Dear Subscriber,

A not so merry Christmas as Nigeria winds up on the red list

Nigerians were generally crestfallen after the news of the country’s stigmatization as an Omicron epicenter, broke last week. Being red listed along with its Southern African peers was already bad enough, but being the only West African country on the list was a black-eye. As a result of this, most visiting friends and relatives who had planned to return to Nigeria for the festive season have been forced to rethink their plans. Consequently, Nigerians who had been banking on Christmas goodies from their returning relatives to serve as financial support, and counted their eggs before they hatched have had to slash their spending aspirations.

OPEC+ and its love-hate relationship with oil consumers

The sharp 10.67% fall in the price of oil partly due to overblown fears over the Omicron variant sent oil crashing below $70pb, its lowest level in about four months. This happened as world economies were starting to recover to pre-pandemic levels and were in keen spirits of ending the year on a high note. Sadly, the virus had other plans and once again, the world found itself amidst a new wave of restrictions and lockdowns. The market expected OPEC+ to be hawkish in its reaction towards the variant’s potential threat to global oil demand. Surprisingly, OPEC+ decided to hold its course on its current output expansion plan (400,000bpd, every month) which stoked fears over a potential supply glut and contributed towards the free fall of the oil price. Oil prices have mostly recovered from this free fall, and OPEC+ has found itself in a tussle with the US and other major consumers regarding its tight-fistedness over oil supplies.

Why education is your business

Alone we can do so little, together we do so much. It is imperative to note that attaining the level of quality in the education system we all desire is not in the hands of just a few. It is not dependent on just the school system or the government or even the students. We all have a collective role to play.

The lifestyle section of this digest will provide you with insight on the roles you can play as an individual and a corporate body to aid in attaining an efficacious system of education.

This edition of the Unity Bank Digest, as usual, provides you with an intriguing lifestyle piece, recent economic news and interesting social stories.

Enjoy your read