The Eagle Online

Navy seizes 193 bags of Indian hemp from 24-year-old Ghanaian

The Nigerian Navy Ship BEECROFT handed over 193 bags of seized substance suspected to be Indian Hemp to the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency on Tuesday.

The Commander, NNS BEECROFT, Commodore Rafiu Oladejo, disclosed the arrest and seizure to newsmen.

He said a Naval patrol team seized the bags, weighing 38kg each, from a 24-year-old Ghanaian, Emmanuel Asamani, off Badagry Coast on March 16.

Oladejo said Asamani claimed not to know the destination to which he was ferrying the illicit drugs, but expressed optimism that the NDLEA would get to the root of it all during investigation.

He noted that there were inherent health dangers in the use of narcotics aside the fact that their use had led to increased crimes.

“Proceeds of sale of narcotics are often used to sponsor crimes in the maritime space and on land,” Oladejo said.

Receiving the contraband and the suspect, Commander of Narcotics, NDLEA Marine Command, Paul Ahom, appreciated NNS BEECROFT for taking the lead in policing crime and drug trafficking in Nigeria’s waterways.

Ahom said: “The Navy is the leading agency in the interception of drugs among maritime law enforcement agencies in Nigeria

“We need to ascertain the source of the drug and identify the syndicate behind the ferrying of drugs from Ghana and Togo via the Republic of Benin to Nigeria.”

TheLastProphet:
A university where knowledge are manufactured should know better. Why not share this palliative department by department?

The schools management failed woefully.

Lumarstone:
Can someone summarize this novel please.

.

Lumarstone:
Can someone summarize this novel please.

why are you too lazy to read this short article.

VANGUARD NEWS


TWO students of the Nasarawa State University Keffi were trampled to death and dozen others injured when the sharing of palliatives provided by the government became deadly on Friday March 21, 2023. So, instead of palliatives what was served up death. In the event, bright futures were painfully and prematurely smothered because a sharing formula failed, and a stampede flared, the strongest flexing their muscle. In many ways, it was a metaphor for what Nigeria has become today—a survival of the fittest.


Students of the university had obviously got wind of the distribution and gathered to receive their portions. News of the palliative and proposed distribution had no doubt travelled from mouth-to-mouth like wildfire among the hungry students.


There were bags of rice, of course, whatever was left of what was given, given the propensity of those in power in Nigeria to help themselves first before leaving the scraps for the dogs milling around the foot of the table. There was a planned distribution point and a crowd of students was expected to gather. So, rationally some chaos should have been expected.

Because the university, like many others in Nigeria, is porous and prone to instances of insecurity and improper identification, the ‘students’ coming for the rice would have included a healthy handful of miscreants and street urchins from the university environment. Some more unruly students would have been expected to feature heavily too.

So, some disturbances would have expected given that many Nigerians have trouble with crowding and crowd control, not to talk of historically poor crowd etiquette.

Many Nigerians prefer a free-for-all than to stand in a queue and wait for anything. The many sharp corners cut around the country have confirmed to many Nigerians that it is only crumbs that come to those who wait.

According to reports, the students overpowered the security men at the gate and broke through the venue of the sharing, resulting in a stampede.

Those in charge of the distribution could have devised other equitable means rather than let students gather in a less-than-dignified manner and trample each other to death. It was certain that not everyone would get the rice. So, troublemakers likely took advantage of the situation to foment trouble. In the process, bright lights were cruelly put out, breaking the hearts of many families.

Palliatives have become a thing in Nigeria because the country is stuck in a rut of poverty and frustration where the only thing happening is that government policies routinely fail. Following the removal of the fuel subsidy and the resulting soaring costs of goods and services, palliatives were devised to paper over the cracks.


But corruption, which trails everything in Nigeria has trailed it too. Dissatisfaction has quickly followed. Early this year, primary school teachers in the Federal Capital Territory downed tools for more than a month. Their grouse was that while palliatives were given to their secondary school counterparts, they were shunned.

The conclusion from the heartbreaking tragedy in the Nasarawa State University Keffi is that Nigeria’s half-hearted measures at tackling hardship in the country is now breeding death. A window has also been opened into the incredible slug that school life has become for many students in Nigeria’s public universities.

Even before the prices of goods and services soared beyond reach, students in many universities were living from hand to mouth. Beyond having to buy the usual school stuff, there were also the astronomical costs of compulsorily buying textbooks authored by their lecturers, and submitting assignments. Now, there is death too, stalking them, right on their campuses where their minds are supposed to be illuminated for the next stages of their life journey.

The discontent that has been swirling through Nigeria since 1999 has been especially marked in the young, who include many Nigerian students. They swelled the ranks of the EndSARS protesters in 2020. During the last general election, as the Labour Party and Peter Obi, its infectiously popular candidate, made an unlikely push for the country’s highest office, many young people, including numberless Nigerian students, were central to the struggle to liberate their country.

As things have consistently failed to look up in the country, many young people with means have fled the country, preferring everywhere else but the place they call home. While the terrifying turn of events would worry everyone in power elsewhere, those here can afford to look away.


The corridors of power in Nigeria have a history of aloofness to the plight of Nigerian students. In 2022, while Nigerian undergraduates ground out eight months of an interminable industrial action by university lecturers, many members of the government saw nothing wrong in picking up nomination forms of political parties, with each valued at millions of Naira.

It is doubtful that the deaths in NSUK will cause any seismic changes in the course of events in the country. Beyond perfunctory and even hypocritical memorials and boring speeches, it is doubtful that serious attention will be given to the dead.

While Nigeria marks several more gravestones as stations in its improbably sorrowful journey, may the families draw what little comfort they can from the fact that their children died not as perpetrators of the crimes Nigeria has foisted on people, but while seeking food to keep body and soul together.

•Obiezu, a public affairs commentator, wrote via: keneobiezu@gmail.com

© 2024 Vanguard Media Limited, Nigeria

THE Ijaw National Congress (INC) has dismissed as fake and misleading, claims that Ijaw youths are planning coordinated attacks on military locations and facilities across the Niger Delta.


President of the INC, the parent Ijaw social cultural organisation, Prof Benjamin Okaba stated this on Sunday while reacting to an alleged intelligence report directing military formations in the region to be on high alert over the purported plan.

Describing the report as false and aimed at tarnishing the image of the Ijaw nation, Okaba said there was no such plan or any reason or justification that warrants contemplating such devilish plan by the Ijaw Youth Council, and any other organization in Ijaw land.

His words, “As the umbrella organisation of Ijaw people worldwide, our attention has been drawn to an orchestrated report aimed at pitching the Federal Government and military against the Ijaw nation.

“We have carried out diligent investigation and found out that the report is not only fake but a figment of the imagination of those who concocted and generated this delicate, devilish and unfortunate idea.

“The region needs peace, tranquility and development now more than ever and we are all united as Ijaw people in condemning the dastardly acts of the criminals who killed the officers and men of the Nigerian Army.

“We, however, wish to reiterate as in our earlier statements on this subject matter that the military should be more professional in fishing out the culprits. More damages should not be inflicted on the innocent indigenes and that justice be tampered with mercy to the extent of exempting the innocent citizens of the affected communities in their reprisal operations.

“We also wish to use this opportunity to warn and advice members of the political class within and outside the region that they should not take their desperate politics beyond the level of decency.


“The originators of this evil and very dangerous plot are the true enemies of the Ijaw nation.”

He, therefore called on all well meaning Nigerians and particularly the military authorities “to disregard this fake and unfounded rumour and treat it as such.”

© 2024 Vanguard Media Limited,

The NSA’s office urged Nigerians and the international community to share any information to assist law enforcement agencies in apprehending Mr Anjarwalla.

The office of the National Security Adviser said on Monday that security personnel who allowed Binance official Nadeem Anjarwalla’s escape have been arrested as it is working with Interpol to rearrest him.

“The personnel responsible for the custody of the suspect have been arrested, and a thorough investigation is ongoing to unravel the circumstances that led to his escape from lawful detention,” the NSA office spokesperson Zakari U. Mijinyawa said in a statement on Monday.

Mr Anjarwalla’s escape from custody comes as another episode since he and his colleague, Tigran Gambaryan, were arrested and kept in detention by the Nigerian government on February 26.

“Preliminary investigation shows that Mr Anjarwalla fled Nigeria using a smuggled passport,” the office said shortly after Premium Times’ report on his escape.

It added, “Security agencies are working with Interpol for an international arrest warrant on the suspect.”

The NSA’s office urged Nigerians and the international community to share any information to assist law enforcement agencies in apprehending Mr Anjarwalla.

According to Nigerian authorities, Mr Anjarwalla was scheduled to appear before the court again on April 4, 2024.

In a statement on Monday, Binance said it had been informed that Mr Anjarwalla was “no longer” in Nigeria’s detention and expressed concern over the safety of its employees.

The clampdown on Binance and other platforms comes as part of efforts by the Tinubu-led government to save the declining Nigerian naira, which traded for about N2000 to a dollar three weeks ago.

The naira now trades for N14,00 to a dollar, weeks after Binance officials were arrested and detained on claims that the platform aided currency speculators and sabotaged the Nigerian economy.

Peoples Gazette reported that the Tinubu-led government demanded that the cryptocurrency platform furnish it with a list of top Nigerian Binance users and their transaction details to release their officials held hostage.

Last week Monday, the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court ordered Binance Holdings Limited to provide the EFCC with comprehensive information on all persons from Nigeria trading on its platform.

Binance exited the Nigerian market and discontinued every naira-related transaction on its platform since Nigerian authorities clamped down on it.

© 2024 Peoples Gazette™ Limited.

Amid the ongoing development for the alliance during a US Election year, the Wester is monitoring the BRICS digital currency push amid its ongoing dollar decline. Indeed, the Financial Times reported the concern that the United States has held regarding Russia’s continued foray into the sector.

Russia has recently signed legislation that will increase its digital asset usage. Moreover, the BRICS economic alliance is currently developing a Blockchain-based payment system to support its native currency. According to reports, the West is observing the potential negative uses of this ongoing commitment and research.

Throughout the last year, the BRICS economic alliance has firmly embraced de-dollarization efforts. The decision came primarily as an answer to the Western sanctions placed on Russia in 2022. Subsequently, the alliance has sought to increase those efforts through the development of its very own native currency.

Now, the West is taking notice, as the US is reportedly monitoring the BRICS digital currency push. Specifically, the Financial Times has stated that the United States is concerned regarding Russia’s digital currency development during a US election year.

Russia has only increased its commitment to digital asset development over the last several months. Moreover, the United States has been consistently hesitant to integrate government-issued digital assets into its economy. In the ongoing monitoring, they now have their eyes fixed on the BRICS development in the sector.

The action is all the more interesting considering the rather vulnerable state of the US Dollar currently. Both the blockchain-based payment system and the BRICS alternative currency will expand the alliance’s de-dollarizaiton efforts. Those are seemingly sought to be curtailed through ongoing action in defiance of the digital currency push.


Watcher Guru
© Copyright 2024 Watcher.Guru

1) Comparison

Comparison leads to:

- Rushed goals

- Dissatisfaction with life

- Feelings of inadequacy

Comparison will remove the joy out of your life if you let it.

Try this:

Add a simple gratitude practice to your morning/evening routine.

2) Complaining

Complaining may seem harmless. But over time-it trains your brain to seek out the negative side of everything.

Try this:

Wear a rubber band on your wrist for a week. Every time you complain-snap it.

3) Comfort

The comfort zone is where dreams go to die. You don't need to jump off a cliff-but you do need to get yourself a little closer to the edge.

Try this:

Use the 85% Rule-learning is optimized when we get things right about 85% of the time.

4) Waiting for perfect TIME to start

There's someone out there who's way less qualified than you-living the life you want. Simply because they took action.

Try this:

Jeff Bezos' 70% Rule-take action when you have 70% of the information you wish you had.

5) Quitting

The only way to guarantee failure is to quit. Simply staying in the game long enough will put you ahead of most people.

Try this:

Commit to something .

6) Your phone

You knew it was coming Phone addiction is real, and dangerous.

Try this:

1. Turn your phone off 1 hour before bed

2. Don't turn it on for 1 hour after you wake up

Your life will transform before your eyes.

7) Procrastination

Pink Floyd said it best:

And then one day you find ten years have got behind you No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.

Scary right? Don't lose your life to procrastination.

If you got here, congrats! You're among the top 1% who complete what they begin

immortalcrown:
Naija don kpafuka.

he don tey

Security operatives, lawyers, activists, environmentalists, and other stakeholders of the Niger Delta have revealed that the actual stealing of the nation’s crude oil occurs at the various export terminals and flow stations in the country and not in the refining camps in the creeks.

Stakeholders, who rebuked former President Olusegun Obasanjo for alleged mischievousness on his claim that Nigeria had no record of its oil production, said Obasanjo had the opportunity to address the problem while in office, but he looked the other way.


They said the International Oil Companies, IOCs, officials of the Federal Government, and security agents masterminded the rip-off, beseeching the President, Bola Tinubu, to evolve a blueprint to fight oil thieves.


Programs Manager, Environmental Rights Action, ERA, Bayelsa Office, Mr. Alagoa Morris, said: ”It is most unfortunate that we are in a clime where advocacy in the interest of our society is treated with levity by those in the corridors of power. What the former President said is not new to some of us, especially as the Environmental Rights Action.”

“We had long advocated proper metering, particularly from the flow- stations, to record the volume of crude oil extracted from each oil field.

”Agreed that from the geological formation, what comes out from the oil wells are the three components of water, crude oil, and gas, it is at the flow stations that separation is made – gas flared (instead of being re-injected or channeled for other economic purposes); water sent back to the environment; and crude oil transported to Tank Farms for export.

“With proper metering, Nigeria should know the volume of crude oil leaving each flow station, and the quantity that finally gets to the tank farm. It can calculate loss to oil thieves or incidents of spills.

”This is the reason behind the advocacy, but unfortunately, the authorities have continued to give conflicting daily production.


”Of concern is the revelation that there is bigger oil thievery at the export terminals, where quantities or volume of crude oil exported are undervalued. This is because of the criminal collaboration between the oil companies, security agencies at export terminals, and officials of Federal Government regulatory agencies like the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL. With such, to know the exact quantity or volume of crude the nation produces daily is impossible.

”About the crude oil thievery at the export terminals, a paper presented by a top naval officer during the climax of 2014 Bayelsa Security Week had it in black and white. He indicted the security agencies, oil companies, and federal government officials at export terminals.

”And, I will let you have the section of his presentation referring to this criminal collaboration at export terminals. Even from this perspective, one can conclude that it is very true that Nigeria does not have exact knowledge of her daily crude oil production…made so by corruption.”

Manifest of foreign vessels in their mother tongue – Ex-security operative
A former security operative corroborating the claim, said, “The nation’s crude oil production reeks with corruption, especially at the export terminals where vessels laden with crude oil are often undervalued.”

He fingered highly- -placed government officials, the NNPCL, and the security agencies of complicity in the thievery.


“The problem with our country is that we are always chasing shadows instead of doing the right thing. Corruption is entrenched in the nation’s oil industry, especially at the export terminals.

“In my time, sometimes, the manifest of the foreign vessels that came to load crude is in their mother tongue and you are at a loss as per the actual quantity they were billed to load. Because they have the backing of some ‘ogas’, there is little or nothing you can do. If you insist on doing the proper thing as a patriot, they post you out.”

Nigeria ripped off daily – Mudiga-Odje, NDDU facilitator
The Facilitator of the Niger Delta Democratic Union, NDDU, Dr. Akpo Mudiaga –Odje, said the group, and other concerned Nigerians, had called on the Federal Government and NNPCL “to tell Nigerians with arithmetic certainty the amount of crude oil we produce every day, every week, every month and every year, long ago.”

“To date, neither the Federal Government of Nigeria nor the NNPCL has been able to supply us with any such data.

”Indeed, without such reliable data, there becomes a holistic room for manipulation in the system.


”I recall that in 1984, the former Chief of Staff, Gen Tunde Idiagbon, usually as a commendable practice, publicly disclosed how many barrels of crude oil sold as well as income made from same to Nigerians every month.

“This is the act of transparency we urgently require from the Federal Government of Nigeria and the NNPCL to get first-hand information on this vexed issue.

“The nation is ripped off by the non-disclosure of the amount of crude oil produced daily and/or income accruing to the Federation Account from such sales.

“We, therefore, call on the NNPCL, especially, to procure the necessary equipment to enable it to ascertain the amount of crude oil we produce and export daily so that Nigerians can get a piece of first-hand information on the sale and management of their commonwealth.

”The most important priority now is for the NNPCL to immediately procure the required equipment to determine the quantity of crude oil we produce in this country every day, every week, every month, and every year.

“Once this is achieved with substantial certainty, the next is to secure the production, distribution, and exportation.

Why NNPCL cannot stop oil thieves – Igbini, oil industry stakeholder
An oil industry stakeholder and former labor leader, Mr. Emmanuel Igbini, however, stated pointedly that NNPCL could not tackle this problem, adding, “Because there have been various media reports, over the years, of arrests, investigations, and prosecutions of some of the top management staff of the NNPC for their alleged involvement in massive theft of crude oil and or their collusion with those petro-terrorists in these multinational oil companies.”

His words: “NNPCL, as it is composed today, is largely made up of people from the same NNPC, and worse is that they are now made almost unaccountable to Nigeria. Whatever the Board and Management choose to declare to Nigerians as the volume of crude produced and sold and net income derived from it, is what the nation accepts and works with. It is sad!”

What Tinubu should do
To solve the problem, I counsel President Tinubu to retain the Minister of Petroleum Resources. He will exercise his constitutional power to declare full-scale military war against those bent on undermining the national security, economy, peace, and order of our country.

“Our country is in this state of calamity because majorly the needed foreign revenues from the petroleum sector are being looted through massive stealing of the nation’s crude oil.

Why is OBJ telling us now – Akpan, activist
Executive Director, COMPPART Foundation for Justice and Peacebuilding in Akwa Ibom State, Saviour Akpan, told Saturday Vanguard: ”I do not think there is anybody qualified enough to debunk this than former President Olusegun Obasanjo, but the only problem I have is why he is telling us now? Why did you not say this during your reign in power or within the 16-year rule of the PDP as your party?

”It is unfortunate that our parents always like to give us credible information when they are close to the where we can no longer see them and ask questions. If what is alleged is the situation, what stops us as a country from probing and bringing the perpetrators to book?”


”Obasanjo, as former president and minister of petroleum, should be giving us a solution, and not involved in blame games. He was there and never accounted for the nation’s oil and gas, which the nation produced, and exported at that time.

”He should tell us why he failed to account for the oil in his time. He was there as minister and president and saw how serious the stealing of crude oil was. He was there as president and minister of petroleum and saw that there was no record of the sale of crude oil.

”Obasanjo saw it but refused to put measures in place to monitor oil companies, NNPC, the military, DSS, and Police on crude oil production. We know that the military and DSS collude with the syndicates to steal the nation’s oil.

“Old wine in a new bottle tastes the same. NNPC and its subsidiaries and their assets, including NPDC, now renamed NNPC E & P Limited should be divested and put a reliable institution to regulate the production and sale of crude oil.

“Military officers, DSS, and Police caught colluding should be sanctioned. What is the difference between NNPC and NNPCL? What is the difference between NUPRC and DPR? What is the difference between NAPIMS and NNPC Upstream Investment Services, NUIS?

“NNPCL and its subsidiaries and assets need to be disbanded and sold to private investors that can run oil businesses. The entire NNPCL and subsidiaries are rotten. 99.9 percent of their personnel live on bribes. So how do they account for the oil and gas?

Ambakaderimo, wondered at what point Obasanjo became aware that the total sum of oil Nigeria produces could not be accounted for. ”Oil theft did not start today; it has gotten to this crescendo because nothing tangible has been done to stem this very embarrassing menace. ”Who monitors what happens in the high seas and the crude oil loading terminals? These are the places where the bulk of the theft occurs”.

He said the committees have since identified the lack of coordinated strategy, and a plan of action as the reason oil theft was not abating.

“Going forward, the technologies to monitor our pipelines are there on the shelves crying to be acquired and deployed, but we have not shown the political will to do it because many of the people across the board today have been benefiting from the lapses, and complacency has set in.”


Vanguard News

© 2024 Vanguard Media Limited, Nigeria

TRIBUNE ONLINE earlier reported Defence Headquarters had declared that no fewer than 97 persons, including Ekpa, are wanted for terrorism allegations.

Reacting, the Finland-based lawyer and Prime Minister of the Biafra Republic Government in exile, in a tweet through his official X handle, described the development as “enough wotowoto”

“(Laughs)… enough wotowoto. The Biafra government will release its own wanted list soon,” he wrote on his handle on Saturday.

😂😂😂😂😂enough woto woto
The Biafra government will release its own wanted list soon pic.twitter.com/YiV6qkttY3

— Simon Ekpa (@simon_ekpa) March 22, 2023

© 2023 Tribune Online

1. Doesn't drink or smoke

2. No tattoos

3. Not a feminist

4. Loves cooking

5. Loves her parents.

6. Dress modestly

7. Believes in God

8. Loves her parents

9. Keeps her house clean

10. Takes care of her appearance

11. Doesn't have a male best friend

12. Is submissive.

13. Loves children.

SaiOba:
It baffles me why they are walking free. ALL THANKS to Sunday and Nnamdi, for their little efforts in seeing that these criminals were driven out of the southwest and southeast forests.

These are great fighters for their region against the terrorist North hence their continued incarceration

MightySparrow:



Okay nah



Buhari shied away from naming his kinsmen criminals.


Next is to prosecute them.

yes, Tinubu administration has exposed them, don't you think the north will fight back

MightySparrow:
I hope it is true.

yes

MMempire:
Have you started implementing the rules yourself @ OP.

Yes

1. Pay yourself first

2. Learn how to invest

3. Don't be a hater of it

4. Give every Naira a job

5. Spend less than you earn

6. Have a plan and set goals

7. Don't be a slave to money

8. Keep your finances organized

9. It's a game learn how it works

10. Always have an emergency fund

11. Always make money work for you

12. Learn how to make money passively

13. Use it to solve problems in the world

14. It's not what you make It's what you keep

DSS confirms arrest of Tukur Mamu, the man who negotiated the release of some of the hostages in the March 2022 train abduction in Kaduna.
Tukur Mamu accused of financing terrorism

The Federal Government has released the names of nine individuals and six Bureau De Change (BDC) operators financing terrorism in Nigeria.

This follows the directive of the Federal Government that the names of those financing terrorism in the country be published.

In the light of this, the Nigerian Sanctions Committee revealed the identities of those financing terrorism in Nigeria.


Popular among them is Tukur Mamu, a Kaduna based publisher as among the sponsors of terrorism. Mamu is the publisher of Desert Herald Newspaper.

See full list below

1. Tukur Mamu

2. Yusuf Ghazali

3. Muhammad Sani

4. Abubakar Muhammad

5. Sallamudeen Hassan

6. Adamu Ishak

7. Hassana-Oyiza Isah

8. Abdulkareem Musa,

9. Umar Abdullahi


The six BDCs are:

1. West and East Africa General Trading Company Limited


2. Settings Bureau De Change Limited

3.. G. Side General Enterprises

4. Desert Exchange Ventures Limited

5.. Eagle Square General Trading Company Limited

6.. Alfa Exchange BDC.

According to The Punch, details of the development were revealed by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, in an email on Tuesday night, entitled “Designation of Individuals and Entities for March 18, 2024.”

Documents released the Nigerian Sanctions Committee when it met on Monday revealed that Mamu participated in the financing of terrorism by receiving and delivering ransom payments over the sum of $200,000 US in support of ISWAP terrorists for the release of hostages of the Abuja-Kaduna train attack.

It added that one of the individuals is the suspected attacker of the St. Francis Catholic Church Owo, Ondo State on June 5, 2022, and the Kuje Correctional Centre, Abuja, on July 5, 2022.


Email: info@pmnewsnigeria.com

1. Just because you do something a lot doesn’t mean you’re good at it.

It’s called the Mere Exposure effect, and it’s the reason you still pee on the toilet seat.

2. When you change how you treat yourself, you change how others treat you.

3. Your health is your first and most important job. If you don’t protect your health,

you won’t be able to protect anything else—your happiness, family, or finances.

4. Your comforts are a threat.

5. Loneliness & social isolation can be as detrimental to your health as smoking or obesity

6. Every successful person you admire has embarrassed themselves in front of people they respect. To succeed at a high level, you will have to do the same.

7. You should live a life of intention, but only 95% of the time. Much of life’s spice is found in the margins of the unexpected.

8. Never silence your anger without listening to it first. Almost always, it’s trying to convey something important.

9. Entrepreneurship is the best vehicle for self-improvement. Whereas the rest of society rewards you for your excuses (with sympathy or favors), entrepreneurship inherently punishes all excuses. It's a powerful cure for Excusitis.

10. Sometimes pain serves no purpose other than to keep us from taking pleasure for granted

11. Give small loans to friends who seek them. A loan is an efficient, cheap way to gauge character.

12. Each time you do something (good or bad), you make it easier to do again.

13. Never being angry is a handicap.

14. It’s better to train yourself to accept everything that happens in life. To "accept" doesn't mean to love.

It just means to be at peace with it so you could move on to the next step; asking yourself: "How do I use this to grow?"

15. Living unauthentically is discounted living. At best, it's a C+

16. The game of life is rigged—some people have more advantages than you. But if you play your part to perfection,

You will find that you have been given just enough to meet your dreams and goals.

17. Fuckups serve a grander purpose, always. Each misstep moves the aimless closer to purpose, and the purposeful closer to attainment.

18. "Love thy neighbor as thyself" [Matthew 22:39] has an oft unnoticed implication: Learning to love yourself comes first.

19. Life is unpredictable, and bad things can happen to anyone at any time.

20. You will never have all the information you need. Consciously or otherwise, you must choose:


21. The best antidepressant is pushing your body so hard that your only concerns are air and water.

22. You will encounter people who do not like you or want to see you succeed.

23. Few things in life feel as sublime as a heart-felt kindness done without an ulterior motive.

24. Miscommunications destroy more relationships than death. Never walk away from a meaningful relationship without the other party knowing why.

25. To thrive, you must get used to disappointing others. The alternative is to live small.

yungchap:


What's the monthly charges and cost of each transaction made ??

your first 30 transaction is free

Expiration dates on bottled water is for the bottle and not for the water in it.

Every 35 days your skin replaces itself, your liver, every month. Your body makes these new cells from the food you eat. So, you are literally what you eat.

Mosquitoes don't just bite you, they also urinate on you after sucking your blood.

People pace while talking on the phone because they don't have visual feedback, so the body reacts by moving.

Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin!

The “Blue Java” banana, a hardy, cold tolerant banana said to have a consistency like ice cream and a flavour similar to Vanilla.

Cockroaches can live for several weeks with their heads cut off, because their brains are located inside their body. They would eventually die from being unable to eat.

There is a naturally pink lake in Australia(Lake Hillier).

ATM’s were originally thought to be failures, because the only users were prostitutes and gamblers who didn’t want to deal with tellers face to face.

Butterflies will drink turtle tears when they need salt.

Earth is the only planet that is not named after a God in the whole solar system.

Flamingo egg yolks are pink.

If a pregnant woman has organ damage, the baby in her womb sends stem cells to help repair the organ.

Every Nation’s passport is a shade of blue, red, green, or black. There are no rules for the cover color, but most countries decided that the dark Hues looked the most official.

Beetles taste like apples, wasps like pine nuts, and worms like fried bacon.

“Cracking your knuckles does not hurt your bones and never cause arthritis. The sound you hear is just gas bubbles bursting.”

123yes:
This is wise decision by Colombian President. You can act tough like Nigerian president and you don't have means and liver to sustain that toughness. If that could bring solutions to Nigeria
numerous security problems why not. The government has been fighting boko Haram, bandits for years now without end in sight.

Boko Haram is not a Nigeria terrorist group,so the government can't negotiate with them

dawnomike:
Well, I do not support negotiating with 'criminals'. But, maybe it's not a bad idea

criminal and drug Lords are more powerful and influencial in Columbia that the government have no other choice than to negotiate with them

Colombia's president invites the country's largest criminal group to peace talks, and it accepts
Colombia’s largest criminal group says it has accepted President Gustavo Petro’s offer to start peace negotiations, but the next steps in any talks are not immediately clear

Petro on Monday night said he was willing to start peace negotiations with the group if it “dares” to leave drug trafficking, stops taxing local businesses and stops profiting from the transit of migrants heading to the United States.

The group responded on Tuesday with a statement on X saying it accepted the president’s invitation to start negotiations. It denied being involved in the smuggling of migrants.

The Gulf Clan was founded by former members of right-wing paramilitary groups that demobilized in the early 2000s. It has been described as an apolitical group that increasingly controls communities where it administers justice, taxes local businesses and employs youth.

The group has an estimated 9,000 fighters and earns more than $4 billion per year from its illicit activities, which makes it Colombia’s wealthiest armed group, according to a report published Tuesday by the International Crisis Group.

“The armed groups who are in negotiations (with the government) today are under military pressure not from the state but from the Gulf Clan,” Elizabeth Dickinson, the report’s author, told The Associated Press. “So hovering over all of the ongoing negotiation processes is this threat that laying down arms...translates into handing over illicit economies, territories and communities" to the group.

Dickinson said that starting negotiations with the Gulf Clan would be essential for the government’s efforts to pacify rural areas of Colombia.

But talks with the Gulf Clan have been hampered by legislation that limits the government's ability to negotiate with criminal groups that are not believed to have ideological motivations.

Colombia's “total peace” law, created during the early days of the Petro administration, designated the Gulf Clan as a criminal group instead of an insurgent group.

While a 2023 ruling by Colombia's constitutional court says the government can initiate talks with criminal groups, it is not allowed to offer them concrete terms under which they can disarm.

Instead, the Gulf Clan would have to negotiate its disarmament with Colombia’s attorney general.

On Monday, Petro said he had asked the attorney general to come up with terms under which the members of the Gulf Clan could collectively lay down their weapons.

“If they were born here, they have the right, like any other citizen, to discuss what they want for the future of their territory,” Petro said during a town hall meeting in Apartado, a town where the Gulf Clan is said to be active.

Nigeria’s total debt (Federal Government and states’ loans) may hit at least N107.38tn soon following the approval of fresh borrowings for the Federal Government and new securitisation of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s N7.3tn Ways and Means advances.

This is as the Senate, as of December 2023, approved President Bola Tinubu’s request to borrow $7.8bn and €100m as part of the Federal Government’s 2022-2024 borrowing plan. According to Tinubu, the Federal Executive Council under former President Muhammadu Buhari approved the loan facility on May 15, 2023, to finance infrastructure, health, education, agriculture, insecurity, and other sectors.

While asking for the approval, he the foreign loan was necessary to bridge the financial gap and return normalcy to economic activities in the country.

In a letter to the senate in November 2023, the president said, “The senate is invited to note that following the removal of fuel subsidy and its impact on the economy in the country, African Development Bank and the World Bank Group have indicated interest to assist the country in mitigating the economic shores and recent reforms with a sum of $1bn and $2bn respectively.


“In addition to the Federal Executive Council approved 2022-2024 external borrowing plan. Consequently, the required approval is 7,864,508,559 dollars and in terms of euros, 1000 million euros.

“I would like to underscore the fact that the projects and programmes borrowing plans were selected based on positive technical economic evaluations as well as the expected contribution to the social economic development of the country, including employment generation, skills acquisitions, supporting the emergence of more enterprenuers, poverty reduction, and food security to improve the livelihood of an average Nigerian.”

He added, “Given the nature of these facilities and the need to consolidate the country to normalcy, it has become exigent to request the senate consideration and approval of the 2022- 2024 external borrowing plans to enable the government to deliver its responsibilities to Nigerians through expeditious disbursement and efficient projects implementation.”


Nigeria’s total debt as of the end of September 2023 was N87.91tn, according to data from the Debt Management Office. The breakdown of this debt revealed total external debt as N31.98tn ($41.59bn) and total domestic debt of N55.93tn.

The total debt includes that of the Federal Government and state governments. Following the recent approvals by the senate, total debt will climb up by at least 22.15 per cent (N19.47tn) to N107.38tn in 2024 if the borrowing plan is followed to the letter.

The component of total debt, if the plan is followed, will include foreign debt of N44.15tn ($49.39bn converted at N891.9/$ and €100m converted at N969.92/€) and domestic debt of N63.23tn (old domestic debt of N55.93tn with new securitised Ways and Means of N7.3tn).

Between January 2022 and September 2023, the Federal Government grew its foreign loan profile by $3.20bn from $38.39bn to $41.59bn. It is unclear whether this is part of the 2022-2024 borrowing plan.

The PUNCH did not use a higher exchange rate like that of Friday, 2, 2024 when the naira closed at N1435.53/$ because of the optimism around the CBN’s latest move to stabilise the foreign exchange rate. The naira is expected to appreciate N900/$ in certain corners.

Raising total debt to N107.38tn will translate to 53.06 percent of the country’s 2022 GDP value of N202.37tn. The country has a targeted 40 percent debt to GDP ratio. The Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper 2024-2026 recently revealed that the country’s Total Public Debt/GDP was 41.15 percent as of June 2023.

Ways and Means is a provision that allows the government to borrow from the CBN if it needs short-term or emergency finance to fund deficit gaps. It typically is not added to the total loan profile of the country until it is securitised.

In May 2023, the National Assembly approved the securitisation of N22.7tn from the N23.3tn previously advanced by the CBN. This led to a substantial increase in the country’s total public debt profile.

The debt was transferred to the DMO with a 40-year tenor, a 3-year moratorium, and an interest rate of 9 percent. When it released its total debt profile for the second quarter of 2023, DMO said, “Nigeria’s total public debt stock as of June 30, 2023, was N87.38tn ($113.42bn). It comprises the total domestic and external debts of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the thirty-six states, and the Federal Capital Territory.

“The major addition to the Public Debt Stock was the inclusion of the N22.712tn securitized FGN’s Ways and Means Advances.”

It is important to note that the projected borrowing has not yet been secured and may take a while according to analysts conversant with government borrowings.

One analyst, who didn’t want his name in print, said, “It will take a while for the projection to happen. Some loans were approved in 2020, but we have not gotten the full amount. One of the loans, we have only received about 15 percent since 2020.”

Total public debt is also expected to grow by at least N7.83tn in 2024 based on the Federal Government’s budget projection for the year.

Recently, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, disclosed that the country is seeking $1.5bn from the World Bank.

He said to Bloomberg recently, “We’re hoping to get $1bn or $1.5bn from the World Bank for budgetary support.”

He also hinted that the country might issue a Eurobond in late 2024. He noted, “It is a matter of discussion at the moment, but we think we will get the support because we are continuing with our reforms.”

In October 2023, the Federal Government disclosed that it secured a budget support loan worth $1.5bn from the World Bank and another worth $80m from the African Development Bank.


Edun stated that the government would receive the $1.5bn before the end of 2023, provided it fulfilled its end of the deal.

He said, “The total is $1.5bn. The world today has one of the highest interest rates as the developed world looks to fight inflation. They do it by restricting money, and keeping interest rates high so that you can get inflation down.

“That means that interest rates for everybody else become not just high but very painful, if not unaffordable within that context.”

Edun has been quite vocal against loans, stating that to stabilise the economy the country would need to rely less on borrowing.

During the 2024 Budget presentation in 2023, he said, “The breakdown of different elements shows the direction of this administration in order to stabilise the Nigerian economy for rapid inclusive growth. There is going to be less reliance on borrowing.

“The budget deficit is being brought down to about from 6.1 percent to 3.8 percent of GDP. That is a huge change in direction from unlimited borrowing to focusing on revenue and expenditure management. There will be value for money on expenditure and increased revenue. The key target is to increase tax to GDP ratio from under 10 percent to 18 percent in a couple of years. That target, a hugely ambitious one is what we need to meet to reduce reliance on borrowings.”

Before this, Edun, while unveiling an eight-point agenda for the economy, said, “The government is not in a position to borrow if you consider 90 percent debt service to revenue, and behind that, a rising debt to GDP ratio. If you look at the last budget, you will see a borrowing requirement built into it and appropriated by the National Assembly. And that is ongoing.”

Recently, the Director-General of the Debt Management Office, Patience Oniha, noted high inflation rates have impacted how the country can enter the foreign market.

Speaking on the sidelines of the discussions for the establishment of the African Debt Managers Initiative Network spearheaded by the African Development Institute of the African Development Bank, she said, “There is still uncertainty around the world from the Russia-Ukraine war. So foreign investors are a bit more cautious.

“Let’s use the word, risk-averse and they are investing in those securities that are triple A or double A rating that are offering them high rates, four percent, five percent.”

The country’s rising debt profile has led to an increase in the cost of debt servicing over the years. The World Bank recently projected that debt servicing may gulp 123.4 percent of the Federal Government’s revenue in 2023.

Between January and July 2023, the Federal Government spent 75.92 percent of its aggregate revenue on debt servicing.


Nigeria is still reliant on Ways and Means financing, the World Bank recently stated. It said Federal budgets are prepared based on overly optimistic revenue projections that are often not realised during the year, causing financing gaps to emerge as actual fiscal deficits exceed budgeted fiscal deficits.

In its Nigeria Development Update for December 2023, the global bank declared, “Consequently, the FGN resorts to using Ways and Means financing—a quicker source of financing and one that is not officially accounted for as part of the FGN’s debt stock.”

In its 2024 outlook, the Nigerian Economic Summit Group disclosed that the government is still overly reliant on foreign debt to finance its budget deficit.

It said, “Currently, the Nigerian government is contending with a growing budget deficit, estimated at 85.4 percent of government revenue as of 2022 — surpassing the benchmark figure of 3.0 percent of GDP stipulated in the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) 2007, owing to historical underperformance in revenue.

“The reliance on foreign debt to finance the budget deficit, exacerbated by the private sector crowd-out effects of domestic borrowing, has contributed to the escalation of the general price level and the depreciation of the exchange rate.”

The group noted that with an anticipated surge in government revenue due to substantial savings from removing fuel subsidies, the exchange rate devaluation, the expected rise in crude oil prices, and an improvement in crude oil production in 2024, the country will continue to fulfill its debt obligations.

In a document titled, ‘2024: The Hard Road Ahead,’ the Chief Executive Officer, Financial Derivatives Company Ltd., Bismarck Rewane, highlighted that Nigeria’s debt is becoming unsustainable and the country’s debt burden will be further worsened by high-interest rates in 2024.

He said, “Nigeria’s debt is becoming unsustainable. Nigeria serviced its debt with 99 percent of its revenue in H1’23. Nigeria’s debt burden will be exacerbated by high-interest rates in 2024. Efficient use of borrowed funds is crucial for its debt sustainability. The federal government must spend on productive sectors to boost revenue sources.”

He noted that a one percent increase in public debt will have a 16.7 percent negative effect on GDP and that if public debt increases to $114.3bn, real GDP growth will fall to 2.12 percent.

He added, “High debt burden but Nigeria is likely to withstand the shock.”



Contact: theeditor@punchng.com

CodeTemplar:
That's what Buhari did when he collected loans and agreed to repay it with future crude oil sales. Ghana also used their cocoa to take laons.

I think Africa as a whole needs restructuring. Let no govt be able to take above 2.5% of economy size as loans under any circumstance. Let loans be tied to internally generated revenue from industry and commerce and not to natural resource sales.

Yes,this is one of the reasons why African countries are the poorest in the world.

They always eat their cake before having it.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has strongly supported a call by the African Development Bank Group urging countries in Africa to stop borrowing loans backed by their natural resources.

The IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva met with the President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. It is the first time an IMF head has visited the Bank headquarters since its establishment in 1964.

Welcoming Georgieva, Adesina said, “the natural resource-backed loans are non-transparent, expensive and make debt resolution difficult.” He warned that if the trend continues, “it will be a disaster for Africa.”

Georgieva said the Fund’s senior management team will “carry out a thorough assessment. We will come with a strong voice to tell countries not to create avenues for predatory and enslaving loans.”

She said the issue would also be discussed at the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable comprised of bilateral creditors, private creditors and borrowing countries. The roundtable is co-chaired by the IMF, World Bank and the presidency of the G20. The African Union joined the G20 in September as a permanent member.

Georgieva is on her way to Marrakech, Morocco, for the World Bank Group and IMF Annual meetings which last held in Africa 50 years ago.

The IMF chief said she is visiting Africa at a time when the continent holds much promise for more dynamic growth in the world.

“We often focus on the challenges that the continent is facing because it is here the impact of climate change is much more severe, where macro-economic and financial instability and debt are amplified.”

“But we want to focus on opportunities in Africa for the simple fact that the capital is in the North and a young population is in the South, primarily here in Africa. Unless we build a bridge for capital to flow to where it is needed most, it could lead to a bigger problem.”

Adesina praised bold efforts by the IMF chief and the US Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, to shore up the global economy by allocating $650 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs).

Africa, with a population of more than 1.2 billion, received about $33 billion of SDRs, representing only 5 percent of the total allocation, the smallest portion among the different regions of the world.

The African Development Bank continues to lead conversations and develop models that will allow SDRs to be rechanneled through multilateral development banks. MDBs can leverage such resources three to four times their original values. Adesina thanked the IMF for working with the African Development Bank’s team on an initiative that could allow SDRs to be channeled through MDBs.

“Together with the Inter-American Development Bank we developed a model that meets the IMF’s reserve asset status. If you channel $5 billion through the Bank, we will use our leveraging power and that could easily become $20 billion of new financing for Africa,” said Adesina.

The Bank chief said the initiative would provide much-needed support to countries in Africa where post-pandemic debt remains a big challenge. “It’s more serious for low-income countries who constitute the Bank’s concessional lending window, the African Development Fund. They are also the most vulnerable in the world to climate change.”

Georgieva, who has publicly supported the Bank’s initiative on SDRs, said the two institutions will continue to work together to find ways for SDRs to be deployed as hybrid capital.

“I’m on record supporting the Bank’s effort and if this succeeds, there will be a significant expansion of financial capacity for countries even beyond our years in office,” she said.

The African Development Bank Group’s SDR proposal is supported by African leaders as well as UN Secretary General António Guterres.

The IMF chief also commended the Bank’s initiative, in conjunction with the African Union, to establish an African Financial Safety Mechanism to cushion the continent against exogenous shocks such as the impact of Covid-19.

According to Adesina, “Africa is the only region in the world that does not have a safety net against shocks. Europe has it. Asia has it. America has it. The Middle East has it.”

The African Union endorsed the African Development Bank Group’s proposal for the mechanism during its summit in February 2022.

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BigDickProblems:
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