- FG donates 20 trucks of rice to each state, Abuja to cushion food crisis
- Nigeria’s inflation increases to 34.19% in June
The Federal Government has sought the assistance of the World Bank to provide funding worth $50 million to support state governments for the installation of solar plant pilots and infrastructure upgrades.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun spoke on the initiative when he met with a World Bank delegate on Monday in Abuja.
The team was led by the Country Director for Nigeria, Ndiamé Diop while the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Ms. Olu Verheijen was in attendance.
A statement signed by the Director of Information and Public Relations, Finance Ministry, Mohammed Manga, said the meeting was held to discuss innovative ways to drive Nigeria’s power sector forward.
The minister said that the meeting focused on World Bank-supported initiatives, including the Power Sector Recovery Operation and the Distribution Sector Recovery Programme, aimed at improving power distribution and management systems to ensure economic growth and development in the nation.
Edun said the programme would ensure the rollout of 3.5m prepaid metres to enhance power distribution and support tariff frameworks, market reforms and co-financing the Transmission Company of Nigeria’s Performance Improvement Plan.
The statement read, “In its renewed determination to drive economic growth and development in the country, the Federal Government has continued to engage with relevant stakeholders to boost power sector investments as a major priority area for achieving the desired objective.
“The initiative will strengthen plans to roll out 3.5 million prepaid metres to enhance power distribution.
“$50 million funding for state solar plant pilots and infrastructure upgrades, with measures to support tariff frameworks, market reforms, and co-financing the Transmission Company of Nigeria’s Performance Improvement Plan.
“This collaboration aims at strengthening Nigeria’s power sector, enhancing energy access, promoting economic growth and development, improving job creation as well as poverty alleviation in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the present administration,” the statement added.
Edun further reaffirmed the commitment of President Bola Tinubu’s administration to reposition the nation’s economy.
The statement added that delegates from both sides expressed their commitment to working together towards achieving these goals for the benefit of all Nigerians.
The World Bank, a prominent international financial institution dedicated to reducing global poverty, provides loans and grants to developing countries for a wide range of projects, including infrastructure development, education, healthcare and environmental sustainability.
Nigeria has been a top recipient of fresh loans from multilateral lenders, borrowing $2.7 billion in 2023 from about $2.9bn in 2022.
FG donates 20 trucks of rice to each state, Abuja – Minister
In another development, the Federal Government said it has donated about 20 trucks of rice to each of Nigeria’s 36 states and Abuja as part of measures to cushion the country’s food crisis.
Information Minister, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this in Abuja on Monday while briefing State House reporters at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting.
“Each of the trucks of course is carrying about 1,200 25kg bags of rice. This is part of the measures that the government is taking in addition to so many others to ensure that the hardship being experienced by Nigerians is drastically ameliorated,” Idris said.
The minister said the bags of rice are expected to be distributed to vulnerable Nigerians by the state governments.
.”Each of the state governments has received 20 trucks of rice for onward distribution to the most vulnerable. This is a first step and the Federal Government will continue to support all the state governors and local governments, all the sub nationals, so that the hardship being experienced by most Nigerians in terms of shortage of food supply is breached,” he said.
Nigeria’s inflation increases to 34.19% in June
Nigeria’s headline inflation increased for the 18th time in June 2024 to 34.19 percent from 33 95 percent recorded in May amid worsening hardship.
The National Bureau of Statistics disclosed this in its latest Consumer Price Index and Inflation report released on Monday.
Looking at the movement, the June 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.24 percent points when compared to the May 2024 headline inflation rate.
On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 11.40 percent points higher compared to the rate recorded in June 2023, which was 22.79 percent.
This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in June 2024 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e. June 2023).
Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in June 2024 was 2.31 percent, which was 0.17 percent higher than the rate recorded in May 2024 (2.14 percent).
This means that in June 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is higher than the rate of increase in the average price level in May 2024.
Accordingly, the country’s inflation rate has been on a steady increase since December 2023 when it stood at 28.92 percent.
The development has seen the prices of goods and services rise in the period under view.
This is as Nigerians continue to groan over the economic hardship caused by price hikes.
