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2019 Budget: Economist reacts to Buhari`s proposal on New Minimum wage

2019 Budget: Economist reacts to Buhari`s proposal on New Minimum wage

By Ahmed Ubandoma
Wage
Abuja, Dec. 19, 2018 (NAN) A Political Economist, Mr Ismaila Suleiman, has said that the decision of President Muhammadu Buahri to set up a technical committee to look into the implementation of new national minimum wage was to avoid crisis between the states and the Federal Government.

Suleiman said this on Wednesday in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

He said that the President was mindful of the economic implications the decision may result to the unemployed youths, especially at the state level.

According to him, the President made a wise decision for setting up a committee to look into the mode of implementation of the new minimum wage to ensure that it does not add financial burden to some states who are willing to implement the new minimum wage.

He however advised state governments not to use the new national minimum wage as a reason not to engage fresh workers into the services of their respective states.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Buhari had earlier assured that a bill on implementation of the New Minimum Wage would soon be sent to the National Assembly for passage.

Buhari said this while presenting the 2019 Budget proposal of N8.8 trillion to the joint session of the National Assembly.

He assured that he was committed to addressing the minimum wage issue, saying he had directed the setting up of a technical committee to look at mode of implementation.

Buhari said that the work of the committee would be the basis of finance bill which will be submitted to the national assembly alongside the minimum wage bill.

According to him, the move is to minimise inflationary impact as well as ensure that its introduction does not lead to job losses.

NAN also recalls that the Amal Pepple Tripartite Committee on the Review of New National Minimum Wage, had on Nov. 6, submitted its report to the President.

The committee recommended N30,000 as the new national minimum wage. (NAN)
AMU/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Health

Nigeria records13.9% modern contraceptive prevalence – Economist

Nigeria records13.9% modern contraceptive prevalence – Economist
By Vivian Ihechu
Contraceptives
Abuja, Dec. 6, 2018 (NAN) With barely 13 months to reaching the target FP2020 objectives on contraceptives usage, indicators show that Nigeria currently has a 13. 9 per cent Modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (mCPR) for all women, an economist has said.
Mr Adebiyi Adesina, is a Senior Economist with Avenir Health on Track20, a U.S. based company.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Federal Government of Nigeria in collaboration with partners and private sector stakeholders pledged to achieve a modern contraceptive prevalent rate of 27 per cent in Nigeria among all women by 2020.
mCPR refers to a proportion of women, ages 15-49 , who are using, or whose sexual partners are using a modern method of contraception including hormonal and barrier methods, sterilisation, emergency contraception, Lactational Amenorrhea Method (LAM) and standard days/cycle beads method.
FP2020 is an outcome of July 2012 London Summit where over 20 countries committed to enable 120 million more women and girls, have access to live saving contraceptives, irrespective of where they live by 2020.
Achieving the FP2020 Goal is a critical milestone to ensuring universal access to sexual reproductive health services and rights by 2030 , as laid out by the Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 5.
Adesina, a Health Economist and Country Lead for the Track20 Project, told NAN on Thursday in Abuja that the 13.9 per cent mCPR is a national average as situations in each state varies.
He fielded questions from NAN after his presentation at the 5th Nigeria Family Planning Conference (NFPC2018) with theme as : “Investment. Innovation. Inclusiveness’’, organised by the Association for the Advancement of Family Planning (AAFP).

(Projected Trends in Modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (mCPR). Source: Track20.org and NDHS 2013)

Adesina said: “We work in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health to support in monitoring the progress toward achieving the goal of Family Planning (FP) access.
“Part of the work with the ministry is to generate annual estimates of the indicators for measuring progress for FP, where we are in terms of the mCPR as well as the total contraceptive prevalence rate.
“The analysis of the annual meeting held in July within the national reproduction health technical working group shows that, of the available data that we have, Nigeria is currently at 13.9 per cent mCPR for all women.
“All women of reproductive age which refers to women between the ages of 15 and 49,’’ he said.
“However, there is a wide variety of context across states as each state has its own realities, so you will of course see that difference.
“This 13. 9 per cent is a national average.
“What it looks like in the different states varies from as low as two per cent to as high as `20 something’ per cent prevalence rate by state.’’
According to Adesina, based on this current data, Oyo State has the highest mCPR; but this should not be used to compare to states because the contexts are different.
“For example, Oyo has its dense population in certain areas, it has different infrastructure, different demographic (population), so you cannot necessarily compare what is happening in Oyo State to what is happening in Lagos State, for example.
“Also, you cannot compare the situation to what is in Bauchi which has security issues.
“It is important to understand this context.
“So, with that, the goal now is to use that context in consideration when states are implementing their programme,’’ he said.
Adesina said that two key populations would trigger Nigeria’s growth in FP use.
“They are the youths, women between the ages of 15 and 24, and Post Partum women, women who have just delivered, within the first six months of delivery.
“These population is going to be key; but because we are talking about Nigeria nationally, there is going to be differences in states.
“In some states, because they have a large youth population, the youth might be their focus.
`Other places, because they have a large married population and delivering population, then that might be their key demographic to focus for FP services.
“What is important to understand is that in all these programmes, the growth in FP can only be achieved if we identify what the context is and each state has to take the lead in doing that.’’
Adesina said that in terms of programme implementation, data is key and state data is going to be even more crucial in achieving the contraceptive usage and FP2020 targets.
“It is up to the states to make that decision to drive this by also designing programmes, policies on how to improve FP programmes and service delivery.
“These will include commitment to budgeting and financing, improved distribution, increased sensitisation and other interventions,’’ Adesina said. (NAN)
VIV/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Economy

Economist advises state govts to consolidate FG’s 2017 budget

Economist advises state govts to consolidate FG’s 2017 budget

NAN-H-1

Budget

By Cecilia Ologunagba

Abuja, June 20, 2017 (NAN) An economist, Dr Aminu Usman, has advised state and local governments to consolidate the Federal Government 2017 budget to achieve growth and development.

Usman, a lecturer at the Department of Economics, Kaduna State University, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.

He said one major problem of budgeting in the country was that people equate the federal government budget with national budget.

“But the two are different; Budget will only start being meaningful and have a positive impact on the economy if we begin to consolidate the federal government budget with that of states and local governments.

“The lower levels of government are closer to the people and their projects have more direct bearing on the common man,’’ he said.

According to him, budget conceptualisation, processing and implementation should be in a coordinated manner for meaningful impact and well-rounded economic growth.

Usman, however, advised the federal government to begin the implementation of capital component of the 2017 budget in earnest.

He said that the implementing of the budget would likely have impact on inflation.

The don said for the budget to impact on inflation the pattern of disbursement should favour local contractors and increasing food supplies.

“Paying local contractors will boost consumption which will increase domestic production of goods and services as well as create employment,’’ he said.

On the latest inflation rate, the don said that the figures were still on the high side despite the efforts of the government to bring it down.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the country’s inflation dropped to 16.25 per cent in May from 17.24 per cent in April.

This is the fourth consecutive decline in the rate of inflation since January.

Usman explained that the Consumer Index Price (CPI) only dropped on month-on-month basis but still generally high.

“The issue of inflation is very clear that prices are up and remain up in the last one year. It’s normal to see slight movement month-on-month because inflation is a dynamic phenomenon.

“The slight improvement reported is perhaps as a result of market adjustment to price rises and shrinking demand due to higher prices.

“The government will do well to address the source of the persistent inflationary pressure on prices of necessities especially food, drugs, energy,’’ he said. (NAN)

CIA/MST

Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola