₦airaland Forum

The Meeting

Patience met her husband while she was a student at the Rivers State College of Education (now, Rivers State University of Education, Rumuolumeni). She speaks: “We first met at the Rivers State College of Education, Port Harcourt where I was a student. He was my Biology lecturer. Later, he left for University of Port Harcourt to pursue his PHD.”

“We met again at the University of Port Harcourt when I went for undergraduate degree. That was where our relationship began. He took interest in me because I was a brilliant and smart student. It was love at first sight on his part. But it never crossed my mind that it would lead to a serious relationship. My first impression of him was ‘this tall, dark, handsome, young man’.

Further interaction with him also revealed that he came from a good Christian home just like I did. His humble and gentle disposition caught my attention and most importantly his intelligence.”

The face of business

A glimpse into her business life shows a woman with a Midas touch and an abiding passion for business. At different times in her teaching and civil service careers, she had always done business on the side. Indeed, she had a nickname “Mama ice cream” at a time. She earned it when she cooled and distributed ice cream. Her husband was a senior lecturer at the time, and later an assistant director at OMPADEC (Oil Minerals Producing and Development Commission) She had a poultry farm too.

Her Style
A woman of style, she created her own seal of office on her lectern, which she used during public functions. This generated heated debate and criticisms because the “Office of the First Lady is not recognized by the constitution. The Dame is also quite sociable, always keeping a legion of friends. A former legislator in Rivers State, Evans Bipi, once referred to her as Jesus Christ.

“This woman (Patience Jonathan) is everything in my life. She made me what I am today. Politically and otherwise; I can say it anywhere. I can say she is my Jesus Christ because she has made me who I am today”. The ex-first lady is also an exquisite, classy dresser.

As part of her style, she also treated the nation to remarkably rib-cracking English in slow, boorish diction. Some of the popular ones include “My fellow widows”;
“Yes, we are all happy for the effort, it is not easy to carry second in an international competition like this one,” speech after the female Under 19 FIFA World Cup; “We should have love for our fellow Nigerians irrespective of their nationality”; “Thank God the doctors and nurses are responding to treatment; “ Chai! Chai! There is God o… there’s God in everything we are doing, continue!;” “Ojukwu is a great man, he died but his manhood lives on”; “Na only you waka come?”; “At least, we all have HIV/AIDS, except that some of us are negative and some of us are positive (On world AIDS day).

The essential Patience

Patience was born on October 25, 1957 in Port Harcourt. She earned her First School Leaving Certificate in 1976, and passed the West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE) in 1980. In 1989, she obtained the National Certificate of Education (NCE) in Mathematics and Biology from the Rivers State College of Arts and Science, Port Harcourt. She then proceeded to the University of Port Harcourt and bagged a B ED in Biology and Psychology. She also has an honorary doctorate from the University of Port Harcourt. She began her career at the Stella Maris College, Port Harcourt and Sports Institute, Isake. She veered off into the banking sector in 1997 serving as marketing manager of Imiete Community Bank, after which she established the first community bank in Port Harcourt known as Akpo Community Bank.

She returned to the classroom again briefly, before she was transferred to Bayelsa State Ministry of Education where she served until May 29, 1999, when her husband became the deputy governor of the state. On July 12, 2012, she was appointed a permanent secretary in Bayelsa State by Governor Henry Seriake Dickson. She and her husband have two children, Ariwera Adolphus, and Aruabi Jonathan.

Patience has been recognized nationally and internationally for her philanthropic work and political pragmatism. She got the “ Beyond the Tears” international Humanitarian Award in New York, USA, in 2008, for her role in the global fight against HIV/AIDS; the African Goodwill Ambassador Award( Los Angeles, USA, 2008, and the “Wind of Change” Award from the South/South Women’s Organization. As first lady of Bayelsa State between 2005 and 2007, she founded the A- Aruere Reachout Foundation (AARF) which was designed to improve the status and earning power of Nigerian women and youths. The foundation also focused on assisting children with heart related ailments. She bears the title, “Dame” because she is a Knight of the Anglican Church.

Her hobbies include reading, writing, travelling, and swimming. She holds many traditional titles, including Odadigba of Otuoke Kingdom (ladder of success) and Yeye Obateru of Owu Kingdom, Ogun State (Wife of he who shares the King’s burden). She lost her mother at a tender age and was raised by her step mother, Charity Oba (Mama Sisi) who died in a road accident along the East-West Road between Bayelsa and Rivers state in July 2013. She hails from Oba-Ama Community in Okrika, a port town in Rivers state.

Up close Patience

From the cradle, up to her close to six odd decades, her life rankles with interest, and most times excitements. As a knight in full armour, she has grabbed all the ends and bits, in perpetual battle with life and its droppings. Patience lives here. Her life and works are a huge pile for chroniclers of history. Boiled and strewn all around with the springly darts of life, she dares to wink at the gods; a rare quality of conquerors.

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By CHIDI OBINECHE

love or hate her, Patience Ibifaka, nee Oba, wife of Nigeria’s immediate past president, Goodluck Jonathan is an enigma, a burst of complexities and an eyeball with legs. She is a burgess straight from Neil Gayman’s comic book series, The Sandman. After 16 years in government houses in Yenagoa and Abuja, she has more than any past first lady, living or dead, continued to excite varying degrees of emotion. Barely 15 months off the public eye, patience has returned with a bang, wings aloft, red-hot, like the Dame she is.

She is embroiled in a tango with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC over the sum of $15million traced to an account at Skye Bank opened by her husband’s former aide on domestic affairs, Waripamo Dudafa.

Another $5million was also traced to her account in the same bank, bringing the haul to $20million. As part of investigations into a money laundering case against Dudafa, the commission traced four companies’ accounts in the bank to him. The EFCC charged Dudafa and the four companies with money laundering. The four accounts, which have since been frozen are in the name of Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited; Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Limited; Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited and Globus Integrated Services Limited.

In a move that is vintage Patience, she claimed ownership of the accounts and promptly sued the EFCC for N200million. The anti-graft agency has been working on the premise that Dudafa forged the identities of his domestic servants to open the accounts. The domestic servants were, however, denied access to the accounts, while a platinum card was issued to Patience. As hearing of the case opened, officials of the companies pleaded guilty to the charges.

A highly peeved patience reacted by accusing the agency of deploying mercenaries who posed as officials of the companies to plead guilty in order to rope her in and take her money. She had earlier claimed that the monies found in the accounts were for her medicals and sundry purchases abroad, vowing to provide evidence of the sources. The evolving development has led to speculations of an impending comprehensive probe of Jonathan and his wife, with growing fears at the weekend that her multi-billion naira hotel in Yenagoa known as Aridolf Resort Wellness and Spa, which she inaugurated in April 2015 may be seized, if she fails to explain how she came about the funds in the accounts.

Already, the former first lady is facing a probe over the source of funds for five properties including a N5billion hotel in Abuja. Another four properties linked to her in Yenagoa and Port Harcourt are also being investigated. The commission suspects that the funds used in building these edifices may have come from gratifications while her husband was in office. Altogether, about $31million belonging to her has been frozen.

The ongoing tussle is gradually opening more vista into the world of the ex-first lady. In the foreground of the last presidential elections, the irrepressible ex-first lady had sensationally urged Nigerians at a rally not to vote for Muhammadu Buhari, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC because “he will jail us.” That haunch in her, which has raced through the sinews of this regime, is noisily screeching to a halt at the doorstep of the Jonathans.

Her “wars”

On September 4, 2012, she was hospitalized in a German hospital following a severe bout of food poisoning that lasted for days. She took ill 10 days earlier, after hosting a summit of first ladies from across Africa. She was discharged from the Horst Schmidt Klinik in Wiesbaden on October 2, 2012.

When the media noticed her unusual disappearance from the public view, her Spokesman Ayo Osinlu, issued a statement emphatically stating that she had only gone to Germany “to take time off to rest”, and not for medical purposes. On her return to the country after two months, Patience declared that she literally came back from the dead. According to her, “I was operated upon nine times. My intestines were brought out many times and put back, but God said I will not die. It was a miracle that I survived. God is wonderful.”

During the crisis over the 230 Chibokgirls abducted by Boko Haram insurgents in Borno State of the North East of Nigeria, Patience scored a bull’s eye. After a meeting she convened in May, 2014 with representatives of the Chibok community, there were reports that one of the leaders- Naomi Mutah- had been detained by the police.

It was alleged that Mrs. Jonathan had felt slighted that the mothers of the abducted Chibokgirls had sent Ms Mutah to the meeting. Immediately after the meeting, Ms Mutah was taken to a police station and held. Pogo Bitrus , a Chibok community leader described the act as ‘unfortunate’ and ‘insensitive’, and said he hoped Patience would soon ‘ realize her mistake’. She was also reported to have accused activists of fabricating the abductions, and sponsoring Boko Haram to give the government a bad image.

As deputy governor, Goodluck Jonathan had got into a dalliance with a young law graduate of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, a daughter of a former Attorney General of Bayelsa state (names withheld) The liaison, which produced two boys, brought out the “beast” in Patience, as she fought to the finish to severe it. It took the intervention of the former governor of the state DSP Alamieyeseigha to calm frayed nerves. It was alleged that the lady underwent severe torture in the hands of security agents, before she were ferried to London for security reasons.

She, however, returned to Nigeria when Jonathan became president, and took up abode in Maitama, a high brow area of the city. Described as a very easy going and self effacing lady, she owns and runs a school. There is no love lost between her and Patience, though she successfully kept her in the background throughout the years at the Aso Villa. The lady is the cousin of former minister of petroleum resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke. Initial attempts by the lady and Diezani to reposition her status within the ex-first family met with fierce resistance from Patience.

In January 2013, Patience was engaged in a tussle with Turai Yar’Adua, wife of the late ex–president Musa Yar’Adua over a plot of land in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. They each other themselves to court and treated Nigerians to a theatre of the absurd.

Nobel Laureate Prof Wole Soyinka has on several occasions battled Patience over how she engaged in closing entire streets any time she was in Port Harcourt, and how she ‘suffocated’ the then governor Rotimi Amaechi on all fronts, including snatching a microphone from him at a public function in her hometown of Okrika and proceeded to berate him. He advised her to be a ‘lady’ first before being a ‘first lady’.

Remarkable speeches

“ I was just doing my own thing not knowing that in far away Asia everything was being noted. I want to assure you all that with God’s help I will do more. My grandma used to say; ‘whatever little you have, share; if you have a thousand and you can’t share, you won’t share a million if you have’ – speech delivered while receiving a doctorate degree in South Korea, October, 2013.

“ I remember when Chief Obasanjo was the president of the country, I was close to his late wife, Stella. We worshipped together in this chapel. It was a painful moment for me when she (Stella) died and her corpse was brought here.

“That was how my corpse would have been brought here. It was not an easy experience for me. I actually died; I passed out for more than a week. My intestine and tummy were opened.

“ I am not Lazarus but my experience was similar to his. My doctors said all hope was lost. A black doctor in London who is with us in this service was flown in when the situation became critical. It was God himself in his infinite mercy that said I will return to Nigeria. God woke me up after seven days.”

“ I know that some people somehow leaked the information that I was dead. They are people that I trust and rely on; to them, I was dead and I would never return to the country alive. Some of them even sold my things off”.

“ I won’t say everything here. It is the lord’s doing that I returned alive. When God says yes, nobody can say no. “People are always afraid of operation (surgery), but in my own case, while my travail lasted, I was begging for it (surgery) after the third operation, because I was going to the theatre every day.

“ It was God who saw me through; I did eight or nine operations within one month. It was not an easy one.”
“The day I came back, I said God I have nothing to say, I offer myself to you. I will be doing things that will touch the lives of the less privileged.”

A husband has been thrown into a state of mourning after his heavily pregnant wife he married just a month ago died of complications.

A Nigerian woman who was 8 months pregnant has died just one month after getting married to her hearthrob.

The woman who got married on the 20th of August 2016, died three days ago on the 20th of September.

According to her cousin, Raphael Chima who shared the news on Facebook, the woman died of pregnancy related complications.

The shocking incident has left her family in pain and her husband totally devastated.

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Oyetunji Abioye

The naira tumbled against the United States dollar to 428 on Wednesday, down from 424 on Tuesday, as persistent dollar shortage continues to weigh on the economy.

The major decline in the local currency against the greenback came a day after the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee retained the benchmark lending rate at 14 per cent.

The MPC had risen from its two-day bi-monthly meeting and left the Monetary Policy Rate unchanged, contrary to calls for its reduction by analysts, stakeholders and some government officials, including the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun.

At the interbank official market, the local currency dropped to 310.08 on Wednesday, down from 307.25 on Tuesday, according to data on the FMDQ OTC platform.

Some foreign exchange analysts believe the decline in the value of the naira has nothing to do with the MPC decision to leave the lending rate unchanged.

They said the decline in the value of the naira against the US currency would have been more significant if the MPC had announced a cut in the MPR on Tuesday.

“The developments in the official and parallel markets are a reflection of the usual pressure on the naira. It has nothing to do with the MPC’s decision to leave the interest rate unchanged. We would have seen a major decline in the naira if the committee had announced a rate cut,” a currency analyst at Ecobank Nigeria, Mr. Kunle Ezun, said.

“We can see that the dollar-naira exchange rate has been stable over time now. It is partly because the CBN has been able to meet its futures obligations. It has brought some relative calmness to the market. Again, the demand for forex by players in the oil and gas sector has been taken from the interbank market. This has also brought calmness to that market,” he added.

Meanwhile, the CBN said on Wednesday that interest rate cut alone would not help to pull the economy out of recession amid rising inflation.

The Director, Monetary Policy, CBN, Mr. Moses Tule, said policymakers would need to act together on fiscal, monetary and trade policies to jump-start economic growth.

He told Channels TV, “It’s not sufficient for the monetary policy committee to just meet and say we are reducing interest rates to address a stagflation.

“In a situation where we have negative interest rates, what we have to do is to overcome negative interest rates.”

He said Nigeria’s policy rate had been stuck at six per cent in the past but it didn’t spur credit growth, because the banking system did not respond to the move.

Tule explained that inflation was rising not due to excess money supply, but because of recent reforms, which included a hike in electricity tariffs, fuel price and a currency float that led to a 30 per cent drop in the value of the naira in one day.

“If we were merely in a recession, then we could say we would spend our way out of the recession. For an economy like Nigeria, where there are key structural deficiencies, there’s an urgent need to harmonise the policy mix,”Reuters quoted him as saying.

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One person feared dead

From Petrus Obi, Enugu

Fulani herdsmen, yesterday, made good their threat when they attacked Aku community in the Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State.

They kidnapped two villagers while another is feared to have been killed.

Reports from the community revealed that the herdsmen attacked some farmers in their farm, kidnapped two of them just as one person is feared to have died in the attack.

The attack comes five months after a previous one in Ukpabi, Nimbo, in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of the state, on Tuesday, April 26, 2016.

The midnight raid by suspected Fulani herdsmen left over 15 people including a National Youth Service Corps member and elderly men, dead.

During his visit to the community, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi broke down in tears.
Last week, traditional rulers and leaders of Aku community, raised fresh alarm over threats by the herdsmen to avenge the alleged theft of 300 cows and slaughtering of about 10 others by unknown persons in the area.

Addressing a news conference in Enugu, the six traditional rulers of Aku, including the chairman Aku Traditional Rulers’ Council Igwe V.O Attah, expressed concern over a certain comment said to have been made in the presence of the Divisional Police Officer in the area, by one Alhaji Sadiq, about an imminent attack on the Aku Community.

They had urged relevant authorities to accord the threat the gravity and urgency it deserved.

The community leaders recalled that on September 8, 2016, Alhaji Sadiq, one of the leaders of the Fulani herdsmen in the South East, raised the alarm that youths from Aku attacked herdsmen camp near Aku Town, robbed them of N10, 000, butchered 10 cows and proceeded to steal 300 cows.

The traditional rulers, who adopted a communiqué issued by Aku Community leaders, noted that evidence available showed that Aku Youths were not responsible for the attack adding that the attack did not take place within Aku boundary but within Agu Affa/Agu Egede in Udi L.G.A.

“That security report from the Igbo-Etiti DPO during an interactive session revealed that the attackers were suspected armed robbers.”

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John Alechenu, Abuja

The three-member All Progressives Congress Ondo State Governorship Primary Appeals Committee has recommended for the cancellation of the election.

It also recommended that a fresh election be conducted to chose the party’s standard bearer in the forthcoming governorship election.

A copy of the report sighted by our correspondent on Monday, observed among other things that, “It is a matter of grave concern that the accreditation process appeared to have been manipulated.

“Thus, in consideration of the above observed irregularities and for the sake of fair play, it is hereby recommended that the election result should be cancelled while a rerun election should be ordered immediately in order to beat the INEC deadline.”

It was however learnt that the committee submitted its findings and left the decision on the way forward for the party leadership to make.

A meeting of the party’s National Working Committee on the report was, however, deadlocked as party leaders failed to reach a consensus.

The meeting, which had most members of the NWC in attendance, was held at the party’s National Secretariat on Monday.

It was learnt that the three-hour meeting, was convened to deliberate on the Appeal Panel’s report which was secretly submitted to the NWC by the panel’s Chairman, Helen Bendega, late on Friday.

It was gathered that the party leadership was divided over whether or not to cancel the primary as recommended by the panel.

The Ondo APC Governorship primary conducted on September 3, was reportedly marred by controversy as several contestants and party leaders from the state alleged massive electoral fraud.

Chief Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, was declared winner after the contest which was supervised by the Governor Abubakar Badaru-led Primary Election Committee.

Akeredolu defeated Segun Abraham, the preferred candidate of the national leader of APC, Bola Tinubu.

Abraham, Olusola Oke and Senator Ajayi Borofice had petitioned the APC Appeal Panel Committee, alleging irregularities on the delegates’ list for the primaries.

Those who attended Monday’s meeting included the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, two Deputy National Chairmen (South), Segun Oni and his counterpart from the North, Lawali Shuiabu.

Indications emerged yesterday that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senators have resolved to jettison the principle of collaboration and give real opposition to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as the Senate resumes tomorrow.

A senator from the PDP, who pleaded anonymity, revealed to New Telegraph that the opposition lawmakers were warming up to keep the ruling party on its toes. The senator said: “We in the opposition have shown enough patriotism to Nigerians by collaborating with the APC, but this has not yielded the desired result.

So, we want to change this method and go into real opposition. “The aim is to put the APC on its toes for the benefit of Nigerians because they appear to be sleeping and taking both the opposition party and everybody for granted. It is obvious that they are confused because you can see that they don’t know what to do; and that is because they have nothing to offer.

“So, we are going to put pressure on them when we resume, so that they can wake up from slumber and face the task of governance, which is why they came to power. We will not continue to watch them waste Nigerians’ mandate for the next four years.”

However, New Telegraph was reliably informed that the Senate leadership was doing everything to ensure a crisis-free chamber, so that the lawmakers would harmoniously support the executive to address the multifarious challenges in the country.

A source close to the leadership told our correspondent that the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, and his team had started reaching out to their colleagues, to eschew conflict and controversy on resumption, to enable the Senate work as one indivisible entity for the benefit of the electorate.

The source, who insisted that his name must not be mentioned, said that the leadership of the Senate was highly worried by the failure of the APC-led Federal Government to deliver on its campaign promises to the people, but rather subjected them to hunger and starvation.

Meanwhile, as the National Assembly resumes tomorrow from its two month annual recess, the lawmakers will begin discussion on the state of the nation’s economy. The Senate’s spokesman, Aliyu Sabi, in an interview with New Telegraph in Abuja, said that the Red Chamber had to rise to the occasion by effectively contributing its quota towards resolving the economic crisis in Nigeria.

He also noted that the Upper Chamber would give priority attention to the contentious Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which has suffered serious setbacks in the last eight years of its appearance in the National Assembly.

The confirmation of the 47 ambassadorial nominees, who were screened by the Committee on Foreign Affairs before the Senate adjourned for the two month recess, is also on the agenda. Sabi further hinted that the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu as the substantive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) would be considered.

His words: “The PIB will be seriously considered this time around. All the pending communications from the executive like request for confirmation of appointment of the new EFCC boss will also be given our top priority. In the House, deliberation on how to tackle the economic recession will begin.

The House also plans to initiate its own version of the PIB. Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public affairs, Hon. Abdulrazaq Namdas, who confirmed this in a chat with New Telegraph, said the lawmakers were deeply concerned about the financial status of the country and the general suffering in the land. According to him, “the House is seriously worried by the economic recession we have found ourselves as a nation. We are aware Nigerians are going through difficulties.

Therefore, our major concern now is the economy. “So, when we reconvene on Tuesday in plenary, our major preoccupation will be to deliberate on how to rework the economy for the benefit of the suffering masses.” Namdas explained that the House report on the sectoral debate would also be put to use as part of measures to help grow the economy.

On the PIB, he explained that the lower chamber may be coming up with its own version of the bill since it cannot wait endlessly for the executive. He said the Speaker’s earlier declaration that the House would be introducing a new PIB subsists and if we do not receive any on resumption, “we shall initiate our own version.”

Despite cut in the salaries of President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Professor Yemi Osinbajo, both of them including cabinet ministers and other political appointees pocketed the sum of N2.295 billion as official salaries and allowances in the last one year.

Economic Confidential gave the breakdown on Sunday in an analysis of official remunerations of the President, Vice-President, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Head of Service of the Federation, Ministers, and other top government functionaries as approved by the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

RMAFC determines and fixes the remuneration packages of public and political office holders, while the National Salaries, Wages and Income Commission fixes the salaries and allowances of civil servants in Nigeria.

Packages by RMAFC include: annual salaries, accommodation, vehicle maintenance/fuel, personal assistant, house maintenance, domestic staff, entertainment and utilities allowances.
Other are constituency allowance, hardship allowance, newspapers and monitoring allowances.

A critical examination of the report indicates that Mr. President has an annual basic salary of N3.51m, Vice- President N3.03m, while Ministers, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Head of Service and Chairmen of Boards of statutory agencies have N2.02m respectively.

Special advisers, Speech writers, Directors General, Accountant General of the Federation, Permanent Secretaries, CEOs of agencies and INEC Resident Electoral Commissioners, each collect an annual basic salary of N1.9m. Officers under this category are called ‘members of constitutional bodies’.

It shows that only the President and the Vice-President enjoy hardship allowances of 50 percent each of their annual basic salaries; 250 percent as Constituency Allowances and enjoy other perks to be provided (TBP) by government.

Benefits the duo are entitled to include, but not limited to: Accommodation, Furniture, Domestic Staff, Personal Assistants, Newspapers, Vehicles, Entertainment, Maintenance and Estacode.

Meanwhile, Ministers, Advisers, Permanent Secretaries and INEC Resident Commissioners are entitled to 200 percent of their annual basic salary for Accommodation; 300 percent for Furniture; 75 percent for Vehicle maintenance and fuel; 25 percent for Personal Assistant; 75 percent for domestic staff; 45 percent for entertainment; 30 percent for utilities; 15 percent for newspapers, and 20 percent for monitoring.

While the President and Vice President’s duty tours and estacode are provided by government at varying rates, other officials have fixed rates.

The estacode allowance per day for ministers, SGF, Head of Service and Chairmen of Board is $1000 per night on foreign trip; Member of constitutional bodies $900 per night; Special Advisers and Speech Writers $800 per night; Permanent Secretaries, Director-Generals/CEO of agencies and INEC Electoral Commissioner take $600 per night each on foreign trips.

A comparism of the figures with earning of an average Nigerian worker with a minimum wage of N18,000 a month, show that civil servants will have to work for more than four years before earning the utility allowance budgeted for Ministers of the Federal Republic.

Saturday PUNCH had exclusively reported in January and February how the proprietor of Fahsal, Mrs. Fausat Abubakar, allegedly introduced soap making business on the school premises.

Okechukwu Nnodim, Abuja

Nigeria spent an estimated $35bn as subsidy on petroleum products out of the $300bn earned from crude oil from 2010 and 2014, a former Acting Group Executive Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Tim Okon, has said.

This is coming as experts have urged the Federal Government to discontinue its overdependence on oil revenue, noting that it should seriously work towards diversifying the economy away from oil.

Okon and some professors, as well as other stakeholders in the oil and gas sector, spoke during the 6th Emmanuel Egbogah Legacy Lecture Series with the theme, ‘Managing Petroleum Revenue under Volatile Price Dynamics’, organised by the Emerald Energy Institute, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Wednesday.

While delivering the keynote address, Okon, who is the chief executive officer, International Institute of Petroleum, Energy Law and Policy, and a special adviser on fiscal strategy at the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, stated that the subsidy programme was actually designed for the poor but it benefitted a few rich persons massively.

He said, “In the period when Nigeria earned close to $300bn as revenue from oil, from 2010 to 2014, we were spending approximately $7bn annually on subsidy. Worse than this was that in spite of the huge revenue inflows, we were also borrowing.”

He also decried the magnitude of borrowing by the Federal Government and stressed that Nigeria might be heading towards a situation in which it would sustain its operations mostly on public debts if care is not taken.

“If we continue to borrow, we will be returning to the point where we may seek debt forgiveness. This is why we are concerned about this development,” Okon said.

The ex-NNPC director lauded the halt in the subsidy regime and stated that the billions of dollars spent on subsidising petrol across the country would have been used to fix all the country’s refineries as well as build the Mambilla Power Plant, which has the capacity of generating about 3,000 megawatts of electricity.

He said, “Of course, spending money on consumables versus having productive capacity is another issue. At one point in time, the subsidy programme was worth $7bn a year. This, however, was despite the fact that the total cost of getting our refineries fixed was about $3bn. But the $7bn was spent through the exhaust fumes of our vehicles.”

Okon explained that Nigeria had been in the oil business for several decades and had seen how crude prices fluctuated over the years, adding that it was worrisome that the current fall in crude prices had taken a huge toll on the Nigerian economy.

He said, “Volatility is not new; commodity price changes are not new and, therefore, Nigeria ought to, having being an oil producer for quite some time, have an understanding of this cycle. But the question is, why is it now difficult?”
He frowned on the way and manner in which government’s revenue was managed, noting that efficient planning tools abound that could help in the management of proceeds from oil, particularly in a volatile market.

The ex-NNPC official stated that there was the need to deal with the revenue governance framework, adding that one way was the ability to create adequate buffers.

He said, “Our failure to create enough buffers has resulted in the situation that we have found ourselves. The second approach for most countries who are oil producers is that when the prices are high, you have to save and that is the purpose of the Sovereign Wealth Fund. Nigeria’s SWF, the last time I checked, was about $1.2bn, while that of Saudi Arabia, when I last checked it up, had come down from $783bn to about $600bn.”

He said Nigeria’s SWF had been eroded due to political interferences over the years, as against what was obtainable in 2007/2008 when the fund was used to support the economy during the fall in global crude oil prices at that period.

Proffering solutions to the myriad of challenges confronting the country, particularly in its oil and gas sector, Okon said it was high time Nigeria diversified its revenue-generating sources.

According to him, the country should also undertake resource diversification and the burden on the oil and gas industry should be reduced since it contributes only about 15 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product.

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Jessica Beer, a Junior Secondary School (JSS) II student of Gyegeh Memorial College Logo1 , Makurdi, Benue state, has committed suicide.

The female student according sources drank substance believed to be poison and was rushed to a clinic in Akpehe, before doctors confirmed her dead on arrival .

A close friend of the deceased, who would rather want to remain anonymous, told the Nation that the girl committed suicide because her boyfriend by name Labi, a pork meat seller at Wurukum Market in Makurdi impregnated and abadoned her and then impregnated another girl.

Residents of Akpehe who were startled by the news rushed to the clinic to catch a glimpse of the remains of the girl.

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’Femi Asu

Crude oil production from Nigeria dropped the most in August among its peers in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, paring the gain it recorded in the previous month.

Nigeria had in March lost the status of Africa’s top oil producer to Angola when the country’s production dropped to 1.677 million barrels per day, compared to Angola’s 1.782 million bpd.

OPEC’s Monthly Oil Market Report for September, which was released on Monday, showed that Nigeria’s oil output fell to 1.468 million bpd in August from 1.52 million bpd in the previous month, based on direct communication.

Nigeria had in July recorded the biggest increase in output, but it was not enough to help the country regain the top spot from Angola.

According to secondary sources, OPEC crude oil production stood at 33.24 million bpd in August, a decrease of 23,000 bpd over the previous month.

“Crude oil output increased mainly from Saudi Arabia and Iran, while Nigeria and Libya showed the largest drop,” the 14-member oil cartel said in the report.

Angola saw its oil output rise to 1.775 million bpd in August from 1.767 million bpd the previous month, based on direct communication, according to the OPEC report.

Libya’s production dropped to 292,000 bpd from 313,000 bpd, while Venezuela produced 2.104 million bpd, down from 2.117 million bpd.

Ecuador’s output fell to 542,000 bpd from 549,000 bpd, while Iraq saw its production dropped by 2,000 barrels to 4.354 million bpd.

Saudi Arabia, the biggest producer in the group, recorded the biggest increase in August as it produced 10.605 million bpd, up from 10.577 million bpd in the previous month.

Iran, which has continued to increase output in a bid to snap up more market share after sanctions were lifted, produced 3.653 million bpd, up from 3.631 million bpd.

According to the report, Africa’s oil supply is projected to average 2.12 million bpd in 2016. This represents a decline of 20,000 bpd year-on-year and reflects an upward revision of 10,000 bpd from the August report.

This year, oil production from Congo is only expected to grow by 50,000 bpd to average 320,000 bpd, while output in other African countries, despite increasing output from Ghana’s production start-up in the Tweneboa, Enyenra, Ntomme project and a production ramp-up in Jubilee field in the second half of the year, will decline or be stagnant, OPEC said.

It raised its forecast of oil supplies from non-member countries in 2017 as new fields come online and United States’ shale drillers prove more resilient than expected to cheap crude, pointing to a larger surplus in the market next year.

Demand for crude from OPEC will average 32.48 million bpd in 2017, down by 530,000 bpd from the previous forecast, according to the report.

Oil is trading at $47 a barrel, half its level of mid-2014, as a supply glut that OPEC hoped cheap oil would banish sticks around.

“It is expected that there will be higher non-OPEC production in the second half of 2016 compared to the first half,” OPEC said in the report.

The cartel expects non-OPEC supply to rise by 200,000 bpd in 2017, as against a previous forecast of 150,000-bpd decline.

Near-record OPEC output, and higher supply from outside, could make it harder for OPEC and Russia to come up with steps to support the market. Producers are expected to meet in Algeria on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum from September 26 to 28.

An attempt by producers to agree to a production freeze in April failed as Iran, wanting to boost oil exports that had been restrained by Western sanctions, refused to join and Saudi Arabia insisted all producers took part.

“There is imminent cabinet shakeup in Lagos and the governor is not joking about it. There is a lot of indiscipline amongst some cabinet members and the governor had tolerated even some of the insubordination to the extent many others were wondering what the problem was.

The Nigerian Railways Corporation (NRC) has suspended its passenger train service from Abuja to Kaduna on Monday and Tuesday because of the Eid el-Kabir public holidays.

Alhaji Yakub Mahmood, the Deputy Director, Public Relations of the NRC, made this known in Lagos on Saturday.

Mahmood said the period would also be used to carry out comprehensive maintenance of the train.
He assured passengers that the Abuja-Kaduna train service would resume on Wednesday.

“The corporation highly regrets any inconvenience this may cause our esteemed passengers,” he said.

The Abuja-Kaduna passengers train inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari move from Idu in Abuja to Rigasa in Kaduna.

NAN

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Itinerant herdsmen have invaded the $300 million National Stadium Complex in Abuja, turning it into a grazing reserve for their cattle. This is in spite of an existing order prohibiting open grazing in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), an order the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) is empowered to enforce.

The herdsmen, who usually invade the stadium in groups to feed their cattle, sometimes overwhelm the stadium security officials who try to stop them from their activities, especially at the Package B section of the stadium.

“It has been a routine for these herdsmen to herd their cows to this place for grazing, especially in the last one year. They invade the stadium at will and it seems nobody is ready to stop or caution them,” said a security official attached to the stadium.

When our correspondent sought the view of the stadium manager, Mr. Sati Mbok, he said that the management has been making frantic efforts to stop the herdsmen, but they have rather continued to increase in their numbers.

New Telegraph learnt that the herdsmen, who are usually armed with some dangerous weapons, have become a source of concern to those who are managing the expansive stadium.

In September last year, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) issued an order banning the practice of open grazing of cattle in the territory and charged the AEPB to enforce the ban. One year after, the herdsmen and their cows are still roaming the streets and highways in Abuja. Public Relations Officer of AEPB, Mr. Sam Musa, told our correspondent that the agency has taken several measures to tackle the problem of the herdsmen, but have encountered a lot of impediments in their bid to flush the cows out of the city.

“We’ve really been warning and sensitizing them and the process is ongoing because you know some of them are new in the city and they keep having the information. We have been working together with their leaders to also sensitize them. You know education is number one; once you educate people and they can understand why they should not do it, our job becomes easier,” Musa said.

New Telegraph investigations have, however, revealed that beyond the challenge posed by these herdsmen, underutilization and poor maintenance culture has turned the $300 million National Stadium, Abuja, into an abandoned edifice, with many of its key facilities rusting away and a huge chunk of the expansive sports complex overgrown with weeds.

The multimillion-dollar edifice was built when Nigeria hosted the 8th All Africa Games 2003 (COJA) 13 years ago, but has become a shadow of itself over time.

Investigations by New Telegraph revealed that the Stadium hardly hosts events since most of the sports federations took their activities outside the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) where they would enjoy corporate sponsorships due to lack of funds. Often times, the main bowl serves as venue for religious and cultural activities, which pay little or nothing in return.

Unlike the entertainment and social recreation venues, social functions, such as inter-house sports and games amongst schools and other institutions, which generates revenue for the National Stadium in Lagos, the reverse is the case in Abuja which groans under lack of funds for maintenance.

New Telegraph gathered that the challenge of neglect of the stadium became compounded following the recent directive by the Minister of Sports, Mr. Solomon Dalung, that the staff of the scrapped National Sports Commission (NSC) be moved back to the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The most dilapidated section of the stadium is a 240-room hotel facility with a Conference Centre that have been overgrown by weeds and taken over by rodents and reptiles.

A visit to the facility also showed a portion of it is now inhabited by some poor Nigerians who use it as their shelter in the face of lack of accommodation in the city. A visit to the stadium revealed that apart from the main bowl of the stadium, which usually hosts international matches involving Nigeria, most of the other facilities were in deplorable state.

The Velodrome, one of the key facilities in the stadium, has been under lock and key for the past one and a half years. A closer peep revealed that there were thousands of gas cylinders and cooking stoves in the main bowl of the Velodrome. New Telegraph learnt that the items were kept there by a political party during the last general elections.

According to a security guard at the complex, the items were supposed to have been distributed to the supporters of the unnamed political party, but was later suspended just before the 2015 general elections.

Currently, the Nigeria Cycling Federation (NCF), which used to operate from there, has been sent packing and made to carry out its business from the Package B area. However, a visit to the Package B area of the com plex also showed that it has largely been neglected given the bushy outlay of its entrance.

The surrounding of the complex is overgrown with weeds while a corner of the entrance now serves as a waste dumpsite, a situation that has turned that section of the complex into a filthy zone.

The Olympic-size swimming pools have become home for tadpoles, toads and frogs as the water in them have turned greenish and stinking. When New Telegraph asked why the pool was abandoned to mosquitoes and tadpoles, a staffer in the complex, who would not want his name in print, explained that the water in the pool was not dirty, but that it was the basement of the pool that had accumulated much dirt, which left the pool polluted.

“The pool is being main tained by the federation that has not got subvention for a long time now. However, what you see now will soon be a thing of the past, as the pools are being worked on. The machines that pump water into it are being serviced and where necessary, are being replaced.

“The painting of the structure will commence soon. Cleaning the swimming pools and its diving slabs may cost nothing less than half a million naira and the cleaning exercise has to be done on a regular basis, but the funds are not there. “It is for this reason that we are calling on members of the public to come and patronise the facility so that we can have returns to maintain the place.

The Sports Ministry is not always forthcoming when it comes to releasing funds for facility maintenance,” he said.