Lagos Government Finally Admits Dumping Over 350 Residents In Osun, Labels Them Miscreants, Beggars

The Lagos State government after a long silence has confirmed the relocation of 371 residents whom it described as "miscreants, beggars and destitute persons" back to their states.

SaharaReporters had on Sunday reported that Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State stated that the Lagos State government promised to investigate the alleged deportation of youths from the state to Ilesa town.

SaharaReporters had reported how the Nigeria Police Force in conjunction with the Lagos State Task Force packed hundreds of residents and young people from the streets of the state on Friday and dumped them in Osun State.

One of the youths who said he was taken away by the Nigerian policemen at his place of work on Friday afternoon had narrated his ordeal to SaharaReporters.

He had said the law enforcement agents packed young people from Ajah, TBS and Island areas of the state and gathered them inside an uncompleted building at the Makoko police station before moving them to a forest in Ilesha town in Osun State.

The Osun indigenes, mostly youths, were said to have been dropped at Ilesa-Akure Express junction, Breweries; Ilesa – Ibodi – Iginla to Ife Express junction; Osun Ankara Express junction; Imelu Express junction; and Iperindo Express junction.

Reacting, the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotosho disclosed that 450 miscreants were rescued at the weekend following the statewide exercise to free Lagos of “visible security risks.”

Out of 450, he said, 371 pleaded for assistance to relocate to their various states due to the hardship they were facing in Lagos, while 79 had been absorbed into some government facilities for rehabilitation “after showing signs of being unwell.”

The statement reads, “The statewide exercise to free Lagos of visible security risks has continued after the arrest of some suspects under the Dolphin Estate bridge.

“The ceaseless influx of miscreants, beggars, and the destitute onto Lagos streets has raised fears of insecurity of lives and property. This is unacceptable.

“As part of the exercise, 450 miscreants were at the weekend rescued. Of the lot, 371 pleaded for assistance to relocate to their various states due to the hardship they are facing in Lagos; 79 have been absorbed into some government facilities for rehabilitation after showing signs of being unwell.

“The exercise will continue as part of the government’s responsibility to keep our citizens safe and secure.”

Tomato Crates Dealers Association of Nigeria and Amalgamated Union of Food Stuff and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria have threatened to cut tomato supply to Lagos state over destruction of their commodities.

Alhaji Ahmed Alaramma, the National Chairman, Tomato Crates Dealers Association, made the threat at a press briefing in Zaria, Kaduna State, on Sunday.

Stunned by thousands of storks flying over the sky in Gia Viễn dike, Ninh Bình - Nếm TV

He said the incident that occurred at Oke-Odo market in Lagos, led to the destruction of over 60,000 empty tomato crates.

Alaramma who is also the National Secretary of Amalgamated Union of Food Stuff and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria said explained that raffia basket was initially used for conveying tomatoes to south, however raffia basket caused more damages.

He added that the plastic crates were introduced to mitigate the damage and wastage while conveying fresh tomatoes from north to southern parts of Nigeria.


“Over 70 Members of the association rent out the crates to tomato dealers across the country; we have over 60,000 crates which were about to be returned to north at the market during the turmoil.

“These crates were burnt by the area boys during the clash and the area boys prevented our people from quenching the fire. We have video evidence and other proof supporting our claims,” the Chairman said.

According to him, each empty crate cost N6000; therefore members lost over N360m investment.

He appealed to the federal government, Lagos state government and other relevant stakeholders to look into this and compensate the association to cushion the effect of the damage.

He said the association was already in touch with its legal team over available legal remedies in the event of unfavorable response from the government.

“If nothing is done, we will have no option than to cut supply of tomatoes to Lagos over this incident,” Alaramma said.

Lemos14:


John. 14. [15] If ye love me, keep my commandments. [21] He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

A student of a public secondary school, Government Secondary School, Omu Aran, Kwara State, Olukayode Victor Olusola, scored 362 marks in this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, to be among the contenders for the highest scorers in the examination.

Though the Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, Prof. Isaq Oloyede, organisers of the exam, had said the Board would not announce the highest scorer to avoid last year’s experience of confusing claims, Olukayode’s score is celebratory, as it is among the highest in recent years.

He scored 95 marks each in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry and 77 in English Language.

His exploit is coming against the backdrop of the poor performance of candidates in the exam in which 1.4 million scored less than 200 marks out of 400. The exam was taken by over 1.8 million candidates

Also, Olukayode’s excellent performance is coming at a time when confidence is greatly eroding in what public schools have to offer and some private schools are boasting of being the most expensive in the country.

Olukayode was born in 2009 and hopes to study Electrical Electronic at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State.

His mother, Beatrice Tosin, while giving all the honour to God, also praised the studious and hard working nature of her child.

iwaeda:


Egbon, this laughable, same CBN that weekly increase custom duties, I have people, whose goods and vehicles entered demurrage due to high cost of clearing. Also banks have started hoarding cash due to CBN directive. How many can save self, when what they earn is bearly enough to feed. How will activities increase?

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has expressed worries over the declining economic activities in Nigeria.

The CBN deputy governor of Corporate Services, Bala Moh’d Bello, disclosed this in his personal statement at the end of the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting released on the Banks’ website on Tuesday.

He noted that the country’s Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index, PMI, declined sharply to 39.2 index points in February 2024 from 48.5 index points in the previous month.

He stressed that economic activity has contracted for eight months due to exchange rate pressures, inflation and security challenges.

“It is concerning to note that the Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) declined sharply to 39.2 index points in February 2024 from 48.5 index points in the previous month.

“Economic activity has been contracting for eight consecutive months, mainly due to exchange rate pressures, rising input prices, security challenges, and other idiosyncratic headwinds. This calls for well-nuanced policy decisions targeted at price stability to forestall stifling economic activities and derailing output performance.

“Of more concern is the rising inflationary trend despite sustained hikes in the monetary policy rate with forecasts of further price increases in the near term.

“Both food and core inflation rose in February 2024, underpinning acceleration in headline inflation to 31.70 per cent in February 2024 from 29.90 per cent in the previous month.

“This continued rise in inflation was mainly due to high production costs, lingering security challenges and exchange rate pressures,” he said.

He added that the country’s inflation soared to 33.22 per cent in March, which is unacceptably high and requires coordinated efforts to curb.

“Inflation is currently unacceptably high and requires decisive and coordinated efforts to curb it, given its adverse impact on citizens’ purchasing power, investment decisions and broad output performance.

“The Federal Government’s initiatives addressing food insecurity, such as releasing grains from the strategic reserves, distributing seeds and fertilizers, and supporting dry season farming, are important and commendable,” he added.

Recall that the MPC raised the country’s interest rate to 24.75 per cent in March.

This represents a 14 percent increase in rate compared to the old rate of N1,164.84/$ previously used for the opening Form M and an increase of N162.51 on a dollar needed to clear goods at the port.

This means that importers opening Form M today will require more money to pay import duties than those who opened Form M at the weekend.

BusinessDay reports that last week, the naira had its worst run since the devaluation in January, falling 7.8 percent to N1,339.23 on Friday from N1,234.49 at the beginning of the week, according to data by FMDQ Securities Exchange.


The naira appreciated to N1,280/$ Saturday, an 8.57 percent gain compared to N1,400/$ Friday, according to multiple traders who spoke with BusinessDay.

In his reaction, Muda Yusuf, CEO of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, told BusinessDay that Nigeria needs to deemphasise revenue generation because too much emphasis on revenue causes growth, job creation, and development to suffer.

He said fiscal authorities need to stabilise rates to give policy support to critical sectors of the economy and also give breathing space to investors without burdening them with too much taxation.

Eugene Nweke, a freight forwarder, called for a fixed exchange rate regime for cargo clearing at the port to give relief to businesses, support trading activities, and stabilise the market value of products.

According to him, the port’s high import and clearing cost is exacerbating Nigeria’s inflation rate.

The Minister of Power, Mr Adebayo Adelabu, says the Federal Government requires 10 billion dollars annually in the next ten years to revive the nation’s power sector and end the liquidity challenge.

He added that such was not feasible in the country considering the budget size.

Adelabu said this in Abuja on Monday, at a one-day investigative hearing on halting the new electricity tariff increase by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission for onward implementation by the Distribution Companies.

The investigative hearing was organized by the Senate Committee on Power.

Adelabu said, “For this sector to be revived, the government needs to spend nothing less than $10bn annually in the next 10 years. “This is because of the Infrastructure requirement for the stability of the sector, but government cannot afford that.”

He added that to sustain the sector, there was a need to open the power market to investors.

Adelabu stated, “We must make this sector attractive to investors and to lenders.


“So for us to attract investors and investment, we must make the sector attractive, and the only way it can be made attractive is that there must be commercial pricing.

“If the value is still at N66 and the government is not paying subsidy, the investors will not come.

“But now that we have increased tariff for a Band, there is interest been shown by investors.”

He further stated that the major challenge in the sector was the absence of liquidity, saying that the sector has been operating on a subsidized tariff regime, given the absence of a cost-reflective tariff.

He, however, said the subsidy had not been funded over the years as huge liabilities had been owned by the Generating Companies (and the Gas Companies.

He added that the inability of the government to pay the outstanding N2.9 tn subsidy was due to limited resources, hence the need to evolve measures to sustain the sector.


The minister appealed to the lawmakers to support the process of paying the debt owed to operators across the value chain of generation transmission and distribution.


According to him, the increase is based on supply, saying that any customer that does not receive 20 hours of power supply will not be made to pay the new tariff. He said the government was committed to ensuring sustainable reform in the sector, saying that there was a need to clear the outstanding debt owed GenCos and Gas companies.

To improve power supply, he said the government was investing in hydroelectric power, adding that construction of 700 mega-watt power in Zungeru had commenced, while the Kashimbila Hydroelectric power plant of 40 megawatts was awaiting evacuation to improve generation.

The minister noted that there was also an ongoing investment in 26 small hydropower dams to boost electricity production across the country. However, members of the committee in their separate remarks decried the experiences of Nigerians on electricity supply over the years, despite the unbundling of the sector.

In his remarks, Senator Ola Ashiru ( APC, Kwara South) said Nigerians were paying for the inefficiency of power sector operators. Ashiru, who is Vice Chairman of the committee said there were a lot of inefficiencies across the value chain of generation, transmission, and distribution.

He said poor Nigerians must be protected, adding that there was a need to consider a reversal of the tariff increase.

Senator Solomon Larlong said there was no adequate consultation, before the increase, adding that issues of palliative should have been discussed and provided before the tariff increase.

Also, Senator Adamu Aliero called for the reverse of the increase in the price of electricity.


He said, “He said the public was not at peace with the increase, saying that the increase was over 200 per cent, hence the need for a reversal of the tariff increase.”

The committee chairman, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, said what Nigerians wanted was a solution to the issues and ways to ensure liquidity in the sector. He also decried the non of appearance of a company “ZIGLAKS” over the failed agreement to provide prepaid meters for Nigerians. He alleged that the company had received N32bn in 20 years to meter Nigerian electricity consumers.

The PUNCH earlier reported that the Senator representing Osun Central, Olubiyi Fadeyi, had lamented that he pays one million naira each for both power and purchase of diesel.

Other stakeholders that made presentations at the investigative hearing include the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Association of Power Generation, and Electricity Distribution Companies among others

The Senate through its Committee on Finance, has called for concerted efforts by all relevant stakeholders to rescue and sustain the stability of the naira.

The naira persisted in its decline against the US dollar within the official exchange framework, concluding at N1,309.88 on Thursday, April 25.

However, the naira, last week, recovered against the US dollar at the parallel market but began to depreciate again.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Sani Musa (APC, Niger East), said there was an urgent need for concerted efforts at tackling the instability and continuous depreciation of the naira.

He said, “The recent depreciation of the naira underscores the need for proactive measures to safeguard the stability and resilience of our currency.

“The Nigerian economy is facing significant challenges, exacerbated by both internal and external factors.

“Despite efforts to stabilise and bolster economic growth, the numerous initiatives and bold but necessary steps and policy decisions taken by President Bola Tinubu, the persistent depreciation of the Naira against major foreign currencies has become a pressing concern.”

“The recent depreciation of the naira underscores the need for proactive measures to safeguard the stability and resilience of our currency,” the Senate finance chairman lamented.

Musa added that the committee “is closely monitoring the situation and is committed to working collaboratively with relevant stakeholders to implement effective policies and strategies,” stressing the significance of addressing “the root causes of naira depreciation, including but not limited to fluctuations in global oil prices, fiscal deficits, and structural imbalances in the economy.”

The senator added that the committee is working out numerous “policy options” to “mitigate the impact of naira depreciation and foster economic stability.

“This includes robust oversight of fiscal policies, engagement with key stakeholders, and the formulation of targeted interventions to support key sectors of the economy.

“It is also the hope of the committee that our economic managers will adhere strictly to the norms and standards set by this administration to ensure that we achieve the desired outcomes in taking Nigeria to its economic growth and prosperity.”

Musa urged Nigerians “to remain vigilant and resilient,” noting that “together, we can overcome the challenges facing our economy and chart a path towards prosperity for all.

Omooba77:
Arsenal must win Tottenham.....
#COYG.. ..

The Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners in the South-West zone has voiced its growing concerns about the deteriorating state of roads and escalating insecurity, appealing to governors and the Federal Controller of Works for immediate intervention.

The association also lamented multiple taxations by government agencies.

During the inauguration of newly elected members, the NARTO Zonal Chairman, Alhaji Bola Ogunyele, highlighted the pressing issues faced by transport owners and their impact on business operations.

Ogunyele lamented the difficulties faced by NARTO members while trying to address road-related issues with state governments.


According to him, in the past, they would contact the federal comptroller of works in the respective states, who would then engage with the state government on their behalf.

However, recent interactions with the governors have left NARTO members disheartened and unheard, he said.

Ogunyele, “We don’t know what is happening anymore. When you book an appointment with these governors, they don’t even care. They don’t want to hear about us.”


Ogunyele also appealed to the governors and other stakeholders to address pressing issues such as extortion, multiple taxation, and the presence of area boys (street urchins) in states like Lagos and Oyo.

He said, “Permit me to commend all the governors in the South-West zone, Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti, Osun, Ondo, for working harmoniously with our members in their various states.

“I want to appeal generally that the issue of extortion, double taxation and area boys should be carefully checked in the states like Lagos and Oyo. They should also fix bad roads in the zone.

“If you buy a truck for about N50m, someone will just stay somewhere and start extorting money from you. How can you make a profit? So, we want to appeal to the governors in the South-West to please help us address the issue of insecurity.”

Despite the challenges, however, Ogunleye expressed confidence in the support of NARTO headquarters and the Federal Government, pledging that the newly elected members would remain focused and resolute in their efforts.

“The task before the zone is enormous as it takes time for a sustained injury to be healed as a result of the current economic predicament due to subsidy removal, but with the support of NARTO headquarters and the Federal Government, we shall not fail and remain focused,” he stated.