Index to Nigerian Newspapers

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar accused President Bola Tinubu of causing despair among Nigerians due to his economic policies. Atiku claimed that Tinubu's poor response to the country's challenges set the stage for a deeper economic crisis. Tinubu defended his 2024 budget as a business-as-usual exercise, claiming it lacks concrete ideas for economic transformation. The presidency's Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, urged Atiku to admit his missteps and follow the experts. back on the path of growth and prosperity.

Nigeria’s annual inflation rate rose to 24.08 per cent in July, the highest in 18 years, driven by higher prices of food items, increased transport fares, reflecting the increasing struggle of households to meet daily feeding needs, worsened by the impact of fuel subsidy removal and continued depreciation of the naira.

As a result, food inflation rose to 26.98 per cent, the highest level in 18 years, since September 2005.

Also reflecting the impact of fuel subsidy removal on cost of transportation and related services, core inflation (all items less farm produce and energy), rose to 20.47 per cent in July, the highest in 19 years, up by 0.41 percentage points from 20.06 per cent in June.

Disclosing this in its Consumer Price Index report for August, the National Bureau of Statistics, said that increases in prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages were responsible for most (12.47 per cent) of the rise in the headline inflation rate to 24.08 per cent in July, followed by housing water, electricity, gas & other fuel (4.03 per cent); clothing and footwear (1.84 per cent); transport (1.57 per cent); furnishings, household equipment and maintenance (1.21 per cent).

These, he said include weakening of purchasing power of citizens as real incomes are eroded, thus aggravating poverty incidence; escalating production costs which negatively impacts profitability; rrosion of shareholder value in many businesses; weakening of investors’ confidence; and declines in manufacturing capacity utilization as a consequence of weakening sales and erosion of profit margins”

“This translates to lower demand for fuel, depicting reduced movement of individuals and food items. Despite the anticipated operations of local refineries and the President’s 500,000 hectares ‘farmland plan’, our inflation expectations for the ensuing months remain dreary.

‘’Factors like further flood fears in Southern Nigeria, speculative price hikes in pump prices, continued depreciation of the naira and sustained dependency on imports impel our expectations.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is set to reverse the naira's slide as it unveils intervention measures. Folashodun Shonubi, acting governor of the nation's apex bank, warned that the government will take action against those involved in underhand activities in the foreign exchange market, including the parallel market. President Tinubu expressed concern about the market's development and its impact on the people. The CBN is working to improve liquidity and liquidity in the market, as well as in other markets, including the parallel market. The CBN is concerned about the impact on the average person and the potential losses to speculators when government strategies are activated. The CBN's actions aim to ensure efficient, reasonable, and non-negative market operations for the average person.

President Bola Tinubu has set a 30-day tax reform target and aims to break the cycle of overreliance on borrowing for public spending and debt servicing. He inaugurated the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, chaired by Taiwo Oyedele, in Abuja. The committee aims to transform the tax system for sustainable development and achieve a minimum 18% tax-to-GDP ratio within three years. The committee is expected to deliver quick reforms within 30 days, with critical measures recommended within six months and full implementation within one calendar year. Tinubu urged the committee to improve Nigeria's revenue profile and business environment, directing it to achieve its one-year mandate in fiscal governance, tax reforms, and growth facilitation. He directed government ministries and departments to cooperate fully with the committee, stressing that failure would be an excuse for failure. The committee members, drawn from public and private sectors, are accomplished individuals with a proven track record in revenue transformation.

Two Binance executives, an American and a British-Pakistani, have been detained in Nigeria on the orders of National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu over alleged involvement in foreign exchange manipulations. The Federal Government obtained a court warrant to detain the men for 12 days, pending further investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The arrested executives were taken into custody at a guest house operated by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA). The Federal Government plans to ban cryptocurrency trading owing to alleged sharp practices on their websites. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Dr. Olayemi Cardoso, claimed that billions of dollars had passed through the channel from unidentified sources in the last year alone. The NSA has asked Binance to provide data on its operations in Nigeria over the past seven years. The arrested executives declined a request to delete all Nigerian information from their platform, insisting that they would not do so until they were taken to their countries' embassies. The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, clarified the reasons for the clampdown on Binance and other cryptocurrency trading websites, declaring that failure to stop Binance will lead to the destruction of the economy.