₦airaland Forum

zero8zero:
Bashir is wrong here, Obi has a legacy, he has the big and mighty HERO BEER 🍾

“PBAT is destined to remain in the seat of power till 2031. He needs eight years to set the records straight."

Some prominent politicians in the country including a former governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and former presidential candidate, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha yesterday met with the leadership of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Abuja, to strategise ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The meeting, Daily Trust gathered was aimed at having a united front to dislodge the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) led government in the next general elections.

This is coming two days after El-Rufai had denied the claim in some quarters that he was planning to dump the ruling APC for an opposition party.

The former Kaduna governor in a post on his X handle on Sunday asked Nigerians to disregard the claim.

El-Rufai posted, “Please, disregard the patent lies and rumours about my political affiliation. I have referred the lead peddlers of the fake news for further action by my lawyers.”

However, bigwigs of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), APC and the SDP were part of the yesterday’s meeting.

Daily Trust reports that leaders of opposition parties have been consulting recently as part of efforts to either form a merger ahead of the 2027 election or a coalition against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Last weekend, the Mallam Shekarau led League of Northern Democrats (NLD), hinted at efforts to transform to a political party ahead of 2027.

In a post on his Facebook page, a chieftain of the PDP and ally of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Segun Showunmi, said the meeting was strategic.

He said the meeting called by the national chairman of the SDP, Shehu Gabam, had in attendance, former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai; former presidential candidate, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, himself and others.

[b]He said the meeting was called to review “The state of opposition democratic engagement in Nigeria.”

[/b]Showunmi said the meeting was to plan a stronger opposition for Nigeria ahead of the 2027 elections.

Nigerians continue to grapple with food inflation despite the promise by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, that food prices would crash in 180 days.

In July 2024, Kyari raised hopes with the assurance that strategic measures would be put in place to address the high food prices nationwide.

According to him, some of the measures include the suspension of duties, tariffs, and taxes on food items such as maize, husked brown rice, wheat, and cowpeas.


He also promised that the Federal Government would import 250,000 metric tonnes of wheat and 250,000 metric tonnes of maize to be supplied to small-scale processors and millers across the country.


To strengthen dry season farming and boost productivity, the minister assured Nigerians that the government would embark on aggressive agricultural mechanisation.


These measures, calculated to calm food inflation in 180 days gave Nigerians a sense of hope that by the first week of January 2024, the prices of essential staples would have crashed.


Food prices
Unfortunately, 180 days after the minister’s lofty promises and assurance, implementation of the measures is yet to be seen as food prices continue to soar.


As things stand, a 50kg bag of rice sold for N85,000 when Kyari unveiled the measures now sells for over N100,000.


Besides the agriculture minister’s yet-to-be fulfilled promises, the government had earlier highlighted other factors that hinder its efforts to control food inflation.

In his last Monetary Policy Committee meeting, Yemi Cardoso, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, identified “the rising cost of transporting farm produce; infrastructure-related constraints within the distribution network; security challenges in some food-producing areas; and the impact of exchange rate fluctuations on the prices of imported food items” as some of the factors that the efforts to control food inflation.

Meanwhile, as food inflation surged to 39.93% with Nigerians looking up to the government for immediate solutions, the Ministry of Agriculture has not offered any explanation as to why the measures it promised have not been implemented yet.

Why govt failed – CSOs, farmers

As Nigerians grapple with high food prices, Civil Society Organizations, CSOs, and farmers have reacted to the government’s promise to crash food prices in 180 days.

Speaking with Vanguard on Tuesday, January 7, 2025, they pointed out that the government failed to put a whole lot of issues into consideration including insecurity, high prices of farm inputs, the exchange rates, high interest rates, flood impacts, holistic planning, and others.

The Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria, AFAN, Federal Capital Territory, FCT Chapter, Nkechi Okafor, asserted that the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security had a very good intention to crash food prices but that lack of appropriate actions slowed the process.


Okafor said: “I can clearly say that the Honourable Minister’s promise was made with the mindset of a better Nigeria. But unfortunately, a promise can’t be achieved if there are no effective actions in place.


“Food prices cannot just go down overnight especially with the multiple taxation faced on Nigeria highways by transporters, which is just one out of numerous challenges faced by agricultural value chain actors in Nigeria.


“Can farmers sell their produce at a loss just to fulfill a promise made by the minister? Your answer is as good as mine. Can a farmer risk his/her life to the farm amidst security challenges, which is more critical in some regions, to ensure such a promise is met? Your answer also is still as accurate as mine.”


In his view, the Managing Director, EA Daniels Farm, Engr Daniel Ijeh, explained that one of the major causes of failure to meet the 180 days declaration by the Federal Government was due to lack of importation of food and other measures that were not implemented.


Ijeh said: “If they want to import to crash the price of food, what the minister is saying is the cost of importation is way lower than the cost of purchasing from the local market. And if you check the price of grain from that time till December, there was no any sign that there was importation at all because there was steady increase.


“That is why I doubt whether there was importation at all. Then the exchange rate was too high because I remember very well that around August, I bought some Dollars with N1,600. Now, I think around November Dollar was selling for N1,700. So foreign exchange rate will never favour importation because the price will be too high, and, you know, the people who want to do that, they will still be thinking of how are they going to make profit?”


‘All careless talks’

Also commenting on the issue, the Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, Auwal Rafsanjani, said with the expiration of the 180 days deadline, the Federal Government should stop exaggerating promises to Nigerians and instead achieve what they want to do for Nigerians quietly.


Rafsanjani said: “We just want to advise that public officials should be mindful of saying things that they have no control over, especially when his (Kyari) principal says that he does not believe in price control.


“So, it is not good to raise the expectation of citizens, and the government is not there to intervene. This is the very reason why some people don’t want to believe in the government’s statement. Whenever the government says something, people don’t believe in it because they don’t rarely see any sincerity about it.”


Corroborating Rafsanjani’s sentiment, the Executive Director, Global Rights Nigeria, Abiodun Baiyewu said Kyari’s comments were careless and only further erodes trust in the government.

According to him, it was a poor attempt at rallying support for the Tinubu administration by giving false hope, adding that the minister ought to apologise to Nigerians for his ‘careless remarks.’

"It should have been clear to him that the reduction in import taxes were not sufficient to deal with the short fall. The exchange rate was still inordinately too high for private importers, and the time it takes in clearing them from the ports only further exacerbates their ordeal and raises their fares.


“With the rise in the cost of fuel, the cost of transportation and preservation also rose exponentially.
“If he is committed to ensuring food security, there is a lot the administration can do and he should work on implementing these,” Baiyewu submitted.

yarimo:
RENO OMOKRI is a patriotic Comrade

yarimo:
Nice one gov MBAH of Enugu state, while that of Abia state is in a hurry to defraud Abia state completely

yarimo:
Jonathan will use that picture to make large billboard in his village as achievements , in the second picture bianca ojukwu looking like a house girl

marhoinspire:
you needed to be schooled.
be civilized for once.
and don't be a social nuisance
bless you my son

zero8zero:
Chief double faced.. always carry the controversy and create threads about north rejecting it. dey play.

Gustavowhite:
Why the panic

Youba and Fulani are one-Tinubu 2021

The god of the Yoruba nation have spoken,Makinde mind your business,don’t be an Omo ale Yoruba

zero8zero:
You see your life, false teacher.

helinues:
Monday better calm down and don't be distracted unnecessarily

zero8zero:
You never supported the bill, you carry the controversy on your head.

zero8zero:
The bills will be thrown out.. northerners are against Tinubu, bla bla bla.. See yourself in the mud

MadamVanessa:


Mc Oluomo the future governor of Lagos state should be respected and shouldn't be insulted in anyway.


Lagos is the only place a clown can governed.

Exousiang01:
Them no even allow the guy change cloth

Mubiola360:
As an opposition, they have to do everything possible to De-market Asiwaju.
They all know who he really is so they tried everything possible but failed.
From Bwala to Reno to AriseTv, Thisday, uncle Dele,Deji adeyanju, and many others, they are now singing his praises. Obasanjo was also invited to take a visit to verify his claim but shame won't let him.
They claimed nothing will work but in all honesty
Everything is working , Port Harcourt Refinery, warri,Kaduna coming on board, improved Security, uplift in Agricultural sector, Encouraging Education with loan, enhanced school feeding program, Housing Estate across the Nation, Local government autonomy to the extent of taking the whole governors to court for the sake of the masses, Introduction of tax reform bill to the extent that he has to disagree with the North not minding that it might cause him 2027 election, Livestock ministry which has attracted billions of dollars from Brazil and Saudi Arabia , Australia soon. Removal of subsidy that has help reduced debt servicing drastically and improved Faac to state bringing about more funds for infrastructure. If other state are pretending, Kwara, Niger, Lagos, Abia,Ekiti, Ogun ,kaduna,and Enugu state governors can testify to this.
Kwara state governors said he has performed better in just 1 year of his second term than 4 years of his first term.
That speak volume.
With God on Tinubu's side, THINGS ARE WORKING.