Buhari signs NASS Service Pensions Board Act,

By Musa Baba Adamu

President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR has assented to the National Assembly Service Pensions Board (Establishment) Bill, which is in furtherance of the provisions of Section 58 of the Constitution and the Acts Authentication Act Cap. A2, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

A statement signed and issued yesterday by his Senior Special Adviser on Parliament (Senate), Senator Babajide Omoworare, said the National Assembly Service Pensions Board (Establishment) Act establishes the National Assembly Service Pensions Board to administer the pension scheme for personnel of the Service and exempts the personnel of the National Assembly Service from the

Contributory Pension Scheme.

The President also assented to the Federal Road Safety Commission Training Institutions (Establishment) Bill, for capacity building and training in road traffic administration and safety management, and to provide training for members of Federal Road Safety Corp.

The National Commission for Almajiri

Others

and Out of School Children Education Bill, earlier passed by the National Assembly was also assented to by the President. The Act seeks to provide multimodal system of education to tackle the menace of illiteracy, develop skill acquisition and entrepreneurship programmes, prevent youth poverty, delinquency and destitution in Nigeria.

Economists fault CBN for hiking inflation rate, urge focus on key drivers

From Abubakar Yunusa Abuja

Some Economists have urged the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to focus more on supply side or cost push factors and structural issues fueling inflation in the country.

The experts told the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday in Lagos that the repeated interest rate hikes had done little to stop the upward trend in inflation.

The apex bank on May 24, raised the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) for the seventh time to 18.5 per cent from 18 per cent.

The MPR is the baseline interest rate in an economy, on which every other interest rate used within an economy is built.

The Monetary Policy Committee had raised the MPR from 17.5 per cent to 18 per cent at its last meeting in March.

The members voted to retain the Asymmetric Corridor of +100/-700 basis points around the MPR, retain the Cash Reserve Ratio, CRR, of 32.5 per cent and retain the Liquidity Ratio of 30 per cent.

Prof. Ndubisi Nwokoma, Director, Centre for Economic Policy Analysis and Research, University of Lagos, advised CBN to focus its attention on the cost push factors as they drive inflation.

“On the increase in the MPR, I think the CBN is still battling with the inflation issue, which is proper.

“The CBN should focus more on the cost push factors of inflation, like the increased costs of production due to supply chain disruptions, exchange rate instability as well as increased price expectations due to the country’s fiscal challenges,’’ he said.

Mr Nwokoma, however, said the apex bank needed to also know that the negative consequences of its naira redesign and cashless policies were still affecting the inflation rate as they had not significantly moderated since cash became more available after the crisis earlier in the year.

Also, Uchenna Uwaleke, a Professor of Finance and Capital