Business Eye

Fuel subsidies benefit the rich more than the poor

The new Africa's Pulse devotes a special section to fuel price subsidies in Africa, reporting that in 2010-11 over half of all African countries had some subsidy in place for fuel products, and these in turn cost on average, 1.4 percent of GDP in public revenues. Of the 25 countries with fuel subsidies, the fiscal cost of subsidies in six countriesprimarily oil exporterswas at or above 2 percent of GDP in 2011. The fiscal cost in oil exporters was almost two-and-a-half times the levels observed ...

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National Health Insurance Scheme: Achievements and challenges

The Nigerian Health Sector is no doubt one of the cardinal sectors whose successful reform will definitely shape the direction and pace of national economic growth and development.  However, the sector has witnessed several years of neglect, decay of infrastructure, poor funding and inappropriate human resources management coupled with colossal depletion of trained personnel (brain drain).

                At the inception of President Olusegun Obasanjo administration in 1999, Nigeria was reported...

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Tackling the Paradox of “Growth without Development’’

Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on February 13, 2012, released a report that startled a number of Nigerians: a curious positive correlation between economic growth and deepening poverty. The paradox presented by the result calls for a critical review of our nation’s approach to economic management because any economy that fails to provide jobs for the majority of the citizens at any point has failed.  According to the report, while the nation’s economy grew by over 7 percent in bot...

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Tackling Nigeria's 'Hydra-Headed Monster’

Inflation has remained the major concern to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over the years. This 'evil'  continued its sharp rise amid the recent increase in fuel price by the federal government, soaring global food prices and bustling consumer demand of foreign goods in the country.

                Nigeria's Composite Consumer Price Index (CPI)  the basket used in measuring inflation in the country, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) latest report, climbed sharply to 12.6 per...

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NATO And Libya: The Imperialist Conspiracy

As the Transitional National Council, TNC, led revolutionary government takes a seat in Tripoli, signaling the end of 42 years of tyranny of Muammar Gaddafi, Experts point at evidence which supports the school of thought that NATO'S military intervention in Libya is to foster the rebels and the new Libyan government dependency on NATO.

Before the massive air raid by NATO forces on Tripoli, the single occurrence which finally gave the capital city to the Libyan rebels on the 20th and 21st of Augus...

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Securing Food Prices

Stakeholders, Consumers, others, worry over the increasing cost of food prices .

At the wake of the third month this year, Nigerians woke up to the fact that the price of bread had gone up by 10 per cent. Players in the bakery industry under the auspices of Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria, AMBCN, in Lagos attributed this to the high cost of raw materials. For one, a bag of 50kg of sugar which used to sell at N8, 500 two months back suddenly soar to N11, 800 a difference of abo...

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UN : Lesser Nigerians Seek Asylum

Nigeria drops on UN ranking of asylum seekers

Fewer Nigerians sought asylum in industrialized countries in 2010, according to a latest report released by the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, on 28 March, 2011. The figures released by UNHCR showed that 9, 500 Nigerians sought asylum in 2010 compared to 13,337 applications in 2009.

The UN Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria reports that in 2008 and 2009, Nigeria was placed seventh on the UN list of top 10 countries with asylum seekers. Though the fi...

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