The Nation Newspaper

Tag: unstable

  • Unstable power hurting our businesses, say artisans

    The epileptic electricity supply across the country is taking a toll on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), especially artisans.

    In interviews with The Nation, some artisans said they were literarily squeezing water from stone because of the damage to their businesses by irregular electricity supply.

    Located in their clusters in Itire, Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub, artisans, including tailors, barbers, hair dressers, repairers, carpenters, technicians and iron benders, said the government should come to their aid by putting the power utility firms on their toes.

    One of the aggrieved artisans, who identified herself simply as Mrs Damisola, a fashion designer, said electricity supply to Ibidunni Street, Itire, where her shop is, has been irregular, adding that the situation was affecting her business adversely.

    Mrs Damisola, who spoke with The Nation in the presence of amid her equally-pained apprentices, said the devastating impacts of poor electricity supply in the area were more telling on fashion designing business because “we need light to do many things, from ironing to sewing, gumming, and others.”

    She lamented that though she uses charcoal iron when there is no light because “my generator is small and cannot carry my electric iron.” Her decision to turn to the use of her small generator did not come cheap either.

    “I spend between N500 and N1,000 every day to fuel the generator and this eats into the little profit I make,” Mrs Damisola complained.

    Asked how much she makes from the business daily and how much goes into fuelling and maintaining her generator, Mrs Damisola said it’s difficult to say considering that customer patronage fluctuates, even as cases of payment delay or outright default abound.

    “You know, sometimes, customers will come, but one week after you won’t get paid. At other times, you won’t see work to do for weeks,” she said, calling on the Federal Government to intervene by demanding efficient, improved services delivery from service providers.

    Another artisan, who identified herself as Iya Seun, a hair dresser, said: “My sister! This light matter has been a pain in the neck. The impact of the persistent poor electricity supply on my business is minimal because as a hair dresser, I only fix people’s hair with attachment.”

    Seun whose shop is located on Ola Street, Itire, however, asked, “What about others like beauticians that need electricity for everything?” She, therefore, said government should come to the rescue of artisans who are struggling to make ends meet in the absence of white collar jobs.

    Similarly, Mr. Kazim who runs a barbing saloon within the area said electricity supply has not been regular. “If the power utility firm bring the light, it lasts for only two to three hours, forcing many of us to rely on generators,” he said.

    Kazim added that because of the situation, which kept customers away because of the little price increase, he has not been able to raise enough money from his business to fix his generator that has since been bad.

    As Kazim lamented, “My generator is not good at all. It has been making funny noise; I have not made enough income; that’s why I haven’t repaired it.”

    He, however, said he spends N2, 000 daily to fuel the generator while hoping to raise money soon to fix the machine. “This is the only business I have, and it is from here I pay all my bills, no savings. The government should please make the light,” he told The Nation.

    As epileptic as electricity supply is in the area, Mr. George, a barber, said his worry stemmed from the timing of the supply. “The time the service provider supplies the light is usually very wrong for me. It doesn’t enhance my business they bring it early in the morning when I don’t have customers. And by the time I come to the shop, they would have switched it off,” he said.

    When The Nation met him in his saloon at Amodu Street, last week, George said as a stop gap measure, he bought a generator. He, however, lamented that the cost of fuelling and maintaining the generator was threatening to force him to close shop. “It costs me about ¦ 35, 000 per month to fuel and maintain the generator,” he said.

    He also said he does not make much money from the business to sustain such huge and available expenditure “I have several bills to pay. I pay my kids’ school fees from this business, and by the time I am done I don’t have any leftover as profit,” George fumed.

    He put the blame of the poor power supply on the Federal Government’s doorstep. According to him, government has not been doing enough monitoring and supervision of the power utility firms post-privatisation to ensure that they deliver.

    George added that as far as he was concerned, Nigerians were  paying for darkness, as consumers are forced to pay outrageous and estimated bills for electricity not supplied.

  • ‘Why LPG supply is unstable’

    The hitches in the supply of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to the market, was as a result,  of activities at the North Oil Jetty (NOJ) and NIPCO terminals in Apapa, Lagos, and not from the Nigerian Liquefied and Natural Gas (NLNG), the President, Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association of Nigeria (LPGAN), Mr Dayo Adesina, has said.

    The two terminals were given priorities by the Federal Government, to discharge petroleum products such as petrol, kerosene and diesel, with a view to checking the scarcity of the products that has become a recurring decimal in the country.

    However, the development is making it increasingly difficult for LPG vessels at the terminals to discharge their content, and further meet the growing needs of the consumers in recent times.

    Adesina said as a result of this, LPG vessels were delayed for weeks or  months from emptying their contents, with consumers being starved of the products.

    He said LPGAN was convinced that NLNG can supply as much as one million tonnes of LPG into the market, in the event, that the market is ready to absorb it.

    He said: ‘’The problem of low supply of LPG, was not from NLNG. Rather the problem, was as a result of increased activities at the NOJ and NIPCO terminals that are given enough priorities to petrol and other white products.NLNG has increased supply of LPG from 150,000 tonnes per annum to 250,000 tonnes per annum, and could go as far one million, once the market can absorb it.’’

    According to him, NOJ and NIPCO terminals are multi-product terminals that are used in discharging energy commodities to consumers, stressing that the idea is inhibiting the flow LPG to the market.

    Adesina said NAFGAS is the only terminal that is dedicated by the Federal Government, to supply LPG to the market, adding that the terminal supplies 8,000 tonnes.

    ‘’NLNG is doing what is expected of it, as regards providing LPG, which is regarded as cleaner, safer, and healthy source of energy to the market.  NLNG goes as far as chartering vessels that would bring the product from its base in Rivers State to Lagos. But the problem has always been the failure of the terminals to discharge the product as and when due.’’ he added.

    He said some companies import LPG from Niger Republic, whenever the vessels are unable to discharge the product due to delay at the terminals.

    It would be recall that the country has witnessed scarcity of LPG, with stakeholders such as operators, marketers both at the wholesale and retail end of the market, at the receiving end.

  • Why food prices are unstable

    It has become a tradition especially in Lagos markets for prices of foodstuff and other commodities to remain unstable after festivities. What could be responsible? TONIA ‘DIYAN asked some traders.

    Visits to some markets in Lagos and a survey on other major markets have shown that prices of commodities have seen high level of irregularity since December last year, during the Christmas celebrations. Some items are still sold twice their usual prices. Ordinarily, prices should return to normal after festivities, but the reverse is the case with staple items, particularly in Lagos.

    This development has forced various categories of eateries and canteens to increase the prices of their meals, attributing the high costs to unstable and unfavourable prices of farm produce which according to them, they still buy for twice their original prices.

    A food vendor at Ogba who was also affected by the irregular food price , Mrs Nnenna Agu, said things are no longer the way they were last year because according to her, the quantity of a particular farm produce she bought for N400 three months ago, now sells for between N900 and N1,200.

    She added that foodstuffs have now become very expensive and are two times the prices they used to be last year. She attributed the hike to high cost of transportation and said “some traders whom I patronize told me they sell to make profit and so, they include the transportation fare when selling farm produce to us.”

    Beans have been the most expensive in recent times and customers have not stopped lamenting due to its unstable price-especially those brought from the northern part of the country. Mrs Romoke Adewale who sells beans in small and large quantities at Daleko market, complained that a bag of beans sells for N12, 000 and has refused to come down in price.

    “I know beans hike always have to do with the crisis in the north most of the time because that is where it is transported from. The price has been very unstable, sometimes we are tired of purchasing because we are not sure of how much we are taking with us’’ she said.

    Some traders also attribute this unstable price to flood in some northern states where food items are mainly transported from. Farmlands are sometimes washed away and only farmers who have few crops remaining will increase the prices to make up for their investments,” he said.

    A wheelbarrow of yam is between N8, 000 and N15, 000. It hasn’t been stable after Christmas. Rice fluctuates between N9, 500 and N10, 500 per bag.

    Survey shows that the price of garri, which is regarded as a common staple food among low income earners has also being irregular, jumping to N280, sometimes N300 for a brand while another brand sells for between N200 and N230. Yam flour now goes for between N750 and N800 at times, while those mixed with cassava are between N500 and N600.

    According to traders, the prevailing security challenges facing some part of the Northern states has also prevented many of them from travelling to places where these commodities are available at affordable prices.

    A yam seller, Mr Bala Usman told The Nation Shopping that the country is no longer safe for traders who travel to the North to get these foodstuffs cheap, so that they can also sell them cheap to consumers. “The yam you see here are costly; it is not our fault, we also have to sell to make profits. We are afraid to travel to our home towns” he said

    A retailer, Mr Franklin Idumebor said: “Food stuffs are now very expensive. It keeps rising and I wonder when it will ever fall, we sell according to how we buy.”

    The price of onions has remained relatively stable. A bag sells for between N5, 000 and N6, 500; a small bag of 50kg costs between N2, 500 and N3, 000. Half sack sells for between N3, 000 to N4, 000. Last month, it was from N6, 000 to N7, 000.

    Some consumers said they are at the receiving end. “When these prices are increased, we tend to suffer for it more” said Mr Uchena Kalu.

    He suggested a price control board to regulate food prices, saying it is one of the three basic amenities a human being shouldn’t be deprived of.

    For Mr Femi Abass, the problem is with the market women who refuse to reduce prices of food items even when they buy at cheap rates. “You often hear them say; ‘na so we buy o’! And when you say the price has reduced, they shout at you saying: ‘na old market I get, I never go buy new one.’

    He added, “the problems are caused at the local level are created. We are usually the architect of our misfortune” he said

    A lawyer, Mrs Hannah Maduka, supports the view that an active price control board to regulate food prices at the local level be made to stay in the country. “These laws work in other countries. Why should Nigeria be an exception? We have to get things straight and fast too” she said.

     

     

     

  • Presidency, CAN to el-Rufai: you’re unstable

    The Presidency yesterday described former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister and Deputy National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Malam Nasir el-Rufai, as “a double-minded and an unstable man in all his ways”.

    The Special Assistant (News Media) to the President, Mr. Reno Omokri, made this remark in a statement issued in Abuja.

    He was reacting to an interview published in the Saturday Sun of September 14, in which el-Rufai said: “Nothing can make Jonathan succeed.”

    el-rufai said the President “is grossly incompetent, he doesn’t listen, he doesn’t even understand the issues”.

    The presidential aide urged the public not to be misled by the machinations of el-Rufai, “a man who is in dire need of prayers and perhaps psychological assistance”.

    Omokri recalled that contrary to his position in the interview, el-Rufai had at a meeting with Ambassador John Campbell in April 2007 said that Jonathan, the then vice presidential nominee of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), “is clean and honest”.

    He said el-Rufai told the ambassador that “Jonathan was the only candidate that met Obasanjo’s guidelines on honesty.”

    According to him, unknown to el-Rufai, the ambassador kept a record of their conversation, which is now a public record in America.

    He said: “Beyond that, Nasir el-Rufai, who had gone into voluntary exile under the presidency of Malam Umaru Musa Yar’Adua after he was accused of corruption and abuse of office while he was Minister of the FCT, felt safe to return to Nigeria as soon as President Jonathan ascended to power.”

    Omokri recalled that when el-Rufai returned to Nigeria in 2010, he visited President Jonathan at the Presidential Villa on May 11, 2010, and was the first major political figure to call on him to contest for the 2011 presidential election.

    Omokri said in the double speak nature of el-rufai, he showered encomiums on Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in the latest interview, contrary to a damning conclusion on the General in 2010.

    He recalled that el-Rufai on October 6, 2010, said Buhari was not a suitable person to rule the country.

    “Mallam el-Rufai wishes to remind General Buhari that he has remained perpetually unelectable because his record as military head of state, and afterwards, is a warning that many Nigerians have wisely heeded.

    “His insensitivity to Nigeria’s diversity and his parochial focus are already well-known.

    “In 1984, Buhari allowed 53 suitcases belonging to his ADC’s father to enter Nigeria unchecked at a time the country was exchanging old currency for new.

    “Against all canons of legal decency, he used retroactive laws to execute three young men for drug-peddling after they were convicted by a military tribunal and not regular courts of law.

    “Buhari was so high handed that he gave himself and his officials immunity even from truthful reporting.

    “That obnoxious Decree 4, against which truth was no defence, was used to jail journalists and cow the media as a whole.

    “That tyrannical legislation shows the essence of his intolerance. These are facts of recent history.

    “The story of counter-trade and import licensing, the cornerstone of Buhari’s stone-age economic strategy and those whose interests it served, is a tale for another day.”

    el-Rufai also came under fire yesterday for his comments on the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.

    el-Rufai, at the weekend, in an interview in a national newspaper (not The Nation) said: “Look, Pastor Oritsejafor is the propaganda chief of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He lacks credibility. He is not a religious leader. He is a religious pretender. From his statements, he is a bigot, he is an ethnic irredentist and no one should take him seriously. It is sad that such a person is the head of CAN. So, he can say whatever he wants to say, but we know who he is working for, we know who gave him his private jet. So, why should we worry about someone like that? He has zero credibility.”