- NNPC assures of adequate PMS supply by next week
- 30 vessels to deliver an additional supply of 2.3 billion litres of PMS into the country till month-end February 2022
- 5 States/FCT ahead in 70% COVID-19 vaccination target by Dec. 2022
The National Economic Council (NEC) has resolved to encourage the growth of the automotive industry in Nigeria by improving patronage of locally manufactured vehicles, just as the Council got assurances that the current fuel situation in parts of the country would be resolved by next week.
Both of these issues formed part of the discussions at this month’s National Economic Council meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo with governors, federal ministers and top officials in attendance. NEC is composed of all 36 State Governors, the Central Bank Governor and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory alongside some other members of the Federal Executive Council.
Briefing NEC on the benefits of locally manufactured vehicles in the country, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, said despite the potentials, the local automotive industry has been significantly plagued by several challenges such as weak demand for locally assembled cars, as well as lack of government patronage which could have assisted the assemblers in achieving economies of scale.
Also, Council received an update on the Covid-19 vaccination by the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, calling Council to note that by March next month, the country needs to reach 50% of eligible vaccination at least for the first dose. Then, by December this year, the plan is to achieve 70% full vaccination rate.
He added that 5 States including FCT are hitting the mark, the States being Nasarawa, Jigawa, Ogun, Osun and Kwara.
Council resolved that State authorities should prioritize vaccination of citizens against the disease and that since Lagos, and FCT carry the highest-burden, whatever support is necessary should be made available to them.
NEC also received situational report on the outbreak of COVID-19 in Nigeria as of 17 February, 2022 showed the total number of cases at 254,091 while the number of cases tested was 4,233,363. The active cases is put at 20,493 while 230,457 cases were discharged and the number of deaths was put at 3,141.
The Council was also informed that cases have declined by 58.6% over the last 6 weeks with only 2 deaths in the past 2 weeks. The NCDC presentation noted that the Centre has engaged health facilities across the federation especially tertiary health facilities in other to curb the death of health workers due to Covid-19.
Implementation and enforcement of the COVID-19 health regulation 2021 signed by President Muhammadu Buhari is in progress to increase State COVID-19 sample collection and testing.
In a presentation on the Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme (JEP) the Minister of Trade, Otunba Niyi Adebayo noted that 60% of the Nigerian population is under 35 years of age and by 2050, Nigeria’s population is expected to double (becoming the 3rd largest country in the world) with over 13.8 million youth within the labour force bracket.
The Minister introduced the Jubilee Fellows Programme as one of the measures to address the increasing population of unemployed youths.
The programme will connect 20,000 graduates annually to opportunities in private and public sector institutions.
It will create a talent pipeline for private and public sector to draw from and provide a platform for high level public & private sector policy dialogue on Employment Creation & Talent Management, etc.
The minister said a deployment of the programme’s cohort and first placement is expected to be done by April 2022. The current numbers are 116,763 applications from prospective fellows received and 5,898 private sector institutions expressed interest to host fellows.
He said the goal is to mobilise $260 million over the five year programme period, adding that, already EU has committed 44Million euros into the fund.
