Africa's most populous nation has been under intense food insecurity exacerbated by growing inflation. The funds are expected to boost agricultural production in the West African nation.
Wednesday, August 2, 2023
Video - Nigeria mobilizes $500 million to boost food production
Video - Four stowaways from Nigeria survive 14 days on ship’s rudder before rescue in Brazil
On their 10th day at sea, four Nigerian stowaways crossing the Atlantic in a tiny space above the rudder of a cargo ship ran out of food and drink.
They survived another four days, according to their account, by drinking the seawater crashing just metres below them, before being rescued by the Brazilian federal police in the southeastern port of Vitoria.
Their remarkable, death-defying journey across some 5,600km (3,500 miles) of ocean underlines the risks some migrants are prepared to take for a shot at a better life.
“It was a terrible experience for me,” said 38-year-old Thankgod Opemipo Matthew Yeye, one of the four Nigerians, in an interview at a Sao Paulo church shelter. “On board, it is not easy. I was shaking, so scared. But I’m here.”
Their relief at being rescued soon gave way to surprise.
The four men said they had hoped to reach Europe and were shocked to learn they had in fact landed on the other side of the Atlantic, in Brazil. Two of the men have since been returned to Nigeria upon their request, while Yeye and Roman Ebimene Friday, a 35-year-old from Bayelsa state, has applied for asylum in Brazil.
“I pray the government of Brazil will have pity on me,” said Friday, who had already attempted to flee Nigeria by ship once before but was arrested by authorities there.
Both men said economic hardship, political instability and crime had left them with little option but to abandon their native Nigeria. Africa’s most populous country has longstanding issues of violence and poverty, and kidnappings are endemic.
Yeye, a Pentecostal minister from Lagos State, said his peanut and palm oil farm was destroyed by floods this year, leaving him and his family homeless. He hopes they can now join him in Brazil.
Friday said his journey to Brazil began on June 27, when a fisherman friend rowed him up to the stern of the Liberian-flagged Ken Wave, docked in Lagos, and left him by the rudder.
To his surprise, he found three men already there, waiting for the ship to depart. Friday said he was terrified. He had never met his new shipmates and feared they could toss him into the sea at any moment.
Once the ship was moving, Friday said the four men made every effort not to be discovered by the ship’s crew, who they also worried might offer them a watery grave.
“Maybe if they catch you they will throw you in the water,” he said. “So we taught ourselves never to make a noise.”
Spending two weeks within spitting distance of the Atlantic Ocean was perilous.
To prevent themselves from falling into the water, Friday said the men rigged up a net around the rudder and tied themselves to it with a rope. When he looked down, he said, he could see “big fish like whales and sharks”. Due to the cramped conditions and the noise of the engine, sleep was rare and risky. “I was very happy when we got rescued,” he said.
Father Paolo Parise, a priest at the Sao Paulo shelter, said he had come across other cases of stowaways, but never one so dangerous. Their journey paid testament to the lengths people go in search of a new start, he said. “People do unimaginable and deeply dangerous things.”
Related story: 3 Stowaways Travel from Nigeria to Canary Islands on Ship's rudder for 11 days
Protest against soaring cost of living under president Tinubu erupts in Nigeria
Labor unions marched across Nigeria on Wednesday to protest the soaring cost of living under the West African nation’s new president, with calls for the government to improve social welfare interventions to reduce hardship.
The unions, made up of government workers, said the economic incentives announced this week by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu to ease hardship were not enough. They also accused him of failing to act quickly to cushion the effect of some of his policies, including the suspension of decadeslong, costly subsidies that have more than doubled the price of gas, causing a spike in prices for food and most other commodities.
Tinubu on May 29 scrapped the subsidy that cost the government 4.39 trillion naira ($5.07 billion) while new leadership of the country’s central bank ended the yearslong policy of multiple exchange rates for the local naira currency, allowing the rate to be determined by market forces.
Both moves aimed to boost government finances and woo investors, authorities said. But they have had an immediate impact of further squeezing millions in Nigeria who were already battling surging inflation, which stood at 22.7% in June, and a 63% rate of multidimensional poverty.
“Since the subsidy removal, you can’t move from one place to another,” said Joe Ajaero, president of the Nigerian Labor Congress, the umbrella body of the unions. He was referring to the cost of transportation that has more than doubled in many cities, forcing a growing number of people to walk to work.
Ajaero said the labor unions have proposed an upward review of salaries but “the federal government has refused to inaugurate the committee on the proposal.“
“Mr. President can’t join the league of lamentations; he should come out openly and let us know those people who have cornered our commonwealth … and not to lament that some people have stolen our money,” said Ajaero, adding that the protest could continue for a long time.
One of the protesters, Usman Abdullahi Shagari, said he has been struggling to provide for his family, which includes five children, after the price of food items more than doubled.
“Feeding today is the most important thing,” said Shagari, 45. “Everything has increased, so that has affected the feeding of my family and my salary cannot withstand it.”
By Chinedu Asadu, AP
Related story: Fuel prices triple in Nigeria, squeezing millions already struggling
Tuesday, August 1, 2023
President Tinubu says scrapping fuel subsidy has saved $1.32 billion
Nigeria has saved over 1 trillion naira ($1.32 billion) in just over two months by scrapping a popular but costly subsidy on petrol and moved to unify its multiple exchange rates, President Bola Tinubu said on Monday.
Tinubu is under pressure as prices soar following the country's boldest reforms in decades, which labour unions say have hurt the poor.
A meeting between unions and government to try to avert a planned strike from Wednesday ended without an agreement late on Monday, union officials said.
In a television broadcast, Tinubu defended his decision to scrap the petrol subsidy, which he said benefited a few elites and that the reforms would help boost the economy.
"In a little over two months, we have saved over a trillion naira that would have been squandered on the unproductive fuel subsidy which only benefited smugglers and fraudsters," Tinubu said.
The president said he was aware of the hardship caused by removing the subsidy and was "monitoring the effects of the exchange rate and inflation on gasoline prices," adding that he would intervene if and when necessary.
The World Bank said last month Nigeria could save up to 3.9 trillion naira this year alone after Tinubu's reforms but warned of growing short-term inflationary pressures.
Unions are pressuring Tinubu to offer relief to households and small businesses. Tinubu announced a 500 billion naira package which includes mass transit buses and cheap loans to farmers and small businesses to boost employment.
Earlier on Monday, the government said it had released grains to families, directed authorities in public schools to defer hiking school fees and will provide buses to ease transport costs for students. It also plans to set up a fund from the subsidy savings to build infrastructure.
"Sadly, there was an unavoidable lag between subsidy removal and these plans coming fully online. However, we are swiftly closing the time gap," Tinubu said.
By Felix Onuah, Reuters
Related stories: President Tinubu Unveils Broad Plan to Ease Cost of Living Pain
Fuel prices triple in Nigeria, squeezing millions already struggling
President Tinubu Unveils Broad Plan to Ease Cost of Living Pain
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu announced sweeping measures to soften the impact of his move to end gasoline subsidies that has sent prices surging.
The 500 billion-naira ($652 million) package is aimed at improving food supply, ease transportation costs and boost manufacturing. It will also provide conditional grants to at least a million small businesses.
“Our economy is going through a tough patch and you are being hurt by it,” he said Monday in a national address. “I understand the hardship you face. I wish there were other ways. But there is not,” the president told Nigerians in prepared remarks.
Read more: How Nigeria’s Leader Is Shaking Up a Shaky Economy: QuickTake
The cost of living in Africa’s biggest economy has surged since Tinubu announced on May 29 that fuel subsidies have been scrapped, tripling the price of gasoline. A subsequent devaluation of the naira has also fanned inflation, which quickened to 22.8% in the year through June.
Food-price inflation over the same period was more than 25% and frustration turned violent in Adamawa state in northeastern Nigeria on Sunday, where a 24-hour curfew was declared after youths looted a government warehouse where food is stored.
Tinubu, who has declared a state of emergency to tackle food security and supply, asked for patience in his speech.
“Sadly, there was an unavoidable lag between subsidy removal and these plans coming fully on line,” he said. “We are swiftly closing the time gap. I plead with you to please have faith in our ability to deliver.”
The end of the subsidy may help the country save more than 21 trillion naira ($21 billion) in two years, according to the World Bank.
Key Measures:
. 200 billion naira earmarked for agriculture to support the cultivation of 500,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) of land to produce rice, corn, wheat and cassava
. The administration will also provide 225,000 tons of fertilizer, seedlings and other farm inputs and release 200,000 tons of grain from its strategic reserve
. 75 billion naira of concessional lending to fund 75 manufacturers to “kickstart” growth
. 125 billion naira for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, including 50 billion naira of conditional grants to 1 million nano businesses.
. 100 billion naira to purchase a fleet of 3,000 20-seater buses fueled by natural gas.
“I urge you all to look beyond the present temporary pains and aim at the larger picture,” Tinubu said. “All of our good and helpful plans are in the works. More importantly, I know that they will work.”
In addition, he said the administration is working with labor unions to introduce a new minimum wage.
The Nigerian Labour Congress has called for nationwide protests starting Aug. 2 over what it calls “anti-poor” policies. But the action faces a court injunction and the NLC is holding talks with authorities.
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