were said to be heading to their base at Ngoshe town when the attack occurred. Bokko settlement is situated along Pulka – Ngoshe road , behind Gwoza Mandara mountain which shares border with Cameroun.
One of the eye witnesses, a passengers, Ali Isa, who managed to escape the attack, said: “Several members of Boko Haram sect laid ambush along Damboa road at about 2pm and opened fire on military escort vehicles. This led to exchange of gunfire, a situation that left many victims to flee into the bush for safety.”
He noted that a lot of people, including some members of Civilian Joint Task Force, CJTF, in company of the security escort vehicles, had to engage the terrorists, with many victims still missing at press time.
A member of the Civilian-JTF, who is not authorized to talk to the press, but luckily escaped unhurt during the ambush, confirmed to Vanguard yesterday that over 20 terrorists and nine soldiers died in the attack.
3. No going back on petrol price control – PPPRA
The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency on Sunday insisted that it would continue fixing price bands for petrol despite opposition by oil marketers to the move.
It also declared that a regulation for Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, had been established in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation.
The Executive Secretary, PPPRA, Abdulkadir Saidu, disclosed this while addressing questions on the PMS pricing regime, which commenced on March 19, 2020.
Since the introduction of the regime, marketers had expressed concerns over the issuing of monthly guiding prices for petrol.
Responding to this, Saidu argued that different sectors of the economy operate under the guidance of national regulators.
He said, “The Central Bank of Nigeria regulates the banks and other financial sector operators; the Nigerian Communications Commission regulates telecommunications and the same exists for operators in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector.
“To this end, it is not out of place for the agency (PPPRA) to provide a guiding price band with the aim of protecting consumers against price gouging.
“It is important to also state that there is nowhere in the world that deregulation means total lack of control, supervision or oversight.”
Saidu noted that while the market-based pricing regime was a policy introduced to free the market of all encumbrances to investment and growth, it should not be misconstrued to mean a total abdication of government’s responsibility to the sector and citizenry.
4. Flight resumption: House of Representatives okay safety standards
House of Representatives Committee on Aviation has expressed satisfaction with safety measures put in place by the Ministry Aviation and other critical stakeholders for the resumption of flight operations after 3 months of shutdown over the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chairman of the Committee, Nnoli Nnaji, who stated this in Abuja yesterday, also commended major airlines for conducting test flights to ascertain the air worthiness of their aircraft before full resumption.
He said: “Test flight successfully conveyed members of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 from Abuja to Lagos in line with COVID-19 set down safety standards by the Ministry of Aviation, including the use of robots to profile passengers and also other security protocols like removal of facemasks by passengers for security checks and identification.
“The test flight was necessary to ascertain the safety operational standards of the airports and we are satisfied by the progress and commitment of critical stakeholders.
“As the nation prepares to gradually open up the airspace, Nigerians should be rest assured that the House Committee on Aviation, will in line with our oversight mandate, continue to collaborate with the Ministry of Aviation and other stakeholders to not only ensure the smooth resumption of flight operation, but also a strict observance of the safety protocols to contain the pandemic in the aviation industry.”
Nnaji, however, urged Nigerians to embark “only absolutely necessary” air travels upon the resumption of flights, saying that COVID-19 remained a real threat to humanity.
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