BusinessDay 25 Oct 2017
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Wednesday <strong>25</strong> <strong>Oct</strong>ober <strong>2017</strong><br />
NEWS<br />
Household consumption expenditure<br />
slumped 5.7% in 2016<br />
PATRICK ATUANYA<br />
Nigeria’s household<br />
consumption<br />
expenditure<br />
slumped 5.7<br />
percent in 2016, according<br />
to latest Gross Domestic<br />
Product (GDP) by expenditure<br />
method data released<br />
by the National Bureau of<br />
Statistics (NBS), yesterday.<br />
Household Final Consumption<br />
Expenditure<br />
consists of expenditure, including<br />
imputed expenditure,<br />
incurred by resident<br />
households on individual<br />
consumption goods and<br />
services.<br />
Household consumption<br />
fell in real terms in 2016, as<br />
the general slowdown in the<br />
economy, particularly in the<br />
fourth quarter, contributed<br />
to households’ decision to<br />
consume less and conserve<br />
more in the previous year.<br />
The GDP can be derived<br />
as the value of all goods and<br />
services available for final<br />
uses and export. GDP at<br />
market prices includes net<br />
taxes on products; this is<br />
subtracted to obtain basic<br />
price GDP.<br />
The expenditure approach<br />
measures the final<br />
… jump in VAT suggests rebound<br />
uses of the produced output<br />
as the sum of Final Consumption,<br />
Gross Capital<br />
Formation and Exports less<br />
Imports.<br />
Basic price GDP declined<br />
in real terms by 2.34 percent<br />
and 1.73 percent in the third<br />
and fourth quarters of 2016,<br />
respectively, considerably<br />
lower than the growth rates<br />
of 2.84 percent and 2.11<br />
percent that were recorded<br />
in the same quarters of 2015.<br />
Market price GDP declined<br />
at a similar rate in the<br />
third quarter at 2.38 percent,<br />
and a slightly slower rate of<br />
1.63 percent in the fourth<br />
quarter as a result of faster<br />
growth in net taxes in the<br />
fourth quarter. This is calculated<br />
as a residual.<br />
General Government<br />
final consumption expenditure<br />
also declined in the<br />
period.<br />
This consists of expenditure,<br />
including imputed expenditure,<br />
incurred by government<br />
at all levels on both<br />
individual and collective<br />
consumption goods and services.<br />
Individual consumption<br />
items are those that<br />
are provided to individual<br />
households, such as education<br />
and health services.<br />
Collective consumption<br />
items relate to goods and<br />
services utilised by society<br />
as a whole, such as security<br />
and infrastructure.<br />
General government expenditure,<br />
which is predominantly<br />
on collective<br />
expenditure items, recorded<br />
the steepest decline among<br />
expenditure items at 22.1<br />
percent in 2016.<br />
For Not for Profit Institutions<br />
Serving Households<br />
(NPISH), after recording<br />
relative strong growth in<br />
the beginning of 2016, their<br />
expenditure component recorded<br />
negative real growth<br />
in Q2, 2016 of 2.98 percent.<br />
Meanwhile in a sign<br />
of rebound in household<br />
consumption the National<br />
Bureau of Statistics (NBS)<br />
recently published report<br />
on Sectoral Distribution of<br />
Value Added Tax (VAT), a 5<br />
percent levy on consumption<br />
of goods and services<br />
in Nigeria showed that total<br />
VAT generated rose significantly<br />
in Q2-17, expanding<br />
31.7 percent y/y to N246.3bn<br />
(vs. N204.8bn and N187.0bn<br />
in Q1-17 and Q2-16 respectively).<br />
United States Diplomatic<br />
Mission<br />
to Nigeria, in collaboration<br />
with<br />
RoboRave International, a<br />
US-based robotics education<br />
academy, is promoting science,<br />
technology, engineering<br />
and mathematics (STEM)<br />
education in Nigeria by training<br />
460 students, teachers,<br />
scientists and enthusiasts on<br />
robotics.<br />
Beneficiaries of the programme<br />
include elementary,<br />
secondary, and university students,<br />
teachers and scientists.<br />
The training is being hosted<br />
at the American Corner<br />
at Co-Creation Hub, Yaba,<br />
Lagos (<strong>Oct</strong>ober 23-<strong>25</strong>) and<br />
at the Olusegun Obasanjo<br />
Presidential Library Complex,<br />
Abeokuta, Ogun State (<strong>Oct</strong>ober<br />
26-28).<br />
The workshop seeks to<br />
boost technology education<br />
in Nigeria by engaging<br />
the participating students in<br />
hands-on robotics activities<br />
to stimulate their interest in<br />
math and science as well as<br />
careers in the STEM fields.<br />
One hundred robots have<br />
been donated free-of-charge<br />
to participating schools in<br />
Lagos and Ogun states, many<br />
of them with little or no experience<br />
in robotics. This is expected<br />
to provide the students<br />
C002D5556<br />
US boosts STEM education,<br />
trains 460 Nigerians on robotics<br />
ODINAKA ANUDU<br />
and their teachers with an opportunity<br />
to put their skills to<br />
use following the completion<br />
of the training.<br />
F. John Bray, United States<br />
consul general, explained<br />
that the U.S. Mission is supporting<br />
the capacity building<br />
workshop in hopes that<br />
participants will be inspired<br />
to work collaboratively with<br />
the aid of technology to create<br />
innovative solutions to shared<br />
global challenges.<br />
“In a world that’s becoming<br />
increasingly technologydriven,<br />
it’s more important<br />
than ever before for our youth<br />
to be equipped with the<br />
knowledge and skills to become<br />
innovators, educators,<br />
researchers, and leaders who<br />
can solve the most pressing<br />
challenges facing our world,<br />
both today and tomorrow.<br />
We are honoured to support<br />
this initiative that promotes<br />
science, technology, engineering,<br />
and mathematics —<br />
subjects collectively known as<br />
STEM— in Nigeria,” Bray said.<br />
Kingsley Imade, programme<br />
partner and director<br />
of RoboRAVE Nigeria, explained<br />
that an international<br />
faculty would facilitate the<br />
training sessions, including<br />
RoboRAVE International<br />
Director of Global Programs<br />
Russ Fisher-Ives, and Robo-<br />
RAVE North America Director<br />
Brian Montoya.<br />
BUSINESS DAY<br />
A1<br />
Building plan approval:<br />
Edo unveils new procedure,<br />
sets 3 months timeline<br />
As part of efforts by the<br />
Edo State government<br />
to unlock the socioeconomic<br />
benefits in<br />
the housing sector, the Edo State<br />
Ministry of Physical Panning<br />
and Urban Development has<br />
unveiled a three-month time<br />
limit for processing and issuing<br />
of building plan approvals to<br />
prospective developers.<br />
According to the commissioner<br />
for physical planning<br />
and urban development, Erimona<br />
Edorodion Oye, the new<br />
procedure will ensure “that<br />
all applications for building<br />
permits do not exceed three<br />
months which is in line with<br />
the provisions of the Nigerian<br />
Urban and Regional Planning<br />
Law, Decree no. 88 of 1992.”<br />
Oye urged all those who have<br />
ongoing/pending building plan<br />
approvals to submit all the necessary<br />
documents required for<br />
the granting of their building<br />
approvals so that their building<br />
plans can be processed.<br />
He advised the public that<br />
“any pending building plan approval<br />
application in the Ministry<br />
of Physical Planning and<br />
Urban Development that does<br />
not have the necessary documentation<br />
required and that has<br />
exceeded three months, come<br />
December 30, <strong>2017</strong>, shall be<br />
deemed to have expired and approval<br />
will be denied/rejected.”
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