₦airaland Forum

MSF says it is overwhelmed in country where 31.8 million people are suffering from hunger

An unprecedented number of children in northern Nigeria are suffering from acute malnutrition, aid workers in the country have said.

Nigeria has the “largest number of food insecure people globally” at 31.8 million, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization office in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri said.

Médecins Sans Frontières, which is working in seven states, said its facilities were so overwhelmed that children were being treated on mattresses on the floor. MSF said it admitted 1,250 children in April to an inpatient therapeutic feeding centre in Maiduguri, twice the figure for the same period in 2023.

Dr Simba Tirima, MSF’s Nigeria representative, said: “In all these places we’ve seen, at least in some cases, double what we saw last year or at least a more than 60% increase in the patients admitted. We have a crisis at hand. We have an emergency at hand, and those kids that are severely malnourished definitely need treatment.”

Severe acute malnutrition has also led to other conditions, such as tuberculosis and acute diarrhoea, and stunted children’s growth. More than 52,000 patients were diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition across seven states in 2023 and 2,693 of them died, according to MSF figures.

The reasons for the increase in malnutrition are well noted: food inflation is close to 30% as Africa’s most populous country is experiencing worsening food insecurity. A third of the country – amounting to more than the combined population of the UK, Ireland and Denmark – live on less than £1 a day.

Meanwhile, farmland has been abandoned in parts of the north because of gangs kidnapping, extorting and in some cases killing farmers. The Nigerian newspaper the Punch reported that 165 farmers were killed in the first three months of this year.

About 1.2 million people were displaced in eight states in central and north-west Nigeria by the end of 2022 because of violence, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration. In that same period, about 2.3 million others were displaced in the north-east, where jihadist groups such as Boko Haram continue to run amok.

The insecurity and economic instability have made food expensive. Food reserves in some villages have been depleted as there has been little or no growth in household incomes, some local people told aid workers.

In January, a report by the US Department of Agriculture and the Global Agricultural Information Network revealed that Nigeria had become the second country in Africa, after South Africa, to embrace genetically engineered corn.

A month later the government ordered the release of 2,000 metric tonnes of grains from the federal reserves, with the agriculture minister, Abubakar Kyari, saying: “Food security is national security”.

But aid organisations say millions of people are still at risk of famine as Nigeria enters the lean season, which is usually from June to September. The World Food Programme has already projected that 26.5 million people in Nigeria could face acute hunger by the end of this period.

Other experts say the position could deteriorate even before then and have called for immediate funding to save millions of vulnerable children.

“We’re not even in the middle of that lean season,” Tirima said. “We need other actors to come in. MSF is just one organisation. In fact, what we do is a drop in the bucket … we are nowhere near addressing the immediate crisis that we face.”

“A child who died yesterday of malnutrition is a tragedy,” he added. “A child who might die tomorrow because of malnutrition is preventable.”

omoredia:
Can u suffer from a defect that was not ur own doing? Can ur Toyota be damaged by someone other than urself?

omoredia:
The person that created my wonderful Toyota car is not responsible if it breakdown by using it irresponsibly. The same with all of God's creations. If we function as he expects and has specified then we will not breakdown.

omoredia:
Nice question. It's not from God. It can be from us or the devil but never from God.

omoredia:
There is not evil in God. Anything bad that will happen in ur life is never from God.

Matheusmartin:
...
Thats Danny my guyyy..

Be giving those oversabi Christians sleepless nights.
..


I don't know if there's a God or not.
But it's obvious it/he/she does not interfere in the affairs of men.
No special benefits whatsoever for believing in the existence of a God.

As a Nigerian,you'd still fail exams if u do not prepare well. You'd still fail interviews with no proper connections. You'd still fall sick, get involved in accidents that may even claim your life, get kidnapped and die gruesome death.

I ask,what's that special benefit do believers actually get from their so call relationships with god

SpecialAdviser:
Tinubu: I will continue where Buhari stopped
Buhari: Support Tinubu he is doing well.
Presidency : Tinubu inherited bad economy from Buhari.
Presidency: Reward him with a new presidential jet
BATerians: Peter Obi is to blame
supporters: é pàtè òwò

Bobloco:
https://punchng.com/presidency-obi-clash-over-new-presidential-jet/

tobenuel:
Toh

Where is Helinues. him never wake up?

@OP that pinchure wey you use as illustration get as e be na

Nigeria is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, with skyrocketing inflation, a national currency in free-fall and millions of people struggling to buy food. Only two years ago Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria is projected to drop to fourth place this year.

The pain is widespread. Unions strike to protest salaries of around $20 a month. People die in stampedes, desperate for free sacks of rice. Hospitals are overrun with women wracked by spasms from calcium deficiencies.

The crisis is largely believed to be rooted in two major changes implemented by a president elected 15 months ago: the partial removal of fuel subsidies and the floating of the currency, which together have caused major price rises.

A nation of entrepreneurs, Nigeria’s more than 200 million citizens are skilled at managing in tough circumstances, without the services states usually provide. They generate their own electricity and source their own water. They take up arms and defend their communities when the armed forces cannot. They negotiate with kidnappers when family members are abducted.

But right now, their resourcefulness is being stretched to the limit.

No Money for Milk

On a recent morning in a corner of the biggest emergency room in northern Nigeria, three women were convulsing in painful spasms, unable to speak. Each year, the E.R. at Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital in Kano, Nigeria’s second-largest city, received one or two cases of hypocalcemia caused by malnutrition, said Salisu Garba, a kindly health worker who hurried from bed to bed, ward to ward.

Now, with many unable to afford food, the hospital sees multiple cases every day.

Mr. Garba was sizing up the women’s husbands. Which source of nutrition he recommended depended on what he thought they could afford. Baobab leaves or tiger nuts for the poor; boiled-up bones for the slightly better off. He laughed at the suggestion that anyone could afford milk.

More than 87 million people in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, live below the poverty line — the world’s second-largest poor population after India, a country seven times its size . And punishing inflation means poverty rates are expected to rise still further this year and next, according to the World Bank.

Last week, unions shut down hospitals, courts, schools, airports and even the country’s Parliament, striking in an attempt to force the government to increase the monthly salary of $20 it pays its lowest workers.

But over 92 percent of working-age Nigerians are in the informal sector, where there are no wages, and no unions to fight for them.

For the Afolabi family in Ibadan, in southwestern Nigeria, the descent into poverty started in January with the loss of an electric tuk-tuk taxi.

Forced to sell the taxi to pay his wife’s hospital bills after the difficult birth of their second child, Babatunde Afolabi turned to occasional construction work. It paid badly, but the family managed.

“We had no thoughts about starvation,” he said.

But then, he said, cassava — the cheapest staple in many parts of Nigeria — tripled in price.

All they can afford now, he said, is a few biscuits, a little bread, and for their 6-year-old, 20 peanuts a day.

A Country Built on Gas

Nigeria is a country heavily dependent on imported petroleum products, despite being a major oil producer. After years of underinvestment and mismanagement, its state refineries produce hardly any gasoline.

For decades, the national soundtrack has been the hum of small generators, fired up during daily power outages. Petroleum products move goods and people around the country.

Until recently, the government subsidized that petroleum, to the tune of billions of dollars a year.

Many Nigerians said the subsidy was the only useful contribution from a neglectful and predatory government. Successive presidents have pledged to remove the subsidy, which drains a hefty chunk of government revenue — and later backtracked fearing mass unrest.

Bola Tinubu, who was elected Nigeria’s president last year, initially followed through.

“It was a necessary action for my country not to go bankrupt,” Mr. Tinubu said in April, at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Saudi Arabia.

Instead, many Nigerians are going bankrupt — or working multiple jobs to stay afloat.

Mr. Garba, the hospital worker, used to be solidly middle class, even though 17 family members, including 12 children, depended on him.

After shifts at the hospital, where he is setting up the first statewide ambulance service in addition to working in the emergency room, for which he is paid $150 a month, he heads to the Red Cross. There he occasionally receives a $3.30 volunteer stipend for helping tackle a severe diphtheria outbreak.

At night, he works at the pharmacy that he and a colleague set up. But few people have money for medicine anymore. He sells about $7 worth of medication per day

Last year, Mr. Garba sold his car when the gas subsidies were removed, and now takes a tuk-tuk to work. Unable to power the generator, he reads medicine labels at the pharmacy by the light of a small solar lantern. He can only afford to buy rice and cassava in small quantities.

Life under the previous government was very expensive, he said, but nothing like today.

“It’s very, very bad,” he said.

It’s gotten so dire that there have been several deadly stampedes for free or discounted rice distributed by the government — including one in March at a university in the central state of Nasarawa where seven students were killed.

Mr. Tinubu promised to create a million jobs and quadruple the size of the economy within a decade, but has not said how . The International Monetary Fund said last month the state has started subsidizing fuel and electricity again — though the government has not acknowledged this.

“There’s still very little clarity — if any — on where the economy is headed, what the priorities are,” said Zainab Usman, a political economist and director of the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The Tapping Craze

A spate of new crypto-mining games that promise to generate income the more the user plays has people across Nigeria spending all day tapping on their smartphone screens, desperate to earn a few dollars.

People tap as they pray, in mosques and churches. Children tap under desks at school. Mourners tap at funerals.

There’s no guarantee any of them will ever benefit from the hours they put in mindlessly tapping.

Then again, they can’t count on the national currency, the naira.

The government has twice devalued the naira in the past year, trying to enable it to float more freely and attract foreign investment. The upshot: It’s lost nearly 70 percent of its value against the dollar.

Nigeria cannot produce enough food for its growing population; food imports rise 11 percent annually. The currency devaluation caused those imports — already expensive because of high tariffs — to explode in price.

Nigerians can become paupers almost overnight. So they’re searching for anything that might hold its value — or ideally, get them rich.

“People are looking for me everywhere,” said Rabiu Biyora, the undisputed king of tapping in Kano, opening one of his five foldable phones to add to his 2.7 billion taps on the TapSwap app. “Not to attack me, but to collect something from me.”

A relaxed, businesslike 39-year-old followed everywhere by young tech-savvy acolytes, Mr. Biyora would only say that he made “over $10,000” from the previous tapping craze.

He profits from everyone else’s taps, so he encourages them in posts on social media, and by providing free internet to anyone willing to sit outside his house. Nigerians don’t need much encouragement — despite the risks and volatility, Nigeria has the second highest cryptocurrency adoption rate in the world.

So every evening, struggling young men gather by Mr. Biyora’s home and tap.

Pleas for Help

In much of Nigeria, it’s normal to share with your neighbors and give alms to the poor.

Every day, people come to the gate of Kano’s Freedom Radio station to drop off sheets of paper containing heartfelt appeals for help paying medical bills or school fees, or to recover from some disaster.

A radio presenter chooses three to read out daily, and often a sympathetic listener calls in to pay the supplicant’s bill.

But lately the appeals have multiplied, and offers of help have dried up.

Good Samaritans used to come to the E.R. and pay strangers’ bills for them, Mr. Garba said. That rarely happens now either.

Still, Mr. Garba said, the number of patients coming to his hospital has almost halved in recent months.

Many of the sick never even make it. They can’t afford the 20-cent bus ride.

The Presidency has reacted to a report published in the New York Times criticising the Nigerian economy as facing the worst trajectory in a generation.

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, responded on Sunday to the report by Ruth Maclean and Ismail Auwal.

According to the Presidency, the feature story, titled ‘Nigeria Confronts Its Worst Economic Crisis in a Generation’ and published on June 11,https://www.nairaland.com/8126901/nigeria-confronts-worst-economic-crisis
reflected the typical predetermined, reductionist, derogatory, and denigrating way foreign media establishments have reported on African countries for decades.

Onanuga stated that due to the ‘misleading’ slant of the report, the government needed to clear up some misconceptions conveyed by the reporters regarding the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, which took office at the end of May 2023.

He noted that the report painted a dire picture of some Nigerians’ experiences amid the inflationary spiral of the last year and unfairly blamed it all on the new administration’s policies.

He argued that the report, based on several interviews, is at best jaundiced, portraying all gloom and doom without mentioning the positive aspects of the economy or the amelioration policies being implemented by the central and state governments.

Onanuga emphasized that Tinubu did not create the economic problems Nigeria faces today but inherited them.

“As a respected economist in our country once put it, Tinubu inherited a dead economy.

“The economy was bleeding and needed quick surgery to avoid being plunged into the abyss, as happened in Zimbabwe and Venezuela,” he noted.

He explained that this context led to the policy direction taken by the government in May/June 2023, including the abrogation of the fuel subsidy regime and the unification of the multiple exchange rates.

Onanuga highlighted that Nigeria had maintained a fuel subsidy regime for decades, which consumed $84.39 billion between 2005 and 2022 from the public treasury, in a country with significant infrastructural deficits and a high need for better social services.

He also alleged that the state oil firm, NNPCL, had accumulated trillions of Naira in debts due to unsustainable subsidy payments.

He noted that when Tinubu took office, no provision was made for fuel subsidy payments in the national budget beyond June 2023.

“The budget itself had a striking feature: it planned to spend 97 per cent of revenue servicing debt, with little left for recurrent or capital expenditure. The previous government had resorted to massive borrowing to cover such costs.”

Onanuga further explained that like oil, the exchange rate was also subsidized by the government, with an estimated $1.5 billion spent monthly by the CBN to defend the currency against the unquenchable demand for the dollar.

“This low rate led to arbitrage and failures to fulfil remittance obligations to airlines and other foreign businesses, drying up foreign direct investment and investments in the oil sector.

“To address these issues, Tinubu rolled back the subsidy regime and floated the naira on his first day”, Onanuga said.

Despite initial challenges, Onanuga noted that some stability is being restored , with the exchange rate now below N1500 to the dollar and prospects for further appreciation.

He cited a trade surplus of N6.52 trillion in Q1, as opposed to a deficit of N1.4 trillion in Q4 of 2023, and renewed interest from portfolio investors as indicators of improving economic confidence. Loans from the World Bank, AfDB, and Afreximbank are also contributing to Nigeria’s renewed bankability.

Onanuga highlighted efforts to control inflation, especially food inflation, through increased agricultural production and state-led initiatives to sell food at lower prices.

“The Tinubu administration has invested heavily in dry-season farming and provided incentives to farmers

mikywonder:
They swear for Una
Are u guys not tired yet

fergie001:
SOURCE

coputa:
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2024/06/5-countries-that-recently-changed-their-national-anthem/amp/

0001Lagos:
Tinubu and shetima alone spent N8.64 billion naira in 3months but don't have minimum wage to pay Nigerian workers

What a wicked and useless president

Celestialsword:
https://dailytrust.com/tinubus-silent-and-unreported-achievements/

firearcher:
I followed the case closely. The verdict is most likely going to be reversed on appeal but that can take a year or more. The case is weak and convoluted but Trump was most likely going to be convicted by jurors picked from a 90-95% democrats area.

In the meantime, he will be tagged convicted felon by the democratic ahead of the election which I think is what the democrats want. Its a political game, and the left hate Trump intensely that they will do anything to destroy him and justify it. To them he is Hitler and Stalin rolled together

Oghene86:
It has exceeded the warranty period

Oghene86:
So it can't be fixed ?

Oghene86:
I have a 65inch that's gone blank don't know what to do about it, if I should repair or go for a new TV

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission on Monday released an order on the Deregulation of Meter Prices for meters deployed under the Meter Asset Provider Scheme.

It said the prices of meters were deregulated after Meter Asset Providers and other operators requested a further review of meter prices in consideration of the significant changes in foreign exchange and inflation rates since the last price review of the prices of meters by NERC in September 2023.

It said the significant changes in these macroeconomic variables had constrained the abilities of meter providers to supply meters at the approved regulated price.

“The commission has noted the need for the efficient pricing of meters to respond more quickly to changes in macroeconomic parameters, particularly exchange rates.

“The commission has further taken cognisance of the constraints/challenges faced by MAPs and LMMAs and therefore approved the deregulation of prices of meters deployed under the MAP scheme with effect from May 1, 2024,” NERC stated.

It added, “With effect from May 1, 2024, all prices of meters under the MAP scheme shall be determined through a competitive bidding process with customers provided with a choice of authorised vendors.”

It said the combined effects of sections of the regulations on the regulated pricing of meters deployed under the MAP scheme was hereby derogated.(otilo - its gone)

“The cost of prices of meters deployed under the MAP scheme is hereby deregulated to enable end-use customers acquire meters from MAPs of their choice based on competitive open market prices determined from transparent bidding frameworks,” the commission stated.

It said, “All MAP permits holders are henceforth eligible to provide services and transact for the provision of meters and metering services with any Disco in the Federal Republic of Nigeria with their existing permit.
.
“The lifting of the restriction on permitting to operate in all Discos is subject to the mandatory requirement for MAPs to comply with the associated Disco specific requirements/specifications.

“All Discos shall ensure the effective and seamless integration of smart meters deployed by MAPs with the Disco’s head-end systems and meter data management systems.” - the gift that keeps on giving"

AmazingGenius:
https://leadership.ng/new-tariff-band-a-homes-may-spend-n170000-on-electricity-monthly/

ivandragon:
I have let him be. I just had to quote him because he has been getting away unchallenged with supporting subsidy removals.

I don't understand why a person supports imposing hardship that can be avoided or mitigated if the government simply does what it is elected for.

ivandragon:
It's not a matter of winning and I would let you have the last word since I quoted you first.

But the point is, removing subsidies is not an end in itself and especially not so if it creates more hardship than it solves.

You and your likes are the ones that are not ready to hold the government to account because you can easily afford whatever prices it rises to.

I cannot understand how the masses should be made to suffer because the government is too cowardly or complicit in the corruption and ineptitude allowed to fester in a system.

For every Venezuela, there is a US, Canada and even Germany to learn from.

Drickstore:
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Pickup at Iyana Ipaja, Lagos

The US will withdraw more than 1,000 military personnel from Niger in a move that will force the Biden administration to rethink its counter-terrorism strategy and amounts to a strategic victory for Russia.

The decision comes a month after the west African country’s ruling military junta revoked a security pact with Washington that had allowed American forces on its soil to help fight jihadist terrorism.

US officials had voiced hopes that behind-the-scenes talks could salvage the 12-year-old agreement, which was thrown into jeopardy on 15 March when a junta spokesperson publicly declared the continued US military presence in Niger “illegal”.

But the US finally admitted defeat after meetings in Washington this week between Kurt Campbell, the deputy secretary of state, and Niger’s prime minister, Ali Lamine Zeine.

The withdrawal, expected to occur over the coming months, will mean the closure of a US drone facility, known as Base 201, at Agadez in the Sahara that was opened in 2018 at a cost of $110m.

The base, one of the main US drone facilities in Africa, has been used in operations against jihadist groups in the Sahel region and was reportedly the launchpad for a series of deadly strikes against Islamic State fighters in Libya in 2019.

Niger’s relations with Washington have been tense since last July when the democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, was overthrown in a coup. He remains under house arrest, despite American calls for his release.

Since the coup, Niger’s new leaders have pursued closer ties with Russia, mirroring neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, where Russian military forces have established a presence.

Just days after the arrival of Russian military equipment and advisers in the country, thousands of protesters gathered in the Nigerien capital, Niamey, last week to demand the withdrawal of American forces.

According to Russian reports, the newly arrived personnel were part of Russia’s Africa Corps, a new paramilitary group established to replace the Wagner Group, the mercenary outfit founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Prigozhin had been an ally of Vladimir Putin until he led a failed rebellion last year against the Russian president’s stewardship of the war in Ukraine; he was killed in a plane crash. He offered the Wagner Group’s services to the coup leaders after they seized power.

US military commanders have warned of the spread of Russian influence in the Sahe[/b]l, a semi-arid region in the southern Sahara stretching from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, and in other parts of Africa at American expense.

American alarm rose when Lamine Zeine visited Moscow last December to discuss military and economic ties, followed by a visit to Tehran the following month, where he met Ebrahim Raisi, the Iranian president.

Senior state department and Pentagon officials visited Niger earlier this year in an effort to keep the military agreement intact.

The visit was not a success, with Nigerien figures voicing anger over what they said were unfounded American suspicions of negotiations to allow Iran access to Niger’s uranium resources, potentially enhancing Tehran’s nuclear programme.

[b]The departure of American forces from Niger follows the expulsion of French troops in the wake of last summer’s coup.

Following the approval of 240 per cent tariff increment for Band A customers by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, some power consumers in that category are complaining of severe extortion by the various electricity distribution companies in the country amidst worsening power supply.

NERC had on Wednesday announced the tariff increment for Band A power consumers from N68 to N225 per kilowatt-hour with immediate effect.

With the new tariff, the regulator said the subsidy on electricity had been withdrawn completely from the Band A consumers, who constitute about 15 per cent of the total number of power users across the country.

At a press briefing in Abuja on Friday, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, insisted that the Federal Government would continue with the new tariff regime for Band A consumers despite calls for its reversal.

He said this was because the government could no longer continue paying humongous sums as power subsidy, stressing that subsidy on electricity for 2024 would cost the government about N2.9tn.

But in a flurry of reactions to the development via their X handles on Saturday, some customers lamented that despite paying exorbitantly for electricity following the tariff hike, they were experiencing poor supply in their different neighbourhoods across the country.

This is just as some Nigerians in Bands B, C, D, and E alleged that they were now being made to pay N225/KWh by the Discos instead of their old tariffs after the distribution companies upgraded their payment platforms to reflect the Band A tariff increment.

An X user identified as Heybeedo @Fadodunabayomi, stated, “My environment was listed among Band A, but we have never used a 20-hour electricity supply per day. As I am typing, there has been no light since around 1am in the early hours of today (Saturday). Who will pay for the shortfall in their supply? A lot needs to be clarified.”

Kaduna-based Tariq Abdulazeez @tariqq2 wrote, “The Kaduna Disco has failed to comply with the new regulations thereby upgrading 80 per cent of its customers to band A. We barely get 8hrs power supply.

@OlaosunSina posted, “IKEDC claims OPIC in Isheri-North belongs to Band A and immediately implemented N225 per KwH. N50,000 energy (VAT inclusive) purchased yesterday (Thursday) gave 207 KwH Units. Light was taken since 9.34am today (Friday) 5th April and as of 3.37pm yet to come. This is a pure SCAM!”

Vivo Val also tweeted, “Though I am on Band B, IKEDC gave me 82 units for N20,000.”

One Michael Ifeanyi posted on the platform, “Please NERC, ask Enugu Electricity Distribution Companies to downgrade Centenary Estate Enugu to band C we hardly enjoy 10 hours light. They are charging us for band A.”

One Bolaji @bolsaid said, “I am on Band A and have not had up to 20hrs supply in the last five days, from Easter Monday till now. NERCNG, FCCPC Nigeria,” while @Otyjonah wrote, “My environment is under Band A even though the Disco has refused to issue us a prepaid meter. I have seen power supply since 11pm on d 4th of April. Today is 6th and there is no single hour of light in almost 48hrs. Will I be made to pay for the darkness at the end of the month @NERCNG?”

Lere Ojedokun @doklere said, “There is so much secrecy and loopholes in the electricity ecosystem which investors and players exploit to milk electricity consumers. This is why we will continue to be at their mercy

Oluwakemi @tykeemon said, “Are there really any Band A users in Nigeria? Are we joking? I get less than eight hours of electricity supply daily and I have been fraudulently classified as a Band A user. @NERCNG, you are not a regulator but an accomplice to rip off.”

Isaac Emalunegbe said, “We in Calabar around the Akai Effa axis suffer from your Disco staff here. They will tell us we are in Band A and we get supple less than those in Band C and at the end of every month they will issue exorbitant bill. I was a victim in 2021.”

Sack minister now’

In a related development, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti State, Lere Olayinka, has called on President Bola Tinubu to sack the Minister of Power for alleged incompetence reflected in his inability to ensure a steady power supply.

Olayinka, a former House of Representatives aspirant, also accused the minister of insensitivity with the incessant electricity tariff increases despite failure to ensure constant power supply since he assumed office.

Olayinka, in a statement in Ado Ekiti on Saturday titled, ‘Sack power minister, Bayo Adelabu, now; he can’t even give you constant electricity in Aso Villa, PDP chieftain tells Tinubu’, advises the government to save itself from further embarrassment by sacking Adelabu and replacing him with a professional.

Power ministry, NERC inefficient — Afenifere

Similarly, the Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and political organisation, Afenifere, has described the electricity tariff increase as an attempt to thwart President Bola Tinubu’s economic recovery efforts.

Afenifere stated this in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi and made available to journalists on Saturday.

While noting that the electricity tariff hike will shrink both corporate and small medium businesses in the country, Ajayi said, “It is clear that rather than exploring ways to reduce the cost of producing energy thus reducing the pains of Nigerians, the relevant government agencies are passing the price of their own inefficiency on the people.

In a related development, Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has called on the management of IBEDC to urgently address current irregular power supply in the state.

Adeleke, who made the demand at a meeting held with the management of the company in Ibadan, Oyo State, described Osun as a critical stakeholder in the Nigerian power sector with Osogbo, the state capital, hosting the National Transmission Control Centre.

The governor said it was “unacceptable that the state will be having epileptic power supply,” which he said has been affecting its local economy and businesses badly.

Bobloco:
The Nigeria president , Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had revealed his administration scorecard for the month of March.

This was posted on the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Media Centre social media account on 1st April, 2024.

Highlighting the President Tinubu’s progress towards the fulfilment of his Renewed Hope Agenda

Here are list of March progress recorded

Approval to institutionalize a 30% representation of young people in government appointments

Approval to restructure and institutionalize Nigerian youth investment fund

The revamped youth investment fund will receive #25 billion from the 2023 supplementary appropriation act, and additional #25 billion from the youth development fund in the 2024 budget

Approval for a #60 billion release from the CBN through the Agric Investment and Small and Medium Enterprises Scheme to Nigerian Youths.

Approval for the establishment of an economic management task force.

Complete payment of the $7 billion foreign exchange (FX) backlog

A new Recapitalization benchmark of N500bn was set by the CBN.

A Bill to prescribe the Salaries, Allowances and Fringe Benefits of Judicial Office Holders in Nigeria and for Related Matters was forwarded to NASS.

3 months ban on foreign trips by Government appointees, this is in order to reduce cost of governance.

Approval for the conversion of the Federal College of Dental Technology and Therapy, Enugu, to a full-fledged University of Allied Health Sciences.

Commencement of the construction of the 700 km Lagos-Calabar coastal road with the handover of the 1st phase of 47.47km of the dual carriageway to the contractor.

– Payment of $7 billion FX backlog.

– ⁠Establishment of a new economic team.

– Commencement Of 700 km Lagos – Calabar Coastal Road.

– ⁠Judiciary Reforms.

– Youths as a priority …..

President Tinubu’s March came with a lot of progress towards the fulfilment of his Renewed… pic.twitter.com/WR1qozvqsy

— President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Media Centre (@PBATMediaCentre) April 1, 2024

https://tribuneonlineng.com/renewed-hope-tinubus-march-scorecard/