By Ojoma Akor


The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) on Tuesday night declared an indefinite nationwide strike.

President of the association, Dr Orji Emeka Innocent, said the strike will commence at 12 midnight on Tuesday.

He said the strike was declared during the National Executive Council meeting of the association in Lagos.

According to Innocent, the major demands of the association are : immediate payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) , immediate release of the circular on one-for-one replacement , payment of skipping arrears and upward review of CONMESS in line with full salary restoration to the 2014 value of CONMESS.

A mild drama is playing out at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos between operatives of Department of State Services, DSS, and official of Nigeria Correctional Service, NCS, over custody of the suspended Central Bank Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele.

Emefiele was arraigned today by the DSS for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition but was granted bail in the sum of N20million with one surety.

While Emefiele’s lawyers are still in court trying to perfect his bail conditions, a mild drama is playing out within the court premises between DSS and NCS over who will take custody of the defendant.

Two Hilux vehicles belonging to the two government agencies are currently positioned near the entrance of the court.

Sources told Vanguard that there are moves by the DSS to rearrest Emefiele despite the bail granted to him by the court.

Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria has issued a fresh two-week ultimatum, demanding that the federal government fast track planned palliatives measures to ease the burden on the citizens caused by the fuel subsidy removal.

The stipulated time frame came in the light of the federal government’s apparent delay, several weeks after it hosted organised labour in a meeting where both parties agreed on the palliatives.

TUC said it felt that the Presidential Steering Committee is not working at an anticipated speed while Nigerians are suffering.

The labour centre at a briefing with journalists in Abuja said that the congress would no longer continue to hear “big grammar” around the proposed palliatives while Nigerians trek long distances to their places of business.

TUC national president, Comrade Festus Osifo, asked the Presidential Steering Committee on the palliatives to conclude its work quickly to meet the yearnings of “battered” Nigerian masses.

Osifo also demanded that the federal government lead by example and reduce the cost of governance rather than pushing the burden of the subsidy removal and making an injury to the poor Nigerians.

The congress vowed to mobilise action against the National Assembly if the legislative arm failed to justify the planned purchase of exotic vehicles for its members.

“We all know the suffering that Nigerian workers are passing today and indeed the entire Nigerian masses.

We understand the difficulty that workers are passing through as it stands today,” he noted.

He said,” We want the government to fast track and ensure that between now and the next two weeks all the committees must have submitted their work.”

He added that this is one of those things they felt that as the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, they must bring to the limelight, saying that they would do everything possible to ensure that the government listens to them and the government fast track these processes.

“Government cannot continuously ask the workers and the Nigeria masses to continuously tie their belts. We have adjusted our belt while in government, they are continuously increasing the largesse.

“If they tell us that it is not a business as usual, it should not be to the detriment of the battered Nigeria masses or the downtrodden Nigerian workers. They should live by example… in a situation whereby they are pushing a log of poverty to the masses and they are living in affluence, we will not allow that to work”, he added.

Other issues raised at the briefing include; government decisive action against insecurity, reinstatement of the Lagos State chapter of RTEAN, and policies that will support a good exchange rate, among others.

Oil marketers are clamouring that market indicators should determine the price movement of Premium Motor Spirit, commonly known as petrol, even if it means the price could potentially reach N700. This comes after a 165 per cent increase in petrol prices to N500 following President Bola Tinubu’s announcement regarding the removal of subsidy for the product, OPEOLUWANI AKINTAYO writes

Oil marketers have insisted that the current prices of petrol in the country were not a true reflection of the market. They were projecting a further price review this month, less than two months after the price of petrol was hiked from N189 per litre to N500.

Their demand was granted when some filling stations operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited reviewed their pump price of petrol from N537/litre to N617/litre across the country on Tuesday.

A former Chairman of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria and Chief Executive Officer, 11 Plc, Tunji Oyebanji, told The PUNCH in a chat that oil prices would reflect current market realities.

According to him, this is what is obtainable in other neighbouring African countries that import petrol.

“If the prices in neighbouring countries reflect true market prices and our own do not, there is still a danger. Until we all import at the new exchange rate and know what the price is and compare it with our neighbours, we won’t know the exact situation. Likely, the differential will not be so much,” Oyebanji claimed.

Checks by The PUNCH revealed that while PMS price per litre sells for around N617 in Nigeria, the product goes for around N1,169 in Mali; Ivory Coast: N986; Cameroon: N986; Ghana: N948, Togo: N945, and Benin: N877.

The National Controller of Operations, Mike Osatuyi, recently told our correspondent that the price of petrol could likely increase to N600/N700 and above starting in July.

“What I am seeing is around N600 and above, depending on the exchange rate, the current crude price at the international price, and landing cost. Those in Lagos will pay around N600, those outside Lagos around N600 plus, while those in the north would be paying anything from N700 and above,” he said.

Oyebanji added that competition was healthy for the downstream sector, as it would allow for fair play.

“The bottom line is that there will be an adjustment in price. Yes, it may go up now. It could also drop depending on the exchange rate. But the good thing is that products would be everywhere, and if you see that yours is more expensive than those of the filling stations around you, you will be forced to bring down prices so that customers can come and buy. There would be healthy competition, which is good for the market,” he continued.

For Osatuyi, the current price of petrol is a “transitional price”. He hinted that marketers were expecting a roadmap from the Federal Government following subsidy removal.

“We are expecting a roadmap from the Federal Government following the meeting with labour. Labour has said they are giving the government two months to come up with the roadmap. We are also expecting the roadmap on how to deepen the use of Compressed Natural Gas.

“Already, three marketers have been confirmed to start bringing in products starting from July. That is when we would know the real price of products because it would definitely increase. This current price is just a transitional price,” he mentioned.

Oyebanji also warned of the return of smuggling if market forces are not allowed to control the market.

“Would we not see tankers being diverted again to our neighbours? The price differential between us and our neighbours, apart from greed, what else could account for this level of disparity in these June figures?” he wondered.

Oyebanji also declared that depot owners were resorting to both local and foreign loans to finance importation.

“It is not like we are just getting importation licenses. We have been licensed, but we stopped importing because it was no longer profitable. Now, everybody is trying to see what we can do. Some people will raise money and borrow from abroad, while others will borrow from local banks. It is not just three companies that would be importing. Many companies are currently running around to start bringing in products. But we won’t be shouting about it on the pages of newspapers,” he said.

Also, a source at a depot in Lagos, who does not want his name in print, hinted that more importers were currently being licensed.

He added that smuggling or diversion of products to neighbouring countries would continue if full deregulation was not allowed to take its course.

“Where do countries like Ghana, Benin, and Cameroun get their products from? Is it not from Nigeria?” he asked.


“The prices of products will depend on market fundamentals. And as we speak, Customs is delaying some AGO (diesel) vessels because of the 7.5 per cent VAT. Any cost incurred by marketers would be added to the landing cost, and then to the pump price. The marketers would also have to add profit because they must make a profit,” he said.

The Chairman of IPMAN Satellite Depot, Akin Akinrinade, told The PUNCH that marketers were still loading products at government-regulated price of N496 per litre.

“There are currently products in the country and we are loading at a government price of N496.50 per litre. But because of the new forex policy of the central bank, naira has shot up to around N765/ $1. Until new products start coming in, we won’t know the exact extent to which the new policy would affect our business,” he said.

A recent report by Reuters stated since Nigeria scrapped fuel subsidy, black market fuel vendors and commercial drivers in Cameroon, Benin and Togo had seen their businesses collapse due to low supplies and high prices.

“In Cotonou, the commercial capital of Benin, which is about 60 km from Nigeria, queues have been building up at official petrol stations and some have been unable to meet the sudden surge in demand, especially from “zemidjan”, the local word for motorcycle-taxis.

“Before, we were selling about 2,000 litres per day, but now we’re selling up to 7,000 litres per day,” said a worker at the JNP fuel station, who gave his first name as Janvier. He had just turned away four customers because supplies had run out,” Reuters reported.

“The zemidjan-men are even fighting to get served,” said Janvier.

According to the report, in Benin and Togo, small nations to the west of Nigeria, contraband fuel vendors have lost both supplies and customers while formerly sleepy official petrol stations are suddenly busy.

“At Hilacondji, a border crossing between Togo and Benin, some black market fuel stalls were shut, while at others vendors waited among rows of empty plastic jerrycans for potential deliveries,” the report added.

It quoted one Ayi Hilla who had been making a living from selling contraband fuel for 10 years as saying that many black marketers had gone into fishing or other small businesses.

According to the data, global oil prices upon which local petrol is priced have come under pressure, and would mean a reduction in price in July.

Petrol is showing an over-recovery of between 11 and 19 cents per litre, while diesel is showing the opposite in a range of 14 to 19 cents per litre. The price of motor spirit will decrease by 19 cents from $2.80 to cost $2.61 per litre.

According to Bloomberg analysis, oil has dropped around 13 per cent this year, partly due to Russia’s robust exports but also reflecting monetary tightening in the US and a lacklustre economic recovery in China.

“China’s economy continues to show signs of losing momentum as recent data showed slowed spending on everything from holiday travel to cars and homes,” it said.


However, while countries with stronger currencies would see local petrol prices drop, Nigeria on the other hand would not, as it recently devalued the naira.

Nigeria’s central bank allowed the local currency to drop as much as 39 per cent at the official market days after President Bola Tinubu suspended the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who oversaw the much-criticised multiple exchange rates.

Multiple exchange rates under Emefiele were introduced to tackle the country’s foreign currency shortages, but it made an insignificant impact.

The dollar shortage affected the cost of importation, petrol inclusive.

Traders said the central bank had removed trading restrictions on the official market, which has driven the naira to almost 800/$ at the official market.

An energy expert, Bala Zaka, criticised the Federal Government for deregulating the downstream sector.

“When I was explaining what deregulation means right before May 29, many people didn’t understand. Nigeria’s economy is too weak for deregulation. Where is the Dangote refinery? Has it started refining since it was commissioned? Just look at what has happened to the naira. It has been devalued and approaching N900 on the black market.

“Very soon, we won’t be able to afford the basic things of life because even before you drive from your house to Kara on the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, your tank would have drained to half already. Now, if you try to challenge oil marketers, they can sue you.

“The likes of IPMAN, MOMAN are after profit maximaisation and not after the well-being of the masses. But if people like us talk; it would seem we are kicking against the government. The minimum wage can’t even buy a bag of rice. I have never been in support of full deregulation,” he argued.

An academic economist and professor of Economics at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Tella Sheriffdeen, advised the government to activate local refining.

“Actually, since the exchange rate is now determined by market forces, depreciation of naira will make oil prices go up. Government has to be hard on oil importers to make sure they are not colluding with economic parasites who will want to jack up prices to force the government to bring back subsidies.

“Secondly, the government must insist on domestic productivity by the refineries and Dangote. It is just that the government should have plan B to make fuel available by all means,” he noted.

Report: How World Bank, States Built National Social Register

The National Social Register used by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari for its conditional cash transfer was an aggregate of all states’ social registries from the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, according to a World Bank, empowered Newswire reports.This was contrary to reports emanating from the last National Economic Council (NEC) meeting suggesting that the register was a top -down database from the federal government and questioning its credibility.

It revealed that in a presentation to NEC last Thursday, by the Nigeria Country Director of the World Bank, Mr. Shubham Chaudhuri, indicated that in developing what became the National Social Register, each State Governor through their Budget and Planning Ministries built up the registries and merely forwarded same to the federal government who then adopted it for its National Social Investment Programmes, particularly the Conditional Cash Transfers.In the presentation of the World Bank last week to NEC, the Country Director stated that in the development of the State Registers, there were three stages: geographical selection, community based selection and Enumeration/Data Processing & Storage.

Under geographical selection LGAs, wards communities were prioritised based on levels of poverty and vulnerability.According to Chaudhuri’s presentation “two approaches were employed: using poverty headcount and using high resolution poverty maps based on satellite imagery. A multi-sectoral team at the LGA level was involved in the ranking exercise.”He added that there was a community-based targeting team comprising state and LGA officials and households were visited by this officials and digital identification information collected where available.

Furthermore, when done, the data was stored “in the State Social Registry Database supported through a management information system managed by a State Operations Coordinating Office,” set up by the state governors themselves.In fact, World Bank and federal government sources also revealed that the bank was fully involved in the process of developing the Registers state by state and also funded the enumerators who were appointed by the state governors. “The whole process had started during the Jonathan Administration when 8 States were already developing the Register with the technical assistance of the World Bank, and the rest of the States came on board during the Buhari Administration.”

It further quoted World Bank sources to have further asserted that several of the states have also been using the Registries for different state-based schemes and local initiatives since, wondering how the same NEC to whom the Country Director made the 25 slides presentation concluded that the National Social Register lacked integrity.“As we speak several States Governments are using the Registries up till now,” World Bank, FG NSIP and disclosed.The sources explained that, “prior to June 2015, the development of the Social Register was a contractual process that involved the direct engagement of the States Governments with the World Bank.”

It was added that, “when the new Buhari Administration then adopted the idea as part of its National Social Investment Programme, the World Bank working with the State and Federal Governments, provided the Guidelines utilised in making the Register a National database. The World Bank’s guidelines firmly provided a community-based approach, in accordance with international best practices.”

Chaudhuri, had told THISDAY in an interview earlier this year, that the National Social Safety Net Programme was part of the support for Nigeria’s vision for establishing a social protection system.He had said: “This was spearheaded by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and the idea being that like more and more developing countries around the world and even here in Africa –Ethiopia, Kenya, etc, the government needs to have a programme that can do two things – Help people who are poor climb out of poverty.

“Many NGOs were involved in the process and it was a bottom-up process as communities were asked to identify the most vulnerable among them. Now that register has over 16 million households nationwide and it is maintained by the National Social Safety Coordination Office (NASSCO).“There were some conditions attached. It was agreed that all payments had to be digital, either through a bank account or mobile wallet and that it must not be catch. Everything was to be identified biometrically either through BVN or National Identity Number.”

Emmanuel Addeh, Sunday Aborisade and Emameh Gabriel in Abuja

The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has called on President Bola Tinubu to take five-pronged approaches to prevent the country from total socio-economic dislocation, one of which is for the president to seek debt relief from the country’s major creditors.The recommendation by Afenifere came just as the National Chairman of the South West Agenda for Asiwaju (SWAGA), Senator Adedayo Adeyeye, appealed to Nigerians to remain calm in the face of current pains and hardship caused by the removal of fuel subsidy by the Tinubu-led administration.

Also, Fitch Solutions, a global provider of credit, debt market as well as country and industry risk research, at the weekend predicted that the current economic reforms embarked upon by the Tinubu government would dim Nigeria’s short-term outlook, predicting that average inflation rate would hit 25.1 per cent this year, amid spiking poverty.The recommendation by Afenifere was contained in statement signed yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi.The recommendations also included drastic reduction in emoluments, slash in the size of government, ways to go about palliatives and to halt the recent hike in tuition fees.

Ajayi said the current economic quagmire facing Nigeria needed far-reaching and deep-rooted steps to be ameliorated.Consequently, he suggested that: “One of such steps is to seek debt relief from our major creditors. Another is to drastically reduce the size of government at all levels. Third is to block areas of leakages of public resources, especially finance. Fourth is to embark on policies or programmes that are capable of engaging millions of unemployed people, old and young, in the country.

“The fifth step is to ensure that security and safety of lives and properties become permanent feature in the Nigeria firmament.”Ajayi pointed out that, “Nigeria is the fourth most indebted country in the world, with a $13 billion debt burden as of June 30, 2022 according to the United Nations’ International Development Association (IDA).”

According to Ajayi, the five steps suggested would have to be pursued simultaneously for the inherent benefits to be harnessed effectively and on time.He added: “At the moment, Nigeria’s debt profile is so huge that it is spending about 97 per cent of its revenue to service debts, according to many official sources including the Debt Management Office (DMO), Federal Budget Office, Ministry of Finance and the World Bank.

“The situation is such that very soon there may be no more fund for the provision of social services and infrastructure. To prevent attendant possible social chaos in this respect, President Tinubu needs to embark on diplomatic shuttles to get debt forgiveness from our creditors.“Doing so would certainly be herculean in view of a similar benefit we enjoyed under former President Olusegun Obasanjo circa 2005 but which we later mismanaged.

“But given the potential of Nigeria and the possibility of President Tinubu to convince everyone that his own administration is going to be different, it is possible that the creditors may listen to the plea.”The Afenifere spokesperson opined however that for such a plea to succeed, there was an, “urgent need to drastically cut down on the emolument of public officials, especially political office holders, block the holes through which public funds leak and wage a serious war against corrupt officers – presently in or out of office.”

It noted that it was only by doing these three things that “those we approach for debt forgiveness would listen to us.”He pointed for instance, that, “the National Assembly cornering N70 billion out of the N500 billion announced for palliatives is not only uncalled for, it demonstrated clearly how insensitive our elected officers are to the plight of average Nigerians.“The president should prevail on them to rescind their decision in this regard.”He said the country’s debt burdens explains why infrastructural development stagnated, social services virtually grounded to a halt and cost of living spiked, unemployment soared – leading to an increase in crime rates and increasing loss of faith in the country as reflected in the Japa syndrome (the tendency by many to want to emigrate).

Ajayi called on the Tinubu’s administration to make the resuscitation of moribund industries in the country one of its major priorities, stating that doing so would create employment, reduce crimes, boost the nation’s economy, strengthen the naira and earn the country foreign exchange.“Government should refrain from increasing taxes and fees for now but explore ways of enhancing productivity and reduce pains,” the group advised.He commended President Tinubu for the decision to review the N8,000 palliative meant to cushion the effect of subsidy removal.According to Ajayi, “Palliatives, to be really helpful and effective should be welfare-enhancing in nature and not be in form of unregulated cash dole-out. Such a money should rather be channeled towards the things that cash is used for.”He said for instance, passenger and luggage vehicles could be procured and allocated to all the local government areas in the country and boats earmarked for riverine areas.

He suggested that the, “vehicles should be put at the disposal of local government authorities and transport unions across the country so as to be of benefits to the target audience – the masses. Fares for the vehicles should be about one-fifth or a quarter of the prevailing rates.“The vehicles should be given to the transport unions at a highly concessionary rate. Similarly, government can buy food items directly from farmers and make them available at very cheap prices in designated areas”.

As a lasting solution to the high cost of petroleum products, he advised that conducive atmosphere should be provided for private importers to import them with relative ease while efforts are geared towards making the refineries in the country commence production for the commodities not only to be available, but to be cheaper. Their availability, he said, “would also boost the economy and earn the country foreign exchange.”The Afenifere spokesman stressed the need for the president to prevail on electricity distribution companies to stop their attempts to increase tariffs for now.“For one, there has been not much improvement in electricity supply to justify tariff increase. But more importantly, Nigerian masses are presently over-burdened with sundry taxes and high costs for services and commodities.

“The Discos must not be allowed to deepen the miseries of hapless Nigerians. Similarly, recent hikes in school fees across the country should be rescinded so as to prevent more hardship for the people and higher number of school drop-outs,” he added.Meanwhile, Adeyeye has appealed to Nigerians to remain calm in the current pains and hardship caused by the removal of petrol subsidy.Adeyeye, who was Senate spokesperson in the 9th National Assembly, made the appeal in a statement he personally signed and made available to journalists in Abuja, yesterday.He explained that the hardship was much now because the decision taken by Tinubu should have been carried out by successive administration, in the last 15 years.

He, nevertheless, assured that situations would soon improve and that Nigerians would laugh last.Part of the statement read, “The removal of oil subsidy and the new exchange rate regime of the President Bola Tinubu for now, has led to inflationary pressure. This is causing some hardship on the part of the masses.“As the saying goes, there is no gain without pains. Like the president has said that while trying to give birth, one must go through the pains of labour, however when the child is born, the safe birth will keep the mother happy.

“Her pain of a few hours would therefore lead to everlasting joy.“Nigerians should see the economic reforms of president Bola Tinubu from that perspective. If President Bola Tinubu has not taken those steps, it could have led to a complete crash of the Nigerian economy with its attendant social, economic and political implications.“The pains we are currently going through, will soon go and by this time next year by the grace of God, Nigerians would begin to see the results of the steps that the president has taken.

“The president is just about 60 days in office. He still has over 46 more months to spend in his first term of 48 months, having spent just two.“President Bola Tinubu is taking decisions that should have been taken over 15 years ago.“Nigerians should give President Tinubu some time, to allow his policies to mature and for us to begin to see the positive effects.“The president has said he understands the pains of Nigeria, we should just exercise patience, ultimately Nigerians would give glory to God, along the line,” Adeyeye added.


Fitch: Nigeria’s Inflation to Average 25.1% in 2023 as Poverty Rate Spikes

Meamwhile, Fitch has predicted that inflation rate in the country would hit 25.1 per cent this year, amid spiking poverty.Since he took over the reins of power in the country, Tinubu has ended Nigeria’s prolonged petrol subsidy regime and has halted the country’s divergent foreign exchange rate.As expected, both decisions have led to a spike in the pump price of petrol while the exchange rate has recently exceeded N800/$, causing uproar among the citizenry.

In the report themed: “Key Economic Reforms Dim Nigeria’s Short-Term Economic Growth Outlook”, Fitch projected that the country’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth would slow to 2.7 per cent in 2023, down from 3.3 per cent in 2022, as rapidly increasing living costs weigh on domestic demand.However, Fitch noted that economic growth would accelerate modestly to 3.2 per cent in 2024, while domestic demand will remain poor due to high inflation, favourable trade dynamics following the start-up of the Dangote refinery which is expected to support growth.“We project that real GDP growth in Nigeria will slow to 2.7 per cent in 2023, down from 3.3 per cent in 2022, as rapidly increasing living costs weigh on domestic demand,” it stated.

It added that the assumed uptick in economic activity in Q2, 2023 will not be maintained in H2, 2023 on soaring consumer prices as economic reforms weaken domestic consumption.“Indeed, the naira has lost 40 per cent of its value against the US dollar since the liberalisation of the exchange rate on June 16.“These reforms will exert significant upward pressure on consumer prices in H2, 2023, with inflation set to average 25.1 per cent in 2023, the highest annual rate since the 1990s. This will further erode consumers’ purchasing power, clouding the outlook for private consumption,” Fitch stated.According to Fitch, efforts to alleviate the impact of rising inflation on households would yield limited results.

On Tinubu’s plan to borrow $800 million from the World Bank to scale up the country’s National Social Safety Net Programme, which would likely impact 12 million low-income households that would receive a monthly payment of N8,000 ($10.30) for six months, Fitch noted that it would have little or no impact.“However, considering our estimate that the average monthly disposable income per household in Nigeria stands at N143,500, an N8,000 hand-out will only increase household incomes by roughly 6 per cent, well below the inflation rate, which will surpass 25 per cent y-o-y in the coming months.

“Given our expectation that real wages will drop and poverty rates will increase, we expect that private consumption will decline by four per cent in 2023, from a contraction of 3.5 per cent in 2022, shaving off 2.7 percentage points (pp) from headline GDP growth,” the report added.Fitch said the outlook for fixed investment also remains downbeat, with weak economic conditions resulting in a slowdown in loan uptake in Q4, 2022, implying that domestic investment will weaken.On a cheering note, it stated that net exports will offer some relief to the Nigerian economy in 2023, projecting that crude production in Nigeria will increase by 7.0 per cent this year – following a three-year contraction – as security agreements and wider efforts to reduce theft pay off and increases Nigeria’s export potential.

“Indeed, crude output rose by 3.3 per cent y-o-y in H1, 2023 to an average of 1.3 million barrels per day. While we believe that liquids production will moderate somewhat compared to the H1, 2023 output, the year-on-year growth figure will remain positive due to favourable base effects.“Given that hydrocarbons account for roughly 90 per cent of Nigeria’s total exports, this will improve the country’s external trade outlook in H2, 2023,” it stated.Meanwhile, Fitch stated that it expects a substantial contraction in imports as a result of weak domestic consumption, noting that rapidly rising inflation on the back of the fuel subsidy removal and the liberalisation of the exchange rate will reduce demand for imported consumer products and capital items over H2, 2023.

The organisation predicted that economic growth would accelerate modestly to 3.2 per cent in 2024 even as the removal of the fuel subsidy and the devaluation of the exchange rate would keep consumer price growth elevated, particularly in H1, 2024.“Indeed, we project that inflation will average 23.4 per cent in 2024, continuing to put pressure on purchasing power. However, weak domestic consumption and the start-up of the Dangote refinery will also ensure that import growth will remain in contractionary territory.“Our oil & gas team expects that production at the new refinery – which was commissioned in May 2023 – will start in Q4, 2023, reducing the need for imported fuel (Nigeria’s largest import product) through 2024.

“With oil production – and thus exports – continuing to expand in 2024 on a more secure and rehabilitated midstream network, exports will continue to outpace imports, providing tailwinds to growth,” the firm stated.Looking beyond 2024, Fitch said it believed that economic reforms and the start-up of the Dangote refinery would improve economic conditions. A more liberal exchange rate regime and a lower dependence on imported fuel, it said, would ease foreign currency shortages, improve business sentiment and result in a gradual return of international investors to Nigeria.

“This will lead to stronger fixed capital formation and more employment opportunities, supporting private consumption. In addition, improving public finances should allow the government to increase expenditure on growth-generating investment projects.“While downside risks to our long-term views are substantial, these dynamics have led us to increase our 2023-2032 average growth forecast to 4.2 per cent from our previous projection of 3.6 per cent,” Fitch stated.

The wife of Ebonyi State Governor, Mrs Mary-Maudline Uzoamaka Nwifuru has described the ongoing 130-hour marathon entertainment by a popular Master of Ceremonies from the state, Walter Chukwuemeka as epic in all ramifications.

Chukwuemeka has been on non-stop 130 hours of entertainment since early last week with varieties of entertainment which will end today to set a world record in the entertainment industry.

People from different places have been trooping into Citihub, a popular entertainment center in Abakaliki the venue of the 130-hour marathon entertainment to get entertained and cheer up Chukwuemeka popularly known as MC Walter.

As of the time of this report, MC Walter Chukwuemeka has passed 115 hours in the marathon entertainment.

Mrs. Nwifuru in a post on her Facebook page said although MC Walter took a difficult challenge by embarking on the 130 hours of non-stop entertainment, he has placed Ebonyi State on a global map through the event.

She said “There is a truism that “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” — Tim Notke, it is also said that “Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.” — Coco Chanel. The most influential poet opined thus “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” — Maya Angelou,

“Mc-Walter Chukwuemeka has proven himself beyond all reasonable doubts that these quotes are nothing short of the truth.

‘He has risen from the dust to engrave his name in the sands of time. This is epic in all ramifications.

“He has gone on to place himself and Ebonyi State on the global map in this regard, one we will continue to applaud with every sense of duty and love.

“His resilient spirit and consistency of purpose are resolves worthy of emulation.

“He has taken on a difficult challenge, the road less traveled and he’s making all the difference.

“I, therefore, encourage other teeming youths to embrace these honourable qualities and enjoin the rest of the world to celebrate a brand new star that has emerged from the Salt of the Nation” .

Nigeria’s International electricity customers- ers-Togo, Benin and Niger are owing Nigeria $18.29 million for electricity consumed in 2022, the Ni- Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has said. The international customers include Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo of Benin Republic, (CEET); Société Béninoise d’Energie Electrique (SBEE) and NIGELEC-electric power generation and transmission utility in Niger.

Data from NERC’s quarterly report, which was obtained by Saturday Telegraph yesterday, showed that Nigeria exported a total value of electricity of $50.9 million (N23.5 billion) in 2022. According to the report, Transcorp-SBEE, Main-stream-NIGELEC, the fourth quarter of 2022, received invoices of $3.44 million; Paras-SBEE, $3.03 million and Odukpani-CEET, $2.02 million to the market operators.

From the report, out of the total invoice received in the period, Mainstream-NI-GELEC remitted $5.44 million; Transcorp-SBEE remitted $0.93 million; , while no remittance was made to the MO by Paras-SBEE and Odukpani-CEET. NERC said, “In the third quarter, a total invoice of $11.05 million was received by the companies as follows; Transcorp-SBEE, Mainstream-NIGELEC and Odukpani-CEET received invoices of $1.85 million, $5.67 million and $1.71 million respectively from MO and made remittances of $1.20 million, $5.55 million and $1.67 million respectively.

However, no remittance was made to the MO by Pa- ras-SBEE against an invoice of $1.92 million. “In the second quarter of 2022, Transcorp-SBEE and Mainstream-NIGELEC received invoices of $2.42 million and $5.56 million from MO and remitted $2.42 million and $5.55 million re- respectively. “Paras-SBEE and Oduk- pani-CEET also received in- voices of $2.39 million and $2.03 million respectively from the market operators during the period but no payment was made by these customers.

“During the same period, Ajaokuta Steel Company was invoiced ₦264.76 million and ₦66.71 million by NBET and MO respectively, however, it made no remittance. “Similarly, NERC stated that in the first quarter of 2022, bilateral customers; Paras-SBEE, Transcorp-SBEE, and Mainstream-NI-GERLEC received invoices of $2.72 million, $2.74 million and $4.61 million from MO and each remitted $2.72 million, $2.74 million, and $4.52 million respectively.” It added, “No payment was made by Odukpani-CEET as it received an invoice of $3.42 million from MO during the period.”

Written by Chika Izuora


The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has affirmed that the firm actually made a profit of N674.1billion in 2021.

The latest facts appeared to contradict some views by notable individuals and institutions on the activities of the oil company in recent years.

Sources familiar with NNPC Ltd and its operations told our correspondent in Abuja on Thursday that the available facts had laid bare some key issues for better understanding of the activities of the company.

One of the sources described the N674.1billion as the highest profit figure to be recorded by the organisation in its 46-year-old history.

The source also said that the emerging facts were released to provide current and true information, to redirect and educate the public adequately for a better understanding of issues in the company.

It was learnt that some highly placed individuals and institutions have pilloried the NNPC in recent times, “churning out inaccurate information on the operations of the company, to de-market the establishment.’’

The source noted that the development had visibly put the company in the eye of the storm, stoking confusion and misleading stakeholders and the general public on the activities of the company at present.

According to emerging facts, the NNPC posted its first profit in 44 years in 2020, recording a profit of N287 billion from a loss of N803 billion posted earlier in 2018.

The company had similarly recorded a loss of N1.7 billion in 2019 before it returned to profit-making in recent years, arising from critical business strategies adopted by the company’s management lately.

The emerging facts detailed what it described as speculative and misleading allegations that needed to be explained for better understanding of the role of the NNPC in nation-building.

It also cited what it described as untrue that “the NNPC has been notorious for befuddled accounting, waste, losses, run-down refineries and non-remittances of cash, due to the federation account.’’

The emerging facts explained that the essence of the making the facts public was to bring out basic truths on various issues agitating the minds of people and to keep the records straight.

It also explained that the NNPCL had posted all its financial statements from 2015 to 2022, noting that certain claims could be verified in the office of the Auditor-general of the Federation, rather than misinforming the public.

On the allegation that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration wasted $19 billion to rehabilitate four state-owned refineries without result — that the same amount the Dangote Group had invested in its 650,000-barrel per-day refinery, the emerging facts described the allegation as an attempt to mislead Nigerians.


“The totality of the spending inclusive of salaries and wages of workers can’t be compared with what it will cost to set up Dangote refinery,’’ a source in NNPC argued.

Another source also shed light on a statement that the Goodluck Jonathan administration had said it would borrow $1.6 billion for Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) but that under Buhari, the NNPC also borrowed additional $1.5 billion for the same TAM.

The source explained that the figures were wrong, saying that the company, which represented the Federal Government in its efforts to rehabilitate the refineries through an Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract with its partners had spent only its approved counterpart funding.

It added that the details were clearly spelt out in the memorandum of understanding signed for the respective refineries.

“For the records, the cost approved by the Federal Government for the rehabilitation of the nation’s three refineries are $1.5bn; $740m and $548m for Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Warri refineries, respectively.

“The two EPC contractors are Tecnimont (France), which handles the Port Harcourt Refinery rehabilitation and Daewoo (South Korea) which oversees the quick-fix projects at both Kaduna and Warri refineries.

“Under President Goodluck Jonathan, no money was borrowed for turn-around maintenance. Under President Buhari, only $1 billion was borrowed. Rehabilitation is still on-going.’’

The source also dismissed allegations by a committee of the House of Representatives that the company failed to transfer N2 trillion to the federation account after the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) came into effect in 2021 and that Buhari unveiled a company worth $64 billion (N28 trillion at N450/$1), but that only $58.8 billion or N26 trillion was transferred.

It disclosed further that the net book value of assets transferred to NNPC as at July 1, 2022 amounted to $58.8 billion worth of assets and not cash.

“This figure is without the Nigerian Pipeline and Storage Company (NPSC) which has all the depots and pipeline network that was transferred to NNPC in 2022.

“That figure didn’t include NPSC which wasn’t moved initially at the time of being a limited liability company. So how much are we worth in asset?’’

On another allegation by members of the House of Representatives that equipment worth $250 million the NNPC ordered for the Port Harcourt Refinery years ago had not been accounted for, the source explained that over 100 containers with materials meant for the refineries were left to rot at Nigerian Ports.

“This was before Buhari’s administration and it was attributed to the reckless procurement process in the past.

“Things started to change for the better with the rehab programme in 2021. This follow-up also led to the reduction in the cost of turnaround maintenance,’’ according to the source.

We learnt that lawmakers had also alleged that NNPC Ltd. had claimed to have 25 subsidiaries, whereas on record only 21 could be accounted for.

However, the source explained that there were 25 subsidiaries in NNPC Ltd. prior to re-organisation.

“All unviable subsidiaries were shut down in a bid to reduce overhead cost and optimise revenue.

“Businesses with duplicated functions were merged for economies of scale and optimisation and new units were created like new energies, leading to reduction in the number of subsidiaries from 25 to 21,’’ the source disclosed.

A state prosecutor on Thursday asked a London court to order the confiscation of more than 100 million pounds ($129 million) from Nigerian politician and ex-Delta State governor, James Ibori, Reuters report.

Ibori had earlier been convicted for fraud in the United Kingdom and the ex-governor spent years in prison in Britain.

Ibori was extradited in 2011 from Dubai to London, where he was charged with laundering a “corruptly acquired fortune”.

He pleaded guilty in 2012 to 10 counts of fraud and money laundering and received a 13-year jail sentence, an outcome hailed by Britain as a landmark in the struggle against corruption.

With its highly developed financial and legal services and lucrative property market, Britain is a global money-laundering hub, but it is rare for the foreign kleptocrats it attracts to be prosecuted and Ibori’s case remains an outlier.

After more than a decade of legal wrangling and court delays, attempts by prosecutors to confiscate funds considered to be the benefits of Ibori’s fraudulent activities now appear close to conclusion.

Judge David Tomlinson of Southwark Crown Court has made factual findings regarding the funds.

At a hearing on Thursday, both sides made competing arguments about how the confiscation figure should be calculated, taking into account the judge’s findings.

He is expected to finalise and formally issue his order on Friday or shortly afterward.

Lead prosecution counsel, Jonathan Kinnear, told the court that the total amount that should be confiscated from Ibori was 101.5 million pounds and that if he did not pay up he should be sentenced to between five and 10 years in prison.

Having served half of his prison sentence in pre- and post-trial detention, as is common, Ibori returned to Nigeria in 2017 and did not attend Thursday’s hearing.

He told Reuters by text message he planned to appeal against the confiscation order.

Ibori remains influential and well-connected in Nigerian politics. President Bola Tinubu, who was inaugurated in May, has hosted Ibori twice at the presidential villa, along with other former governors.

Britain has pledged to return any money recovered from Ibori to Nigeria. In 2021, it returned 4.2 million pounds that had been confiscated from Ibori’s ex-wife and his sister, who also served jail time for helping him launder money. ($1 = 0.7745 pounds)

President Bola Tinubu has filed a motion to quash subpoena before the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Chicago, USA, against a fresh petition by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.

Atiku had on July 11 filed the petition seeking to obtain further details of Tinubu’s academic records at the Chicago State University.

Documents sought by Atiku, through his counsel, Angela M. Liu, include record of his admission and acceptance at the university, dates of attendance including degrees, awards and honours attained by Tinubu at the university, among others.

Atiku informed the court that Tinubu subpoena was to test the truth and veracity of Mr. Tinubu’s assertions, adding that he is currently the President of Nigeria and is facing various court proceedings concerning his election and the authenticity of documents relating to his attendance at Chicago State University.

But in a reply to the petition, Tinubu’s counsel, Victor P. Henderson on July 19, asked the court to strike it out as no judge of the court heard and granted Atiku the subpoena.

He contends that the petition was presumptive invalid for providing only six days for compliance, which was less than 14 days provided under Rules 219 and 137 of the Illinois Supreme Court Rules.

He said Atiku engaged himself in an “improper fishing expedition about a foreign public official utilising the Illinois court’s subpoena power.”

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has removed Felix Akinbinu as the Regional General Manager for the Southwest at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.

Two others – Mrs Uguama Cecelia and Mr Ayodele Sunday – were also redeployed along with Akinbinu.

An internal memo with Ref: FAAN/HQ/MD/19A/Vol.15/34 and dated July 12, 2023, disclosed the new postings of the three airport workers.

According to the memo, Akinbinu was moved to Regional Airport Services, Cecelia was moved from Regional Airport Services to Airfield Services while Sunday was moved from Airfield Services to become the Regional General Manager for the Southwest.

The memo was signed by the Managing Director of FAAN, Kabir Yusuf Mohammed, who added that: “You are required to ensure handover and takeover on or before Friday 14th July 2023.”

This comes after the stealing of the runway lighting system at the airport which has caused international embarrassment for the country.

The lighting which was installed in November 2022 enabled planes to use the runway at night.

The lighting system was stolen in May, weeks after rehabilitation work started on the runway, causing the diversion of international flights to the domestic runway known as Runway 18L.

SaharaReporters had reported that the stolen lighting system on the domestic runway 18 Runway/36Left of the airport was reinstalled about eight months ago.

FAAN had launched an investigation into the theft. Meanwhile, a source had told SaharaReporters that the criminals took advantage of the fact that the runway had been closed for months for maintenance to steal the lighting system.

SaharaReporters had also reported that the failure by the FAAN management led by its Managing Director, Kabir Yusuf Mohammed, to provide vehicles for patrols, and deploy officers from moribund airports to beef up security, among others contributed to the lapses and the theft.

According to the source, it was a disaster waiting to happen considering the shoddy management of the airport under Mohammed.

“The FAAN MD had been looking for ways to rid of Akinbinu before this incident so he has used this opportunity to do that. In reality, those of us at the airport know that they are not doing anything to address what happened or prevent a future occurrence. This is just an opportunity to put their own people where they want.

“It’s been four weeks since the lighting system was stolen but nothing has been done to prevent it from happening again. All the recommendations made in the past have been ignored.

“The major issue here is that the FAAN MD is yet to provide vehicles for patrols, deploy officers from moribund airports to beef up security, fix the issues raised regarding perimeter fence and others.

“There has been no attempt whatsoever to address any of the issues by the MD or the management,” the source had said.

Sources had also blamed a "syndicate" of workers at the airport along with "accomplices from outside" for a series of thefts at the airport.

A source had told SaharaReporters that Mohammed, a ‘surrogate’ of former aviation minister, Hadi Sirika who became MD of FAAN exactly a week before the exit of Sirika as the minister, had been plotting to maintain his position as FAAN MD and Akinbinu because of his perceived closeness to the presidency.

"This decision comes in light of the recent incident involving stolen airfield lighting. It is believed that the MD, who has been plotting to maintain his position, views Mr. Akinbinu Felix as a significant competitor due to his close ties with the presidency.

"Mr. Akinbinu had only been in office for two months at Murtala Muhammed International Airport before the incident occurred," the source had said.

SaharaReporters had also reported that Mohammed suspended some members of staff, the head of security and the head of fire departments at FAAN following the incident.

This event, which caused significant frustration amongst FAAN and sector insiders, highlights the airport’s security vulnerabilities.

The thieves managed to remove substantial components undetected, which has been attributed to potential internal sabotage and the dense surrounding forest, which offers ample cover.

It’s been noted that this is not the first theft at the Lagos airport. Prior incidents, including the theft of navigational equipment by workers of a FAAN sister agency, point to a systemic issue with security breaches.

FAAN staff members, who spoke to SaharaReporters on condition of anonymity, revealed that the Lagos airport was grossly understaffed even though the former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, employed close to 1,500 staff within his tenure.

The minister had posted less than 10 per cent of the staff to the Lagos airport.

One of the sources had blamed the management of the airport for the stealing, adding that security personnel had advised that the systems should be moved to a more secure place pending installation but they refused. He noted that theft was still going on, adding that people entered the perimeter almost every day.

"The minister throughout his stay, before he left, employed close to 1,500 (altogether) fire and security staff. He brought less than 10% to Lagos.

"And, in actual fact, the recruitment was done for Lagos alone for security. But when they did this recruitment, they will take them, bring them from the North, and take them to moribund airports that are not functional.

"I am talking about manpower now. Lagos is heavily short-staffed. Even after the construction of the second terminal, they refused to recruit for the airport and neither were staff from non-active airports brought to Lagos. But they want the security to do magic.

"Two, there are no functional security vehicles. At the time they came for inspection, there was only one functional patrol vehicle.

"These patrol vehicles are supposed to also escort aircraft, and as the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Aviation came for inspection, there was only one fictional patrol vehicle. These are the requests security has made over time.

"As we speak, the security arm works for over 12 hours in Lagos because of a shortage of manpower. We work for over 12 hours with the promise that we will be paid for working for those hours. The management has refused to pay them. But the management keeps spending money on elephant projects. If you ask them how much they spend on cutting grass at the airport, you will be shocked.

"FAAN should be challenged to publish how much they use to cut grass in a year. And those grasses are most times not properly cut. There is no single perimeter fence that is not covered with bush.

"The delimitation at the airside of the airport is appalling.

“It is obvious that FAAN management had to suspend the suspended officers to cover their inadequacies and their tracks.”

Sources told SaharaReporters that the MMA had urged the FAAN to clear vegetation along the perimeter stretches from the Diplomatic Carpark to the NAHCO Complex for a clear view but they did not heed the recommendation.

It was learnt that the management recommended repairing and rebuilding dilapidated and collapsed portions of the perimeter fence to the standard height with anti-climbing wire topping.

“Also, this was ignored,” one of the sources told SaharaReporters.

“FAAN was also asked to reinforce drainage canals at Cement and Orisumbare with burglar-proof materials but as usual, nothing was done,” one of the sources said.

“The recommendations include dismantling the make-shift bridge at the Ajao axis and reconstructing the drainage canal but to date, they were not attended to.”

SaharaReporters gathered that in one of the memos to the management, the authorities were advised to reinforce openings at the Apron drainage canal and airside/landside boundary at Gate 9 with burglar-proof materials.

“One of the recommendations was that adequate attention should be given to vegetation control along the perimeter road and that holes in the perimeter fence should be blocked but nothing was done. They were also advised to apprehend those responsible for creating those problems, but that was also ignored.

“It was advised that they should replace missing metal rail protectors at Ejigbo Canal to enforce watertight security at the airport but nothing was done,” one of the sources had said.

A source close to the day-to-day running of the airport told SaharaReporters categorically that had the authorities heeded recommendations captured in several memos from different departments, "the issue of theft wouldn't have arisen or become a topic of discussion today".

Efforts made by SaharaReporters to speak to the Managing Director of FAAN, Mohammed, were unsuccessful as he did not answer his calls or reply to a text message sent to him.

However, when the FAAN spokesperson, Mrs. Faithful Avokerie Hope-Ivbaze, was also contacted on the telephone, she asked our reporter to send her a text message.

She had yet to reply to the text message at the time of filing this report.

Mr Gbenga Komolafe, Managing Director of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), said new equipment has been acquired by the commission to monitor every litre of oil taken from Nigeria.

According to Komolafe, the new initiative will create a paradigm shift in oil-related revenue generation in the country.

Komolafe disclosed this on Tuesday at an event organised by HEDA Resource Centre and Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Integrity Watch (CFTI).

The two-day programme two-day National Anti-Corruption Conference held in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital with the theme ‘Nigeria and the Fight against Corruption: Reviewing the Buhari Regime and Setting Agenda for the Tinubu Administration’ ends today (Wednesday).

It was attended by no fewer than 80 participants drawn from across the country, foreign countries along with representatives of institutional bodies.

The summit comes on the 20th anniversary of the African Union, AU Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption declaration which took place in July 2003.

Earlier at the event, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Femi Falana, said billions of dollars were being lost by Nigeria to oil theft and the refusal of oil companies to pay the total expected taxes amounting to billions of naira over the years.

Falana said such behaviours had failed to attract any sanctions.

He said Nigeria also failed to put a mechanism in place to determine how many litres of oil are taken from the country’s onshore and offshore.

Falana, while delivering his lead presentation on the theme: Effective recovery of illicit assets and blocking opportunities for Illicit Financial Flow; Role of international frameworks, Bodies, Courts and instruments in a context of new dispensation, described Illicit financial flow as a challenge for the country.

“Illicit financial flow is a challenge to Nigeria and the recent devaluation of Nigeria’s currency. Civil servants cannot live on their salaries which might draw them to corruption,” he said.

HEDA Chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, noted that there had been no reason to believe that there was going to be any serious fight against corruption given the experiences in the past years.

He said Nigeria’s hope is rekindled by the iron-cast will of Nigerians and the irresistible wind of change blowing against corruption across the world, which Nigeria cannot exempt itself from.

Suraju said there was a need to set an agenda for constructive CSO engagement with the new government in Nigeria to develop a framework for good governance.

President Bola Tinubu was tasked with the immediate need to decisively fight corruption to halt the country’s possible drift into a major economic crisis amidst reports that Nigeria loses about $60 billion every year to corruption.

HEDA observed that Nigeria with a debt portfolio of N77 trillion, inflation rate of 23 per cent, and GDP of 2.35 per cent coupled with unrelenting zeal for graft by public officials, the new government needs to take a bold step to block waste, stop corruption and recreate new public confidence to save the country from social crisis.

Some of the agenda set for the new government include fast-tracking the whistleblower law, paying backlog of royalties by oil companies, getting anti-corruption courts to speed up prosecution of corruption cases, and implementing the public procurement law.

The National Assembly was also charged to affirm Nigeria’s readiness to join the international Special Task Force on Corruption (SATF) to enable the efficient recovery of illicit funds.

Participants also listed the retrieval of billions of naira paid as oil subsidies in the past years, oil theft, public funds stolen by political actors and a significant cut in the cost of governance as some of the critical steps that Tinubu should take to save the country.

Represented at the event were Vice President Kashim Shettima, Inspector General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun, National Security Adviser, Mr Nuhu Ribadu, the National Assembly, the Judiciary, Ministry of Interior and international partners, the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, the United States and Dutch Embassies, MacArthur Foundation, World Bank, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, labour, media and the civil society.

Ribadu expressed the commitment of the Tinubu-led administration to build the capacity of investigators, as part of efforts to enhance the war against corruption in the civil service and Nigeria as a whole.

Ribadu, who was represented by the Special Adviser, Legal Department, NSA, Anthony Oluborode, maintained that a cap would be placed on fiscal expenditures for the construction of government buildings and salaries related compensation, packages of elected officials, adding that such expenditure will have a low priority in the Tinubu-led administration and transparent.

A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the disclosure of the spending details of about USD$5 billion Abacha loot recovered by the governments of former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari.

The court ordered the government of President Bola Tinubu to “disclose the exact amount of money stolen by General Sani Abacha from Nigeria, and the total amount of Abacha loot recovered and all agreements signed on same by the governments of former presidents Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan and Buhari.”

The judgment was delivered last week by Justice James Kolawole Omotosho following a Freedom of Information suit number: FHC/ABJ/CS/407/2020, brought by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).

In his judgment, Justice Omotosho held that, “In the final analysis, the application by SERAP is meritorious and the Federal Government through the Ministry of Finance is hereby ordered to furnish SERAP with the full spending details of about $5bn Abacha loot within 7 days of this judgment.”

Plans by some critical stakeholders in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to draft former Senate President, Bukola Saraki to become the party’s national chairman and rebuild the party may have hit a brick wall.

The party has been experiencing internal crisis before, during and after the general elections. The party’s National Chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu was replaced with the deputy national chairman, (North), Umar Damagum in acting capacity after it lost the presidential election to the incumbent, President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Troubled by the state of affairs in the party, some of the critical stakeholders gathered last week in Abuja to brainstorm on how to bring the party back to relevance.

According to a reliable source, the stakeholders planned to bring Saraki as the chairman of the party, considering his clout, influence and reach in and outside the country.

“Though the critical stakeholders have not informed Saraki or the party of their intentions, some associates of the former Kwara State governor, who were privy to the plan, met on Tuesday in Abuja and moved against the plan.

“They contended that Saraki had brought the party back to life after persuading many former members who had defected to the APC to return to the opposition party. But they regretted that the immediate past leadership of the party had, because of their personal wars and vested interests, destroyed the party completely. They said Saraki should not be brought in to start laboring all over again,” the source said.

Saturday Sun also gathered that the party had not decided on what to do with the G-5 governors that contributed to the party’s failure in the presidential election, even though various organs of the party had been meeting to take a decision on the fate of the then governors.

Another source told the newspaper: “The party is meeting; the National Working Committee (NWC) has met, the Board of Trustees (BoT) has met. A special committee called the Select committee met penultimate week. It is expected that as these segmented organs have met, the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting would be called where decision on the G-5 governors and other problems bedeviling the party will be taken. But I don’t know when,” the source emphasised.

National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Debo Ologunagba, said the issue of bringing Saraki or not was in the realm of speculations, noting that the party could not make any comments on that. He said the party as an organization was not aware of any such plan.

How I manipulated my score —Chinedu

Chinedu Ifesinachi John, a 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination candidate, who had planned to study medicine at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, also confessed that the fear that he might not be offered the programme of his choice with the score he had, propelled him to alter his UTME result. On further interrogation, he stated that he used the telephone number of his sister, Chinecheremi John Ifemkpa, and saved her number as ‘55019’ a sort code used by JAMB for official communications with candidates to create profiles, check UTME results among others. He added that he simply used the number to send the edited result from his sister’s phone to his own for it to appear as if it was sent by JAMB to substantiate his allegation of multiple results.

The journey of his confession was very interesting and dramatic. The first stage started with Chinedu alleging that in 2019, his JAMB score was tampered with as well as his 2020 UTME.

Chinedu, a son of a contractor, had through his lawyer, Barrister Akaiwe Ikeazor, petitioned JAMB alleging that the Board had tampered with his 2021 UTME result while praying that he should be allowed to take the UTME again. He claimed that the Board had issued him two results: the first reading 380, while the second one was alleged to have been 265.

The Board ignored his letter knowing that he was parading a manipulated result as the Board had already identified and flagged eleven candidates including Chinedu, who had manipulated their 2021 UTME results and forwarded same to the Vice-Chancellors of their chosen institutions. However, when his lawyer wrote a second letter and threatened to press for N1billion damages, the Board then felt that it was necessary for it to do the needful.

The Board therefore invited the candidate to come forward with his lawyer and substantiate his claims. Poised to make its investigation open and transparent to all stakeholders, the Board invited the Educational Correspondents Association of Nigeria, Public Complaints Commission, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the Nigeria Human Rights Commission, SERVICOM, representatives of security agencies, among others, to witness the proceedings to ensure that fairness and equity were done to all parties.

The Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, after listening to Chinedu’s lawyer and father, who had accompanied him to the Board’s Headquarters, gave the duo five minutes to meet privately with Chinedu to ask him to confess his manipulation of the result and if he does not and the truth is placed before him it will be too late as he would be handed over to the police.

The second stage of the drama unfolded after the recommended meeting with Chinedu and he had remained adamant. JAMB then asked him to present his evidence as he claimed that a text message was sent to him. When he showed the message on his phone, the technical team knew the message was faked as one of the security features was absent, a signature sign, featured by other messages that emanated from the Board’s 55019.

JAMB went further by calling for the history of its communications with Chinedu from the Telco number being used by Chinedu. The details of all messages sent to him were displayed from the creation of profile for registration up to the request for the result and what was sent to him. It was at this stage that his lawyer got a rude awakening to the futility of the case. Furthermore, it was in the course of the proceedings that it came to light that Chinedu must be one of those candidates thrown up by tutorial centres and when confronted with this fact, he confessed that he belonged to a tutorial group. The modus operandi of the group was to promise candidates all kinds of scores.

It was, therefore, owing to the refusal of the candidate to own up to his crime, that the Board, through its security instruments, had proceeded to establish, in the presence of all that the message sent to Chinedu came from a phone number saved as ‘55019’ which, as he later confessed, belonged to his sister who was also a UTME candidate.

A pensive and remorseful Chinedu pleaded guilty to the crime after he was confronted with the facts of what he had done as he pleaded for clemency. Chinedu had then turned towards his father, who had vowed that his son could not do anything untoward, “I’m so sorry for putting you through this embarrassing situation.

I was afraid I’ll not get the programme I wanted and had to do this, I’ve learnt my lesson.” He said, “In 2021, I decided to leave medicine and surgery for them. So I picked petroleum engineering. When the result came it was not what I expected. To ensure that I succeeded in getting the Board to reschedule me for another examination, I used my sister’s telephone number which I had saved as 55019, type the results that bore 380 and sent it to myself.” Chinedu, who had sat the 2019, 2020 and 2021 UTME, had disclosed that he had wanted to study medicine and surgery at the University of Ibadan in 2019 and 2020.

Baffled by the confession of his client, the lawyer said, “I am shocked and very embarrassed by this boy’s attitude. I had asked him several times but he kept telling me lies. This circumstance has further enhanced my belief in the credibility of JAMB as an institution and Prof. Oloyede as an epitome of integrity. However, I plead for mercy for my client.”

By Omeiza Ajayi & Joseph Erunke


Globally, success or failure in the examination is the criterion for future prospects. Too much emphasis is placed on paper qualifications without any thought of the ability of the individual to put into practice the knowledge he claimed to have acquired

In this respect, certificates are seen as means to an end. Thus, all means whether straight or crooked are employed to acquire them.

It has been revealed that the desperation by candidates for the high scores to enable them to study their dream courses at the university and pressure from their parents push them into falsifying their Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results. The culprits who were nabbed by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and confessed to falsifying their JAMB results also disclosed how examination syndicates which specialised in fake upgrade of results of candidates operated.

In the recent case, Miss Mmesoma Ejikeme, a student of Anglican Girls Secondary School, Nnewi, Anambra, sat for the 2023 UTME and claimed to have scored 362. On July 2 this year however, JAMB, in a statement by its Head of Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin accused the girl of manipulating her UTME score from 249 to 362. Miss Mmesoma and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) have therefore engaged in accusations and counter-accusations over the authenticity of the candidate’s claim of scoring 362 in the 2023 UTME.

With the acclaimed 362 score, Mmesoma said she was the highest scorer in the examination as against the 360 reportedly scored by another candidate, Umeh Ukechinyere. JAMB said that based on its record, Miss Ukechinyere scored the highest mark in the 2023 UTME and not Miss Mmesoma.

In a video which has since gone viral on social media, Miss Mmesoma displayed a notification of a result slip containing the 362 score, which she claimed was generated from the JAMB portal. But the examination body has since disclaimed the document, saying it stopped using such format for result slips in 2021. Meanwhile, JAMB has announced the withdrawal of the candidate’s 249 score, and suspended her from taking the examinations for the next three years.


It’s unfair, it wasn’t my fault – Mmesoma

Explaining her role in the matter, Mmesoma said it was not her fault and that the three-year ban placed on her by JAMB was unfair. She said; “After our exams, I went to JAMB portal to get my result but it directed me to another server and that was where I printed that slip from. I did not go to any computer centre. The only SMS I sent to them was through the JAMB support system and there was no reply. After all said and done, I now saw that I got 249. Then I sent them a text message through the JAMB support system to know what really happened”.

On the three-year ban placed on her by JAMB and the withdrawal of her result, Mmesoma said; “I am sad about it because it was not my fault that I printed my result like that and they said that I forged it. It is not my fault. So, it is not fair for JAMB to ban me”.

Sources at the JAMB however said the operators of the portal from where she printed the fake result are already on the run and the security operatives are on their trail.


Why Mmesoma’s case was trending ——JAMB

Earlier, JAMB spokesman, Dr Fabian Benjamin said the examination body has nothing against Mmesoma as it has been dealing with such issues before now. He said the only reason the current incident has been trending was because Mmesoma consistently insisted that the fake result she paraded was real, despite being confronted with superior evidence of her original result.

“It is a very simple issue that if anyone looks at the document that was being paraded, you could see that there was a problem. We have a process, from registration, conduct of exam and result management. The result she paraded was last used in 2021. Even the address of the JAMB CBT centre on her slip was not complete. We send out complete addresses. Otherwise, how is a candidate supposed to locate his or her centre? We don’t have anything against this girl. The highest score is from the same Anambra and also Igbo. If you go to the internet, you will see very funny softwares on how to fake JAMB results for fun. They tag it for fun, meaning that it does not reflect in the database of JAMB. The software is JAMB fake results for fun”, Benjamin added.


I knew result Mmesoma was parading was fake——Chidoka, owner of the CBT Centre

But in what seems to be in defence of JAMB, Mr Osita Chidoka, Nigeria’s former Aviation Minister whose foundation owns the Computer Based Test (CBT) Centre where the embattled Ejikeme Mmesoma sat her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), has spoken up on what he knows about the controversies surrounding the result obtained by the candidate. Mr Chidoka raised some questions that suggest that the candidate’s paraded score is fake.

In an opinion piece he wrote, Mr Chidoka said: “Miss Nmesoma Ejikeme took her 2023 JAMB at my foundation’s Computer-Based Testing (CBT) Centre at Obosi. I got some calls from worried friends about Nmesoma’s result, which had Thomas Chidoka Center as her examination centre. I allayed their worries that the result issue had nothing to do with the examination centre.

“I observed two significant red flags when I saw her result online. First, our centre is no longer addressed as Thomas Chidoka Centre for Human Development on the JAMB portal since 2021. The correct name on the JAMB portal and Main Examination Slip is Nkemefuna Foundation (Thomas Chidoka Centre for Human Development). Due to the difference in our CAC registration details, JAMB insisted we change to Nkemefuna Foundation with Thomas Chidoka in a bracket as an identifier. We implemented the name change in 2021. Her result showing Thomas Chidoka without the Nkemefuna Foundation, which was on her Main Examination slip, raised my suspicion about the genuineness of the result. The second red flag was the result template. A cursory review of some of those who took the last examination at our centre showed a different result slip template with the candidate’s passport picture, JAMB watermarks, and no mention of the name of the examination centre. I gave the young Nmesoma the benefit of the doubt and waited to see if she would explain how she got the result, which is obviously not the result template that Jamb used in 2023. I knew it was fake”.


We’re considering prosecuting Mmesoma, others —JAMB

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB has said it was considering prosecuting all those who forged its Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, to serve as deterrent to people with intention of faking its results in future.

JAMB particularly said the issue of Mmesoma Joy Ejikeme, the Anambra schoolgirl, who scored 249 but manipulated it to 360 and one Atung Gerald from Kaduna, who never participated in the 2023 UTME but forged the result and scored himself 380, will not be swept under the carpet.

Although the board said it has concluded its investigation on Mmesoma, it said it would only act when investigations being handled by independent investigative agency it involved in the matter was released.

Spokesperson of JAMB, Fabian Benjamin who said this on Friday, ruled out sole involvement of Mmesoma in the unwholesome act, noting that she may have been assisted by some dubious elements to perpetuate the act.

“Mmesoma is actually a teenager, that is our challenge now but the security agency involved in her case is profiling her. We suspect she might not be the original initiator of the act. Whoever is behind it will be exposed and prosecuted appropriately with others found involved in similar act. We found a case of one person in Kaduna State who did not obtain UTME document at all and did not write our examination but he went somewhere, forged result and scored himself 380 and he was being celebrated before we exposed him, this character will also be prosecuted, “he said.


Culprits’ confession

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) smashed a syndicate which specialized in fake upgrade of results of candidates that took the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). The syndicate had opened a WhatsApp account to trick gullible candidates who wanted to increase their score in order to have undeserved advantage. Parading a kingpin and agent of the syndicate in Abuja, the Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, said the culprit was arrested during a courtesy call by a delegation of Public Complaints Commission (PCC).

The JAMB Registrar said the suspect named Adah Eche sat the 2019 UTME and scored 153 but decided to engage an examination syndicate to increase his scores. The suspect who doubled as a middleman for the candidates seeking higher scores collected huge sums of money from these candidates for onward transmission to the syndicate. The Board got overwhelming evidence of payments and banking transactions in connection with result upgrades during his interrogation as well as other documents.

According to Prof Oloyede, “following the complaint by the candidate and the visit to PCC, we decided to pick his letter of complaint and two others to address their issues and he happened to be the first person we picked and he actually wrote a letter of complaint to us knowing full well that he faked his result.

What we did was to invite him to come and pick his admission letter and he came. What such people do not know is that we have a bar code for every result which helps us verify its authenticity but this fake one has the barcode of a supermarket and was reading invalid barcode on our own platform.

“We have checked our own platform and seen that he has checked his result three consecutive times via 55019 and was replied same number of times with his original result which is 153, yet he insisted that he did not know the one with 290 was fake.”

Prof. Oloyede said the suspect owned up to the crime when confronted with overwhelming evidence of his criminal acts and printout of faked 200 score for himself, before the purported upgrade to 290 which he claimed to have originated from JAMB result checker code “55019”.

Detailed investigation revealed that Mr. Adah Eche was not alone but had been patronised for possible illicit upgrade and faking of result by some candidates whose names, registration numbers were made available to us by Mr. Eche. The Board therefore withdraws and invalidates the results of the four candidates found to have been involved in the illicit attempt to fake JAMB result.

Also, on July 4 2019 JAMB apprehended one Cletus Kokowa for ‘upgrading’ his Unified Tertiary Matriculation Board (UTME) score from 162 to 206 with the aid of a fraudster. Kokowa with candidate registration number 95329290ED became the second candidate to be apprehended with the aid of an intelligence gathering mechanism deployed by the Board after Adah Eche was apprehended for a similar offence the previous month.

Kokowa confessed before the Management of the Board that he paid ten thousand naira (N10, 000) to an examination syndicate to upgrade his score after contacting them through a WhatsApp group a few weeks earlier. The syndicate had informed him that his score could be upgraded from 162 to 206. He added that the fraudsters later sent a fake result screenshot depicting the new score of 206 to him.

During investigation, he said, “those guys sent a mail to me that they could help me upgrade my score. I then sent them my registration number and email. When the results were out, they sent a screenshot of 206 which they claimed was my score. Then, one of them called me asking me to pay them their money. I later went to JAMB website to check and found my score was still 162. I was confused. I had heard that upgrading scores is impossible, an attempt to do it is an offence but I didn’t really believe it. I didn’t tell my daddy and my uncle about my dealings with the syndicate.”

However, when Kokowa’s result remained unchanged, in the JAMB portal, his father wrote a letter of complaint to the Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, stating, inter alia, that, “I am craving your indulgence to quickly rectify the score to place my child on good stead to secure admission in his second choice of institution because your inability to swiftly address the issue at hand has led to forfeiture of my son’s Nigerian Defence Academy admission opportunity”. The Board subsequently invited Kokowa who came with his uncle, an army officer. After investigations, he confessed to the crime and was handed over to law enforcement agents.

The Registrar said, “One of the popular claims candidates usually make is that JAMB issued two different UTME results to them. It is not true because their results were processed using cutting-edge information and communication technology tools. When this boy came with his complaint, we applied to appropriate quarters to furnish us with his records and it was discovered that he had contacted fraudsters who gave him a fake result. In fact, what we discovered was that the result given to him was a superimposition of another candidate’s result on his own”.


Son of Professor of Medicine nabbed

Another candidate, Kingsley Unekwe, son of a Professor of Medicine in one of the leading Nigerian universities was nabbed by the Board for tampering with his UTME result. Unekwe has petitioned JAMB that he had been issued two different results and was subsequently invited to come and substantiate his claim. The Board, through its instruments and findings, was able to establish, in the presence of his mother, that Unekwe had tampered with his UTME result.

The young man thereafter confessed that he had contracted a ‘result upgrade’ syndicate to falsify his result. As a result, his original score of 201 was jerked up to 269. This he did to enable him pursue his dream of studying medicine at the university.

When asked as to why he engaged in the nefarious act, he claimed it was the pressure from his parents that he should study medicine that forced him to seek ways of falsifying his score as the original score from JAMB would not get him into medicine. Unekwe pleaded guilty, feigning ignorance of the seriousness of his crime and asked the Board to forgive him for his action.

Unekwe was the fifth candidate to be apprehended by the Board for result falsification.

Ayodele Oluwafemi


Adamu Bulkachuwa, a former senator, has filed a suit at the federal high court in Abuja, seeking to stop the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) from investigating him.

On June 10, the former senator, while speaking at the 9th senate valedictory session, said Zainab Bulkachuwa, his wife, used her position as a judge to favour his colleagues in the red chamber.

Zainab, a former president of the court of appeal, was the first female to hold the position.

Bulkachuwa’s comments sparked outrage, with many Nigerians calling for investigations into his claim.

However, the former appeal court president had denied Bulkachuwa’s claim, saying she never compromised her office on partisan grounds.

Owing to the development, TheCable understands that the ICPC has commenced an investigation and invited Bulkachuwa for questioning.

Bulkachuwa was scheduled to appear at the ICPC office on July 6 but he filed a suit to stop the invitation before the scheduled date.

It was learnt that the counsel of the former senator had given the commission a commitment that his client would honour the July 6 date.

In a suit filed on Monday, Bulkachuwa asked for the court’s declaration that the commission’s invitation is “ultra vires, illegal, arbitrary, oppressive, unconstitutional and a gross violation and a likelihood of continuous infraction of the applicant’s fundamental human right as guaranteed by sections 34, 35, 36, 37, 41 and 46 of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended)”.

He also asked the court to interpret section 1 of the legislative houses (Powers and Privileges) Act 2017, which confers immunity on him from any civil or criminal litigation in respect of any utterance he makes on the floor of the upper chamber.

“A declaration that the applicant is entitled to freedom of speech/expression by Section 39(1) of the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria (as amended) and as exercise by his other senators’ colleagues and having not been so afforded by the leadership of the ninth (9th) senate, cannot be held liable for the unintended inference of an inchoate speech/statement/expression,” the suit reads.

“An order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents jointly and severally, particularly the 4th respondent (ICPC), acting directly or indirectly through their agents, officers, privies, assigns and any other persons by whomsoever or however constituted from inviting, harassing, intimidating and/or compelling the applicant to appear before the respondents pending the hearing and determination of suit no: FHC/ABJ/CS/895/2023 at the Federal High Court, Abuja.”

Those joined as respondents in the suit are: attorney-general of the federation, the clerk of the national assembly, Department of State Services (DSS), the ICPC, and Nigeria Police Force.

Police operatives from the Gender Section of the Lagos State Command have arrested four 17-year old boys, who allegedly conspired and gang raped a 16-year old girl, recorded their various sex actions and uploaded same on the social media.

P.M.EXPRESS reports that the boys, Taofik Jimoh, Oduyebo Samson, Adegoke Oluwatimileh and Adesanya Aduragbemi, have been charged before the Court over their alleged conduct.

The incident happened on 3rd June, 2023, at Oshikomaya Street, Ikosi Ketu area of Lagos State.

They were alleged to have lured the girl into the apartment, forcefully removed her clothes and had sex with her one after the other.

While they engaged her in the sex romp, they recorded their various actions with their mobile phones and uploaded same on WhatsApp platforms and tiktok social media.

Having satisfied themselves, they allowed her to go but warned her not to tell anyone about it and threatened to deal with her if she reveals it to anyone.

However, the girl was unable to bear the trauma and she revealed what happened to her parents. The matter was reported to the Police and they were arrested. They were later transferred to the Gender Section of the Command for interrogation over their alleged conduct.

After thorough interrogation, the Police found them culpable and subsequently charged them before the Ogba Magistrate Court for defilement, which attracts several years of imprisonment or life imprisonment.

The Court did not take their plea when they were arraigned after the prosecutor, Supol Akeem Raji, asked the Court to refer the matter to the DPP for legal advice and directed the prosecutor to duplicate the file and send it to DPP.

The matter was adjourned for mention for the report of the DPP’s advice to be available, which will determine if the matter will be transferred to the High Court or not over jurisdiction.

P.M.EXPRESS gathered that the matter may likely be transferred to the High Court for defilement if the DPP’s report finds them culpable and recommends their trial despite their age in line with the Criminal Laws of the State.

By Ademola Olonilua


Doctors were shocked after discovering that a Singapore man’s throat discomfort was caused by an eight-legged mollusk that had become stuck in his gullet.

The unnamed patient had reportedly first realized something was awry after he started vomiting following a meal that included the cephalopod.

The diner also had trouble swallowing, prompting him to pay a visit to the Tan Tock Seng Hospital, nypost.com reports. Doctors conducted a CT scan, which revealed a super-dense mass in the man’s esophagus.

A subsequent esophagogastroduodenoscopy — a gastrointestinal examination involving a small, flexible tube — showed a tentacled octopus lodged two inches from the esophagus-stomach border like something out of Ridley Scott’s “Alien.”

After initial attempts to push or extract the interloper were unsuccessful, medics navigated the endoscope past the octopus into the stomach and retroflexed it.

They then used forceps to grasp the critter’s head and remove it from the patient. Thankfully, the patient recovered well following surgery and was discharged after two days.

Apparently, food obstructions are among the most common problems encountered at the hospital, per the facility’s physicians, who say items will pass spontaneously in 80% to 90% of cases.

Meanwhile, endoscopic intervention is necessary in 10% to 20% of cases, while 1% of them require surgery.

“The ‘push technique’ is the primary method recommended with high success rates, however applying excessive force can cause esophageal perforation,” said the medical team.

Unfortunately, this is far from the first time a cephalopod has gone down the wrong pipe.

In 2016, a 2-year-old boy in Wichita, Kansas, had to be hospitalized after getting an octopus lodged in his throat during an apparent sushi session gone awry.

Meanwhile, approximately six people die a year from eating sannakji, the live octopus dish that’s a delicacy in South Korea.

Fatalities are generally caused when the suckers adhere to the sides of the diner’s throat, causing the victim to asphyxiate. This risk is heightened when the tentacles are cut longer or the critter is eaten whole, generally as part of a soju-inspired stunt.

A consultancy deal orchestrated by Zainab Ahmed, former minister of finance, budget and national planning, is raising eyebrows in the power sector, with several insiders telling TheCable it is “illegal” and “a waste of public funds”.

To execute a Make-up Gas Reprocessing (MUGR) deal, the ministry appointed a “transaction adviser” in an arrangement that some fear might land the federal government in legal challenges.

Make-up gas (MUG) is the gas a power generation company (GenCo) has already paid for but has, for one reason or another, not utilised during the year.

A gas supply agreement (GSA), a bilateral transaction executed by a GenCo and a gas supplier, spells out terms for a review of the clauses.

Ahmed had proposed that Nigeria could covert the MUG to liquified natural gas (LNG) and export to earn revenue for the federation.

She sought and got the approval of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

However, there are now questions as to the involvement of Ahmed Zakari & Co, an accounting firm, as transaction advisers in what is purely a bilateral agreement between Calabar Generation Company Limited (Calabar GenCo) and Accugas Ltd.

Calabar GenCo is owned by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), which belongs to the three tiers of government, while Accugas is a private company.

“Accugas and NDPHC were already discussing the extension of the sunset date for the utilisation of the MUG without the involvement of any consultant or adviser. Both parties subsequently executed an addendum to the GSA that provides for the MUG to be utilised within seven years,” an official of the ministry of finance told TheCable.

“The implication is that at the time Zainab Ahmed executed the transaction agreement with Ahmed Zakari & Co in September 2022, they all knew that there was really nothing for the firm to do, beside being paid for doing nothing.”

TheCable could not confirm the exact fees Zakari & Co is being paid but sources said it is dollars.

According to an industry insider who spoke with TheCable, “The standard practice with respect to the utilisation of MUG is for the buyer to contact the seller and for both contracting parties to negotiate alternative durations for the utilisation of the MUG. This is necessary because it is gas that the buyer has already paid for. There is usually no requirement for a third party to get involved. Indeed, because the GSA is a bilateral agreement, it will cease to be so if third and fourth parties get involved.

“What would usually happen is for the two parties to concede doing one of the following or both: one, renegotiate the take-or-pay quantity upon which the GSA was executed or, two, extend the sunset date for the utilisation of the MUG.”


CURIOUS CONTRACT

Moyi Dahiru, then special assistant on power to Ahmed, had led the discussions with the power sector stakeholders to discuss the MUGR proposal early 2022.

In attendance were officials of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc, NDPHC Ltd, Accugas and Azura.

An official of the ministry of finance told TheCable: “Azura made it clear to Mr Dahiru that they do not have any business with the MUGR, particularly because the government is not a party to the GSA.”

However, NDPHC — which manages the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP), including 10 GenCos — did not raise any objections, reportedly because it did not want to upset ministry officials who process the payment of the gas invoices every month.

In February 2022, Ahmed secured an approval from Buhari to retain the accounting firm of Ahmad Zakari & Co as the transaction adviser.

This became effective from September 5, 2022 when the firm signed the agreement with the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), represented by the ministry of finance.

“Ahmad Zakari & Co’s agreement is of no effect, but money is being paid to the firm for doing nothing,” an official of the ministry of finance, who declined to be named for fear of victimisation, told TheCable.

“The truth is that top government officials usually connived with some of the principal members of staff in the Presidential Villa to mislead Buhari into signing all kinds of things, including appointments for the most unqualified persons and dubious payments.”


‘PRESIDENTIAL APPROVAL’

On May 24, 2023, Aliyu Ahmed, the permanent secretary in the ministry of finance, wrote a letter to Total Energies with the title ‘Make-Up gas re-purpose transaction, conveyance of extracts of presidential approval of global framework transaction’, conveying the directive of the government on the treatment of the MUG by GenCos.

The make-up gas belonging to Calabar GenCo is under the MUGR.

“If I were to advise President Bola Tinubu, he should direct the ministry of finance to stop all payments to Ahmed Zakari & Co and ask the ministry to submit a report of the payments that have been made to the firm so far and for what purposes,” an official said.

“President Tinubu should ask for all the agreements under this MUGR and demand a copy of the addendum which the Accugas executed with the NDPHC that extended the sunset date for the utilisation of the MUG to seven years.”

TheCable has contacted the media office of the former finance minister for comments.

TheCable understands that Dahiru has been putting pressure on Calabar GenCo to execute the deal since he left office with the former finance minister.

The economy is in a bind, inevitably spurring the call by the Tinubu administration for sacrifice on the part of the citizenry to pull the nation out.

On his inauguration day, President Bola Tinubu removed subsidy on petrol that had cost the nation trillions of Naira as part of the sacrifice.

He has since followed up with the merging of the multiple foreign exchange rates, a situation that has led to the depreciation of the Naira at the official window.

The implication is not lost on the citizenry who now have to cope with the attendant inflation.

And arising from the foreign exchange rates merger was the announcement last week that electricity tariff would go up as power distribution companies said the concession they were getting from the official window was gone and this would raise their cost of production.

The announcement has since been reversed but the hike is only a matter of time as the reversal came about because due process was not followed and the tariff had not been approved by the authorities

Also last week, indications emerged that vehicle owners will have to pay yearly for proof of ownership contrary to the outgoing era that makes the payment one-off in the life of a vehicle.

Other belt-tightening measures to free funds for government to meet its obligations may soon follow.

But amid the call on the citizenry for sacrifice to pull Nigeria out of the woods, many people are worried about jumbo cost of governance occasioned by what some call questionable budgetary allocations by government at different levels.

For instance, the Buhari administration made provisions of N11.92 billion for feeding and foreign trips of the President and Vice President in the 2023 Budget of the Federal Government which Tinubu and VP Shettima have now inherited.

A breakdown shows that N331.79 million would be spent on the President’s feeding while that of his deputy is N176.92m.

When put together, the nation would be spending N508.71 on food and refreshments for their President and VP at the end of the fiscal year.

Local and foreign trips for the President and his vice would cost over N3 billion.

N2.49 billion was earmarked for the office of the President while his deputy gets N846.61 million.

Also included are N1.58bn earmarked for aircraft maintenance and N1.60bn allocated for overhauling of Gulfstream GV and CL605 aircraft engines.


10 aircraft

Sunday Vanguard recalls that in the heat of the criticism generated by the huge budgetary allocation for aircraft maintenance during the Buhari administration, then spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, said there were 10 planes in the presidential fleet.

They include two AgustaWestland AW 139 helicopters, two AugustaWestland 101 helicopters, two Falcons 7X, one Hawker Sidley 4000, Boeing Business Jet, Boeing 737-800 or NAF 001, one Gulfstream 550, one Gulfstream V and one Gulfstream 500.

It could not be established if any aircraft was added to the fleet between when the former presidential spokesperson made the disclosure and now.

Economists argue that even rich countries like the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) don’t feed their President and Prime Minister respectively, saying it is an anomaly for a poor nation like Nigeria to vote humongous funds to feed its leaders.

They also contend that very few countries across the world maintain as many as 10 planes in their presidential fleet as Nigeria does.

For instance, according to them, when the leaders of some of these countries use planes in the presidential fleet for personal purposes, they pay.

Nigeria’s bureaucracy is also seen as bloated, thus consuming a large chunk of government revenues.

For example, the National Assembly, NASS, in the 2003 Appropriation Act, was allocated N328.1 billion, the highest in 23 years.

A breakdown shows that the funds were tied to several purposes, with some still generating ripples.

One such is N16, 520, 653, 763 budgeted for Senators and members of the House of Representatives’ aides.

There is also N8.5billion for National Assembly liabilities, the details of which weren’t spelled out.

Also, N100 billion was approved for Zonal Intervention Programmes, ZIPs, otherwise known as Constituency Projects.

The money, which is for the 469 federal legislators, has been an issue of controversy as lawmakers are often accused of mismanagement of funds meant for such projects.

Only last week, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abass, appointed 33 aides, bringing the number of his appointees to 35.

Abass argued that the appointments would ensure effective delivery of his agenda for the House. The last occupant of the office had no fewer than 33 aides.

In 2016, a NAN report pegged the number of legislative aides at 2,570.

According to the National Assembly Act, each lawmaker is entitled to five aides.

The Act says the Senate President is entitled to 45 aides, his deputy 30 and 20 each for principal officers.

For the Speaker of the House, the Act provides 35 assistants for him, Deputy Speaker, 15, and 10 each for the six principal officers.

Consequently, there are fears that by the time Senate President Godswill Akpabio and other principal officers of the National Assembly finish appointing their aides, Nigeria’s leaders at the NASS level may end up having over 1, 000 aides.

Now add this to the cost of running the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) at the federal level.

State level

Across the states, the situation is not entirely different as new governors have so far retained the bloated bureaucracy of their predecessors.

All these are happening in a nation facing a N77 trillion debt crisis.

Only recently, the Debt Management Office, DMO, warned the Federal Government against additional borrowing, saying 73.5 percent of revenue generated this year would be used to service debt.

According to the DMO, the projected FGN Debt Service to Revenue ratio of 73.5 percent for 2023 is high and cannot support higher levels of borrowing, and is also a threat to debt sustainability.

Consequently, it advised government to focus on increasing revenue generation.


Slim government

Some concerned Nigerians told Sunday Vanguard it would be wrong for the Tinubu administration to tell Nigerians to make sacrifices and still ignore the urgent need for reduction in the cost of governance.

The authorities, drawn from key sectors including the academia, however, suggested ways government can reduce the size of governance and plug leakages.

In an earlier interview with this paper, the Labour Party, LP, last Thursday, accused the ruling party at the federal level, the All Progressives Congress, APC, of showing early signs of continuing “the wasteful lifestyle” of its predecessor.

Acting National Publicity Secretary of the party, Obiora Ifoh, said it was an irony that the administration would ask Nigerians to “tighten their belts and make sacrifices” while living in opulence.

On his part, Chairman, HEDA Resource Centre, Mr. Olarenwaju Aregbabo, said there is no better time to reduce cost of governance but now.


Budget

Aregbabo said: “It is really a very serious issue that we must actually contend with. It is a concern. Unfortunately, we focus much on the Presidency, beyond what we also have at the state level. We have state governors who have allocations outside the security votes. At the federal level, apart from the budget for food in the President’s house, there is also an allowance given to the President and the Vice President to take care of whatever it is they have to take care of daily.

“In advanced countries, if a President is inviting anybody to lunch or dinner, it is from his or her pocket and not from the government purse. It is not for the President to create a situation where you have money going for everything.

“It is very important that we continue to bring this out in the open. A number of those who are meant to talk about this are not talking because they also benefit from it. So, for the few of us who are really concerned about it, it’s necessary that we keep raising questions.


Oronsaye Panel report

“As it is now, Nigeria cannot afford an increment in the salaries of public office holders, except government knows what most of us don’t know.

“I support to some extent, the implementation of the Oronsaye Panel report on merging of agencies. That is why many public servants can afford to stroll into the office and stroll out when they like. Most of them don’t have any purpose for being in the office. And, when you merge some of these agencies, they become better.

“There is a need for a complete and holistic assessment of the workforce in the country. The multiplicity of Ministries, Departments and Agencies creates room for ghost workers.

“There is a need to know the real cost of services because many parts of our budgets are heavily padded and this makes it possible for them to replicate what is in the budget every year without monitoring what was implemented and what was not implemented.

“If we can block the leakages and ensure that the services we pay for are needed, they will improve.’’


Wasteful spending

Making his position known, Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, Auwal Rafsanjani, said: “If the new administration headed by President Bola Tinubu is committed to reducing the cost of governance in Nigeria, he must not repeat the mistake of wasteful spending and flamboyant governance in this country. We have suffered at the hands of some few political elites who have squandered the resources of this country at local, state and national levels. Therefore, if Tinubu is interested in reducing the waste and diversion of taxpayers’ money, he must cut wasteful spending.

“We expect that Tinubu will block those leakages and make governance more efficient by reducing the large number of unproductive political appointees. He must deal with this issue as quickly as possible so that government can deliver good governance to Nigerians. Doing this will make Bola Tinubu one of the best-performing Presidents.

“He has to minimize spending and make government effective as well as transparent. If he continues like the previous administration, it means there is no difference between him and the previous governments who failed to deal with these issues.

“For example, we do not need to have this flamboyant and large number of aides that are unproductive and without clear roles. Some state governments have thousands of aides. What we need is the creation of a viable economy and job opportunities for people to be gainfully employed. We have seen how a former Rivers State governor appointed several aides. Today, they have all lost their jobs. If he had used the resources to put in place infrastructure, create jobs, boost industrialisation and manufacturing, it would have been useful for Rivers State people and government.”


Unnecessary expenditure

On his part, Chairman of Nigerian Bar Association Section on Public Interest and Development Law, NBA-SPIDEL, Dr Monday Ubani, said: “If we don’t change the idea of unnecessary expenditure on governance, we won’t have enough money to develop infrastructure. Currently, there is no standard road in Nigeria. One cannot take off from Lagos to the East on a smooth ride or Lagos to Abuja. The railway system is non-functional. There is no internet-connectivity. It is the same for electricity. The moment we don’t have money to make investments that would attract investors, we will remain where we are because the Dollar will always be higher than Naira.

“I thought this government would do something in terms of expenditure but I cannot see prudence. He has removed fuel subsidy, which has made prices of things skyrocket. The World Bank has also said that over 40 per cent of Nigerians will relapse into poverty due to the removal of subsidy. Our government has to be certain of what it does because a lot of people are living in abject poverty. Any position that has no relevance to our economic growth should be done away with.”

Economic analyst and Vice Executive Chairman, High Cap Securities Limited, David Adonri, said: “I am surprised that the cost of governance inherited by this administration has not been reduced and expenditure rationalised. If we intend to heal our economy or initiate a process that would enable it to recover quickly, the cost of administration has to be drastically reduced because policies that were recently introduced like the unification of exchange rate and removal of fuel subsidy are going to drive up inflation.


Financial stability

“The only means through which the Federal Government can manage the situation, especially as it affects its financial stability, is to reduce expenditure drastically. With inflation, government will have to pay more for a lot of goods and services. If expenses are not rationalized, government will go into debt, leading to an increase in economic deficit. The current administration needs to go back to the drawing board to see how it can cut costs in all areas.”

Lending his voice, a senior lecturer at Lagos Business School, Dr Austin Nweze, said: “Whatever thing a leader does is based on his personal value system. John Adams said there are two types of education: the first teaches a person how to make a living and the second teaches one how to live. The second type of education is based on one’s value system. If your value system is a life of opulence, it will show in your character, the same goes for being prudent.

“The government that we have is that of state capture, they are not interested in what happens to the economy and the well-being of the citizens. The cost of governance is high and people who invested in their elections want to recoup their money. To cut down the cost of governance, you have to invest it in health, education and entrepreneurship. Invest in those things that would generate wealth for the people, not what will take away wealth from the people. Currently, there is between 30 and 33 per cent adult unemployment and over 55 per cent youth unemployment. How does such an economy grow? By making sacrifices from the top, domestic production can be increased for the economy to take off. There has to be a deliberate attempt to revive the economy by cutting the cost of governance. The sacrifice has to come from the political class who live an ostentatious life or what I will also call a life of opulence.”


Don’t compound woes of Nigerians, CSOs warn

Meanwhile, some Civil Society Organizations, CSOs, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard, advised the current administration not to toe Buhari’s path.

Specifically, Convener, Nigeria Youth Coalition, NYC, and Yoruba Council Worldwide, YCW, Oba Oladotun Hassan, urged Tinubu to, as a matter of urgency, begin to stand by his campaign promises.

His words: “I will serve a strong note of caution that Mr. President shouldn’t go the same way his predecessor operated.

“And the reason we elected him is for him to heal our wounds. So, he should see himself as a healer, rather than adding more salt to our injuries. We need to reduce costs. The removal of subsidy is there and we are still bearing it because of his appeal for patience for us to be on the same page with him.

“He shouldn’t compound our woes. In as much as the out-gone President presented a budget, he should as a matter of urgency, review the budget as regards the cost of governance. ‘’

Also, the Convener, Concerned Nigerians, Deji Adeyanju, questioned why the President and political appointees spend so much money on things that do not improve the livelihood of Nigerians.

He said: “Nigeria is one of the poverty capitals of the world, which is very unfortunate. You saw the President’s convoy upon his return from London. Why should the President of the poverty capital be driving a 120-car convoy? It makes no sense.

“Why should we even be buying vehicles for politicians and civil servants in the country? Nigeria is too broke for our politicians to be living extravagantly. People are no longer going into public service for service. People are going into public service for luxury and leisure.

“Everything should be sacrificial. You should stop paying salaries to politicians. It makes no sense. We should not be buying official cars for public servants. Except maybe the Ministry of Health where they need an ambulance and police where they need patrol cars to chase armed robbers and the Ministry of Works where we should have heavy-duty vehicles to repair our roads”.

On his part, Professor, Williams Ijoma, said: “Nigeria’s present reality requires nothing short of a holistic reform of its governance structure, system and process. Such efforts must, of necessity, begin with drastic reductions in personnel and overhead costs. If we are to survive as a nation, we must turn this moment of profound crisis into an opportunity to make the hard choices we have long deferred but can no longer avoid.

“As part of the cost-cutting measures, federal and state governments should reduce the size of their cabinets through amendment of the constitution and limit the number of advisers and assistants. Bills pending before national and state assemblies seeking to set up new agencies of government should be rejected. The report of the Steve Oronsaye Panel should be revisited and strictly implemented.’’

On Monday, Garba Shehu, ex-spokesperson of former President Muhammadu Buhari, claimed that the last administration removed diesel subsidy.

Speaking on why the Buhari administration failed to remove the petrol subsidy while in office, Shehu said the decision was taken to prevent any form of insurrection that could cost the All Progressives Congress (APC) the 2023 elections.

In addition, he said other subsidies, notably diesel subsidy, were eliminated by the Buhari administration.

“The massive electricity subsidy. The fraudulent fertiliser subsidy. Hajj/Christian pilgrim subsidies. Remember them? The diesel subsidy. The aviation fuel subsidy. LPFO. Kerosene,” Shehu said.

“Cooking gas and the other subsidy policies we found in place, and put them firmly on the ground. Remember them?

“For those with short memories, many of those subsidies were all in place when President Buhari was elected to office in 2015: all those in place were gone by May 2023 — including the annual fertilizer subsidy that weighed 60-100 billion naira (that’s trillion naira (sic) in about 10 years — yes you read that right) heavy on the federal budget each year.”

Did Buhari’s administration remove the diesel subsidy as Shehu claimed? Here is what we found.


VERIFICATION

On June 20, 2003, the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo increased the prices of petroleum products.

Consequently, the price of diesel was raised from N24 per litre to N38 per litre, marking the deregulation of the fuel price.

However, the declaration made by Obasanjo, less than a month into his second term in office, was met with widespread condemnation by Nigerians.

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) called a nationwide strike which was supported by Trade Union Congress (TUC), and civil rights groups, among others.

Furthermore, a September 2013 report by Chatham House, alluded to the elimination of subsidies for diesel in Nigeria during the Obasanjo regime.

According to the paper, titled ‘Nigeria’s Criminal Crude: International Options to Combat the Export of Stolen Oil,’ illegal refining in the Niger Delta was motivated in 2009, among other things, by the elimination of diesel subsidy during the previous Obasanjo administration.

“By most accounts, the Niger Delta has seen a boom in illegal refining since 2009 or early 2010. Likely reasons for this include a more permissive law-enforcement atmosphere following the federal government’s June 2009 declaration of amnesty for Niger Delta militants, the removal of subsidies on diesel during the Obasanjo presidency, and rising local demand,” the report reads.

Another report, released in May 2023 by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), maintained that the diesel subsidy was removed in 2003.

The report noted that fuel subsidies began in the 1970s and became institutionalised in 1977, following the promulgation of the price control act, which made it illegal for some products (including petrol) to be sold above the regulated price.

“Thirteen years after diesel was deregulated, kerosene subsidy was removed in 2016,” the PwC report said.

Speaking on the issue, Jide Pratt, country manager, Cotevis Energy, clarified that although the kerosene subsidy was removed during the Buhari administration, diesel subsidy had been scrapped since 2003.

“The administration that went to remove that was in 2003. They had been pondering about it since 2000. But what went on was that he kept on adjusting petroleum prices for the three petroleum products (petrol, diesel and kerosene).”

However, he said the increase of the diesel price — as against other petroleum products — was targeted at removing the product’s price ceiling.

“In 2003, the agreement was made that whether we like it or not, people should pay the full price for diesel,” Pratt said.

“In 2000, the policy was held back because a lot of farm produce was imported with diesel trucks. The point was that if you removed it, automatically, the cost of goods and services, inflation, would rise up. In 2003, it was eventually taken off.”


VERDICT

The claim that the Buhari administration removed the subsidy on diesel is false. It was scrapped in 2003 during Obasanjo’s tenure.

A suspect, Abdullahi Isa, has been arrested by the police for dehumanising, locking up and starvating his wife for nearly two years in Maiduguri Metropolitan, Borno State on Friday.

In a video seen and obtained by our correspondent shows a woman being carried into a waiting ambulance. When Daily Trust contacted the Women and Childrens’ rights activist, Comrade Lucy D. Yunana, who was seen in the video, she said the incident occurred in the Gwange Three Area of Maiduguri, the state capital on Friday.

She explained that Bulama of Gwange (3) took her staff to the suspect’s resident where the woman had been locked up for nearly two years.

“The suspect by the name Isa Abdullahi of Gwange (3) in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council is the husband of the survivor (name withheld).

We were informed that it was the neighbours that fed her, she has not been given food but most of the time neighbours usually sneaked in and give her food.

“Thankfully, our staff were conducting some awareness on SGBV in Gwange when Bulama of the area took our staff to the house where she was locked in and what they saw was indeed terrible and prompted us to inform the relevant authority to save the woman’s life.

“We went there along with the Zonal Coordinator of the Human Rights Commission, Barr. Jumai Mshelia and saw her in the room, what we saw in the room was in a bad and dehumanized condition. The man was arrested by men of the Gwange Division of Police and he is currently in the police station.”

Comrade Lucy added that she reach out to the necessary people and the woman has been taken to the hospital for treatment, the medics are currently working on her..

But the suspect, Isa Abdullahi claimed that they had seven children together but all are dead and her wife has been tormented by an evil spirit which was the reason he lock her up.

Parents and students of some universities across the country have cried out over the hike in school fees, saying the development could worsen their current economic pains and lead to mass students’ withdrawals, Daily Trust reports.

Many universities, both federal and state-owned, have issued releases on upward adjustments of registration fees for courses being offered with some of the increment spiking as high as 300%.

The development coupled with the harsh economic realities exacerbated by the recent removal of fuel subsidy and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) devaluation of naira, has compounded the woes for ordinary Nigerians in the pursuit of university education, parents and students said.

While the Students’ Loan Scheme provided for by the recently signed Students’ Loan Bill was seen as a trigger for this upward review of registration fees, educationists and other stakeholders have said the lack of clarity on how the scheme would benefit Nigerians has further complicated the process with wider implications.

Some parents who spoke to Daily Trust said they were already overburdened by the cost of feeding, transportation, energy, among others. Specifically, civil servants said their take home pay, which barely lasts a week, would not in any way cover the cost of funding the higher education of their children even if they dedicated everything.

Some students who sponsor themselves in schools by engaging in SMEs or menial jobs said from what they have seen so far in respect to students’ loan scheme, it would be extremely difficult for some of them to access the facility.

They, therefore, called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to first provide mitigating factors, revamp the economy before removing subsidy in the education sector to avert mass drop out by those who could not pay the fees prescribed by the schools they attend.

Ekpoma varsity students protest

Daily Trust reports that students of the state-owned Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, Edo State, recently staged a protest against the nearly 300 per cent increment in the school’s registration fees, which they said now makes some courses in the school more expensive than what is obtainable in some private universities. According to them, law students are now expected to pay as high as N741, 500 as against N185, 000 paid in the previous year.

Similarly, they said medical students were now expected to pay N638, 000 as against N216, 000 based on the new increment. The students lamented the development, saying the state government had made it impossible for the indigent to go to school.

“What the management is telling us is that before a salary earner in Edo State could send his child to study law, he would have to work for 23 months before he can pay one level school fees for his child,” one of the protesters said.

Vice President, Inter-campus Affairs, Vanessa Egheahie, had said that should the state government refuse to revert to the old fees, NANS would move its headquarters to AAU to enforce the reversal.

Since the announcement, the school authorities have not spoken on the matter.

Unimaid too

In Borno, a cross-section of students and parents who spoke with our correspondents expressed concerns over the development while calling on school management to rethink considering the current harsh economic realities in the country.

For instance, when the University of Maiduguri introduced the new tuition fees earlier this year, some underprivileged students and parents raised concerns saying they could no longer cope.

Malam Yusuf, a student of the chemistry department in the institution said after several weeks of resumption, many of his classmates were yet to resume due to the hike in fees.

“It is sad that many of us couldn’t afford what the institution charges. In fact, I stopped calling some of my classmates because, what they always told me is mind boggling and you cannot help,” he said. He called on the federal government to prevail on universities to review the fees so that all returning students can complete their studies.

Another student who wouldn’t want to be identified corroborated, saying: “Despite the fact that the students union government called on students to be patient that negotiation was ongoing to see how the institution would review the fees, most of the students could not come back because their confidence had waned.

“We used to pay N39, 000 for registration but it is now N150, 000. It is incredible, who will give you this money in addition to the cost of accommodation, feeding, books and others? Many students would resort to fate and withdraw,” he said.

A concerned parent, Gwamna Mshelia, described the hike as unbearable while calling on the institution to reconsider its decision.

“Most of these students are from poor family backgrounds. So the university is just saying that education is not for the children of the poor in Nigeria,” he said.

Tanko Ahmad, the Public Relations Officer of the university had said that the management of the institution had done everything possible to simplify the registration procedure and easy payment.

“The Students Union Government (SUG) has contacted the institution that students couldn’t resume due to the hike. To ease the situation for them, the management asked them to pay in instalments, 60 per cent in the first semester and the remaining 40 in the second semester.”

‘There would be many dropouts in Kano’

In Kano, many parents and students fear the development could lead to an increase in the number of school dropouts, saying university education might have gone out of reach for ordinary Nigerians.

The Bayero University Kano last week announced in a special bulletin the increase in central registration fees and administrative and hostel maintenance charges for undergraduate and postgraduate students.

According to the new school fees, students of Nursing would pay the highest among undergraduates with N220, 500 (fresh) and N197,500 (returning) followed by those of the Faculty of Clinical Sciences (MBBS) and Dentistry who will now pay N170,000 (fresh) and N160, 000 (returning) and all students of education courses will pay between N137, 500 and N138, 500 for fresh students while returning students will pay between N132, 500 and N138, 500 depending on their course.

The least in the category are students from Faculties of Arts and Islamic Studies, Law, Management Sciences and Social Sciences who will pay N97,000 as returning while fresh students will pay N105, 000. Students from Faculties of Computer Science, Communications, Earth and Environmental Sciences will also pay N100, 000 as returning while fresh students will pay N110, 000 respectively.

Muhammad Suleiman, a recent graduate from Bayero University, Kano (BUK) said while he considered himself “lucky” to have graduated, the development meant that his friend and course mate, who had a spill over may end up without a university degree after over five years when months wasted through strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) are factored in.

“If this had happened even in my final year, I do not think I would have been able to complete my studies because even with the last N38, 000 registration fees I paid, I knew what my parents went through to get it. For my younger ones that are still in secondary school now, we don’t even know what will happen to them.”

Similarly, Aminu Idris, a 200 level student, said three of them from the same father are now studying in the BUK and that he does not think their parents can afford to pay for them.

“No one would like to drop out of school for the other. The increment will make many of us dropout of school and the student loan that might be of help is till October, so there will be a massive drop-out. It is really sad.”

A guardian, Bilya Yaro Dawakin-Tofa said he may have to start looking for alternatives for his sister who is currently in 200 level in BUK.

“I found this increment as unfortunate. I can’t imagine paying for her and at the same time taking care of the rest of the family with my meagre income. “

Panic mood in Plateau, Taraba, Benue

Our correspondents report that there are strong signals over school fees increment by the next session at the universities in Plateau, Taraba, Benue, among others. For instance, at the University of Jos, what happened in other places has created anxiety among students and parents.

Although yet to be officially announced, information to that effect has been spreading recently, especially when the students were already in their last examination for the current session.

A 300-level Economic student who simply identified herself as Victoria, said she saw information shared on Twitter by a student, and that it was purportedly from the school’s Twitter account.

She said the message purportedly indicated that fees in their department had been increased from N45, 000 to over N100,000.

A parent, Ocean Omekpa, said he hoped that the proposed increment should just be mere speculation as things are just difficult.

Another student of Archaeology, Favour Achor, said she heard as well that in their department, the fee had been hiked from N45, 000 to N96, 000 from next session.

The Deputy Registrar, Information and Publications of University of Jos, Abdullahi Abdullahi, did not immediately respond to questions on the issue before press time, saying he was in a meeting and would revert.

In Benue, Gideon Ogaba, a 200 level Chemistry student at the Joseph Sarwuaan Tarka University Makurdi (JOSTUM) formerly known as the Federal University of Agriculture said his parents would find it difficult to cope with any increase in fees.

“Already, the economic hardship is taking a toll on families. My father’s salary has not increased so if they go ahead to hike fees, it would be difficult for me to continue.”

Similarly, a 400-level student of Benue State University (BSU), Nancy Ornguga, opined that any further increase of tuition fee would impact negatively on undergraduates.

A parent, Peter Duru, said angrily: “They want to kill us; that is what they are out to do. How can they start increasing fees at this time? How do they want us to cope? I have three children in the university; how do they expect somebody like me to cope? Is this government meant to kill us or to help us to grow as individuals or people?”

Similarly, students at Federal University, Wukari and Taraba State University, have expressed concern over planned tuition fee increase in universities.

A 200 level student of Federal University, Wukari, Gabriel James told Daily Trust that many students were already facing problems of feeding and accommodation, adding that if there is any increase in school fees, most students would not be able to afford it.

Similarly, a 300 level student at Taraba State University, Abubakar Dauda, said it was unfair for the federal and state governments to increase university tuition fees at this time when most families were unable to meet their daily needs.

But a vice chancellor of a federal university who spoke off the record said while they empathise with parents and students, they were also constrained.

“Running the universities is extremely expensive. Do you know that diesel alone guzzles over 70 per cent of the subvention coming from the centre? Do you know how much it costs to pay salaries of academic and non-academic staff? Do you know how expensive it is to ensure security on campus, logistics and others?

“I think while there is the need for the federal government to have other ways of easing the pressure on parents, universities should also learn some lessons on how to diversify so that we can collectively salvage the situation,” he said.

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has warned that implementation of the proposed hike in electricity tariff by power distribution companies may force more multinational companies to relocate their factories outside Nigeria.

President of MAN, Francis Meshioye, who gave the warning while speaking to newsmen, noted that some international manufacturing firms had already exited the country due to the harsh operating environment including power crisis, adding that any further hike in tariff would lead to an exodus of companies, and thus called on the government to reconsider the move.

Recall that various public notices from some of the electricity distribution companies, DisCos, had stated that the electricity tariff would be raised by about 30 to 40 per cent for selected categories of consumers with effect from July 1, 2023.

They have, however, backtracked on their earlier announcement of a tariff hike, stating that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had yet to approve the hike.

Meshioye stated: “In every system there’s always a core structure and this includes the elements that make up the total cost spent in generating your revenue. Now, what we experience as manufacturers is that energy cost is a major cost in processing our products.

“The downsizing of businesses in Nigeria, for instance, shows that businesses are not doing very well. So this power issue and other things have made some manufacturers, particularly international businessmen to relocate from Nigeria to other countries.

“Therefore anything to reduce this energy cost will be very beneficial both to manufacturers and the masses in general. So it (power) is a high cost to us, and a major driver in terms of cost. At the same time, it could lead to other things.

“It is one of the things that make some manufacturers to seek to move their business to another region and site their factories there. It is not the only reason, but, of course, it is one of the major ones.”
On other reasons that might make manufacturers to exit Nigeria, Meshioye said: “We have the unpredictability of the foreign exchange rate. In a business model, the more predictable the forex, the better you are. But the availability of the forex itself is another thing. All these are problems that border manufacturers.”

Former President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed why he left Daura, Katsina State, for London.

Buhari said he left Daura for London because he wanted to stay in a quiet place.

He explained that visitors have been trooping to visit him while in his hometown of Daura.

A statement by Buhari’s ex-media aide, Garba Shehu, reads: “He chose to go home in Daura hoping to find the type of quiet he wished for himself, but realizing that this was not the case, visitors trooping in morning, day and night, he moved out to a more distant place.

“It remains his wish that he be allowed to have his needed rest, and for the Tinubu administration to have the right atmosphere to work on the realisation of the promises they made.”

Following the end of his administration, Buhari returned to his hometown of Daura.

However, the president had left Nigeria for London, after which, he met with President Bola Tinubu.

Reporters from three large news organisations have not been invited to cover a meeting of oil industry CEOs with energy ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The organisation’s secretariat typically gives accreditation to any journalist who wants to cover the meeting at their headquarters. This time, that opportunity wasn’t offered to reporters from Reuters, Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal, according to Reuters.

The three media organisations are among the world's leading suppliers of financial news and information.

They compete to cover news in real time from events such as OPEC+ meetings, which can have a material impact on the price of oil and the global cost of energy.

The OPEC Secretariat, which oversees media accreditation, had issued invitations to some journalists to cover the OPEC-hosted July 5-6 seminar in Vienna, Austria.

OPEC sent an email on Tuesday inviting reporters at other media organisations to attend, the sources said.

Those included the Financial Times and trade publication Argus, as well as S&P Global Commodity Insights, known as Platts, the sources said. The communication stated that "this email serves as your personal invitation," according to a copy forwarded to Reuters.

However, reporters who normally cover OPEC from Reuters, Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal did not receive invitations, according to people familiar with the matter who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, includes top oil producers Saudi Arabia and Russia. OPEC+ pumps more than 40% of the world's oil supply.

Reuters reports that OPEC declined to comment on why reporters from the three media organisations were not invited to cover the OPEC-hosted seminar.

"We believe that transparency and a free press serve both readers, markets and the public interest, and we object to this restriction on coverage," a spokesperson for Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters Corp (TRI.TO), said on Wednesday.

"Reuters will continue to cover OPEC in an independent, impartial and reliable way, in keeping with the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles."

According to the report, reporters at Reuters received an email on Tuesday stating that earlier accreditation was not an invitation to attend. Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal reporters received a similar communication, sources familiar with the matter said.

"We are very concerned by the prospect of OPEC excluding certain journalists, including from Bloomberg, from next week's seminar," Bloomberg News said in a statement.

"For the sake of market transparency, we strongly advocate for OPEC to allow journalists from relevant global news outlets to attend."

The Wall Street Journal did not respond to a request for comment.

This would be the second consecutive OPEC+ event in which OPEC has restricted media coverage. The same media groups were denied access to OPEC's Vienna headquarters during a June 4 oil policy meeting.

OPEC gave no reason for excluding the three organizations from the previous policy meeting in June.

China’s woven fabric, women suits, fake hairs and other goods valued at N1.4 trillion ($1.95 billion) were ferried to Nigerian ports in April, 2023 as several interventions by the government to revive the ailing local textile industry have failed.

Findings by New Telegraph revealed that only $150 million goods were exported to China from Nigeria, lead- ing to a negative trade deficit of $1.95 billion out of $2.1billion trade recorded in April between the two countries.

Top imports from China to Nigeria are synthetic filament yarn woven fabric valued at $160 million; pesticides, $84.1million; non-knit women’s suits, $81.5 million; telephones, $67.2 million and fake hair, $59 million. It was learnt that none of the textile company have started production since Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervention.

The apex bank had already complained that Nigeria lost over N1.65 trillion to the smuggling of textile goods annually, leading to the collapse of over 130 firms.

According to the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of the imports to Nigeria from the country were mainly from Guangdong Province, $544 million; Zhejiang Province,$452 million; Shandong Province,$242 million;

Hunan Province, $180 million and Jiangsu Province, $138 million, while Nigeria exports destinations to China were mainly to Fujian Province, $45.1 million; Beijing, $42.5 million; Zhejiang Province,$12.7 million; Guangdong Province, $10.7 million and Shanghai Province, $7.63 million. During the period, GACC noted that top imports of China from Nigeria were petroleum gas, $95.8 million; crude petroleum, $71.5 million;

niobium, tantalum, vanadium and zirconium ore, $13.5 mil- lion; zinc ore, $13.1million and raw aluminium, $12.6 million. Also, between April 2022 and April 2023, the exports from China to Nigeria increased by $409 million or 24.3 per cent from $1.69 billion to $2.1billion, while imports increased by $57.4 million or 62.3 percent from $92.1 million to $150 million.

Also, the increase in China’s year-by-year exports to Nigeria were products such as pesticides, $56 million or 199 per cent, synthetic filament yarn woven fabric, $37.9 million or 31 per cent and light synthetic cotton fabrics, $34.3 million or 1.46 per cent. It would be recalled some textile material valued at N63.6 billion ($132.51 million) were dumped into Nigerian market in 2020.

The imported materials, which include wool and woven fabrics, were shipped to the country from China. Also, the International Trade Statistic on Nigerian imports revealed $45 million wool and woven fabric were brought to the country in 2015, $29.8 million textile material in 2016, while the country took delivery of 2017, $22.12 million; 2018, $12.3 mil- lion and 2019, $23.16 million.

Worried by the influx of smuggled textile into the country, the Director General of the Nigerian Textile Employers Association of Nigeria (NTEAN), Mr Kwa- jaffa Hamma lamented that none of the moribund textile industries had been revived since 2017. It was learnt that the CBN had invested over N120 billion across the Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) value chain since the inception of its intervention programme in the industry with over 320,000 farmers financed between 2018 and 2020.

The apex bank had said that by 2020 output for seed cotton would be over 300,000 metric tonnes in oreder to enhance the production capacity of the ginneries in producing over 102,000 metric tonnes of cotton lint, which should meet and surpass the cotton lint requirement of the textile industry in the country.

However, the director general noted stakeholders in the textile and garment industries were already worried that government was putting more money into cotton production than the moribund textile industries they were supposed to revive. According to him, government’s intervention was supposed to be top-down and not bottom-top as currently implemented.

The President of the State of Birland, HRM Dr. Emir Haiyawi, has appointed a Nigerian, Amb. Prof. Joseph Legend Mfon, FIMC, CMC, FIOGR, as the Minister of Environment of the State of Birland.

The President of the State of Birland issued the official decree for the appointment of His Excellency Amb. Prof. Legend on June 13, 2023, jointly signed by the Prime Minister, H.R.M Prof. Queen Eden Soriano Trinidad.

The State of Birland is Africa’s newest country and number 55th on the continent of Africa with a geographical location between Sudan and Egypt and a landmass of 2,060 hectares.

This humanitarian nation has received several endorsements and recognition by other countries.

Amb. Dr. Joseph Legend Mfon will by this appointment work towards representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the State of Birland; initiation and facilitation of strategic agreements; treaties and conventions; promotion of information; trade and commerce; technology, and friendly and bilateral relations with other countries.

The President of the State of Birland also stated that the policy on humanitarian diplomacy has been established to provide National Societies and the International Federation with a more effective framework for advancing their core objectives.

It is, therefore, an overarching policy, different from others in that it is designed to support the key messages of National Societies and the International Federation with greater visibility and influence, but not to change the substance of those messages.
The establishment of this humanitarian diplomacy policy is therefore complementary and supportive of all existing policies, programs and strategies of the International Federation.

The appointment will open series of bilateral ties between the state of Birland and other countries with the qualities, attitude and candour of the Secretary of Diplomacy.

The Government of the State of Birland is proud of having a Nigerian who is capable and highly skilled in such a sensitive office.