For 2024, the presidency has proposed a budget of N4.4 trillion for the Service Wide Vote (SWV). This is almost a trillion naira higher than the N3.02 trillion 2023 budget and N2 trillion higher than the N2.46 trillion budgeted for and expended under the SWV in 2022.

The SWV, which is also known as the Consolidated Revenue Fund Charge, is Nigeria’s annual contingency budget. It is divided into personnel, overhead and capital expenses and overseen by the president.

Furthermore, the SWV can only be accessed by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) after they exhaust their budgets.

2024 Appropriation Bill: Allocation for Service Wide Vote

In 2021, Mathew Uroghide, a former chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts and senator from Edo South, expressed concerns over the lack of transparency around MDAs’ use of funds under the SWV.

He reported that the annual budget for the SWV had never been audited. It is the “biggest fraud” in Nigeria.

“It is meant to meet unseen situations; nobody gives account on Service Wide Vote. Standing committees of the Senate do not know anything about its spending,” he said.

Despite this position, the Senate has continued to approve the budget without enforcing its resolution for a proper audit, and the SWV annual budget has consistently risen by N1 trillion since 2021.

On January 31, 2023, the Public Accounts Committee gave the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy a 48-hour ultimatum to account for N13.9 billion withdrawn from the SWV for special capital projects after Williams Alo, a former permanent secretary of the ministry, failed to provide documentary evidence for its expenditures.

Alo accounted for only N7 billion of the received funds and requested more time to bring the complete records. This was after evading summons from the Senate committee for four months.

Over the years, Senate committees have probed MDAs over their appropriation of the SWV, but misuse is still largely unchecked.

On December 2, the Senate resolved to suspend plenary for two weeks to allow for budget defence by MDAs before appropriate House committees.

Allocations made under the SWV in the 2024 Appropriation Bill include N2.3 billion for former presidents/heads of states and vice presidents/chief of general staff entitlements, N10.5 billion for retired heads of service and permanent secretaries’ benefits, and N1 billion for retired heads of government agencies/parastatals’ severance benefits.



Service Wide Vote

N108 billion was budgeted for special projects, N1 billion for the Presidential Policy Coordination Office and N1.5 billion for the Presidential Project Coordinator Office.

Other proposed expenditures are N1 billion for the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) and N500,000 for presidential committee on health sector reform.

Federal government feeds security dogs better than inmates in prison, the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS) has said.

The controller-general of the NCS, Haliru Nababa, disclosed this at a joint National Assembly Committee on Interior hearing.

He said he has written the minister of interior requesting for the review of the amount they are using to feed the inmates from N750 to N3,000 per day but they are still waiting for approval.

“We are therefore seeking the assistance of the National Assembly to approve the increment.

“We have made provision for the feeding of inmates, dogs and staff on training in six training institutions across the country. The money is grossly inadequate,” the NCS boss said.

According to him, the total number of the inmates in 2023 is 81,354 nationwide while 53,352 are awaiting trial.

Senator Adams Oshiomhole, who is the chairman of the committee asked the NCS team how much it costs them to buy the quantity of the foodstuff and ingredients needed to prepare the meal of a prisoner.

Oshiomhole said, “This is a very important assignment. A lot of Nigerians under your care are innocent. They are in prisons, courtesy of big men and women who want to teach them a lesson. Many of them are there on an offence they knew nothing about. However, the system has put them under your care.

“Somebody said if Mandela was in a Nigerian prison for 27 years, he would have lost his sanity by the time he was released to govern South Africa.

“Our prisons are meant to correct the behaviours of the people. They are not condemnation centres. They are not to dehumanise.

“How can you look us eye to eye and tell us that you feed a grown-up man in Nigeria with N750 a day?

“One thing has come out is that non-convicted Nigerian is being fed with N750 and you feed each of the dogs under your care with N800 per day.

“So, a dog is better fed in the Nigerian prison than an innocent Nigerian in your custody.

“It is a policy issue. We don’t know the intention of government to appropriate money to feed animals than to feed human beings. It is a major policy issue for us,” he added.

“The budget for feeding each of them per day of N751 per day at N250 per meal, per inmate,” the CG said, explaining that the feeding allowance per day would be reduced to N720 after the deduction of VAT and tax.

When the joint panel demanded for the breakdown of the menu being served the prisoners as breakfast, lunch and dinner, the CG and his team said they have the menu of what the prisoners should eat as breakfast, lunch and dinner based on the locality they are being remanded. The CG however said they were not with the menu chart, adding that the quantity of the food and the ingredients needed to prepare it are contained in the chart.

Oshiomhole, wondered how the authorities of the NCS manage to feed the inmates with such paltry sum going by the market price.

The NCS boss said 53,352 or more are not convicted yet, they are awaiting trial.

“They are not guilty of any offence known to law. They are innocent under our laws. For an innocent Nigerian who is being held in a correctional home N250 per meal is grossly inadequate. I wonder what you are feeding them with. They are obviously underfed,” he said.

By Kabir Yusuf


The federal government is spending at least N2.7 billion to sponsor delegates to attend the United Nations’ annual climate summit, COP28, which started in Dubai last Thursday and will continue until at least 12 December.

Nigeria has 1,411 delegates, ranking third among countries with the highest numbers of delegates at the meeting. Only the host country, UAE (4,409), and Brazil (3,081) have more participants than Africa’s most populous country.

Other delegations surpassing 1,000 participants include China which registered 1,411 people just like Nigeria, followed by Indonesia with 1,229, Japan with 1,067 and Turkey with 1,045.


Federal Government sponsored delegation to COP28

Parties to this Convention from Nigeria include government officials, representatives from the private sector, civil society, the voluntary sector, state governments, media, multilateral institutions, representatives of marginalised communities, and many others.

Nigerians, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet, have been outraged by the size of the government’s large delegations at a time the country’s inflation rate is 27.33 per cent and the government is planning to borrow more than $9 billion to fund its N27.5 trillion 2024 budget.

As the outrage grew, the Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, released a statement on Monday saying the federal government-sponsored delegation “is made up of a total of 422 persons,” not 1,411 as widely speculated.

He broke down the figure as 167 participants from all Ministries and 73 persons from Federal Parastatals/Agencies. The Presidency has 67 officials – the National Assembly – 40; the Federal Ministry of Environment – 34; the National Council on Climate Change – 32; and nine participants from the Office of the Vice President.

PREMIUM TIMES analysis shows that the government will spend an estimated N2.7 billion to sponsor these delegates while the citizens grapple with a cost-of-living crisis. Nigerians are yet to recover from the shocks of petrol subsidy removal and devaluation of the local currency, the naira, which has pushed it to record lows against the dollar, leading to even more price spikes and greater hardships.


The N2.7 billion estimate



Some categories o Nigerian delegates attending COP28 in Dubai

Of the 1,411 delegates, 422 were sponsored to attend the conference by the federal government, according to the minister of information. On average, the estimated cost of a to-and-fro flight ticket from Nigeria to Dubai is N2 million.

At this rate, the cost of a two-way flight ticket for 412 people will amount to N824 million. President Tinubu and at least 10 officials travelled with the presidential jet while the rest of the 412 delegates are estimated to have taken commercial flights. The figure could be higher given that a number of officers travelled on business-class tickets, which are more expensive than economy class tickets used for our computation.

PREMIUM TIMES arrived at the cost using flight rates from airline operator Wakanow.

Sources in the aviation sector also told this newspaper that some senior government officials sponsored by the federal government used private jets to travel to Dubai. But this claim could not be verified by our reporter as of press time.

Leadership newspaper reported that the main delegation of the federal government travelled to Dubai in three planeloads – chartered flights. Sources say the federal government rarely charter local carriers when attending conferences outside the country. The government prefers to contract international flight operators and pay them in foreign currency for charter services. This is despite having local operators with approvals to fly directly to some of the countries.

According to data released by organisers, the list of the Nigerian delegation includes the president and two of his children, 26 ministers, the chief of staff, 14 director generals, several directors, deputy directors, assistant directors, and several officials with different titles. Gilbert Chagouri is part of the delegation listed as ‘Confidante of the President.’

“This number of aides and officials is too many for just a meeting. President Tinubu keeps wasting our resources on frivolities. How many people will speak on behalf of Nigeria, that is if Mr President will be allowed to climb the podium,” Adewale Damilare said on his social media account.


Billions spent on Estacode

Aside from the cost of a flight ticket, the federal government gives estacode to each traveller depending on their level. Ministers are paid $900 per day as estacode which amounts to $11,700 per minister for the 13-day period the conference would last.

At the official market, one dollar is currently exchanged for N816. This means a minister will get N9.5 million as estacode during the conference. About 26 ministers are attending the conference, according to official data from the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

This means the government will spend at least N248 million on allowances to ministers.

The federal government is also sponsoring 40 members of the National Assembly to Dubai. The estacode for a senator is $950 per night while that of a Member of the House Representatives is $900.

On average, this also amounts to $11,700 per lawmaker for the 13 days the conference would be held. This will cost the government N381 million on estacode for the National Assembly participants.

Then, there are 13 Special Advisers to the president on the delegation. The president’s advisers are entitled to $800 estacode per night, meaning each of the special advisers attending the conference will receive $10,400 for the period of the conference. Using the official rate of N816 per dollar, this amount is equivalent to N110 million.

The list contains 14 Director-Generals of various agencies including the National Council on Climate Change, the National Intelligence Agency, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, and the National Agency for Great Green Wall.

The estacode of a Director General is $500 per night. This means each of the 14 DGs attending COP28 will receive $6,500 for 13 days, totalling $91,000. At current prices, this amount is equivalent to N74 million.

Permanent secretaries get estacode of $500 per night; Officers of levels 15-17 receive $425; Levels 7-14 get $381; and levels 1-6 get $206, according to the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, which determines and fixes public officials’ remuneration.

Aside from the categories mentioned above (ministers, special advisers, director generals, and members of the National Assembly), more than 300 other government officials will receive estacode including the chief of staff, ambassadors, permanent secretaries, several directors, deputy directors, assistant directors, and other officials with different titles on the attendance list.

Assuming we have 100 officials on levels 15 – 17 attending the conference in Dubai, the government will spend $5,525 on each of them in estacode for the period. The total of this amount when converted to naira is equivalent to N450 million.

Then, if there are 100 officials on levels 7 – 14, the government will give each of them $381 per night, totalling $4,953 for the period of the conference. The total amount for this category is equivalent to N404 million.

If there are 100 officials on levels 1-6 as part of the delegates, then each of them will also get $206 per night, totalling $2,678 for the 13 days of COP28. This amount is equalled to about N218 million.

The Federal Government has since defended the large delegation, dismissing the protests by opposition parties and citizens.

“As the biggest economy and most populous country in Africa, with a substantial extractive economy and extensive vulnerability to climate change, Nigeria has a significant stake in climate action, and our active and robust participation at COP is therefore not unwarranted,” Mr Idris, the minister of information, said.

At COP28, government representatives and climate experts are participating in negotiations around climate change mitigation. At the same time, they also assess each country’s progress in recent years, amid growing worries that world leaders remain too slow to respond to the crisis.

Ideally, delegates with the Party badge should be negotiators representing their countries in the different negotiation rooms and who report back to the UNFCCC country focal point person. “In Nigeria, however, many of the Party delegates are believed to have no understanding of COP negotiation procedures or the complex climate negotiation processes,” an environment ministry official told PREMIUM TIMES in Dubai.

COP28’s official published list says more than 97,000 participants are attending the garthering in person. This year, also for the first time, 3,000 “virtual-only” participants are named, which takes the overall provisional delegate total for COP28 to more than 100,000.

In Africa, Morocco sent a delegation of 823 persons to Dubai, Kenya, 765; Tanzania 763, and Ghana, 618.

At the other end of the scale, the smallest delegations were registered by North Korea (two), Nicaragua (six), Eritrea (seven) and Liechtenstein and Moldova (both eight).

For the third year in a row, both Afghanistan and Myanmar have not registered a delegation to the COP, while San Marino is also not present on the provisional lists this year.

Eight commercial banks have fallen short of the Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) required for international authorisation, the stress test conducted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has shown.

The affected banks have been put under pressure to raise their capital base to bridge the gap, which was brought about by the depreciation of the naira against the dollar and other foreign currencies

Through its 2021 guidelines, the CBN had mandated the Deposit Money Banks to maintain a prudential CAR of 10 per cent for national and regional banks.

Those with international authorisation were instructed to uphold a 15 per cent regulatory CAR.

However, the CBN report showed a decline in the banking system’s CAR, dropping to 11.2 per cent, which is 3.0 per cent short.

This is below the 15.0 per cent threshold set for banks with international authorisation.

The decline in the banks’ CAR was attributed to a decrease in total qualifying capital relative to increased risk-weighted assets due to the naira’s depreciation following the adoption of a market-determined exchange rate policy. This reflects the challenges faced by these institutions.

The banks were scrutinised based on their capital strength and risk profile, a crucial measure of a bank’s financial stability.

The stress test was conducted to assess the banks’ financial health and their ability to withstand adverse economic conditions and shocks.

Specifically, the test focused on the CAR, which measures the proportion of a bank’s capital to its risk-weighted assets and is used to determine the bank’s financial stability.

The CAR is a regulatory requirement set by the CBN and each bank is expected to maintain a minimum level of capital to ensure their ability to absorb potential losses.

Based on the results of the stress test, it was discovered that among the affected banks with international authorisation, their capital adequacy ratio was lower than the minimum regulatory requirement set by the CBN.

This implies that these banks may have insufficient capital to meet potential losses during challenging economic conditions, which could potentially impact their overall financial stability.

The CBN’s revelation of the banks’ CAR falling below the minimum regulatory requirement emphasises the need for appropriate measures to be taken to address this issue.

It could prompt regulatory action, such as requiring the affected banks to raise additional capital or implement strategies to strengthen their financial position to mitigate any potential risks to the banking sector and the economy.

The depreciation, stemming from the CBN’s managed float of the exchange rate in June 2023, significantly impacted banks, leading to substantial foreign exchange losses.

It also affected the required capital for international, national, and regional banks.

Speaking penultimate Friday at the annual dinner of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso highlighted plans to introduce new capital requirements for banks.

He said: “Nigeria’s financial sector has demonstrated resilience in 2023, with key indicators of financial soundness largely meeting regulatory benchmarks.

“Stress tests conducted on the banking industry also indicate its strength under mild-to-moderate scenarios of sustained economic and financial stress, although there is room for further strengthening and enhancing resilience to shocks.

“Therefore, there is still much work to be done in fortifying the industry for future challenges, a topic that I will delve into later in my address.

“It is crucial for us to evaluate the adequacy of our banking industry to serve the envisioned larger economy.

“It is not just about the stability of the financial system in the present moment, as we have already established that the current assessment shows stability.

“However, we need to ask ourselves: Will Nigerian banks have sufficient capital relative to the financial system’s needs in servicing a $1.0 trillion economy in the near future? In my opinion, the answer is ‘No!’ unless we take action.

“Therefore, we must make difficult decisions regarding capital adequacy. As a first step, we will be directing banks to increase their capital.”

The report also outlined a positive trend in banks’ asset quality, with a marginal decrease in Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) from 4.5 per cent to 4.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2023, reflecting improvement in loan recoveries and surpassing the prudential benchmark of 5.0 per cent.

Furthermore, the Industry Liquidity Ratio (LR) witnessed a significant rise, reaching 62.2 per cent in the review quarter, surpassing the minimum regulatory benchmark of 30.0 per cent.

This upswing signifies the banks’ robust capacity to fulfil their financial obligations.

The CBN’s disclosures underscored the pivotal need for banking institutions, particularly those with international authorisation, to bolster their capital adequacy and navigate the evolving economic landscape.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Tuesday, cancelled his scheduled trip to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) following the outrage that trailed Nigeria’s 1,411 delegates to the COP28 Climate Change Summit.

Nigeria had the third-highest delegation at the summit.

The figure is comprised of government officials, representatives of the private sector, and civil society organisations

The federal government, through the Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris said the government only funded 422 delegates.

The parliamentary version of the conference was set to open on Tuesday, and legislators from around the world were expected to attend.

Akpabio, who was billed to travel to Dubai for the session cancelled the trip.

Speaking at a one-day retreat on the 2024 budget in Abuja yesterday, the Senate President said he cancelled his trip out of fear of being criticized by Nigerians.

He said he decided to focus on the 2024 budget defence sessions with government agencies.

“I have decided to stay back and I asked somebody from Cote d’Ivoire to represent me there,” Akpabio told the gathering..

In a revealing engagement, a former Group Executive Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd., (NNPC), Alex Ogedengbe, yesterday, urged Nigerians to tone down their expectations of the upcoming Port Harcourt refinery.

Stressing that the refinery from all indications would not work this month, the ex-managing director of both the Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries, maintained that if at all it comes on-stream, the facility would not produce more than 25 per cent of petrol per barrel of crude oil.

Despite doubts expressed by Nigerians, the NNPC and the ministry of petroleum had said the 60,000 bpd part of the 210,000 bpd refinery would come online this December.

A few days ago, the NNPC released an update on the Port Harcourt refinery, where its current Managing Director, Ibrahim Onoja, had maintained that it would be ready this month.

However, Ogedengbe, who spoke on Channels Television, insisted that even from the information from the video update, it was not possible that the plant would work this year.

He stated that the old refinery NNPC was focusing on fixing, had not worked for over 30 years.

“If what I heard from that short, nine-minute release by the MD of the refinery is anything to go by, at best they will have some kind of mechanical completion by the end of December, because he said they are 75 per cent done overall, but 98 per cent done on procurement.

“But by end of December, at best, they will have mechanical completion, then they will do the testing of each equipment and systems.

“You test one equipment, you see how it fits with another one. Then you put everything together as a system. The system tests may take anything from two weeks to one month before you can start, in my opinion, based on what he said.

“I don’t think it can be done more than within two or three months. Now, what you will get there again, is something like the old refinery of 60 years ago with just new equipment. The capacity is still 60,000 barrels per day.

“The old refinery that is being repaired now, cannot produce more than 25 per cent maximum of crude oil. In other words, one barrel of crude will produce a maximum of 25 per cent of petrol. Whereas, the newer Port Harcourt refinery which is next door to the old one they are repairing can produce up to 48 per cent or 50 per cent on crude oil.

“So, overall, I don’t expect any appreciable contribution. That is even if all the systems work. I don’t have confidence in that right now from what I’ve seen,” he stated.

He said in October, during an engineers’ fellows’ meeting made up of at least three ex-managing directors of NNPC refineries, they were not allowed to visit as the scheduled event was cancelled in the last minute.

Ogedengbe, stated in the early 90s when he ran the facilities, there was no need to import products as all the refineries which were working at the time have now shut down.

As an engineer, he argued that if he was told that there was a proper plan to get the refineries from zero production to 100 per cent 10 years ago, he would believe, but noted that with the depth of damage that had happened, he doubted it.

Ogedengbe, wondered why the national oil company did not pick the newer 150,000 barrels per day facility which was built 30 years later and is beside the 60,000 bpd built almost 60 years ago.

“The old refinery, the one that was built in 1965, that’s about 58 years ago, has not operated since 1990 when the new refinery came on. So, it’s been shut down,” he disclosed.

Ogedengbe recalled that he was the project manager when the new refinery in Port Harcourt was built between 1985 to 1990, stressing that the new one is a more complex and modern facility and should have been fixed first.

“If you put one barrel of crude oil into the new one, 48 to 50 per cent of it will be petrol. The old refinery, if you put one barrel of crude oil into it, you only get maximum 23 to 24 per cent of petrol, which shows the complexity.

“The old refinery has just one conversion unit that can produce petrol. The new refinery has four different conversion units. That is the issue. Why is this old refinery being rehabilitated instead of the new one?

“The old refinery was built in 1965 with a different old technology. Now what is being done there? “ he asked, stressing that rather than rehabilitation as Nigerians have been told, it was actually being reconstructed.

While insisting that the refinery cannot work in December, he stated that testing each functional part of the refinery alone, if any part of it works, will take at least three months to achieve.

“There is no way we can justify the situation we have today. The refineries were built according to international standards. They were all tested for completion and they performed at the time they were completed.

“They ran according to the design for many years. However, being a government-owned facility, not a private one, they were not run commercially.

“What does that mean? Monies did not come in time for maintenance. Not enough money actually was given for maintenance and it was not a profitable project. So it was just declining slowly because of lack of maintenance until it crashed. All of them crashed by 2018,” he stressed.

He stated that although during his time money was usually budgeted for maintenance, but such monies were never fully released by the NNPC headquarters.

To augment this, he said the Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries at the time he was the managing director, went out of its way to begin the production of tins and drums to survive.

“Every month, we will receive between 50 and 60 per cent of our budget. We are supposed to pick up the rest somehow. You have to be imaginative.

“ When I was in Kaduna refinery for instance, it was the only refinery that had a tin and drum manufacturing plant, which is not typically a refinery thing, but we had that plan because we were producing kerosene and we were selling in tins.

“So I was selling ordinary tins and drums to people who were buying them for water and other uses to augment the budget for the refinery operations,” he said.

He added that he was surprised that a 58-year-old refinery will be picked over the one that was built 30 years later, stressing that the guess is that the NNPC wanted to do a quick fix “politically”.

He noted that it was the reason the original contractor of the newer Port Harcourt refinery refused to participate in the current rehabilitation process. “They did not think that was the right way to go,” he maintained.

On why monies were not fully released for maintenance during his days as head of the refineries, Ogedengbe stated that the question should be directed at the corporate headquarters of the NNPC at the time which controlled the budget.

He stated that as the refineries’ managing director, he only handed the products to the products marketing arm of the NNPC, which would sell them while the revenues were sent to the headquarters.

“In 1990, we generated products at about an average of 95 per cent throughput in refineries in Port Harcourt combined, old or new”, he stated, adding that at the time there was no fuel scarcity, but that Nigeria even had some for export.

“They awarded a contract of $1.5 billion three years ago or two and a half years ago. So, the first person when you are in doubt, is to ask the contractor to speak. Let us see the report of the contractors. We haven’t seen that,” he lamented.

By Philip Shimnom Clement


Reactions have continued to trail the huge number of delegates representing Nigeria at the ongoing climate change summit (COP28) in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

Although Nigeria has 1,411 delegates at the conference, the Federal Government had put the number of those it sponsored at 422.

The presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party in this year’s elections, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi respectively as well as civil society organizations had flayed the huge delegation of Nigeria at the summit, describing it as a jamboree and a waste of scarce resources.

The PDP had challenged the government to name the delegates, urged the National Assembly to probe the delegation and asked Tinubu to be ready to refund the amounts spent on delegates who have no important role at the conference.

Among the delegates, according to the list of registered Nigerian participants at the COP28 Conference, are President Tinubu’s son, Seyi; chefs, luggage officers, stewards among other individuals, including over 50 personal assistants.

The delegation also comprises over 30 ministers and heads of government agencies, including the Ministers of Environment, Water Resources, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Aviation, Information, Lakpobiri, Petroleum, Mineral Resources, Attorney-General, Gas Development, Abubakar Kyari, Agriculture, Power, Youth and Sport, State for Environment, Education, among others.

Also on the list are an actress and on-air personality, Toke Makinwa, IBD Dende, and two senior special assistants to the Lagos State governor (state lotteries & corporate finance/investments), a member representing Lagos Island II in the Lagos State House of Assembly and a staff of PZ Cussons.

The UN said Nigeria has the third-largest delegation to the event, behind only China and Brazil.

Also on the list are 138 delegates from the State House has 138, 54 from the National Council on Climate Change, 53 from the Ministry Environment, 36 from the National Assembly, 28 from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd.

Over the years, Nigeria has recorded several accidental strikes by the Nigerian Air Force, killing innocent citizens across the country.

The PUNCH investigations revealed that over 425 persons including children and women had been killed by military accidental bombings between September 2017 and 2023.

A report titled “Air Force Mishaps” by a research organisation that compiles and analyses data about happenings in the country (SBM Intelligence) in February 2023, revealed that over 300 civilians have been killed in accidental airstrikes by the NAF since 2017.

SBM said the airstrikes happened while the NAF was in pursuit of terrorists.

The report lamented that mishaps had increased in the last two years, adding that no compensation had been paid to victims’ families.

According to SBM Intelligence, the mistakes have increased in the last two years with little acknowledgment from the NAF.

It added that Niger, Yobe, Zamfara, Borno, Nasarawa, Kaduna, and Katsina are the worst-hit states in the country.

In this report, PUNCH Online highlights cases of NAF accidental strikes.


1. Kaduna village bombing mishap

Recent of all is the Kaduna village bombing mishap where 85 villagers in Tudun Biri of the Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State are feared dead after a bomb was allegedly dropped by a military jet on Sunday.

Residents of the affected communities said they were celebrating Maulud, an Islamic event when the bombs were dropped by the military.

This development has, however, triggered both local and international condemnation.

Following the incident a mass burial was conducted for the victims while the Army claimed responsibility for dropping the bomb on the village.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, has, however, apologised to the relatives of victims of the accidental bombing.

Lagbaja also ordered an investigation into the incident, noting the probe would allow the service to avert such situations in the future.


2. Nasarawa-Benue, Niger border accidental airstrike

In January 2023, The PUNCH reports that 37 people including 27 pastoralists were killed after the bomb exploded at the border linking Benue and Nasarawa states at the Doma local government area of Nasarawa State.


3. Niger State bombing mishap

In April 2022, a NAF fighter jet reportedly killed six children, when it fired a bomb targeted at terrorists in Kurebe village in Shiroro LGA of Niger State.


4. Katsina bomb blast

Also in June 2022, 13 residents were injured while one other died after a NAF fighter jet struck Kunkuna village in the Safana LGA of Katsina on July 7, 2022, among others.


5. Borno 2017 and 2020 bomb attacks

On January 17, 2017, about 52 people were killed while 120 others sustained injuries in an accidental airstrike on an Internally Displaced Persons camp in Rann, Borno State.

Also, on April 13, 2020, 17 people, including children, were killed after a NAF fighter jet bombed Sakotoku village in Damboa LGA of the State.

No fewer than 135 directors, deputy directors, assistant directors and other officials in the Federal Civil Service have been redeployed to new Ministries, Departments and Agencies(MDAs).

The redeployment of the affected 135 civil servants was contained in a memo by the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation dated November 30, 2023.

The memo, tagged: “HCSD/CMO/EM/CPA/908/III/154” and signed by the Permanent Secretary, Career Management Office of the OHCSF, Marcus Ogunbiyi, was addressed to the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume; the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission; the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Chairman of the Independent and Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, and all permanent secretaries, among others.

The memo read: “I am directed to convey the approval of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation for the deployment of the following officers in the Federal Civil Service. Please note that all deployed officers must be accepted and documented by the respective ministries as rejection of officers would not be condoned by the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation. All handover and taking-over processes must be completed on or before Thursday, 7th December 2023.

“All Directors of Human Resources Management and Administration are required to submit details of compliance to this posting instruction to the Permanent Secretary, Career Management Office, Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation no later than Monday, 11th December 2023.

“All officers concerned are reminded that failure to adhere to this posting instruction contravenes the position of the Public Service Rule 100301b and 020602[iv] and will be met with appropriate sanctions.”

Nigeria’s continued dependence on importation of petroleum products remains a concern despite awarding over 57 refinery licences in the last 18 years and an additional five recently. To many, the country appears to be comfortable with the practice despite the effect it has on the economy.

This comes as the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, told The Guardian that the Federal Government is considering issuing oil field licenses to refinery owners to tackle the challenge of crude oil feedstocks to refineries.

About 18 years ago, private investors had rushed to apply for refinery licenses under former President Olusegun, former President Muhammed Buhari during his tenure offered other licenses as well as the others that the new government has offered.

These licenses should be in the region of 62 pushing the country’s refining capacity on paper to over 2.3 million barrels per day. This is about one million barrels higher than the country’s total crude oil daily production and an indication that the upcoming refineries are designed to fail or have the deep pockets to import crude oil into the country if the nation cannot increase crude oil production.

Going by the licences, the current refining capacity includes Dangote Refinery with 650,000 bpd capacity, BUA Refinery with 200,000 bpd capacity, NNPCL has a combined capacity of 445,000. OPAC refinery, the Walter Smith refinery, the Aradel refinery and the Edo refinery, which are already in operation, have a combined capacity of 27,000 barrels per day.

This brings the refineries that are either in operation or close to starting production to about 1.322 million barrels per day. The other refinery licences, mainly modular refineries with unknown status have close to one million barrels per day capacity.

Although the global petroleum products market appears to be shifting to Africa, especially Nigeria, as refineries begin to shut down in Europe, stakeholders told The Guardian that many of the people who currently own licences do not have the intention to refine crude oil.

The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, had stated that the Port Harcourt refinery will start working in December 2023.

Ahead of the planned resumption of production at the Port Harcourt Refinery Company in December 2023, the federal government says it will continue to hold NNPC Ltd responsible for the timeline announced to Nigerians.

Lokpobiri told The Guardian that the government is now looking at revocation in a situation where people have no financial and technical capacity to justify the conditions for the licences in their possession.

There are three levels of approval for setting up private greenfield or modular refineries in the country. They are Approval to Establish (LTE); Approval to Construct (ATC) and Licence to Operate (LTO). Licenses also have terms and conditions and a period for renewal or revocation, the NMDPRA has been silent on the issue.

Lokpobiri said the Nigerian market is vast and with the onboarding of the PIA, there is need for the government to encourage independent refineries operating modular and monolithic refineries by giving them marginal fields, contiguous to their location to guarantee access to feedstock.

“Having liberalised the licensing process for interested investors, everything is now guided by the extant laws and as such, we also liberalised the process of revocation for investors who do not meet the conditions of the licence.

“While encouraging the investors to build partnerships with NCDMB and BOI for credit facilities, we expect that they show capacity to build the refinery within the timeframe stipulated in the licence because the Government remains committed to the policy on improving local refinery to serve Nigeria,” he said.

The last time Nigeria published a status report on the refinery was in 2021 by the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). Under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) is expected to periodically publish such reports but reverse has been the case.

For over five months, The Guardian repeatedly requested for the information from the agency but the agency had declined the request.
During the period, sources at the agency confirmed that the government had embargoed the release of such public records to the public. They also noted that the agency is rather selling such details in a direct manner that rubbishes Nigeria’s supposed commitment to transparency and accountability in the corruption-ridden extractive sector.

As of 2021, a defunct DPR report showed that 40 refinery licences are dormant in the country. The total number of licenses as at May 2021 is 68 and 40 of them were inactive.

Some of the refineries with active Licence to Establish are BUA Refinery & Petrochemicals, Ogini Refinery Limited, Excel Exploration & Production, Lowrie Refinery Limited, NPDC/ND WESTERN OML 34 JV, Eghudu Refinery and Kingdom Global Trading Petroleum & Gas Nig.

Some of the refineries with active Approval to Construct/Relocate include Dangote Oil Refinery Company, OPAC Refineries, Waltersmith Refining & Petrochemical Company, Niger Delta Petroleum Resources, Edo Petrochemical Refinery, Etopo Energy Plc, Resource Petroleum & Petrochemicals International Incorporated, Duport Midstream and Conodit Refinery Nigeria.

Others are Lowrie Refinery, Excel Refinery, Gasoline Associates International, Frao Oil Nigeria, Alexis Refinery, Allegiance Energy and Power, Atlantic International Refineries and Petrochemical, Amakpe International Refinery Inc, Gazingstock Petroleum Company, Azikel Petroleum, and Clairgold Oil & Gas Engineering.

President of Crude Oil Refinery Owners Association (CORAN), Momoh Oyarekhua, had earlier said as of today, Nigeria has about four modular refineries that are in operation: OPAC refinery, the WalterSmith refinery, the Aradel refinery and the Edo refinery,” adding that the four have a combined capacity of 27,000 barrels per day.

Group Chairman and Chief Executive International Energy Services Limited, Dr. Diran Fawibe noted that the Obasanjo administration had offered licences for refineries as solutions to the shortage of petroleum in the country or to increase refining of oil in the country.

He regretted that none of the licences issued by Obasanjo translated to actual refineries due lack of conducive environment and particularly the regulated prices of petroleum products.

Diran said the regulated price of petroleum in the country makes the economics of refining unviable for many investors.

“And the consideration was that if you want to spend millions of dollars to establish refineries, then you should have freedom to reflect the cost of production, that’s capital equipment and cost of production, including crude oil in the price of fuel that you are going to turn out in the refinery; and since the petroleum products price was fixed, it was not considered viable for most investors,” Fawibe said.

Admitting that he was a consultant to one of the refineries that was established in Lagos to refine 100,000 barrels per day and that he had followed the association of local refineries to meet the then President Obasanjo, Fawibe said most refineries canvassed discount in the price of crude oil.

“But President Obasanjo said he could not guarantee that because the crude oil belonged to the federation and on no account will he operate a charity and that investors operate refineries and are producing; therefore, they could export to be able to have enough revenue to cover their cost of refining and maybe fund their investment.

“But the rest is history whereby none of the investors were able to establish and as you know many of the licensees were Nigerians who do not have the cash. They’ll have to rely on foreign investors who will partner with them but not many foreign investors or financial institutions are ready to put money in that kind of investment Where the price of the product is regulated,” Fawibe noted.

He noted that revoking licenses is not the solution to the problem, stressing that the government could invite those holding the licenses to sit down and find out from them why precisely they were unable to come into operation with their refineries.

Fawibe noted that a number of the owners must have been working on their refineries, adding that before licenses were awarded, the investors must have met certain conditions in terms of business plan, viability studies, environmental impact assessment and made certain documentation available to the government.

“One of the basic problems of this country is that we don’t do policy impact assessment to really know why policies were not successful so that we can be able to amend the policies to achieve the objectives that it was set out to achieve,” Fawibe said.

He noted that the idea of modular refinery may not also help the country in the real sense apart from being a political arrangement against oil theft.

Fawibe stated that the environment in the country is a very challenging and competitive environment, stressing that the refineries need a conducive environment.

While the Federal Government has been unable to take specific steps on the deregulation of the downstream segment of the petroleum industry, most of the operating refineries in the country only focus on diesel and aviation fuel, whereas over 95 per cent of the petroleum product demand is premium motor spirit.

The President of the Nigerian Economic Society (NES), who is an energy scholar at the University of Ibadan, Prof. Adeola Adenikinju said most of the refineries’ licenses were not operational because of the regime of controlled prices.

“Nobody goes into a business when you cannot determine your prices in relation to the costs of production,” he said.

Noting that revocation of the licenses wouldn’t solve the challenges, Adenikinju said there’s a need to implement the PIA and allow the market to function the way it is supposed to.

Renowned energy economist, Prof. Wunmi Iledare stated that people with political connections obtained licences to operate refineries in an attempt to qualify for crude allocation.

“I stand corrected that most of the holders of these licenses had no intention to build anything but to just get crude to sell. It makes sense to them because NNPC then gets 445,000 per day for its moribund refineries.

“Since licences are not perpetual and usually have a term with milestones attached to it to remain valid, like having an exploration license, prospective or mining licence in the upstream, revocation may remain an option if the licences are not performing.

“Hopefully political expediency, which literally seems to be driving everything in Nigeria against the traffic of progress since the last decade, will not scuttle these ministerial noble ideas on these issues,” Iledare said.

Former President of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) and professor of Economics at Babcock University, Prof. Segun Ajibola said the licences are expected to carry some basic conditions, one of which should be circumstances under which the licence could be revoked.

“I expect failure to operate the business as one of the conditions. So, if a licence has been issued to operate a refinery for 15 years without any evidence of such, revocation should be seamless,” Ajibola said.

By Ronald Adamolekun and Bakare Majeed


Abdulsamad Rabiu, the chairman of BUA Group, has rejected his nomination to serve as a member of the finance committee set up by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mr Rabiu declined the offer in a statement by his company on Friday.

It said the billionaire industrialist prefers to be apolitical.

Mr Rabiu, a close ally of President Bola Tinubu, was nominated by the party to serve as a member of a finance committee constituted on Thursday.

He was nominated into the 34-member committee alongside some businessmen and top party members.

Other committees were also constituted by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party after its meeting at the national secretariat in Abuja.

According to the statement by the BUA Group, the ruling party did not consult Mr Rabiu before including his name in the list.

“It is important to note that our Chairman, Abdul Samad Rabiu and BUA Group have consistently adopted an apolitical stance over the years. This approach is integral to the nature of our business and aligns with Mr. Rabiu’s focus on fostering economic growth through BUA Group’s initiatives and philanthropic efforts through ASR Africa.

“With respect to this, we wish to inform the publishers, our partners, stakeholders, and the general public that Mr. Rabiu has decided to graciously decline the nomination/appointment. This decision is made in light of the fact that he was not previously consulted regarding his inclusion in the list and his inability to commit time due to his demanding schedule,” it said.

The company reiterated that Mr Rabiu would not like to get any political affiliations or roles.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Felix Morka, could not be reached for comment.

He did not respond to calls and messages to his mobile line by PREMIUM TIMES.


Committee membership

Meanwhile, the national secretariat of APC had pasted the list of the committee members on one of its WhatsApp platforms on Thursday but deleted the post some hours after.

On Friday, the party posted the same list and included the name of Mr Rabiu despite a statement earlier declining the offer.

According to the list, the finance committee will be chaired by Uguru Ofoke while Bashir Gumel will serve as the secretary.

Other notable members include the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen; Minister of Finance, Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun and oil magnate, A.A. Rano.

A businessman, Mohammed Indimi; Kunle Soname; Tein Jack Rich are also members.


Warm relationship with Tinubu

Mr Rabiu, who is ranked the second richest person in Nigeria according to Forbes, is a close friend of President Tinubu.

He recently declared a reduction in the price of cement after a meeting with the president as part of an effort to support the government.

Meanwhile, Mr Rabiu and another billionaire, Aliko Dangote, both from Kano State have been engaging in bitter rivalry lately.

There are speculations that Mr Rabiu’s closeness to the new president might have triggered the public spat. Both billionaires published statements containing serious allegations against each other.


No consultations

The ruling party has had cases of nominating people into committees without consultation.

In August, the party nominated Nyesom Wike, a member of the opposition PDP, into the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Campaign Council.

It later removed the name, claiming that the list was fake.

During the presidential election, the party nominated some PDP members, including former Enugu State Governor, Chimaroke Nnamani, and a former Edo State Commissioner, Kassim Afugba.

Also, Gideon Para-Mallam, a cleric, was nominated to the campaign council.


Akande, Ganduje head committees

The former interim chairman of the APC, Bisi Akande, is to head a conflict and reconciliation committee of the party, with former Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari, as deputy chairman and Nkem Okeke as the secretary of the committee.

Mr Masari, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, currently heads the committee mediating in the crisis in the Ondo State chapter of the party.

The ruling party is facing internal crises in Rivers, Bayelsa and other states.

The National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Ganduje, heads a nine-member committee on establishment.

The Inter-Governmental Committee with 26 members is chaired by Emma Eneukwu, the APC deputy national chairman (South).

According to the statement signed by the National Secretary of the party, Ajibola Basiru, all the committees will be inaugurated on 6 December at the national secretariat of the party.

In a bid to speedily approve the N27.5 trillion budget for the 2024 fiscal year before the end of the year, the Senate yesterday commenced the consideration of the proposals without having the full details.

President Bola Tinubu had on Wednesday presented the estimates to the joint session of the National Assembly, during which he asked the lawmakers to pass the document in 30 days.

The budget passed its first reading in both chambers of parliament when President Tinubu presented it.

A day after the president’s presentation, the Red Chamber began the debate on the general principles of the proposals without getting the breakdown of the estimates, including allocations to different sectors.

Our correspondent observed that the senators before the debate commenced, were only distributed copies of the budget speech and the lead debate presented by the Senate Leader, Michael Opeyemi Bamidele.

This was a deviation from previous budget considerations in the parliament, where the lawmakers were given the breakdown of the budget estimates and convened in plenary to debate its general principles after studying the document.

Senator Kawu Sumaila (Kano) urged his colleagues to suspend the consideration of the budget pending when they were provided with the details.

He said, “We are representing interests here. Where are the budget details? We need to have the bill. We don’t have any idea about the sectoral allocations and what our constituents will be getting. It is very strange in the parliament.”

Also, Senator Mohammed Ogoshi Onawo (Nasarawa) said lawmakers’ contributions to the budget would be limited because there were no details of the proposals except what the president presented on Wednesday.

Senator Binos Dauda Yaroe (Adamawa) also cautioned against rushing the budget consideration, saying the two supplementary budgets earlier passed by the parliament were not scrutinised due to inadequate time.

He noted that “The development led to a series of injustices. We need fairness and equity in the allocation of projects.”

Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, faulted the submissions of his colleagues, saying that the Senate had all it needed to proceed with the budget consideration.

He said, “During the second reading, it is only the merits and demerits of a bill that are debated, not the details.

“By virtue of our Rule 79, we have all it takes to conduct the second reading of the bill.”

Bamidele, while leading the debate, made presentations that were largely based on Tinubu’s budget speech.

He said he believed that all the proposals in the budget were laudable and would enhance the lives of citizens.

Similarly, the House of Representatives on Thursday began consideration of the 2024 appropriation bill presented by President Tinubu on Wednesday.

The consideration and debate on the general principles of the bill followed the earlier presentation of the appropriation bill before the House.

The Majority Leader of the House, Julius Ihonvbere moved for the second reading of the bill and it was seconded by Kingsley Chinda.

In leading the debate Ihonvbere stated that the budget proposal was a reality for looking into critical issues such as the availability of resources, options of funds, the performance of previous budgets, and the percentage of appropriations of available funds for all critical areas.

Lagos Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Alhaji Musiliu Akinsanya, also known as MC Oluomo, has been re-elected for a second term in office.

Akinsanya, Alhaji Sulyman Ojora – Deputy Chairman; Alhaji Mustapha Adekunle (Sego) – Treasurer and 28 other executive members were elected unopposed on Thursday at the 10th Quadrennial State Delegates Conference held at the state union secretariat, Agege.

They were sworn-in by Adejare Kembi, Principal, Excel Practitioners in the presence of Acting National President of the union Alhaji Aliyu Issa Ore; former National Secretary Kabiru Ado Yau; Controller, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Lagos Office Eshomounu Itemoagbo; Assistant Chief Labour Officer in the ministry Anthony Ogwu; and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Lagos State Public Relation Officer Comrade Ismail Adejumo among others.

Akinsanya thanked Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Ore-led national body of the union and other stakeholders for standing by him during the crisis.

He reserved special commendation for members of the union in the state for their loyalty to him as their leader and perseverance.

He promised more assistants and for union members.

Akinsanya also vowed to continue his reform policies that have transformed the union activities in the state for better.

Governor Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by a Director in the State Ministry of Transportation, Lateef Tiamiyu, hailed the union members for re-election of Akinsanya for a second term in office.

He praised Akinsanya’s exemplary leadership qualities and ability to reform the union activities in the state.

According to the Governor, gone were the days NURTW members took to violence to effect leadership change.

He implored them to continue to key into the government policies.

Itemoagbo described Akinsanya as a leader that is moving in the right direction.

He said Akinsanya’s employment of over 123 graduates to work in various units of the union is highly commendable.

He promised that the ministry would continue to partner Akinsanya-led union to ensure more people are employed in the union.

Itemoagbo enjoined union members to maintain for their association to record more progress.

Acting National President of the union Alhaji Ore hailed Akinsanya’s emergence and other executive members.

He said: “Those who will emerge victorious from this election must serve in such a way that demonstrates exemplary leadership, capacity and sacrifice. Both the leadership and followership must strive through a collaborative effort to turn the union fortune for the better.

“Those elected must carry others along. I therefore urge you all to within your limitations try as much as possible to run an open administration that will be devoid of victimization and committed to fairness, equity, and justice; so that unity and harmony will prevail amongst others and members of this great union at the various levels.”

A Lagos State branch of the Celestial Church of Christ has drawn criticism for bringing street-hop artist Portable and Fuji singer Pasuma to its praise night event.

The event flyer was posted on the church’s Facebook page on Wednesday, and netizens took to the comments section to express dissatisfaction.

The flier reads: “JOIN US ON 15th OF DEC, 2023. As We Celebrate our 7th Year Anniversary on Our ANKARA/PRAISE NIGHT

“Performing: ALHAJI WASIU ALABI PASUMA a.k.a. Oganla, HABEEB OLALOMI a.k.a Portable, MAY-SHUA, EVANG. SUNDAY GP a.k.a De Governor”

A Facebook user, Bolanle Bamidele Adewuyi, commented, “This is depressing… Do you want the Church of God to become like this? It is very funny.

A different commenter, Festus Olanrewaji Ojo, said, “This is unfortunate! A great and deep shame.

“This is completely nonsensical,” BU KO LA remarked.

“The artists are not complete yet,” Ayo Ife wrote.

Eri Tunmise wrote, “I was just laughing when I saw this flier…why will u call hip-hop and Fuji artist for praise night? Are there no gospel singers again? Well, we are enticing with worldly stuff…This nonsense can only happen at white garment churches… Because other churches like Baptist, Redeem, and CAC can never do this…. Hmmm! The end of the world”

However, others like Abike Garment have expressed their excitement to be present at the event.

Abike, a Facebook user wrote, “I must be there, make I come dance away my sorrow.”

Another Facebook user, Abike Ade also said, “I will be there.”

A mild drama played out on Wednesday when some senators attended plenary of the House of Representatives, against the tradition of parliamentary proceedings for budget presentation.

This happened before the arrival of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the parliament for the presentation of the 2024 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly.

Tinubu arrived in the parliament at about 11.10 am in company of retinue of aides, ministers and some governors.


Senators’ ignorance

Laid down tradition and parliamentary procedures require senators to hold a brief plenary session in the Senate chamber and then proceed in group to the chamber of the House of Representatives for the joint session and not go there individually.

But some senators ahead of the joint session went to the House of Representatives chamber out of ignorance which baffled rep members in session.

Apparently realising their mistakes, the Senators who committed the legislative errors like Aliyu Wammako ( APC Sokoto North) and Monday Okphebolo (APC Edo Central) quickly ran out of the chamber to join their colleagues in the Senate chamber.

However, as at the time Wammakko and Okphebolo were hurrying back to the Red Chamber, their colleagues from the Senate had suspended their plenary for the joint session.

Mistakes made by the duo arose from lack of deep knowledge and understanding of legislative practices and procedures for such joint sitting, a result of high turnover of lawmakers always recorded every four years.

Nigerians desperate to travel abroad have been warned to desist from the marriage contract scheme, as many men are trapped by it.

Travel agency expert, Ruth Joseph-Audu, who issued the warning in an interview with Daily Trust in Lagos, admitted that Nigerians are moving in numbers to seek greener pastures in foreign countries, but lamented that some fall into the trap of mischievous traveling agencies.

She said many homes are bearing the brunt of illegal marriage schemes while some Nigerians spend as much as N24 million to school in Canada for a year.

“There are a lot of Nigerians in the United States, they go through marriage agreements, and their wives are here (in Nigeria) suffering. I have a lot of people whose wives are here, and their husbands are trapped down there in the name of contract marriage, and the ladies there are not making things easier,” said Joseph-Audu, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Ur Fast Track abroad.

She said that travelling abroad for greener pastures is a good decision, but frowned against how some agencies have made it difficult for some Nigerians.

“We need to get it right. Getting into a contract marriage is not an option because the problem that comes with it cannot be taken care of easily because once you are in a contract unless it expires, you cannot actually opt out. The resolution is very negative, especially for the man.

“We shouldn’t entangle ourselves into contracts we know nothing about just because we want to travel abroad. Life has not become so bad in this place that you put yourself in an unending problem,” she warned.

As of November 27, 2023, a total of 147 private universities have been approved by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the National Universities Commission.

These institutions exist alongside the universities owned by both the Federal and state governments respectively.

Incessant industrial actions, poor funding and the rot in public universities have continued to give rise to the existence of private universities in the country as their numbers grew from just three in 1999 to 147 in 2023 with the NUC noting that it has over 270 pending requests for the establishment of new private universities.

Analysis of the private universities as obtained from the website of the NUC on Tuesday by our correspondent revealed that most of these private universities are floated by religious organisations alongside past and serving politicians.

In this article, PUNCH online reviews some of the private universities floated by the Nigerian political class.

1. Bells University, Ogun state - This institution was founded by former president, Olusegun Obasanjo. The institution also has on its board a former governor of Gombe state, Ibrahim Dakwambo, and a former senator representing Ogun Central, Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello.

2. American University of Nigeria, Yola, Adamawa state: This school is owned by a former vice-president of Nigeria and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 general elections, Atiku Abubakar.

3. Amaj University, Kwali, Abuja: This institution is owned by a former governor of Sokoto state, Attahiru Bafarawa. The University received its license in 2023 and is one of the youngest private universities in the country.

4. Hensard University, Bayelsa state: Like Amaj University, Hensard is also one of the newly licensed private universities in Nigeria and is owned by a former governor of Bayelsa state, Seriake Dickson.

5. PAMO University of Medical Sciences, Rivers state: A former governor of Rivers state, Peter Odili is the founder of PAMO University of Medical Sciences, the first private medical university in Nigeria. The institution also has on its board, former military administrator, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, a senator representing Katsina South, Abu Ibrahim.

6. Baze University, Abuja: A one-time senator and vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party during the 2023 presidential election, Datti Baba-Ahmed is the founder of Abuja-based University, Baze.

7. Eastern Palms University, Imo state: A former governor of Imo state and senator who represented Imo West senatorial district in the ninth senate, Rochas Okorocha is the founder of this institution.

8. Edwin Clark University: A former federal commissioner of Information and elder statesman, Edwin Clark is the founder of Edwin Clark University.

9. Sports University, Delta State: This first private university of sports is owned by a current senator, Ned Nwoko. He obtained the license for the institution in 2021.

Meanwhile, some other private universities also have past and serving politicians as members of the Board of Trustees and governing councils.

For instance, The current First Lady and former senator representing Lagos West senatorial district, Remi Tinubu is a member of the board of trustees at Kings University in Odemu, Osun state.

The Governor of Ondo state, Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN is a member, board of trustees, Achievers University.

The Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Senator representing Imo West senatorial district, Osita Izunaso among others sit on the governing council of Abuja-based Nile University.

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Sam Ohuabunwa is the Chairman of the Council, Gregory University Uturu in Abia state.

Kaduna-based Greenfield University also has on its board, a former member of the Eighth House of Representatives, Muhammed Usman as a member among others.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered a massive rehabilitation of dilapidated federal roads across the country.

The roads include the Makurdi-Nsukka 9th Mile, East West road, Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, Benin bypass, collapsed bridges of Enugu-Port Harcourt road, collapsed bridges of Shandam-Plateau, Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano and Gombe- Bauchi roads, among others.

Umahi, in a statement, noted that despite inheriting N6 trillion deficit in road infrastructure, President Tinubu is determined to confront the challenges.

He said besides practical steps taken since the assumption of office in May, the President has approved a 2023 supplementary budget of N300 billion for the Ministry of Works.

This comprises N100 billion for immediate palliative works in 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and N200 billion for the continuation of critical road projects.

According to him, the President urged the public to track the projects and give appropriate feedback to the government.

The government urged Nigerians to report any road that is poorly constructed anywhere in the country.

They are to send photographs of the road, location and name of the contractor to 08030986263, 08037086137 and 08106423197.

Umahi said: “Without prejudice to all the good efforts of the past administration on road infrastructure development which they tackled within the limit of their resources, the work to be done to change the ugly state of our roads is quite enormous.

“Mr. President is not complaining of the challenges he inherited in nearly all sectors of the economy, especially as it concerns our road infrastructure, but he is quite courageous as he had promised to tackle the problems head-on which he has started to do not minding the debt burden inherited especially the funding gap of over N6 trillion from most of the inherited on-going road projects.

“Mr. President has since reeled out plans of commitment, consistency, and innovations towards actualising a sustainable road infrastructure development throughout the country.”

Umahi said the President has directed that the palliative works must commence before Friday.

Calling for support, the minister said: “It is the right of every Nigerian to have value for their money deployed to the road infrastructure sector and therefore must show both interest and passion in all the ongoing projects by the Federal Ministry of Works and FERMA, and indeed all projects of the Federal, State and Local governments.

“The Federal Ministry of Works will document such complaints sent by Nigerians, verify and take effective action to correct such infractions.

“The Federal Ministry of Works shall also periodically recognise publicly those who made such reports that are genuine in a public engagement forum to be hosted quarterly by the Federal Ministry of Works and will sanction such erring contractors publicly too.”

On concrete road criticisms, the minister said: “Those who are complaining and demarketing this policy are simply those who do not wish Nigeria well.

“They are the same people that use adulterated bitumen in their projects while putting pressure on our Naira through the importation of adulterated bitumen instead of developing our abundant God-given bitumen deposits in Ondo State and other parts of Nigeria.

“Insofar as this new policy has not violated any law, the Federal Ministry of Works is forging ahead with this new policy.

“As of today, most of the ongoing projects are with asphalt pavement in line with this new policy while some are redesigned on concrete pavement, depending on the terrain and with a full understanding of the affected contractors of those projects.”

While warning contractors handling Federal Government road projects to adhere strictly to the new road policies, Umahi said the government would not tolerate a breach of contract.

A comment by the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, that the Binis founded Lagos State, has sparked debate on social media.

During a visit to the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Sunday, the monarch said, “It is in the history books that the Binis founded Lagos. When some people will hear it now, they will go haywire, what is the Oba saying there again? But it is true. Go and check the records. Maybe not all over Lagos as we know it now but certain areas in Lagos, maybe the nucleus of Lagos, was founded by my ancestors. The Oba of Lagos will say so.”

Following the comment, notable personalities and netizens have taken to social media to air their views on the matter.

A Lagos Chief, the Balogun of Eko, Abisoye Oshodi, disagreed with the monarch, stating that Lagos was not founded by the Binis.

He partly said, “Point of correction Sir, Lagos was never founded by the Binis. I am glad that you said some parts of Lagos, not the entire Lagos. You are right, your ancestors settled on a small Island that was called Eko then, before the creation of Lagos. On this very Island, they never created it.”

Comedian, Seyi Law, said, “The distortion of our history in the South West will never cease to amaze me. What is the sin of South-westerners that make some tribes want to revise our history? Maybe we just have to revisit our liberalism.

“The same way some Itsekiri warriors settled in Epe was the same way some Benin warriors settled in Isale Eko of Lagos Island. The journey of the Binis to Lagos was a joint war of the Binis and Itsekiris against my ancestor, the King of Mahin Kingdom, Oba Alagwe.

“Oba Alagwe of Mahin Kingdom had terriorised the Itsekiris and Binis so much they joined forces to kill him which led to search teams to the interior of Lagos. The fierce battle between the Binis and ilaje mahin led to the drowning of the Benin Oba which weakened their warriors and caused them to settle in Lagos.”

Knocking the Yorubas, B0lutife said, “You ridiculed our traditional leaders before and during the election. The Ooni of Ife and Oba of Lagos were your regular punching bags but small ‘clearance’ by the Yorubas when your Oba misyarned on Lagos history, you are threatening us with curses.”

“Oba of Benin is 70. Oba of Lagos is 80. There are certain things you wouldn’t say to your 70 years old father or 80 years old grandfather. Please control your emotions, moderate your language and disagree in a civil manner. It’s the right thing to do,” OgbeniDipo said, warning netizens about their comments on the issue.

The agelong controversy on the founders of Lagos State has always sparked debate among the Yorubas and the Binis.

A prominent Lagos Prince, Alhaji Tajudeen Olusi, in 2019 stated that the Binis were the first settlers in Lagos, adding that Lagos was part of the Bini Empire.

This came after a former Chairman of the Island Club, Lagos, Chief Musiliu Anibaba, claimed that the Aworis were the first persons to settle in Lagos.

By Damilola Aina


The Federal Government has initiated a process to resolve challenges bordering on the supply and pricing of Liquefied Petroleum Gas in the country’s domestic market better known as cooking gas.

A statement by Louis Ibah, spokesman for the Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, said the minister waded into the issue following a rise in the price of LPG per kg from about N700 to above N1,100 in some parts of the country.

He said the meeting, at the instance of the minister, which was held at the NNPC Towers Abuja recently had in attendance top officials of Chevron Nigeria Limited led by Sansay Narasimi; Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority led by its Chief Executive Officer, Farouk Ahmed and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited.

The PUNCH reports that key challenges identified as responsible for LPG price increase include FX sourcing for imports and insufficient supply to the domestic market by producers.

Ekpo expressed the concerns of President Bola Tinubu over the astronomical increase in the price of cooking gas and the attendant hardship on the majority of citizens.

The minister who noted that Nigeria is abundantly endowed with gas reserves, said the situation where some of the multinational firms were more concerned with gas exports without dedicating huge volumes to the domestic market was unacceptable and should be discouraged.

He said, “With the exponential increase in the price of LPG, there is the need for the Federal Government to intervene and I am representing this at this moment.

“We acknowledge that some producers are exporting while we are faced with the challenges of importation.

“Public interest is the overriding interest all over the world for the government, and the demand for LPG will increase as we approach December…you have a public service obligation to collaborate with the government to ensure the security of gas supply, we need to therefore bend backwards and find solutions, to ensure that we have sufficient supply and stability in-country and that Nigerians have gas.”

The minister thereafter constituted a committee with a mandate to come up with recommendations on how to boost supplies and crash LPG prices within a week.

Nigeria’s central bank governor, Olayemi Cardoso, on Friday, said the country recorded a revenue drop of $1.4 billion between 2015 and 2019 after imposing forex restrictions for import of 43 items.

The apex bank governor made this known on Friday while delivering his keynote address at the 58th Annual Dinner of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria in Lagos.

“Studies have shown that during the period when the 43 items were restricted, there was a 51.0 per cent increase in trade evasion by importers accessing the foreign exchange market, resulting in a revenue drop of approximately US$1.4 billion, or US$275 million annually, between 2015 and 2019,” he said.

In October, the CBN announced that it had restored the 43 items prohibited from access to the foreign exchange (FX) window in 2015.

The decision came about eight years after the bank on 23 June 2015 restricted those who deal in the items from accessing forex at the authorised FX window.

The aim of the policy at the time was to reduce pressure on the demand for dollars for importation and to encourage local production of these items.

Some of the affected items included rice, cement, margarine, palm kernel, palm oil products, vegetable oils, meat and processed meat products, vegetables and processed vegetable products, poultry, tomatoes/tomato paste, soap and cosmetics, and clothes.

Other items included private aeroplanes/jets, Indian incense, tinned fish in sauce, cold rolled steel sheets, galvanised steel sheets, roofing sheets, wheelbarrows, head pans, metal boxes/containers, enamelware, steel drums and pipes, wire mesh, steel nails, wood particle boards, and panels.

Also affected were security and razor wire, wood particle and fibre boards and panels, wooden doors, furniture, toothpicks, glass/glassware, kitchen utensils, tableware, tiles (vitrified, ceramics), textiles, wooden fabrics, plastic/rubber products, polypropylene granules, and cellophane wrappers.

Subsequently, amidst efforts to achieve its backward integration policy on key items, the central bank added fertiliser and maize/corn to the list of items.

The policy drove importers to source forex in the parallel market for transactions, resulting in additional pressure and demand for FX at the unauthorised window.

Within the period, prices of the food commodities among the restricted items, which are major staple foods among Nigerians, skyrocketed by over 100 per cent.

The upward trend in the prices of the commodities has had a negative impact on the purchasing power of many citizens.


Impact on the economy

Speaking on the 43 items on Friday, Mr Cardoso emphasised that the items were never banned by the government but that the CBN only imposed restrictions on access to foreign exchange in the official market.

However, he said the move resulted in increased demand for foreign exchange in the parallel market, leading to the depreciation of the exchange rate in that segment of the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM) and widening the premium between the parallel and official market.

As a result of this, the CBN governor said revenue from tariffs on goods decreased from a high of approximately $920 million in 2011 to about $250 million in 2017.

“In 2019, the actual tariff on goods stood at US$320 million, but counterfactual evidence suggests that as much as US$680 million could have been earned in the same year,” he said.

Mr Cardoso said evidence has shown that foreign exchange restrictions had an adverse impact on Nigerian households and contributed to inflationary pressures.

He noted that the reduction in trade restrictions and levies on rice, sugar, and wheat by 50.0 per cent had only a minimal impact on welfare, with a 0.8 per cent improvement, and a mere 0.4 per cent reduction in extreme poverty.

The CBN boss said the benefits of trade gains for the general population were negligible, as the average industry in Nigeria pays 13.7 per cent more for its inputs.

“Lastly, it is important to note that trade policy is primarily the responsibility of the fiscal authorities, and delving into such matters fall outside the purview of the CBN,” he said.

The Kano State government has revealed how the immediate past administration of Abdullahi Ganduje allegedly employed unqualified persons, including Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) Students, into the Civil Service.

Daily Trust reports that at the inception of the current administration, the government directed suspension of the salaries of some civil servants.

Subsequently, a committee was set up to screen and verify employment conducted by the immediate past administration.

Addressing reporters on Friday, Abudullahi Baffa Bichi, Secretary to the State Government (SSG), said the committee found out that the last administration undertook mass employment without recourse to necessary guidelines and service regulation.

He added the committee recommended the dismissal of unqualified persons, who were over 3,000.

“The verification committee report was received by the Government and its salient observations and recommendations were noted and accepted. The majority of the employment was not captured in the 2023 Approved Budget and a significant percentage of those employed had neither applied nor indicated interest to serve which form a major aspect of employment requirement.”

“Most of those employed did not undergo processes of screening and recruitment interviews as expected by the service regulations; employed were found to have suspicious or forged certificates, while many non-indigenes were employed in spite of a large number of qualified unemployed indigenes roaming.

“The employment did not take into consideration the actual manpower needs of the respective MDAs but was influenced by the desire to tie down the new Administration financially; our streets and those employed were wrongly placed through deployment to non-career posts or the calling of their respective qualifications.

“There was gross underemployment where officers with higher qualifications attracting senior cadres were employed on the junior cadre of the service contrary to the needs of the MDAs and approval granted for such employment.

“A number of students in their active study years were also found to be employed, including students of junior secondary schools, senior secondary schools and some in their early stages of tertiary education; a number of persons recruited were found to be undergoing their National Service Program (NYSC) while a number of people confirmed to be overaged or under-aged were found to be employed and on the State payroll,” Bichi said.

President Bola Tinubu has waded into the feud between Ondo Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu and Deputy Lucky Aiyedatiwa.

A source said President Tinubu has invited members of the Ondo Assembly to Abuja Friday.

Prominent elders and traditional rulers in the week appealed to President Tinubu to intervene in the political crisis to avert looming anarchy.

It was gathered the Ondo Assembly has been divided with 11 lawmakers now in support of Aiyedatiwa.

Sources said the 11 lawmakers were reached out to by some forces outside Ondo State.

A sitting of the lawmakers scheduled for Friday was said to have been pushed by the 11 lawmakers.

One of them, who pleaded anonymity, said the sitting was part of the plans hatched in Abuja with the 11 lawmakers to declare Governor Akeredolu incapacitated and declare Aiyedatiwa Governor.

Speaker Oladiji Olamide, who confirmed the meeting with President Tinubu, said the outcome of the meeting would determine the next line of action.

Oladiji said the scheduled Friday’s plenary was to declare Aiyedatiwa as Acting Governor and not to declare Akeredolu as incapacitated.

He said the meeting with President Tinubu would hold on Friday afternoon.

“Our sitting was to declare Aiyedatiwa as Acting Governor. The Governor is still alive,” he said.

Villagers in some communities of Kaduna State, specifically in the local governments of Igabi, Giwa, and Birnin Gwari, are facing challenges as bandits continue to intimidate and harass them, forcing many of them to abandon their farmlands.

Despite security agencies’ efforts in raiding bandits’ camps in the areas, villagers report ongoing terror by the bandits. The farmers are compelled to pay levies to the bandits to allow them to harvest their crops and access their farmlands.

The affected communities, such as Kidandan, Galadimawa Kerawa, Sabon Layi, Sabon Birni and Ruma, witness residents paying between N70,000 and N100,000 to bandits for permission to harvest.

Those who refuse to comply face severe consequences, including abduction, murder, or confiscation of their produce.

Residents, like Malam Jamil Kidandan, said some are thinking of relocating from the area.

“The situation is particularly dire on the Galadimawa axis. We appeal to security agencies to intensify raids on bandit camps around Giwa LGA,” he said.

According to him, farmers without money most often have their crops confiscated.

In Kerawa village, a resident, Shafi’u Kerawa, confirmed the payment of levies to bandits before harvesting, emphasising the need for increased security presence, especially along the Tsako to Kerawa road, due to the persistent threat by bandits.

“As the dry season approaches, farmers are eager to harvest their crops, but the absence of security personnel makes it challenging for them to venture into nearby bushes,” he said.

According to him, Kerawa town is big and full of farmers, but lack of the presence of police or soldiers makes the residents vulnerable to bandits’ attacks.

In Ruma village, located behind Kaduna Airport Road, in Igabi Local Government Area, many farmers have abandoned their farms, relocating to safer communities to avoid the terror and levies imposed by bandits.

A resident from Sabon Birni village near the Kaduna Airport, said bandits have turned the villagers into their workers, compelling them to toil on bandit-owned farms, especially in Ruma village.

“Those without money to pay are forced to sell their crops to raise the levies or even work on the bandits’ farmlands,” he said.

Malam Jafar Anaba, a displaced community leader from Anguwar Salahu, near Kerawa village, warns of a potential food shortage in the state if the insecurity persists.

“Many farmers have abandoned their farms due to the constant threat of banditry in the area, and this has affected our productivity,” he said.

In Eastern Birnin Gwari, Hudu Kwasakwasa, a resident said their community experiences less interference from bandits due to the presence of Ansaru militants.

According to him, farmers in the area work without fear of forced levies since bandits avoid the community to avoid encounter with the Ansaru militants.

However, he explained that neighbouring communities in Katsina State, with whom they share border, suffered as the bandits destroyed farms at will.

Farmers sell houses, farms to pay levies – Union

The Birnin Gwari Emirate Progressive Union Chairman, Ishaq Kasai, said the farmers have no choice but to pay levies to cultivate and harvest their crops.

“Bandits continue to terrorise rural communities in the western part of the LGA, limiting farmers to planting on only 30% of their farmlands despite payment,” he said.

According to him, communities like Kasakaki, Ganda, and Mashigi in western Birnin Gwari face extortion by bandits to be allowed to harvest crops.

Kasai highlighted that non-compliance could lead to the killing or abduction of farmers.

“In some cases, even after paying levies, bandits may detain labourers, demanding additional money for their release,” he lamented.

Kasai further revealed that the bandits have impoverished the people in those areas, causing many to abandon farmlands inside the bush and return to lands near their communities.

However, the villagers still face intimidation in areas like Sabon Layi, Dawakin Bass and Kulgin Gabas, where nobody farmed without settling the bandits.

Kasai suggested that security agencies should raid bandits’ camps across the LGA, especially in remote villages, as the only way to combat the problem.

We are doing our best to inform security agencies – Lawmakers

When contacted, the member representing Kakangi Constituency in the State House of Assembly, Yahaya Musa (Dan Salio), said it was true that bandits are terrorising farmers in his constituency and other areas.

“I’m from Dogon Dawa area. Even a few days ago, the bandits seized a vehicle with crops in the Kakangi area. The car owner was held hostage until ransom was paid to the bandits.

“This is also happening around the Damari area. You have to part with a certain amount of money before they allow you to harvest. Those who don’t have money will be forced to sell their crops to settle the bandits.

“Sometimes, the bandits will wait until the farmers harvest the crops before approaching them to ask for levies. Those who do not have money are forced to sell their crops to pay the levies,” he said.

He said he has been calling on the authorities concerned to take measures to end the insecurity in remote villages.

“If a local farmer will plant his crops and end up being forced to pay levies to bandits, it means the situation is serious. This is because only a few people in villages even have the chance to farm, and at the end, they lose what they farm to bandits. How then can the people survive?

“This is why it’s very important for the government to secure and protect the lives and properties of the people to give them a sense of belonging. Recently, we got the report that the security agencies carried out an operation around the axis, and it was successful, but more needs to be done,” he said.

The lawmaker added that the insecurity along the Kaduna-Birnin Gwari highway has reduced due to security operations, but the major challenge is how the bandits terrorise villagers in their homes at night as well as on their farms.

Another lawmaker, Shehu Abubakar, popularly known as Shehu NULGE, representing Magajin Gari Constituency at the State Assembly, explained that recently, lawmakers from Birnin Gwari, including their federal counterparts, paid a courtesy visit to the Chief of Army Staff to discuss the security situation in the area.

“I was called last week that at Angwar Laya village and some communities around, the bandits demanded N8 million and motorcycles, which I immediately reported to the council chairman.

“They (bandits) made it compulsory for farmers to pay the levies before harvesting their crops. So, it’s not a hidden thing. As a lawmaker, I have been doing my duty by constantly reporting the issue to both the state government and security agencies,” he said.

The councillor representing Kidandan Ward in Giwa LGA, who is also the speaker of the council, Comrade Abdullahi Ismail, expressed concern over the incessant kidnappings in the area.

He said farmers are being abducted while working on their farms, describing the situation as disturbing.

He said vigilantes, recruited to enhance security, are actively working to support farmers in harvesting their crops.

“We are sensitising religious leaders, traditional leaders, community leaders, and herdsmen to the need to find a solution to the issue. However, farmers are facing a serious predicament in this area,” he stated.

Councillor Ismail said abductions in the Kidandan area have become a daily occurrence, saying that within five days, approximately 15 villagers were abducted. He prayed for divine intervention.

We are doing our best to address the issue – Commissioner

Kaduna State Commissioner overseeing Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs Samuel Aruwan said the government is doing its best to address the issue.

“Kaduna State Government is aware of the development and if you check out previous response it’s an issue the government made public with an appeal to security agencies to intensify efforts so that we can be able to content the situation.

“ We are conscious of this problem and we are also doing the best we can in order to ensure we overcome the situation,” he said.

He said the government is sympathizing with those affected and it is doing its best adding that recently there were series of air interjections, ground operations around in those locations.

The Public Relations Officer, ASP Mansir Hassan, could not be reached by phone, and there was no reply to a text message seeking his reaction.

Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong is set to resign.

The Minister has collected his Certificate of Return from Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

The Court of Appeal had earlier sacked Peoples Democratic Party’s Bali Napoleon and declared Lalong as the Senator for Plateau South Senatorial Zone.

Labour unions, on Wednesday, lambasted the Federal Government for slashing the supplementary budgetary allocation for wage awards to federal civil servants by N100bn, warning that this was not the agreement they had with the government.

Data obtained from the newly Revised 2023 Supplementary Budget, indicated that the government swapped the controversial N5bn presidential yacht votes for Navy barges, increased the budget for defence from N476.54bn to N546.21bn and earmarked N20bn as capital supplementation for the National Intelligence Agency.

The PUNCH reports that the recently approved N2.1tn 2023 Supplementary Budget was marred with controversy following the discovery of seemingly extravagant items, forcing an amendment by the National Assembly.

In the proposed document, the four-month wage award was to cost the Federal Government around N210bn. However, the approved and newly revised document showed that it would now cost the Federal Government about N110bn.

Also in the revised budget, the Ministry of Defence budget rose from N476.54bn to N546.21bn, indicating an additional allocation of N69.67bn.

Under the ministry, the Nigerian Navy, which was earlier caught up in the controversial N5.095bn for the purchase of a presidential yacht, got an additional N25bn to its total allocation.

Its total allocation rose from N62.8bn in the proposed supplementary budget to N87.8bn in the approved document.

It also observed that the presidential yacht was replaced by the purchase of a self-propelled barge with the same amount of N5.095bn. Self-propelled barges are cargo-carrying vessels specifically engineered for operation on inland waterways.

The Nigerian Navy also got extra allocation for the construction of two buildings in Enugu and Ebonyi worth N3bn each.

About N19bn was also allocated for the purchase of two tugboats, which are used to pull or push other large ships for manoeuvring or salvage purposes.

The Defence Intelligence Agency got an extra N30bn to its total allocation, from N17.04bn in the proposed document to N47.04bn in the approved copy.

The PUNCH further observed that allocations to the Office of the National Security Adviser, headed by Nuhu Ribadu, increased by N20.3bn from N29.7bn to N50.02bn.

Similarly, the purchase of official vehicles for the office of the First Lady valued at N1.5bn remained in the budget, while the education loan fund for funding student loans was increased to N10bn from N5.5bn previously allotted.

Recall that the Federal Government, as part of steps to assuage labour unions, had granted a wage award of N35,000 to all Federal Government workers “beginning from September pending when a new national minimum wage is expected to have been signed into law.”

President Bola Tinubu had declared during his Independence Day speech that “low-grade workers” in the federal civil service would be awarded a wage of N25,000.

The amount was then increased to N35,000 following discussions with the organised labour unions. However, civil servants received a single payment of N35,000 for September only and not for two months as promised.

It is still unknown why the Federal Government decided to slash the allocation of wage awards for federal workers, but the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress warned that this would be resisted.


NLC, TUC warns govt

Commenting on the development, the Assistant General Secretary, Nigeria Labour Congress, Chris Onyeka, said the agreement was for the government to raise the wages of federal civil servants and not to reduce them.

He said, “Are you saying they cut down the wage awards by N100bn? Well, we have been talking about the high cost of governance and if they decided to reduce their bills by cutting down their numerous aides and assistants, that’s alright.

“But if it is that they don’t want to pay workers what they are supposed to pay, then there is a problem. How can you subject workers to further reductions in their salaries? No way! We agreed to a wage award of N35,000 to all federal workers, so the wage award has to increase.”

Also speaking, the Head of Information, NLC, Benson Upah, said, “We were not informed before this was done. However, this behaviour is not inconsistent with the psychology of this government. It’s sad!”

The Trade Union Congress warned the Federal Government against playing games with the wage award for Nigerian workers.

The National Deputy President, TUC, Tommy Etim, said, “The government cannot play games with the wage award because it was an agreement reached with the organised labour and the instrument of agreement reached was deposited in the court.

“The government is the manager of funds and our business is to ensure compliance to the agreement is reached.”

Efforts to get the Presidency to speak on why the award was reduced were unsuccessful, as officials contacted at the villa could not provide any explanation at the time of filing this report.

Tinubu had during his Independence Day speech assured Nigerians that low-grade workers in the federal civil service would be awarded a provisional wage increase of N25,000 for the next six months.

The amount was then increased to N35,000 following discussions with organised labour organisations, as this led to an increase of the wage bill to N315bn.


The agreements made the organised labour suspend its proposed nationwide strike for 30 days, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Government.

But the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, had added a caveat that the unions would revisit the agreement if the Federal Government failed to fulfil their demands.

The PUNCH had reported that civil servants under the Consolidated Public Service Salary Structure received a single payment of N35,000 for September only and not for two months as promised.

“Yes, I did receive it. I saw the alert about 15 minutes ago. I think it is for September because the alert indicated September,” a civil servant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, had confirmed last month.

Another civil servant had said, “Yes, I have seen mine too but we are expecting to see another alert because the President said it would start from September. So maybe another one will come, which will read October.”

With the accelerating inflation rate in Nigeria, workers had urged the Federal Government to give them fair compensation at the time it planned to review the minimum wage in Nigeria.

Workers, who spoke to The PUNCH, lamented that the escalating inflationary pressures were taking a serious toll on their finances, eroding their purchasing power.

A civil servant, who identified himself as Opeyemi, said the economic situation was becoming unbearable because most of the prices of food in the market had increased.

He claimed the amount he spent weekly on transport fares to the office had tripled.

He noted that though the Lagos State Government had promised some palliatives, he was not sure if other workers in other states were receiving that also.

The planned Israel-Hamas ceasefire will last a maximum of 10 days when up to 300 Palestinian prisoners are to be exchanged for up to 100 live hostages from Israel, a report in the Times of Israel on Wednesday said, citing the Israeli Cabinet.

After that, the fighting in the Gaza Strip is expected to continue, the paper said.

The Israeli news website Ynet also reported that Israel intends to pass on the names of the hostages to Hamas.

Part of the agreement is also said to be that kidnapped mothers and children will not be separated upon release.

According to the Times of Israel report, the hostages must be Israeli citizens or residents of the country.

Exactly who falls under this definition was not disclosed.

In the first phase, Israel plans to release 150 Palestinian prisoners as soon as 50 hostages have been released.

All those affected would be released in stages over a period of four days, with at least 10 hostages released each day.

In a second phase, up to 150 further Palestinian prisoners are to be released from Israeli prisons – if, in return, up to 50 hostages are brought back to Israel.

Again, at least 10 abductees would have to be released in each phase.

According to the report, there would then be an additional 24-hour ceasefire for every 10 hostages released. NAN.

Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yayaha Bello has queried eight out of the nine Local Government Chairmen in the Eastern Senatorial District of the state following their failure to deliver a single local government to the All Progressives Congress during the just concluded Governorship election, Arewa PUNCH authoritatively reports.

The chairmen include those of Omala, Ofu, Dekina, Ankpa, Olamaboro, Ibaji, Igalame/Odolu and Idah local government areas.

Our investigations reveal that the query was a fallout of the stakeholders’ meeting with members of the party which was held last week after the poll where the governor who spoke extempore expressed “disappointment with the Chairmen for not living up to expectations” despite being mobilised to deliver their local government areas for the party.

As a result, he asked them to explain why the party performed badly in their respective council areas which are the aforementioned LGAs in spite of being mobilised to provide transportation and other logistics for the people before and during the election.

A source at the event informed Arewa PUNCH that the visibly angry Governor also expressed his deep disappointment in the Chairmen for allegedly collecting unspecified sums of money from the Minister of Steel Development, Prince Shuaib Abubarkar Audu under the guise of “mobilisation votes” from him, even after the huge amount of monies given to them at the Government House before the election day.

Worse still, Bello noted that they still failed to deliver the necessary votes as APC only managed to win in the Bassa LGA.

“The implications of this is that the mobilisation fund ended up in private pockets and was not used for the purpose it was meant for,” the miffed Governor was quoted to have said.

He was equally said to have told the members present at the meeting that a questionnaire would be sent to them, which they should mandatorily submit by midday of Tuesday.

Arewa PUNCH reports that the tenure of the chairmen expires on December 12, 2023, however, it was further gathered that they may be sent packing before the day, even as there are talks that they may be forced to refund the mobilisation funds they collected before the election.

After a hard look at former President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years in office, a northern group, Arewa Think Tank, yesterday, declared that the Buhari-led federal government failed Nigeria.

The group, therefore, said the North should wait till 2031 before taking another shot at the presidency, after President Bola Tinubu’s expected two terms of eight years would have elapsed.

It also warned that the North should not consider running for the 2027 presidential race, in view of the gentleman’s agreement between the North and South.

The group, in a statement by Alhaji Muhammad Yakubu, anchored its position on fears that a presidency under a northerner would be of no benefit to the people of the region, citing the eight years of Buhari as wasteful years to Northern Nigeria.

It said only a few northerners would enjoy the benefits of democracy if another northerner emerged president in 2027.

The statement said, “Arewa Think Tank’s position on this is that from experience and history, the last eight years that Buhari was in power, he did not change the fortunes of the North, the North did not benefit anything. I am sorry to say, each time a northerner is at the helm of affairs, a few people around the president and in the corridors of power that are benefiting.

“Look at the eight years of Buhari, from Abuja to Kaduna, to Kano Road, they have not been able to complete the roads in eight years. This was the highway that was done by former President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida in less than three years. We can’t see what Buhari did with all the money he borrowed.

“Our people were more improvised under his administration. It was during his tenure that Nigeria became the poverty capital of the world. Jonathan built Almajiri schools during his regime. Buhari could not build one and he could not maintain the one that Jonathan built. So, it was a very few northerners and their families that were around Buhari that benefitted from him. North as a region and as the people did not benefit.”

Rationalising why Tinubu should be allowed to run the country for eight years, the group said, “Now, we have a southern president in Tinubu. He gave North Minister of Education and Minister of State for Education, Minister of Defence, and junior Minister of Defence, substantive Minister of Agriculture, and the junior Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Budget and Economic Planning.

Arewa Think Tank stated, “What North needs now is infrastructure, economic development, and qualitative education, not political power. Political power has not benefitted us. In the next eight years, we don’t think North will think of political power.”

The group maintained, “The North should go for agricultural and economic development and give quality education to our people. All indices of the North were at the lowest ebb during the last day of Buhari.

“We are happy that the Minister of Education is already making case for Almajiri commission within just a few months in office. If you see the blue print of the minister of agriculture, you will be amazed.

“Even though we are not where we ought to be, there is improvement in the area of insecurity. We can see some signs of improvement. There is a gentleman agreement between North and the South for the South to do eight years before going back to the North again.

“Tell me, how has North benefitted in the last eight years when North was in power, apart from kidnapping, killings and insurgency that Buhari left behind for us? How has the fortune of the North changed?

“For the North to continue with political power is just for the benefit of very few. We are telling the North not to seek political power in 2027. This is our position. And anybody who is not happy with our position should go and develop his own position.

“This is the fact. How has the fortunes of the North changed since independence, apart from the time of the late Premier of Northern Region and the Second Republic. So, really, we think North should stay out of power in 2027.”

The group also commented on the naira as well as socio-economic hardship in Nigeria, and appealed for understanding on the part of the citizenry to give Tinubu a chance.

It said, “This situation is not Tinubu’s creation. We should give him time to change the situation for the better. If after one and half years, we did not see positive changes, then, we can start firing him. Do you want Tinubu to go and print naira or dollars? He can’t do that.

“So, we are appealing that Nigerians should give him more time. If after one and a half years things did not improve, we know how to challenge him. There seems to be hope and light at the end of the tunnel with the few months he had spent in office.

“So, let’s give more time. We will be one of the first Nigerians to criticise him if things did not improve after one and a half years in office. The challenges he met in office are not his creations.”

A Hamas official said Tuesday that a ceasefire agreement with Israel would be announced in the coming hours in Qatar.

The official, who requested to remain anonymous, spoke with Xinhua.

“We are close to reaching an agreement in the coming hours, and the movement has delivered its response to the mediators’’, it said.

Another Hamas source said, “the agreement will be announced in Qatar, and it may be soon, and its success is linked to the commitment of the Israeli side.”

The ceasefire deal, said the sources, would last for five days and would include the release of 50 civilians and foreign nationals held by Hamas in exchange for the release of 300 Palestinian detainees.

This would include children and women held by Israel.

The deal will also include the entry of 300 trucks of food, medical and fuel aid into the Gaza Strip.

The sources indicated that the release of prisoners would take place in stages, at a rate of 10 Israeli prisoners per day compared with that of 30 Palestinian prisoners. (Xinhua/NAN)

A Nigerian man, who said he lived abroad for three decades – nine years in Britain, 21 years in America – has narrated how he found himself under the Oshodi Bridge, in Lagos State.

Speaking with a popular Ibadan-based journalist, Oriyomi Hamzat, the man, who broke down intermittently.

According to the man who said he studied Banking and Finance in London, but his travail began after he had a dream where he was flying like an eagle.

In the dream that preceded his strange trip to Nigeria, he said as he flew in the skies like a bird, he saw that he was welcome to Africa and eventually Nigeria.

“I just strangely found myself in Nigeria. I spent nine years in London. I studied Banking and Finance in London. I had struggled a lot. I had a dream like I was flying in the skies,” he said.

“In the dream, I was welcome to the Bahamas. I had been there for a vacation in real life. Then, I saw ‘Welcome to London’. Later, I saw another signpost that said, ‘Welcome to Africa’. After that another one said, ‘Welcome to Nigeria.’ It now became clearer when I started seeing cattle, and ‘molue’ buses, and I woke up.”

The man said the house he built in Akoka, Lagos, was allegedly sold by his brother who chased his wife out of the house.

The man said policemen woke him up under Oshodi bridge one day from where he traced his way to a mountain in Ifo, Ogun State, where he spent six years.

He accused his elder brother of tormenting him and denying him right to his father’s inheritance.

The man also appealed to Nigerians to assist him, saying the child who was five months old when he traveled abroad is now 43 years.

He said the child could not help him because he too needed financial assistance.

Nigeria and other oil and gas-producing countries in Africa may face serious economic problems in 2024 as the African Energy Chamber (AEC) projects a drastic reduction in the continent’s crude oil production.

While Nigeria is struggling economically due to low oil production coming on the backdrop of theft, vandalism and a generally elusive operating environment, the N26.01 trillion 2024 budget is built on oil production of 1.7 million barrels.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) in October said Nigeria’s oil production increased to 1,346,562 barrels per day (bpd) in September 2023.

‘The State of African Energy 2024 Outlook’ report released by AEC noted that oil production in Africa would fall from 6.9 million barrels per day to 6.62 million barrels per day.

This is coming at a time when African countries are expected to refine their crude locally. Already, several refinery projects are meant to come on stream from next year.

In Egypt, there are nine refineries (774,900 bpd), Algeria has five (303,700 bpd), Libya has five (380,000 bpd) and South Africa has four (545,000). Nigeria has three state-owned refineries (445,000 bpd), Dangote Refinery has 650,000 bpd, BUA refinery is about 200,000 bpd while other modular refineries have a capacity of 27,000 just as the Niger Republic is also expanding its refinery.

In Nigeria, refineries are already struggling to find crude oil to operate even as gas projects are stalling due to gas feedstock.AEC, in its report, stated that oil production in Africa in 2023 – 2024 would be around 6.77 million barrels per day (bpd).

Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber, NJ Ayuk said: “We should be seizing every opportunity to capitalise on our oil and gas resources.”

While most of the African producers are already struggling to meet OPEC quotas, Ayuk lamented that declining oil production in Africa is sad news.

Ayuk said: “Every drop of oil extracted is a pathway to economic growth – revenue that can fund social programs, infrastructure development, and much-needed technology transfers from the international oil companies (IOCs) that invest in Africa.”

The AEC report is coming at a time when the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission is dragging oil producers in an attempt to enforce Section 109 of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which introduced Domestic Crude Supply Obligation (DCSO) to Nigeria’s oil industry to ensure domestic refineries are not starved of crude oil supply.

Although the regulator is threatening a fine of $10,000, a penalty of 50 per cent of their fiscal price per barrel of crude oil not delivered to refineries and denial of export permits, reports by Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) said a mere 23 per cent of deepwater assets produced in 2021.

Earlier this month, the leadership of the National Assembly, the International Oil Companies and the Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG) were seeking leeway to crude oil theft, insecurity in the Niger Delta region, fiscals, joint venture challenges and other issues bedevilling the oil and gas sector.

Nigeria’s foreign exchange crisis, rising debt and gross underdevelopment are being fueled by the oil and gas sector which accounts for over 85 per cent of foreign exchange earnings. Nigeria’s oil production is currently at about 1.3 million barrels. That is about half of the production in 2011 when the country was producing about 2.4 million barrels per day.