The Nation Newspaper

Tag: shortages

  • Rice, onion, tomato shortages likely next year, experts warn

    Nigeria may face tomato, rice and onion shortages next year, following the continued shut down of Tiga Dam in Kano State, The Nation has learnt.

    The dam provides irrigation to Hadejia and to areas as far as Nguru and Gashua in Borno and Yobe states.

    Nigeria produces 65 per cent of all the tomatoes in West Africa, with much of it produced in Kano. But more than 45 per cent of it rots away for lack of preservation and processing facilities.

    Consultant to the World Bank, Prof Abel Ogunwale, said the dam has been a major source of water to irrigation sites in Kano State and major farming communities around Kaduna State and the continued shut down of the  dam has put the irrigation system in jeopardy.

    Speaking with The Nation, Ogunwale, an extension specialist, said the suspension of water supply to farmers from the dam would, no doubt, negatively affect farming during the dry season.

    He said the continuous shortage of the dam will affect rice, onion and tomato production.

    Ogunwale explained that farmers that would be operating during the dry season farming will face serious threat.

    He warned that if the authorities failed to quickly address this issue, the aftermath of the suspension would affect farm produce output in the state, especially tomato.

  • Manufacturing down by 3.8% over forex restrictions, fuel shortages

    The manufacturing sector, which accounts for 10 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), declined for a second consecutive quarter by 3.8 per cent in the second quarter of this year.

    The performance is against a growth of 14 per cent yearly in the last one year, a report by Renaissance Capital (RenCap), an investment and research firm, has said.

    In the report entitled: Second Quarter 2015  GDP: “Manufacturing is in recession,” RenCap’s Sub-Saharan Africa economist Yvonne Mhango said manufacturing’s decline in the first quarter of the year is partly because of tight forex liquidity, which made it difficult for manufacturers to acquire imported inputs. It is also likely that severe fuel shortages in the second quarter undermined production and distribution, she said.

    She said the decline in the manufacturing sector came after the double-digit growth from 2011 to 2014. The decline is largely attributed to the largest manufacturing sub-sector, food, beverages and tobacco, which contracted by 5.9 per cent in growth of 5.2 per cent in June 2014.

    She said the textiles sub-sector has also seen two successive quarters of negative growth.“We believe manufacturing’s decline in March 2015 is partly because of tight forex liquidity, which makes it difficult for manufacturers to acquire imported inputs. It is also likely that severe fuel shortages in June 2015 undermined production and distribution,” she said.

    RenCap has, therefore, revised down its 2015 growth forecast for Nigeria to 2.8 per cent (from 3.4 per cent) following this week’s release of exceptionally weak growth data from Nigeria and South Africa.

    “As they account for half of Sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA’s) GDP, their softer growth has significant implications for the region; we now see SSA growth slowing to 3.5 per cent in the year against a 2000 to 2014 average of 5.5 per cent per year.

    For the non-oil sector, the sharp slowdown in growth to 2.4 per cent  in the second quarter, against 6.5 per cent same period of last year, was largely owing to a deceleration in the non-oil sector rather than a continued contraction in the oil sector.

    To put things in context, the oil sector’s contraction was equivalent to that in 2014, but in the first quarter, GDP growth was still higher than six per cent. This underscores the fact that the second quarter slowdown was mainly owing to the non-oil sector, which grew at 3.5 per cent against 6.7 per cent in June, last year. A decline in manufacturing and a slowdown in services explain the non-oil sector’s lacklustre performance.

    “We revise down our 2015 growth forecast to 2.8 per cent because of June 2015 growth of 3.1 per cent came in below our 2015 forecast of 3.4 per cent; and  we expect supply constraints, related to forex restrictions and the de facto import ban, to undermine growth in June 2015,” she said.

    Defending the forex policy, CBN Director, Monetary Policy, Moses Tule, said allowing access to forex would sink the economy because oil price decline has reduced the volume of government dollar earnings.

    Tule, who spoke at the Private Sector Dialogue with the CBN on forex policy organised by Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in Lagos, accused some manufacturers and real sector operators of insincerity in their forex request.

    He said some manufacturers obtained forex from the CBN at official rate, sent the fund abroad without the intension of importing goods and that such funds were never repatriated.

    Also, he faulted the practice of manufacturers making upfront forex demand, sometimes with over two years’ gap. “Some importers demand for forex for items they want to buy in the next two years,” he said.

    Tule said micro-economic management in Nigeria needs the support of stakeholders to achieve the desired success. He said no economy is run by forex, and that it is the level of economic activities in the country that determines its volume of dollar-earningsy.

    He said before the fall in oil prices, the apex bank did its best to ensure that everyone that needed forex got it.

     

  • Ogun teachers rue excess workload, shortages

    Teachers in Ogun State are complaining. They said they are not only putting in more hours weekly, but also that each of them is doing more than one person’s work.

    They urged the state government to recruit more hands to fill long over-due vacancies created by their retired colleagues.

    The President, Ogun State chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools’ of Nigeria(ASUSS), Dr  Tunde Folarin, made this known in Abeokuta, the state capital at the third quadrennial delegate congress of the union.

    “Teachers unions have warned about excessive workload and complained about staff being put under too much pressure especially at the urban centres.  The department of education of the  BBC runs an annual survey, where a sample of teachers in different types of schools across the globe, including Nigeria keep a diary of their working lives.

    “The last result published in February shows that in 2013 secondary schools principals and teachers  spent an average of 63.3 and 55.7 hours per week working,” he said.

    Folarin warned that the non-replacement of retired principal-generals as well as teachers in public secondary schools in the state would “not augur well” for quality service delivery.

    The Nation gathered that the four Principal-Generals representing the four geopolitical zones of the state  retired a long time ago but were yet to be replaced.

    Contrary to the practice, Folarin said teachers should be recruited yearly to fill vacancies.

    He said: “Unlike Asian countries where teachers are among the highest paid workers, Nigerian teachers are truly a segment of the populace sentenced to hard labour and poor remuneration.

    “The outright neglect of teachers in the scheme of things will not augur well and of course the non-replacement of retired principal – generals in the state is a dangerous path to thread further.

    “Recruitment to fill staff vacancies in the schools is long overdue and it should be done yearly to replenish the system as old hands leave the job.”

    Responding, Governor Ibikunle Amosun, said the state is committed to the interest of teachers, and would address their demands.

    Amosun, who was represented by the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mr Segun Odubela, said it is not true that there are shortage of teachers in the state’s schools.

    He explained that there are areas that have more teachers compared to pupils’ population.  He said what should be done is for the school managements and the government to come together and identify based on data, places needing refilling and adjustment.

    Odubela assured them that the government would soon replace the retired principal-generals and recruits teachers in core areas.

     

  • Food shortages hit refugee camps

    Food shortages hit refugee camps

    THOUSANDS of children displaced by the conflict in Mali face food shortages, the Save the Children, a sevice organisation said.

    These children were already suffering from the devastating food crisis even before being displaced, and require urgent humanitarian aid as their families cannot afford to buy enough food.

    The children’s aid agency estimates that 203,500 children fled their homes in Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal, since the outset of the conflict over a year ago.

    Just over half of them have been displaced within the country, while the rest have sought refuge in neighbouring countries.

    “Thousands of children have had to flee their homes in terror after suffering months of extreme hunger and are now at risk,” said Tom McCormack, Save the Children’s Country Director in Mali.

    He added: “Children are still going hungry, with many cutting down on meals and some reduced to eating only rice. They need urgent help.”

    Displaced families have reported to officials of the organisation their daily struggle to get by.

    “Food is a problem. We don’t have money so we don’t have food. I only eat rice and gruel and am hungry,” said Amada, a 13-year-old boy.”

    A 44-year-old mother of seven children, indentified as Zeinabou said: “The children tell me all the time they’re still hungry. We only have rice to eat, we can’t afford vegetables, we urgently need food.”

    Fifteen-year-old Maimouna, a former refugee in Niger, said: “It was really hard in Niger, especially because of the hunger. I was eating rice, only rice. It was expensive, and there wasn’t enough money to buy anything more.”

    As the conflict begins to abate in some parts of the North, tens of thousands of displaced families are now faced with the difficult decision of whether to return home.

    But without assistance, Save the Children says that they face the prospect of returning completely destitute, many to houses and shops that have been destroyed and pillaged during the fighting.

    McCormack said: “While fighting dies down in some areas, the situation is far from stabilized and many families will remain displaced for weeks or even months to come.

    “Those who do return home will face extreme difficulties in rebuilding their lives, and for all those affected by both the food crisis and the conflict, it is clear the road to recovery will be a long one.

    “We need to remember that even before the recent conflict or food crisis Mali was already one of the poorest countries in the world.”

    Operating in Mali for 25 years, Save the Children is now working to expand its existing protection, livelihoods and nutrition programmes to meet the needs of displaced children who have arrived in Mopti, South of Gao and Kidal, as well as Southern areas of the country such as Sikasso.

    Going by the latest United Nations (UN) figures, about an estimated 241,448 people have been displaced within Mali and 166,425 who have fled across the border, totalling 407,873 displaced.