Consumers bear the burden of MDAs failure to pay N100b electricity bill
The failure of Federal and state governments, as well as their ministries and agencies to pay over N100 billion outstanding electricity bills, is currently worsening the liquidity crisis in the nation’s electricity sector.
The situation has also led to distribution companies hounding private electricity consumers who pay more through estimated bills and higher tariffs, rather than recover outstanding debts from government agencies.
The development, which many stakeholders described as direct sabotage and failure to respect extant regulations, particularly, the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA), has pushed indebtedness of the utility companies to over N500 billion.
Doctors strike: NMA keeps mum despite FG’s threat
Despite threats by the Federal Government, through the minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige, to enforce the ‘no work no pay rule against striking resident doctors today, indications emerged last night that the strike, now in its eighth day, is not likely to be called off soon, just as the parent body of all medical doctors in the country, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), has refused to comment.
President of NMA Innocent Ujah, yesterday, refused to pick calls from journalists on efforts the association is making to resolve the impasse between the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) and the Federal Government.
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Reacting to the threat from the Federal Government, President, NARD, Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, yesterday told journalists: “They have not invited us for any kind of meeting, neither have they met our demands. Rather, we are getting threats of no work no pay. We can see which party is sincere to resolve the issue.”
NARD is the militant body of all medical doctors in the country and there are about 16,000 resident doctors working in Nigeria out of over 40,000 medical doctors.
Report: 98% of businesses in Nigeria’s informal sector pay taxes — but to non-state actors
SBM Intelligence, an Africa-focused geopolitical research firm, says 98 percent of businesses in Nigeria’s informal sector paid their taxes — but to non-state regulated actors.
The research firm disclosed this in its report titled, “Under the Hood: A Look into Taxation in Nigeria’s Informal Sector”.
The informal sector has business activities that operate outside of government regulation and are largely unregistered.
They include commercial bus drivers, artisans such as dressmakers, hairdressers, vulcanisers et cetera, mainly those in the low socio-economic strata, with low skills and poor education.
COVID-19: Air passenger revenue declined 69% to $189bn, says IATA
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says 2020 was the worst year ever in the airline industry across the world as passenger revenues fell by 69 percent to $189 billion.
This is contained in the IATA’s world air transport statistics (WATS) recent report.
The association said the 2020 performance on global air transport is due to the devastating effects of the COVID-19 crisis.
“1.8 billion passengers flew in 2020, a decrease of 60.2% compared to the 4.5 billion who flew in 2019,” part of the report reads.
FG Postpones Second Batch of COVID-19 Vaccination
The Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 (PSC), has announced the postponement of the second batch of COVID-19 Moderna vaccines doses donated by the American government to intensify the battle against the virus
The director press, PSC, on COVID-19 Willie Bassey, made this known in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the exercise was earlier scheduled to commence tomorrow August 10, 2021, at the Federal Medical Centre, Jabi, Abuja.
The PSC announced the second phase of vaccination against the virus having received four million doses of Moderna vaccines donated by the United States government through COVAX.
