Workers in the oil and gas sector on Friday alleged that the huge loss of revenue and investments in the country was due to delay in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

The workers under the aegis of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) stated this in a communique at the end of its National Executive Council meeting.

Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, has rejected the plan by both the Federal and state governments to tax pensions, gratuities and terminal benefits of workers in the country.

The umbrella body for senior staff in the oil and gas sector vowed to resist the implementation of the plan, contending that it will further impoverish Nigerian workers.

Nigeria has saved over $600m dollars (N216bn) from the importation of rice alone from Thailand and other countries since the nation’s domestic mass production flooded the markets under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme.

The figure represents a fraction of a staggering $22bn (N7.92tr) spent on importation of foods into the country annually prior to the advent of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Oil steadied on Wednesday near a four-week high after top exporters Saudi Arabia said it was determined to end a supply glut that has been weighing on the market for three years. Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Tuesday the kingdom was determined to reduce oil inventories stocks in industrialized countries to their five-year average and raised the prospect of prolonged output restraint once an OPEC-led pact to cut supplies ends.

Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele said on Friday he expected inflation rate to fall at a faster pace and hit high single digit rates mid-next year.

Delta is on the hunt for new flight attendants. The airline has more than 1,000 open flight attendant positions for 2018 and the competition is stiff.

Last year, 150,000 people applied for around 1,200 flight attendant jobs. Fewer than 1% of applicants were hired.

The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami has said Government has recovered $85million Malabu fund from the United Kingdom. Speaking at the Agenda for Pre-Global Forum on Asset Recovery Consultative Meeting in Abuja Malami also revealed that Government is also negotiating with Switzerland on the return of $331 million recovered from the family of the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha.

The senate has mandated its committees on banking, communications capital market, national security and intelligence to investigate the utilisation of $1.2 billion loan obtained by Etisalat.

The upper legislative chamber also mandated the committees to make recommendations on ways the country’s financial structure could be strengthened by legislation to prevent a similar reoccurrence.

African Industries Group, Nigeria’s major private sector steel manufacturer, yesterday, said that it saves the country $650 million (about N236 billion) through import-substitution, by exporting finished steel from its plants to other African countries.

The group also lamented the high cost of sea freight of steel products to other countries within the continent, calling on the port authorities and other relevant agencies to ease the bottleneck associated with exporting cargoes through the ports and reduce the various charges to acceptable level to make Nigerian goods competitive in the global market.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) opened on a downward trend with the market capitalisation dropping by N60 billion amidst losses by Lafarge Africa and Nigerian Breweries. Reports revealed that the market capitalisation which opened at N12.593 trillion shed N60 billion or 0.48 per cent to close at N12.533 trillion.