Isaac Anumihe, Abuja and Adewale Sanyaolu
Nigeria is set to gain N1.3 trillion between now and December following the current oil price of $71 per barrel. But Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, has insisted that the $55 per barrel budget benchmark would not be adjusted in view of the rise.
Speaking on the forthcoming 25th Nigerian Economic Summit, yesterday, in Abuja, the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, who fielded questions on whether the benchmark would be adjusted given the rise of oil in the international market, cautioned that Nigerians should not rejoice on the misfortune of others and that the price is not likely to be adjusted. “We should not be in the practice of rejoicing over the misfortune of others. If Saudi Arabia, with very sophisticated security systems, is affected in this manner, it means we are also vulnerable. So, let us not be in a hurry to celebrate. Like the Minister of State said, we are not in a hurry to adjust our revenues”, she said.
“He said that the government was not investing in business. Rather, it is providing enabling environment for businesses to thrive. “In our budget, for the past two years and also in 2020, we have made provisions for the economic zones. The essence is for us to be able to prepare those zones to provide common infrastructure such as light, water and roads for investors to come and set their businesses in those zones. So, government is using its limited resources to enable business to thrive. Government is not investing in business”, she noted.
Meanwhile, a drone Attack on Saudi Arabia State Oil Corporation, Saudi Aramco oil facility, has led to a surge in oil prices, with Brent crude trading for $68.06 per barrel as against $58 it traded for on Friday.
US crude oil jumped $5.61 per barrel, or 10.2 per cent, to $71.00 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, surged $7.84 per barrel, or 13 per cent, to $71.00 per barrel. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the attack on the Saudi Aramco facility. It halted production of 5.7 million barrels of crude a day, more than half of Saudi Arabia’s global daily exports and more than 5 per cent of the world’s daily crude oil production. Most output goes to Asia.
Commenting on the implication for Nigeria, President, Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Nigeria Council, Mr. Debo Fagbami, said the attack on the oil facility is not in anyway good news for Nigeria as the country was under the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) production cut quota. “In the last couple of months, we have been in intensive discussion with labour on increase in the minimum wage. As a result, Mr president set up a minimum wage negotiation committee which agreed that the minimum wage should be adjusted to N30,000 minimum and also we are currently negotiating the consequential adjustments to other public servants to make sure there is parity between the minimum wage and other cadres.