• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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BusinessDay

WEEK AHEAD: Nigeria’s vaccines arrive, Apapa gets off to good start

NBS says 133 million Nigerians are poor

Vaccines arrive at last


Nigeria is scheduled to receive 3.92 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine tomorrow.
This was contained in a joint press statement issued yesterday by the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA); United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organisation (WHO) in Abuja.
The delivery will mark the first arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine in the country and make Nigeria the next West African country to benefit from the COVAX Facility after Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.
The arrival of the vaccine will enable the NPHCDA to commence the vaccination of Nigerians in priority groups, starting with the frontline healthcare workers.

Is Apapa finally open for business?

Apapa
The coming weeks is expected to be accompanied by traffic normalcy around the Apapa environs. Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) has said that normalcy has returned to Apapa Port and environs, as years of untold hardship witnessed by road users has become history. NPA, in a tweet posted on Twitter on Sunday, stated that sanity has returned to Apapa, as the menace created by protracted traffic gridlock has been tackled. NPA attributed the development to the take off of its electronic call-up system (ETO). It also had removed trucks that littered the port access roads – Apapa Oshodi Express Way and Western Avenue leading to Ijora.
In a nutshell,… ‘Apapa is finally open for business’

Read Also: Apapa residents, businesses in high spirits as sanity returns to port city

Consumer goods stocks see biggest loss in 1yr

NSE
The NSE Consumer goods index shed a total of 49.84 index points in February, the highest loss on the index since March 2020. A preview of the performance of the index revealed that as of the close of trading activities on Friday 26th February 2021, the index stood at 563.85 index points, from 613.69 index points at the open of trade for the month. The Nigerian Stock Exchange Consumer Goods Index (CGI) depreciated by 8.12% in the month of February on the back of sell-offs and building negative sentiments in the market. This emanated as investors offloaded shares of top consumer goods company on the NSE, leading to the decline in the share price of Nestle, Dangote Sugar, Flour Mills, NB and eight (8) others. The overall performance of the companies was bearish, as the index closed on a negative note in the month of February with 12 losers relative to 3 gainers. The coming weeks might not be any better as the market would continue to undergo the anticipated market correction which it is experiencing currently.

Fuel scarcity in the capital


The coming week in the Federal Capital Territory would be accompanied by long queues in filling stations stemming from the scarcity of fuel which was induced by the anticipated increase in the pump price of petrol. The queues which started on Friday night have since increased, while most filling stations sell between N162-N163 per litre.
As of Friday night and Saturday, queues were observed at Oando filling station in Zone 4, Conoil in Wuse, Eterna filling station in Wuse 2, Mobil in Lokogoma, NNPC, Major oil Jabi, among others.
This is coming weeks after the landing cost of the petroleum product rose from N151 to N180 per litre due to the rising price of crude oil in the international market. As a result, marketers had stated that the pump price may rise from the current N162 to about N190 per litre considering the higher landing cost.

Universities reopen


Full academic activities resumed today in all Federal Universities in the country as the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Associated Institutions (NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities have suspended their industrial strike action. The suspension was not, however, without some provisions. The 2 unions said that they would resume their action if the Federal government fails to implement the memorandum of understanding it signed with them within the stipulated periods. The MOU contained payment of outstanding allowances to staff.
At the end of the negotiations between the parties last Thursday night, understandings were reached with the government with specific timelines.