[Nigeria Business Week] Andrea Ayemoba: Nigeria scores big in budget transparency
The infrastructure of Nigeria is such that for meaningful progress to be made, there must be give-and-take on the parts of the government and the people. The long standing disturbances in the oil producing regions are largely as a result of discontent on the part of the indigenous peoples for the government profiting off their sweats and resources, while they are left with little to nothing. Similar patterns can be found all over the country, in many forms.
The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation is at the receiving end of this discontent. Oil marketers are firm in their protest to end the monopoly enjoyed by the NNPC, blaming the privilege enjoyed by the Corporation on the outrageous and sustained rise in fuel and kerosene prices across the country. The independent states of Nigeria are also in a position to incur huge losses this year, due to a drastic decline in oil production in the past several months.
Transportation, while facing its challenges in the air, is seeing some positive developments on ground. The Nigerian Railway Corporation generated billions of naira in revenue in 2021. The airways are doing too well though; with aviation fuel scarcity and internal inconsistencies slowing growth of this industry, Nigerian airlines stand to lose in a big way financially in 2022 as well as possibly face boycotts from foreign airlines.
International organization, UNIDO, has targeted 75 industries in Nigeria for energy efficiency. With clean energy increasingly stressed as a crucial element for economic success, a report released this week has highlighted just how much yearly investment would be needed for Nigeria and other African countries to deliver on their energy goals.
Food and Beverage giants this week showed gains in their markets, with Guinness Nigeria riding high on the Stock market and Champion Breweries declaring soaring profits.
Banks remain strong. A premier Islamic bank is set to open new branches across the country. Figures published this week show that bankers’ salaries paid out in Q1 of 2022 exceed the corresponding figures of same time period in 2021.
The big picture emerged in the open budget survey conducted among 120 countries: Nigeria has leapt several points ahead in the budget transparency department, showing the second highest improvement worldwide.
Andrea Ayemoba is a Senior Editor at Africa Business Communities.
