₦airaland Forum

The Christian Association of Nigeria has challenged the Governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum, to post photo and video evidence of Christians whom he claimed are members of the notorious terror group, Boko Haram.

CAN General Secretary, Joseph Daramola, who stated this in an interview with The PUNCH on Monday, was reacting to allegations by Zulum that Christians are members of the Abubakar Shekau terror group.

The PUNCH had reported that Zulum alleged on Friday at an event in Lagos that Asians, foreigners and other Africans are part of the terror group.

The governor had said, “I’m from Borno State, and many of our children are into Boko Haram. I’m not denying the fact. But again, they are being sponsored by many people across the world. Among Boko Haram, we have white men, Asians, Africans, Muslims and Christians.”

Many Nigerians had since doubted the Zulum’s claim as Boko Haram had consistently identified with Islam. The terror group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, had also at several times featured in videos speaking Arabic and citing Quranic verses.

Reacting on Monday, Daramola cautioned the governor to stop mudslinging, adding that the terror group had shown in several videos where they belonged.

The CAN top official said, “Anyone who accuses the other must be able to prove it. For the governor to say such, then he must have evidence. Let him post the photo and video evidence on social media of Christians who are Boko Haram members. I don’t think there should be any fuss. Anybody can say anything.

“We have seen them (Boko Haram) on videos carrying flags and identifying themselves. So, let these criminals that the governor knows identify themselves as criminals. It is that simple. Nobody should mud-sling. It is a very bad thing. Whether they are Christians or Muslims, the act is very bad on its own and should be condemned.”

Daramola said no Christian would carry such weapons as used by Boko Haram members to kill fellow human beings.

“No Christian will carry those weapons to kill fellow humans. The commandments of God explicitly stated that thou shall not kill and you don’t kill either physically or any form. Christians that are Christians will never engage in that. If Zulum has his facts, let him put it out.”

For over 10 years, the Boko Haram terror group had killed hundreds of Nigerians in the North-East. The sect had also burnt down and bombed scores of villages as well as churches. The Nigerian Army and the Presidency had at several times claimed the group had been ‘technically defeated’ and ‘weakened’ but the Abubakar Shekau’s bloodthirsty faction continues to strike with daring effrontery and crude savagery.

Amidst the headwinds in global aviation markets triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, experts foresee a quicker recovery in Nigeria’s sector as more airlines acquire new planes even as many others prepare to hit the sky.

Experts expect four new airlines to launch operation this year as they put finishing touches to the process of obtaining an Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC). At least 24 carriers are in different stages of the AOC application process.

One of Nigeria’s foremost airlines, Azman Air, started the year on a promising note with the acquisition of its second Airbus A340-600 aircraft. The second delivery came barely a year after the first wide-bodied aircraft was purchased.

Though aviation globally was hit by the pandemic last year, Azman’s plan to launch an international operation was disrupted last year by the pandemic just as it couldn’t deploy the aircraft for Hajj as planned.

But the airline said with the acquisition of the second Airbus and three additional Boeing 737-800 planes, it would dominate the Aviation Market in 2021.

Similarly, the airline said it has acquired five lower capacity aircraft to serve other fewer passenger routes. The Airbus A340-600 it bought has 411 economy seats, two business class seats, wider overhead lockers for more luggage, and standard legroom to make passengers comfortable.

“We are redefining Air Travel in Nigeria,” the airline said on its Twitter page after taking delivery of the aircraft.

Sources in the company said the Kano-based carrier has been designated to fly to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, London; Dubai, UAE, among others.

Managing Director of the airline, Faisal Abdulmunaf, could not be reached for comment on Sunday as his line was not reachable and the text message sent to him was not replied as of press time.

Air Peace, the largest airline in the country today, would also take delivery of two EMB 195-E2 series by the end of January.

United Nigeria, a new airline to be domiciled in Enugu at the weekend, did a demonstration flight from Lagos to Owerri and other airports as part of the requirements for certification. Also, Green Africa Airways is also warming up to launch operation as well as Nigeria Eagle registered by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

Also, there are strong indications that the much-awaited national carrier may also become a reality this year.

Commenting on the airlines’ plan for a rebound, president of Aviation Roundtable, Dr. Gbenga Olowo, predicted a reasonable rebound of the sector this year.

“We can only be hopeful that 2020 will never come again and 2021 will be better,” Olowo said while advocating for the merger by domestic airlines to make them strong.

“Looking at the New Year, we are mostly going to have three airlines. They look like they are coming; we don’t know how realistic that is but they appear serious. Is it going to be a plus for the industry or a minus considering COVID-19 that has shrunk the market adversely?”

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The Police in Bauchi State has arrested 22 persons for organising a sex party in Dass, the headquarters of Dass Local Government Area of the state.

This was revealed on Wednesday at the state Police Command headquarters in Bauchi by the state Commissioner of Police, Lawan Tanko Jimeta while parading the suspects.

Represented by the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Ahmed Mohammed Wakil, the police boss said the arrest of the suspects, who had formed a syndicate, followed an intelligence report received from Dass by the command.

He explained that members of the syndicate gained notoriety for “thuggery, phone snatching and indecent acts including sex parties”.


He informed that upon receipt of the intelligence report, a team of detectives, led by the commander, Rapid Response Squad (RRS) was raised by the command.

According to Jimeta, the team “immediately embarked on a round the clock operation which resulted in their apprehension.”

The police chief declared the readiness of the command with its sustained and unwavering efforts to combat every form of crime and criminality in the state.

Meanwhile, while speaking with journalists one of the suspects, Idris Abdullahi, a 20-year-old, declared his innocence of the offence, saying that he did not have a hand in organising the sex party in Dass.

SaharaReporters had last year reported that the deputy governor indicted his boss in the report of a steering committee set up by the governor and headed by Chief Saka Balogun, a former chief of staff to the then Governor of Oyo State, Adebayo Alao-Akala.

The Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Rauf Olaniyan, has vowed never to end the rift between him and his boss, Seyi Makinde, a source close to the deputy governor told SaharaReporters.

SaharaReporters had last year reported that the deputy governor indicted his boss in the report of a steering committee set up by the governor and headed by Chief Saka Balogun, a former chief of staff to the then Governor of Oyo State, Adebayo Alao-Akala.

Olaniyan in the report alleged that the governor had relegated his office and never entrusted him with any role in the state.

Also, according to him, Makinde has personalised governance in the state.

Meanwhile, a source close to the deputy governor on Wednesday told SaharaReporters that Olaniyan said he had decided never to honour any invitation to have a dialogue to resolve the issue.

According to the source, during the 2019 general elections, he (Olaniyan), a successful engineer, spent billions of naira in the Oke-Ogun area of the state to ensure their party’ victory.

The source said Olaniyan is unhappy that the governor has failed to compensate him for his loyalty.

"Olaniyan told me he would not entertain any amicable settlement with his boss, Governor Makinde, again," the source said.

Meanwhile, a close political associate of the governor, Alhaji Abdulrasheed Olopoeyan, has met with the former governor of Lagos State and national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu.

It was learnt that Olopoeyan and Makinde are currently at loggerheads but the former has denied that he is planning to defect to the APC, stressing that his meeting with Tinubu was about fostering a cordial relationship and should not be seen as a political move.

By Kelvin Osa-Okunbor
Nigeria’s air transport is set to experience a revolution as a proposed low-cost carrier – Green Africa Airways – is set to commence operations. It has already reached the final stage of certification.

Regulatory sources hinted that promoters of the carrier are putting finishing touches to secure the Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), a mandatory regulatory prerequisite before any scheduled carrier could take off.

Sources hinted that commencement of flight operations by Green Africa Airways promises to reshape the aviation industry with its state-of-the-art aircraft.

Despite the ongoing pandemic, industry analysts agree that the long-term potential in the aviation market remains vibrant.

Experts say the right business model, fleet, and value proposition, new entrants can capture the attractive market opportunities.

Last October, Green Africa had formed a strategic partnership with First City Monument Bank (FCMB), which yielded $31 million in a combination of standby letter of credit and rolling working capital.

Green Africa is owned by Babawande Afolabi. Its leadership team includes two well-experienced leaders in the global aviation industry, Neil Mills – President/Chief Operating Officer and Kiran Koteshwar – Chief Financial Officer.

The planned unveiling of its crew uniform tagged “The Runway” will be made public soon.

Last December, the airline sent its pilots on a type-rating training. They include: Folu Oladipo, chief pilot; Victor Yem, John Ayerume, Stephen Okereke, Ladi Ogun, and Israel Eloho.

While Green Africa is yet to provide information about its launch and routes networks, the public continues to speculate ahead of its launch which the company says is on track for this year.

The company continues to scale-up the manpower required for the start of operations and some of the new recruited cabin crew members (Adefolabi Ogunnaike, Rosemary Uagbor, Afolabi Modupe, Juliana Aku, Aderounmu Yetunde, Okere Ijeoma, Chieke Immaculate, and Abimbola Segun) were also recently sent for type-rating training.

According to a source at NCAA, “the airline is serious. They mean business and could start soon, as they are close to acquiring the Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC)”.

This stance corroborates the statement of the Director-General of NCAA late last year when he said the country could witness more four airlines in 2021.

Green Africa being confident of all its scheduled plans, has given out 24 free tickets during the December 2020 promotion tagged “This the season to gift”.

A cross-section of their social media pages shows various winners, all from different walks of life which shows the airline is for everyone, including those that take road transportation.

This is a daring step that most airlines around the world take only when they are already in operations. This feat is a stamp of commitment to get into the air as soon as possible.

Before COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, Green Africa ordered fifty A220-300s from Airbus and also committed to leasing an additional three of the aircraft type from leasing company, GTLK Europe. This was in February 2020.

Green Africa is anchored by a group of senior industry leaders led by Tom Horton, former Chairman & CEO of American Airlines, Wale Adeosun, Founder & CEO of Kuramo Capital, William Shaw, CEO of InterJet, Virasb Vahidi, former CCO of American Airlines and Gbenga Oyebode, Founder & Chairman of Aluko & Oyebode.

SaharaReporters obtained padded names added to the list of the recently promoted Assistant Commissioners of Police to Deputy Commissioners of Police while the 17 excluded ACPs, who were last promoted in 2016 were sidelined for no reason.

The Nigeria Police Force and the Police Service Commission promotion list has been padded with strange names who did not take the mandatory Promotion Examination nor go through any assessment using the Annual Performance Evaluation Report (APER), while 17 qualified senior officers were excluded.

SaharaReporters obtained padded names added to the list of the recently promoted Assistant Commissioners of Police to Deputy Commissioners of Police while the 17 excluded ACPs, who were last promoted in 2016 were sidelined for no reason.

The Police Inspector-General (IGP), Mohammed Adamu Twitter/toluogunlesi

It was gathered that the promotion lists were released on December 18, 2020, with 47 serving ACPs who were supposed to have been promoted to the rank of DCP, having successfully undergone the mandatory APERs.

SaharaReporters learnt that the 47 were penciled down for promotions by the PSC, only for the commission to turn around and announce 29 of them as new DCPs, leaving out 17 others.

According to an insider source, to make up for the space, the commission smuggled in eight officers, who are among other padding done to other promotion lists by the police.

He said, “The criminal smuggling of the names of the eight officers into the list of recently promoted ACPs to DCPs only buttresses the primordial ineptitude of the Chairman of the PSC.

“Inconsistencies trail the police promotion and the lists are deeply influenced by nepotism, favoritism and other immoral conducts, including execution of ethnic and religious agenda.

“Apart from padding the list of those made Assistant Inspector Generals and Commissioners of Police, the padding was glaringly the case in the promotion list of the 47 serving ACPs who were supposed to have been promoted to the rank of DCP. To their greatest shock and surprise, when the list came out through the IGP, seven ‘foreign’ names had been added to it.

“It must be made clear that the seven names smuggled into the list were not in the list of the original 47 officers slated for promotion.”

The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, a civil society, confirmed the anomalies in the police promotion, while identifying the names of the sidelined 17 officers.

The society’s Board Chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi, Head of Democracy and Good Governance, Chinwe Umeche, Head of Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Obianuju Igboeli, among others in a report stated that the PSC’s claims of sticking to ‘seniority’ are a hoax.

“Otherwise, how can it be validly explained that the same PSC had in its December 18, 2020 promotions elevated CP Joseph Egbunike to Police DIG.

“Going by PSC’s ‘seniority’ claims, if real, CP Egbunike who was ‘junior’ to a number of serving CPs and all the serving AIGs, should not have jumped from the rank of ‘CP’ to the rank of DIG.

“It was also discovered that the PSC’s recent promotions were not entirely based on ‘seniority’ as some were promoted outside the ‘seniority’ lists and at the whims and caprices of the PSC and NPF leaderships. The 18 December, 2020 promotions were padded.

“The 17 ACPs who were shut out despite completing their DCP promotion exams and being penciled down for promotion but dropped are: Eyitayo Olusegun, Abdul Yusuf, Ogbodo Ugbobueze, Nwokolo James, Ogbeun Ibiyinka, Ndukwe Felix, Olarenwaju Lennox, Ismaila Sa’adatu, Asmiya Irmya, Olabode Adeyeye, Udoette Cosmas, Gbiwen Francis, Afolabi Wilfred, Ehiede Ohiozoba, Oyakkhire, Eze Nnanna and Sani Abdul.

“Among the seven ‘junior’ ACPs who had their names smuggled into the list of those made new DCPs are: ACPs Mamman Giwa, Tahir Usman, Hassan K. Umar, Bangs K. Gombit, Echo E. Okpoziakpo, Cyriacus Enechukwu and Rosemary Collins.”

From the official police records sighted by SaharaReporters, Hassan K. Umar was promoted to ACP as recently as on May 30, 2018, before his strange elevation to DCP on December 18, 2020, while the rest were promoted to ACPs in various dates in 2017.

Meanwhile, the 17 officers that were shut out had their last promotions to ACP on separate dates in 2016.

“We demand, therefore, that the 17 officers in question (Eyitayo Omosayin and 16 others) should be captured for promotion,” the civil society noted.

The ‘NPF Senior Staff List: ACP-IGP’ of Wednesday, November 11, 2020, showed that those who were captured for promotion were not all given promotion allegedly due to the nepotism, bribery and corruption rocking the police headquarters and the PSC.

By Evelyn Usman
Henceforth, any vehicle in Lagos State which has PILOT or ESCORT as plate number will be impounded and the policemen attached to it arrested.

This warning was handed down by the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command, CP Hakeem Odumosu, over the weekend, at the command’s headquarters, Ikeja. Enforcement of this order according to him, would begin in high brow areas like Victoria Island, Ikoyi, among others.

In addition, the command boss said the use of SPY plate numbers by some eminent persons in the state would no longer be tolerated, describing the action as illegal and unconstitutional.

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Odumosu who had earlier banned the use of covered plate number by Lagosians frowned at the brazen disregard by some Lagosians.

Warning all car owners in the state, irrespective of their status to desist from driving in vehicles with covered plate numbers or those with ESCORT, PILOT and SPY as plate numbers, Odumosu said, ” We are going after them. Nobody has the right to put a vehicle on the high way with plate numbers covered. It is unacceptable because it is against the law. Unfortunately, this practice is prevalent among the so-called Very Important Personality, VIP areas, who are supposed to be learned.

“Most of them have their escorts vehicles plate numbers as ESCORT and PILOT. No vehicle is registered as Pilot or escort as the plate number. Henceforth, we shall not only be impounding these vehicles, but the policemen in the vehicles will also be arrested as well.”

” The SPY numbers are for operational vehicles. A situation where you put spy numbers on Jeeps is completely against the law and we will begin to impound such vehicles. We will start our operation in Victoria Island, Ikoyi and other high brow areas where these ‘big men’ who know the law but are violating them, reside.”

“All vehicles must be registered. In order not to be on the wrong side of the law, they are strongly advised to abide with this directive because we shall be out for them”.

The defence headquarters (DHQ) says the armed forces have ”checkmated” Boko Haram and their operations in the north-east.

Despite claims that the insurgents have been decimated, some parts of the north-eastern region still come under attack.

One of the most recent violent attacks by Boko Haram was at Zabarmari in Jere local government area of Borno state where more than 40 farmers were killed.

But during an interview with NAN on Monday, John Enenche, coordinator of defence media operations, said the federal government and the military since 2015 had checked the intensity of terrorist activities across the country — particularly in the north-east.

He said the initial delay in tackling the menace made it gain momentum — Boko Haram taking over territories and setting up administrative structures — before they were knocked off in 2016.

He said the open display of power and authority by Boko Haram no longer happens in the north-east, and that no single district or community could be said to be under the control of the insurgents.

“The issue of bombings that even spread to other places like Abuja, Kano, Niger and Kogi States, including their slipper cells no longer exist,” he said.

“What about suicide bombing, which is one of the signs of terrorism? It was rife and even at our checkpoints they come and detonate bombs as well as public gatherings; all these have been nipped properly.

“If you put all these together, I can tell you that terrorism has been checkmated.

“However, the signs are still there with isolated action here and there; common with terrorism.”

Enenche said history has shown that terrorism “is a very resilient type of enemy activity”, adding that the type of terrorism in Nigeria is not “a smart one” but rooted in the state of mind of a group of people.

He also said Boko Haram and ISWAP were hybrid threats that became protracted with immediate and remote causes.

He asked Nigerians to be bold in coming out to provide information on activities of the insurgents to aid security agencies in tracking their locations.

Mohammed Ahmadu, a suspected kidnapper, had to pay a ransom of N1.5 million when he was abducted by a rival gang.

According to Frank Mba, force public relations officer, Ahmadu was held by a group led by one Buba Babu.

Both suspects were paraded in Abuja on Monday afternoon.

Mba both suspects operated around the federal capital territory (FCT) and the north-central region at large.

“Notable among the arrests, is the arrest of one Abubakar Umaru a.k.a Buba Bargu, ‘m’, 35 years, native of Kato Shiroro area of Niger State by the operatives of the special tactical squad (STS),” he said in a statement.

“Investigations by the police team revealed that Abubakar is a member and armourer of a gang that has carried out several kidnaps for ransom operations along Lokoja-Abuja/Abuja –Kaduna highways and other major highways in the north-central states of the country.

“Interestingly, this group carried out the abduction of one Mohammed Ahmadu a.k.a CONFIRM ‘m’, 30 years, a kidnap kingpin and leader of another notorious kidnapping group in the north-central when he came to their hideout in the forest to sell live ammunition to the group.

“He was held and shot in the hand until his gang members paid a ransom of One Million, Five Hundred and Fifty-five Thousand Naira (N1,555,000.00) only for his release. Five AK47 rifles, five magazines and 120 rounds of AK47 ammunition were recovered from Abubakar Umaru at his hideout in the forest.”

An 18-year-old girl, name withheld, has been apprehended by the Police after she allegedly set her boyfriend ablaze after a quarrel in the Wadata area of Makurdi town.

Vanguard gathered from an eyewitness that the teenage girl carried out the dastardly act Monday morning at about 2 am when the victim was fast asleep.

According to him “the loud scream from the victim attracted the attention of neighbours who rushed to help him but he had already suffered much burns.

“The neighbours immediately rushed him to the nearby Makurdi Federal Medical Centre, FMC, where he was admitted for treatment,” he said.

When contacted, the State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Deputy Superintendent, DSP, Catherine Anene who confirmed the incident said the 18-year-old poured petrol round the victim’s one-room apartment before setting it on fire.

“We don’t know yet why she did that. We are yet to question her but I can confirm that she has been arrested and just brought to our custody.

“The incident happened about 2:00 am today (Monday) at Zaki Biam street in Wadata. We will let you know further details,” the PPRO said.

This latest incident is coming just a few weeks after a man in his 40s, identified as Nicodemus Nomwange, set himself and his girlfriend, Shiminenge Pam, ablaze at the High-Level area of Makurdi town. And within the same period a young woman also allegedly set her lover ablaze in his residence on Shaahu Road in Gboko town.

The Federal Government says it will shut down the Lagos-Ibadan and the Abuja-Kaduna train services should there be any case of Covid-19 detected among passengers.

The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, stated this on Monday while featuring on NTA Good Morning Nigeria programme monitored by The PUNCH.

He said train users must comply with all Covid-19 protocols from the beginning of every trip to the end.

The minister said, “If we see that we are conveying passengers who have Covid from Lagos to Ibadan and Ibadan to Lagos, we will stop it just like we are threatened to stop the one from Kaduna to Abuja if people don’t comply with the Covid protocols.

“Don’t forget that on Kaduna-Abuja, we convey 4,000 passengers in a day. Imagine that about 20 per cent have Covid, they can transmit Covid to the entire passengers. The rate of transmission will be high. The same is applicable to Lagos. Everybody must comply with the Covid protocols, wear your masks till the end of the journey.”

The minister also added that the $1.6bn Lagos-Ibadan railway project which would be completed this month would be inaugurated virtually by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

The Nigerian Railway Corporation had in December 2020 commenced operations for the Lagos-Ibadan railway, a standard gauge rail covering a distance of 156km.

President Muhamma­du Buhari has ap­proved the removal of the Chairman of the National Drug Law En­forcement Agency (NDLEA), Col. Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah (rtd).

He was appointed on Jan­uary 12, 2016 by the former Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Engr. Babachair Lawal, via a let­ter with reference number SGF.35/S.5/11/272.

In another letter dated January 7, 2021 and signed by the Secretary to the Federal Government, Boss Musta­pha, Abdallah was mandated to handover to the Secretary of the agency, Mr. Shadrach Haruna, on or before Janu­ary 10, 2021 (today).

Sunday Independent gathered that Haruna, who was in the United Kingdom during the notice, had to cut short his trip as he hurried­ly returned to Nigeria at the weekend.

Disquiet Over Hurried Recruit­ment

However, there is disquiet in the paramilitary agency as the sacked chairman em­barked on a massive recruit­ment, barely 24 hours after he got a letter to handover.

NDLEA spokesman, Dep­uty Commander of Narcotics (DCN) Jonah Achema, who announced this in a state­ment on Friday in Abuja urged successful candidates to visit the agency’s website www.ndlea.gov.org for the list adding that those shortlisted had also been contacted via E-mail and SMS.

According to him, the candidates had applied for different vacancies, some of which were invited for job competency test.

“The affected candidates, numbering 5, 000, are to ap­pear at the Agency’s Acad­emy, Citadel Counter-Nar­cotics Nigeria, (CCNN), Katton-Rikkos, Jos, Plateau State for the screening and documentation exercise be­tween January 10 and 23, 2021 at 0900 hours daily.

“The candidates are di­vided into four different groups for the screening, in adherence to the COVID-19 pandemic protocol.

“The order and schedule for the exercise according to the group into which the can­didates fall are also indicated. They are expected to arrive a day ahead of their screening period,” said Achema.

He added that successful candidates were expected to be issued letters of appoint­ment and documented im­mediately upon successful screening.

“Candidates are, there­fore, to report for the screen­ing exercise with their guar­antors’ forms, originals and duplicates of academic cre­dentials, birth certificate or age declaration and indigene certificates.

“They are also expected to come along with certificate of medical fitness from a government hospital as well as a pair of shorts, T-shirts, canvass and stockings,” the NDLEA spokesman said.

It’s A Sham, Unacceptable – Officers

However, concerned of­ficers of the NDLEA, who kicked against the recruit­ment exercise, equally com­mended President Buhari for his swift intervention in sacking Col. Abdallah follow­ing his dismal performance in the last five years.

In a letter addressed to the President at the weekend, the officers condemned the hasty recruitment and called for its cancellation.

“Sequel to the receipt of the handover letter, the em­battled outgoing Chairman, immediately ordered that let­ters be hurriedly dispatched to candidates to report to the NDLEA Academy in Jos for training on Monday January 11, 2021. This hasty move by Abdallah is mischievous and part of efforts to cover up the reckless misappropriation of the recruitment money released to him since 2019 as well as to thwart efforts at ex­posing the abnormalities that characterised the scandalous exercise.

“It was equally gathered that most of the candidates currently being shortlisted for the eleventh hour train­ing did not even apply for the job and sat for the entrance examination. This sad devel­opment did not only negate the principles of transparen­cy but geared towards deny­ing Nigerians equal opportu­nity in serving their country.

“We the concerned offi­cers hereby pass a vote of no confidence in the Abdal­lah-led recruitment exercise and passionately appeal to Mr. President to suspend the recruitment exercise to enable a forensic audit of the process in the interest of justice and fair play.

“Mr. President Sir, it stands to reason that the ur­gency with which Abdallah released the names of candi­dates only after he got a letter to handover for an exercise that he was fully mobilised financially since 2019 is be­deviled with sinister intent to advance his selfish interest to the detriment of national security.

“We hereby call for a com­prehensive probe into the recruitment process begin­ning with the payment of N60 million to Em-Plug ICT firm for creating an online portal that lasted for only two weeks. The Agency ICT department offered to create the online portal for a token, but was ignored by Abdallah.

“There was no publication in the newspapers for ICT firms to bid for the creation of the recruitment portal. As a result we want the entire awards of recruitment con­tracts that did not follow the due process properly inves­tigated. All successful candi­dates must be vetted and cer­tified to have applied online, sat for the examination and passed. Otherwise, a fresh exercise must be conducted under a new dispensation.”

Distortion Of Seniority Ranking

The officers are also ac­cusing Abdallah of distort­ing the seniority list in the agency.

According to them, “As a paramilitary organisation, seniority is sacrosanct but Abdallah has completely distorted the seniority list. Abdallah failed to conduct harmonisation and proper placement of officers rather, he promoted juniors who are sycophants over their seniors who dare to tell him the truth. This has to be corrected to re­store discipline in the agency.

“There are many vacan­cies in command appoint­ments that Abdallah refused to fill due to his administra­tive inaction. Every com­mand ought to have a Com­mander and two assistants but over half of the com­mand formations are hav­ing vacancies that Abdallah refused to fill. Again, many of the commanders have over stayed in a beat to the extent that their productivity is de­clining by the day yet he sees no reason to replace them.

“It is for the above and many other shortcomings that we are calling for a probe of Abdallah and the appoint­ment of a competent leader to lead the agency on the path of glory. We cannot afford the costly price of another wast­ed five years.

“Urgent steps must be taken to boost the morale of officers in reducing the esca­lating cases of drug traffick­ing and abuse in the country. This will ultimately address the growing drug challenges and improve the image of the country before our interna­tional partners.”

The concerned officers had earlier called on the President to investigate and prosecute Abdallah for the alleged diversion of N2.8 bil­lion commanders’ monthly allowances and the revoca­tion of the sale of the Chair­man’s official quarters in Ikoyi that he allegedly sold.

In a letter to the president by the concerned officers, of the agency signed by one Musa Ahmed Yusuf, the of­ficers accused the outgoing NDLEA boss of diverting N2.8 billion monthly oper­ational allowances for com­manders.

“Since 2016 that Abdallah took over, he stopped the pay­ment of monthly running cost to commanders. This has continued all through his tenure.

“The monthly allocation of the agency of about N48 million is used to service Abdallah’s personal inter­est. This has amounted to the sum of N2.8 billion in the past five years”, the petition alleged.

“How are the commands meeting their needs and how do you define corruption? Ab­dallah also sold the official quarters for the chairman of the agency located at George Street Ikoyi, Lagos.

“He also allowed a tele­communication service pro­vider to install a telecom sta­tion at the once vibrant Ikoyi office that is now a shadow of itself. The impunity of Abdal­lah must not go unpunished,” it further alleged.

The petition further called for the appointment of “a competent chairman ap­pointed to correct the many mistakes of Abdallah and take the agency to greater heights following the expi­ration of Abdallah’s tenure.

“We demand a complete investigation into the un­ending recruitment exer­cise by Abdallah even when money has been released to him since 2019. None of the procedures have followed due process. The entire ex­ercise must be conducted by a competent leader. This will ensure that Nigerians have a level playing ground in serv­ing their country.”

It also cited the refusal of the NDLEA leadership to promote staff as and when due in addition to his lack of attention to heightened drug abuse crisis in the country.

“Abdallah refused to re­lease our promotion arrears. This has dampened our mo­rale. The most painful aspect is the fact that our colleagues that retired in the last five years left service with lower ranks than they are entitled to because of Abdallah’s administrative callousness. This injustice is demoralis­ing to the entire workforce,” the group said.

The petition said a nation­al survey confirmed a mas­sive scale of Nigeria’s drug problem with no effort by Abdallah to reverse the ugly trend.

“According to the report, in 2017 just one year after Ab­dallah took over office, nearly 15% of the adult population in Nigeria (around 14.3 mil­lion people) reported a “con­siderable level” of use of psychoactive drug substanc­es. This is a rate much higher than the 2016 global average of 5.6% among adults.

“The survey was led by Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Cen­ter for Research and Infor­mation on Substance Abuse with technical support from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and funding from the Euro­pean Union.

“Our airports, seaports and land borders are becom­ing increasingly porous by the day as Abdallah remains unperturbed.”

AN exploratory peace meeting fixed for last Thursday by loyalists of a former governor of Lagos State and national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, to end the crisis in the Lagos chapter of the party failed to hold, Sunday Tribune has learnt.

The aborted meeting, which was at the instance of Chief Tajudeen Olusi, could not hold, according to Sunday Tribune investigation, because a quorum could not be formed by those listed for it.

Two federal cabinet members, the Minister of Interior and former governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola and the Minister of Works and Housing, a former governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, who were duly invited for the meeting, failed to show up.


Former Speaker of the Lagos House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, also expected at the meeting, didn’t make an appearance.


Olusi is Tinubu’s man Friday and one of his honchos that recently met with President Muhammadu Buhari to stave off the dissolution of Lagos State executive of the party.

The mission failed as the National Executive Council (NEC) of the party, on Tuesday, December 8, 2020, dissolved all executive committees in all states of the federation.

Tinubu is strongly believed to be nursing a presidential run and the peace meeting was said to be the first in a series lined up for the remaining five states in the South-West.

It was gathered that once unity is forged among the tendencies in Lagos and the two existing factions rallied behind the former governor, it would be easier for him to secure the delegates of the rest of the zone, despite the rumoured presidential aspirations of former governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun and Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi.

Before the January 7 date was fixed, Olusi, said to be acting on Tinubu’s instruction, reportedly met with a leader of the Fouad Oki faction of the APC in the state to seek truce.


Also present at the said meeting was a disgruntled chieftain of the party (name withheld) who is currently souring on Tinubu, despite the chummy relationship between them in the past.

The party in the state is currently factionalised between a group loyal to Oki, a former close associate of Tinubu and another headed by Honourable Tunde Balogun, fiercely loyal to the national leader of the party.

Balogun is the current chairman of the state caretaker committee, but in an interview with Sunday Tribune, Oki was confident Balogun’s days of relevance as the chair of the party were numbered.


A future date is reportedly set for the peace parley.

A source told Sunday Tribune that both factions would be expected to nominate their representatives to the future meeting, though leaders of the Oki faction are said to be sceptical of the meeting achieving much.

The main grouse of the faction about Tinubu is the alleged lack of internal democracy in nominating candidates for public and party offices.

Senior members of the Oki faction also accused the national leader of imposition, an allegation rejected by the camp of the former governor.


It was learnt that for the peace accord to be meaningful, the faction loyal to Oki would strongly demand that the party is returned to the members in the state and the members must be allowed to pick their leaders and representatives at different layers of party politics and governance.

The emergence of now Senator Tokunbo Abiru, representing Lagos East Senatorial District as the candidate of the party was heavily criticised for lacking in internal democracy as other aspirants were reportedly asked by the party leadership to step down for him.


The dissolution of the party executive in the state, alongside others, was viewed as a victory for the Oki faction, which had vehemently kicked against the emergence of the Balogun exco.

The faction is already on the field mobilising members for the forthcoming membership registration/validation, which is also seen as another major milestone for the anti-imposition faction.

In the Sunday Tribune interview, Oki had boasted that political power would soon change hands in the state within the party, adding that the loyalists of the leader would soon cry.


While the peace move is still in limbo, another crisis is erupting in the state chapter of the party, Sunday Tribune has learnt.

At the heart of the brewing crisis is the constitutional issue of whether the state chapter can operate caretaker executives in the 57 local government areas and the local development areas or only in the 20 constitutionally-recognised local government areas in the state.

The Balogun faction which controls the caretaker leadership currently operates local government party exco in all the 57 LGs and LCDAs as well as 377 wards.


The Oki faction is contesting the arrangement, Sunday Tribune has learnt.

During the 2018 congresses of the party, the Oki faction limited itself to the 20 constitutionally-recognised LGs and 245 wards, while the Tinubu faction conducted its own congresses in the 57 LGs and LCDAs and 377 wards.

The current pushback by the faction on the legality of party excos in the 37 LCDAs and the extra 134 wards is expected to be resolved by the national leadership of the party in Abuja before the commencement of the membership registration on January 25.

The House of Representatives is considering outlawing secret recruitments by ministries, departments and agencies of the Federal Government.

With this move, any recruitment by any MDA without publishing the vacancy will become illegal and attract a fine.

This is being proposed in the Prohibition of Secret Recruitment in the Federal Civil Service Bill 2020 sponsored by Mr Teejay Yusuf.

The bill, which is awaiting second reading, is titled, ‘A Bill for an Act to Prohibit Secret Recruitment in the Federal Public Service and to Make Elaborate Provisions for Transparency in Recruitment in the Public Service through Publication of Vacancies and for Other Matters Connected Therewith.’


Yusuf, in the explanatory memorandum, said, “The bill seeks to promote integrity and transparency in the recruitment of personnel into the Federal Civil Service by making it an offence for a federal ministry, agency or parastatal to fill existing vacancies in their organisations if such vacancies have not been published.”

The bill read in part, “It shall be the policy of the Federal Government to promote efficiency in the allocation of personnel in the Federal Civil Service, as well as transparency and equal opportunities in the recruitment and hiring of new personnel.


“Accordingly, it shall be an offence for any Federal Government ministry, agency or parastatal to fill a vacancy in their establishment unless the vacancies are well publicised before the commencement of the recruitment exercise.

“The publication referred to in Subsection 2 shall be in two national newspapers.

“Any person who violates the provisions of Section 2 (2) of this Act commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding One Hundred Thousand Naira (N100,000) or to imprisonment for a term of not more than six months or to both.


“Where a Federal Government ministry, agency or parastatal commits an offence under this Act, the head of such ministry, agency or parastatal shall be guilty of the offence and punishable as prescribed in Subsection 1.”

According to the bill, the State High Courts shall have jurisdiction over matters in the proposed Act, while the Minister of Labour, Employment and Productivity may, with the approval of the president, make regulations for the implementation of the Act.

Several MDAs have been enmeshed in recruitment scandals, some of which have been proved by both chambers of the National Assembly.


The Senate Committee on Federal Character had summoned some federal agencies over alleged secret recruitment.

Among the affected agencies are the Federal Inland Revenue Service; National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, National Space Research and Development Agency, and the National Open University.

‌
Others are the Federal Civil Service Commission, the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, the Rural Electrification Agency, and the Nigerian Navy.

The House of Representatives, in the 8th National Assembly, had investigated the alleged secret recruitment of 909 employees by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The controversial recruitment was reportedly carried out by the apex bank on the directive of the Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, with a reasonable number of the beneficiaries being children and relatives of highly-placed persons in the country.

Ironically, there was a crisis in the Senate earlier in 2019 over the employment slots allocated to the lawmakers by some federal agencies.

Some aggrieved senators had vowed to resist the sharing method allegedly adopted by the leadership of the Senate to allocate the slots.

The agencies were said to have given the legislators the slots through their leaders. But the slots were allegedly shared among the 10-member body of principal officers.

Thousands of applicants, who were shortlisted by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to fill positions for the experienced cadre, had recently written an open letter to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), alleging foul play.

The applicants said while those who applied as graduate trainees had already been employed, others who applied for the experienced category had not been contacted by the NNPC since June 2019 when they took exams.

The Nigeria Immigration Service headquarters in Abuja has been razed by fire in the early hours of Sunday.

The Service which disclosed this in a statement on its official Twitter handle said the fire affected some of the offices in the headquarters.

The fire, whose cause is still being investigated, has been put out by firefighters.

NIS said, “A fire incident occurred in our Service Headquarters this Morning. It affected some of our Offices.

“The fire has been put out by our Federal Fire Station&support from other agencies around the Airport.

“The cause of the fire is being investigated. We assure the public that the incident will not in any way affect the discharge of our services.”

https://i2.wp.com/www.pmnewsnigeria.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Adebutu-1.jpg?resize=222%2C317&ssl=1


Rosemary Adebutu, the wife of Chairman of Premier Lotto Chief Kessington Adebutu, popularly known as Baba Ijebu, is dead.

The Adebutu family is yet to issue any statement about the death, but Street Journal, who broke the news, reported that Rosemary died on Saturday morning from Covid-19 complications.


Rosemary is the mother of Temitope Adebutu whose controversial marriage to Jonwo, one of the sons of former president Olusegun Obasanjo, ended barely a year after.

She was said to be hale and hearty but suddenly developed a mild ailment with cold and malaria as symptoms, this weekend.


The ailment soon became severe and she was rushed to St. Nicholas Hospital, Lagos where she was confirmed: “brought in dead.”

Rosemary is now the second wife of the businessman to die within 3 years.

In 2017, the wealthy lotto magnate lost one of his wives, Olaide Abimbola Adebutu.

Olaide was laid to rest at the Ikoyi Vaults and Gardens.

By Ade Adesomoju

The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Jabi, Abuja, on Thursday, ordered the sale of an Abuja hotel owned by Obat Oil and Petroleum Limited to offset N5 billion debt it owes Ecobank Plc.

The judge, Hassan Babangida, gave the order in a suit filed by Ecobank.

The hotel in question, Febson Hotels & Malls, is located at Plot 2425, Herbert Macaulay Way, Abuja.

Obat Oil, the firm which owns the property, was founded by an oil mogul and popular monarch, the Olugbo of Ugbo Kingdom in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State, Fedrick Akinruntan, who was in 2014 ranked by Forbes magazine as the “second richest king in Africa and the richest in Nigeria.”

Ecobank’s case

Ecobank, through the application filed on October 18, 2019, sought the court’s authority to sell the hotel to recover the N5 billion owed it by Obat Oil.

It claimed that it had reached an agreement with Obat Oil to sell the hotel to offset the debt, adding that the agreement was adopted by the High Court of Lagos State as a consent judgment delivered on March 15, 2017.

The bank, through its lawyer, Kunle Ogunba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, added that Obat Oil, in a November 16, 2019 letter, informed the bank that it had found a buyer for the hotel and would offset the debt with the proceeds of the sale.

It added that the company reneged on its promise to have the hotel sold and pay the N5 billion debt “on or before December 31, 2019”.

Obat Oil’s defence

Meanwhile, Obat Oil’s lawyer, Olalekan Ojo, did not deny his client’s N5 billion indebtedness.

He maintained that Ecobank was no longer the creditor because the bank had in a letter dated April 5, 2017, allegedly assigned its rights and interests in the case to a third party, ETI Specialised Finance Company Limited.

He said this implied that only ETI Specialised Finance Company Limited could assert any right over the N5 billion judgment.

Judgment

Delivering judgment on Thursday, the judge held that Ecobank had the locus standi (legal right) to enforce the Lagos State High Court judgment.

Mr Babangida ruled that there was nothing placed before the court to show that the alleged transfer of the bank’s right in the N5 billion to ETI was complete.

He noted that although the bank in its April 5, 2017 letter stated that ETI would act on its behalf, there was no evidence showing that ETI complied with the condition in the letter requiring it to give the debtor the bank account into which the N5 billion should be paid.

“The judgment sum has not been paid till today and it was agreed by the parties that the property in question, Febson Hotels & Malls, should be sold in satisfaction of the judgment sum,” the judge added.

Mr Babangida ordered: “The court hereby orders the issuance of a writ for the attachment and for sale of the property known as Febson Hotels & Malls and the sum of N5 billion to be realised from the sale should be paid to the applicant.”

Appeal

Meanwhile, Obat Oil immediately appealed against the judgment and filed an application for stay of execution of the judgment, on Thursday.

Mr Ojo, the company’s lawyer, filed two grounds notice of appeal at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, contending that the trial judge “erred in law” by not declining jurisdiction to entertain and grant Ecobank’s motion on notice dated October 18, 2019.

The lawyer argued that the court ought to decline jurisdiction because the judgment debt sought to be enforced by Ecobank had been assigned to ETI Specialised Finance Company.

Obat Oil also argued that the judge erred in law because he relied on the reply affidavit filed by the judgment creditor on November 5, 2019 “after the judgment creditor had started its address in respect of the motion on notice filed on October 1, 2019 without obtaining the leave of the trial court to file the said reply affidavit”.

The firm argued that the judge arrived at a decision that occasioned “grave miscarriage of justice” by relying on such reply affidavit.

In its motion for stay of execution of the judgment, which it filed before the same trial judge at the FCT High Court, Jabi, on Thursday, Obat Oil sought an order of injunction and stay of execution “restraining Ecobank from enforcing it pending the determination of its appeal against the said judgment.”

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has confirmed that the electricity tariff has increased by two naira to four naira since January 1, 2021 to reflect increase in inflation and foreign exchange rates.

The new increase will be the 3rd time in 5 years under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to a statement by the Assistant General Manager (AGM), Government, External and Industry Relations at NERC, Mr Michael Faloseyi, the Commission said although tariff increase for Bands D and E (Customers getting power below 12 hours daily) remain ‘frozen’, it however admitted that the tariff rates for even these classes of customers were ‘adjusted’ upwardly.

“In compliance with the provisions of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) and the nation’s tariff methodology for biannual minor review, the rates for service bands A,B,C,D and E have been adjusted by N2.00 to N4.00 per kilowatt hour (kWhr) to reflect the ‘partial’ impact of inflation and movement in foreign exchange rates.”

“NERC also said “Any customer that has been impacted by any rate increases beyond the above provision of the tariff order should report to the Commission.”

Varied increment

The latest tariff hike for the DisCos reflect varied increment percentage from 25 per cent above, records show. For instance, customers of Ibadan DisCo will pay an average of N46.5 per kWh from January to June 2021, rising from N34.1 as of December 2020, its order signed by NERC Chairman showed. The increase for this DisCo is N12.4 or 25 per cent.

According to a revised Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) signed by the new Chairman of NERC, Engr. Sanusi Garba, on December 30, 2020, and sighted Tuesday, the new tariff increase took effect on January 1, 2021, and supersedes the previous Order NERC/2028/2020.

In the new revised Service Based Tariff (SBT) Order NERC/225/2020, the commission said it considered the 14.9% inflation rate rise in November 2020, foreign exchange of N379.4/$1 as of December 29, 2020, available generation capacity, US inflation rate of 1.22% and the Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) of the power firms to raise the tariff.

This is effective till June 2021 while a Cost Reflective Tariff (CRT) expected to raise the new cost higher will be activated from June to December 2021, the NERC Order revealed.

Daily Trust had reported that in December, 2020, NERC notified that it had begun a review for another tariff amendment which has been completed and had taken effect from January 1, 2021.

How FG approved 3 tariffs in 5 years

Daily Trust reports that this is the third tariff increase NERC has approved for the 11 Distribution Companies (DisCos) in five years. It had increased the Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) 2015 by what customers described as over 50 per cent on February 1, 2016.

The MYTO template for reviewing tariff increase or decrease ought to be reviewed twice a year and the result implemented every six months.

Although indices like inflation, foreign exchange rates, gas prices went up with a lower generation capacity, prompting a further increase by June 2016, NERC failed to implement about at least nine tariffs on biannual basis, which piled up until 2020.

In the quest to gradually increase tariff by what it calls Cost Reflective Tariff (CRT), NERC planned a tariff hike of the Service Based Tariff (SBT) in April but postponed it to July due to COVID-19 pandemic.

It approved the hike for the DisCos starting September 2020, but suspended it after severe outrages; the Commission amended it with discounts and reintroduced it on November 1, 2020 which makes it the second tariff hike since 2016.

The new increase in January 2021 is the third of such in the last five years with a hike of about 25% on average varying across the DisCos.

NERC in the latest order planned another increase by June 2021 which will formally introduce a higher rate known as the CRT that it had targeted since 2020.

By Amechi Ogbonna, Omodele Adigun; Uche Usim (Abuja) and Adewale Sanyaolu



President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term in office might well go down in history as one of the most challenging episodes in the annals of Nigerian political economy that generations unborn would find quite neuseating.




And that is basically because barely ten months into the journey of deconstructing the controversies that trailed his re-election in February 2019, the entire nation was engulfed in the Coronavirus conflagration that paralysed virtually all sectors of the country’s economy.

From the hospitality industry to transportation, education, oil/gas, aviation, agriculture, service and manufacturing sectors to mention a few, the consequences have been dire and humongous.

Beyond the infrastructural and logistic dislocations, the human toll in terms of fatalities and number infected by the COVID -19 pandemic left a sour taste in the mouth of millions of Nigerians.


Battling a pandemic with no cure and explicit genome as at the time it hit Nigeria in March 2020, made fear, isolation and anxiety the major defining characters of the early months of the crisis.

Although the Federal Government’s monetary and fiscal interventions meant to douse the economic tension of the moment came handy with the rollout of about N2.3trillion Economic Sustainability Plan through the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN), it became obvious the measures came short of mitigating the consequences when at the end of the second quarter that revenue projections of both the Federal and states governments headed south leading to negative GDP growth.

Overall, government’s intention for the bailout programme were targeted at job retention, by making available more working capital and other fiscal incentives to the real sector for purposes of job creation and to effectively oil the wheel of state bureaucracy.

For the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises usually regarded as the engine room of the nation’s economy, 2020 turned out a huge economic tragedy that needed no restating. In a position document issued recent, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) had lamented that the MSME subsector in that state lost a whopping N2.7 billion to the lockdown which many believe was a bit conservative estimation. This was even as thousands of other such enterprises including startups closed shop as a result of lack of patronage worsened by the Coronavirus lockdown across the country.

For instance, after their initial economic lockdown in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun states, Governor Babajide Sanwo Olu announced that his government reportedly lost about 25 percent of its anticipated receipts, which prompted a downward review of its 2020 appropriatin bill to close up the gaps created by the pandemic. In other states too, the various state governments also suffered various degrees of socio-economic dislocations with project implementation taking a hit. This was even as states and the government embarked on a number of reviews to accommodate revenue losses cause by the pandemic.

Indeed by the end of the second quarter of the year, all basic assumption upon which the various budgets were predicted had collapsed and had to be adjusted

There is also no doubting the fact that year 2020 will go down in the annals of Nigeria and the global economy at large, as one of the worst in the last century.

For over eight months, the Nigerian and global economy was on ventilator, as COVID-19 pestilence pounded the global supply chain through its forced lockdowns.

Land, air and sea borders were shut in a twist that robbed Nigeria of trillions of Naira in oil earnings, diaspora remittances and other legitimate statutory incomes that ought to have boosted its GDP.

In fact one of the greatest shocks to have hit the Nigerian economy in 2020 was the decision of the Buhari administration to close Nigerian land borders with neighbouring countries on August 20, 2019.

According to the Federal Government’s communication, the measure became necessary to frontally tackle protracted challenges of rice smuggling including arms and human trafficking, around those facilities.

However, the downside of the policy was the huge damage it did to regional trade which, according to the Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives company Limited (FDC), Mr Bismark Rewane, contributes approximately 13.88 per cent to the nation’s GDP and accounts for 16.9 per cent of total employment as border communities, haulage operators and freight forwarders had bitter experiences as life became quite unbearable for many.

This was as some economic analysts had noted that informal trade remained a significant part of Africa’s regional trade, accounting up to 40 per cent. The region has a GDP size of $2.6 trillion, with Nigeria accounting for about 21.9per cent.

With talks about the ECO common currency and the AfCFTA commencing in January 2021, many believe that the re-opening of the land borders will boost West African regional trade and integration.

For an economy that depends largely on oil for revenue, the pandemic, with its concomitant effect on global oil demand and the economy that was just recovering from a previous recession, the effect was quite phenomenal. Little wonder why it ended up in a second recession in five years at the end of the 3rd quarter a negative growth of -6.2 per cent.

Also during the year, the crash in global crude oil demand triggered mass shutdowns, layoffs and redundancies in several companies across the country with grave implications for corporate sustainability and profitability.

Prior to the 2016 recession, Nigeria’s economy grew at 6.3per cent, a growth trajectory that was later cut to about 2.2 per cent before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Similarly, inflation rate which closed at a single digit of about 9 per cent in 2014, and about 12 per cent in 2019 suddely shot up to 14.8 per cent in November 2020.

Beyond the government’s monetary and fiscal policy measures implemented during the year under review, the coronavirus pandemic and huge damage it unleashed on the national economic infrastructure caused by the EndSARS protests must have played critical roles in instigating the regime of galloping inflation and widening unemployment that tended to stultify some of the basic assumptions upon which the 2020 budget was predicted.

The first quarter of 2020 was greeted by a combination of health crisis, declining growth of Gross Domestic Products (GDP), reversal of capital flows, financial handicap and, for some countries, a sharp drop in commodity prices, as the effects of the coronavirus pandemic jolted the global economy.

Monthly subvention shared by the three tiers of government also dipped remarkably, a development that forced the government to go on a borrowing spree.

In a media briefing on May 12, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, admitted Nigeria was sailing against a storm with the public health and economic emergencies of unprecedented proportions, driven primarily by the 55 per cent drop in crude oil prices between January and May, 2020.

“This unparalleled shock requires that the federal and state governments along with the organised private sector, work together to address these challenges in order to preserve lives, restore economic activities and reset the economy of our dear country.”

Amid these challenges, a Professor of Capital Markets, Uche Uwaleke, believes Nigeria’s capital market fared better in 2020 compared to 2019. He noted that in the primary segment of the bond market was actively enabled by Federal Government’s bonds which were oversubscribed in most instances as an indication of strong investor’ appetite.

“Regarding the equities market, athough the primary segment was relatively inactive, the secondary market segment proved to be quite bullish especially in the last quarter of 2020 to the extent that year to date return rose in excess of 40 percent way higher than 2019 performance”, he told Daily Sun.

According to Uwaleke, the major challenge to the capital market witnessed this year was the COVID-19 pandemic and the fall in crude oil price which negatively affected stock returns especially in the first and second quarters of 2020.

“Little wonder the worst performing month of the year was in March when the NSE All Share Index lost over 18 percent.

Also, the severe contraction in real GDP in the second quarter, coupled with rising inflation and forex pressure, was a drag on primary issues in the stock market”, he added.

In its Macroeconomic Review and 2021 Outlook for Nigeria, analysts at FSDH Research, the research arm of FSDH Merchant Bank noted that the problem with the Nigerian economy is beyond COVID-19 but more of a structurally-weak economy affected by externally-induced shocks.

More so, the COVID-19 induced lockdowns, supply chain disruptions, foreign exchange (FX) accessibility issues and sustained border closure worsened the decline in the last two quarters (Q3’20: -12.1% YoY, Q2’20: -16.6% YoY), consequently setting trade activities back to 2012 levels. Notably, the recent contractions have shrunk the sector’s contribution to GDP to 13.9 per cent (2015: 16.9%; 2019: 16.0%). According to a herd of economists, but for the contraction in the sector, GDP would have declined by only 1.8per cent in the third quarter.

Declines in other manufacturing and some services sub-sectors compounded the adverse impacts of trade weakness on the economy, even though telecoms and construction sectors provided some support to aggregate output. Telecoms sustained its impressive growth momentum (+17.4% YoY) as movement restrictions accelerated the adoption of virtual communication, while construction (+2.84% YoY) appeared to have benefited from limited rainfall and greater government focus on the sector.

On the performance of the banking sector in 2020, Uwaleke said that the sector fared relatively well when compared to other sectors of the economy despite the negative impact of COVID-19.

“This much is confirmed by the National Bureau of Statistics numbers which show that Financial Institutions especially the banks, together with the Information/Communication sector, have remained in the positive territory with respect to real GDP growth, year on year, thereby helping to moderate the current economic recession.

“It is equally corroborated by the CBN which confirms, through its November MPC communique, that financial soundness indicators for banks in 2020 actually improved with Non Performing Loans a little above the CBN 5 percent threshold while Capital Adequacy ratios and liquidity ratios are above the CBN benchmarks of 15 percent and 30 percent respectively. Of note too is the fact that according to the CBN, aggregate credit to the real sector has been on the increase since 2020.

“The performance of the banks this year was bolstered by the surge in online transactions in the wake of the pandemic leading to many banks recording increases in non-interest income according to their 9-months unaudited financial statements.

In 2020, the CBN devalued/adjusted the naira on three occasions to reduce the pressure on the local currency. At the end of November 2020, the dollar to naira rate in the parallel market stood at N495/US$ from N361/US$ at the beginning of the year.

The pressure on the foreign exchange market, according to experts, persisted in 2020 Q3 owing to slow down in the global oil prices and continued pressure on external reserves.

Non-Performing (NPL) ratios in the banking industry has remained low at 5.7 per cent. The capital adequacy ratio of the banking industry, at 15.5 percent, remains above the prudential requirement per cent (regulatory). In addition, return on earnings in the banking sector was over 21percent as at October 2020.

Another sector which emerged as a significant source of resilience in mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, was the Information and Communications Technology (ICT). The growth of startups in the fintech and health care space rose in response to the pandemic.

The Central Bank recently issued Payment Service Banks licenses to three firms as part of efforts to drive financial inclusion and ensure that majority of Nigerian citizens are banked. The Payment Service Banks, along with Mobile Money Operators and Banks are expected to leverage ICT channels in improving penetration of digital finance.

In the agriculture space, available records from the national accounts show that the agriculture sector grew by 2.2 per cent when compared year by year (y/y) in Q1 2020, compared with 2.5per cent recorded in the previous quarter. Crop production accounted for 88 per cent of agriculture GDP and grew by 2.4 y/y. However, CBN records show that growth in agriculture (+1.4% YoY) has materially slowed (average of 2.2 percent in the last eight quarters vs prior 5-year mean of 3.5%) despite prolonged monetary and fiscal support.

Regarding debt, Nigerian states and the Federal Debt Stock data as at March 31, 2020 reflected that the country’s total public debt portfolio stood at N28.63 trillion. Further disaggregation of Nigeria’s total public debt showed that N9.99 trillion or 34.89 percent of the debt stock was external while N18.64trillion or 65.11 per cent of the debt was domestic.

States and the Federal Debt Stock data as at 30th June 2020 reflected that the country’s total public debt portfolio stood at N31.01trillion.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, recently said that the country’s total public debt will hit N38 trillion by December 2021.

Fitch, Moody downgraded Nigerian banks

Two rating agencies, Fitch and Moody downgraded Nigerian banks in February, and July respectively.Fitch Ratings revised the Outlook on four Nigerian banks to Negative from Stable and affirmed the Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) of 10 banks and financial institutions. Last July, Moody on its part, cited foreign currency shortages as the reason to lower the banks’ ratings.It explains: Nigeria’s banks’ dollar deposit inflows are dwindling because of low oil revenue, volatile foreign investment inflows and reduced remittances from abroad.

Moody’s rated banks have bolstered their dollar deposit bases and liquid assets since 2016, but scenario analysis highlights vulnerabilities.

Nigeria’s banks are facing foreign currency shortages because of low oil prices, volatile foreign inflows and lower remittances amid the pandemic, threatening to renew foreign currency liquidity pressures that blighted them during a previous oil crisis in 2016-2017. “Lower dollar inflows at a time when foreign currency borrowing will likely be more expensive for Nigerian banks will strain their foreign currency funding, despite substantial improvements compared to 2016,” said Peter Mushangwe, Analyst at Moody’s. “Our moderate scenario where foreign-currency deposits decline by 20 per cent, while loans remain constant, would increase rated banks’ funding gap to NGN1.5 trillion [$3.8 billion], and to NGN1.9 trillion [$5.0 billion] under our severe-case scenario of 35 per cent foreign-currency deposit contraction, creating acute funding challenges.”

External reserves drops to $34.85bn

The country’s foreign reserves plummeted further to $34.85 billion on December 14, as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) continues its interventions across the various foreign exchange (FX) windows despite declining dollar inflows.

This is the lowest level since April when it touched $33.4 billion in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown and falling oil prices.

Data from the CBN showed that foreign reserves fell by $805 million from $35.656 billion as of November 4, 2020.In January, the reserves stood at $38.5 billion before declining to $36 billion in February and early March. It further declined to $35 billion late March, before sinking further at $33 billion in April.

E-Payment gallops to N111.29trn in 9 months

The value of transactions via the two digital payment platforms – Nigeria [Interbank Settlement System(NIBSS] Instant Payment (NIP) System and Point of Sales (PoS) terminals – rose to N111.29trillion from January to September 2020. The two platforms recorded a 44 per cent growth in value of payments when compared with an aggregate of N77.49teillion in the corresponding period of 2019.A breakdown showed that NIP grossed N105.3tn from January to September this year while PoS deals were worth N6.4tn during the same period.

In the first nine months of 2019, total NIP transactions amounted to N75.53trillion while PoS payments were valued at N2.24trillion during the same period.

In January, instant money transfers valued at N10.3trillion were reported by NIBSS, compared with the N8.11trillion in the same month in 2019. In the following month, the value of NIP transactions was N9.97tn compared N7.47tn NIP deals recorded in February 2019.

The banks grossed NIP transactions valued at N10.97tn in March 2020 as against N8.58tn in the same month last year.

On the economic outlook for 2021

Uwaleke predicted it will be shaped by a second wave of the pandemic, increasing the vulnerability of banking credit to default risks and pushing up NPLs once again.

“Another source of vulnerability is the International oil market. If crude oil price disappoints, this will jeopardize the capital Adequacy ratios of many banks with significant exposure to the oil sector.

“It is expected that CBN’s policies will continue to be pro-growth in 2021. This will include sustaining the Loan-to-Deposit Ratio policy, as well as a low interest regime environment which for the banks would mean survival of the fittest.

“The banking landscape is likely to witness significant change next year via restructuring. Already, a few of them are embracing the holding company structure.

Chances are that a number of banks in 2021 will recapitalize to meet up with the challenge of upscaling technology in response to the new normal of doing business occasioned by COVID-19. So, the capital market will likely witness some traction in primary market activities induced by the banking sector. It is also not unlikely to record some Mergers and Acquisitions next year especially involving tier-2 and tier-3 banks.

According to the CBN Governor, “with sustained implementation of our intervention measures, we do expect that the Nigerian economy could emerge from the recession by the first quarter of 2021. We also expect that growth in 2021 would attain 2.0 percent. However, downside risks remain, as restoration of full economic activities, particularly in service related sectors, remains uncertain until a COVID-19 vaccine is produced and made available to millions of people across the world.”

“Not surprisingly, Banking stocks have outperformed the stock market thus far especially tier-1 banks stocks of GTB, Zenith, FBN, Access and UBA with year-to-date returns higher than the NSE All Share Index of about 40 percent.

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In Gindiri, Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State, the rivalry between two co-wives turned nasty when one attacked the other with hot water

After co-wives, Iklima Musa and Justina Peter, had a serious argument, they were separated by their husband, Ate Peter Manomi, but peace was far from returning to the house.

When Iklima came out of her room few minutes later to gather her clothes from the washing lines, she was allegedly attacked by Justina who poured boiling water on her.

The attack has left Iklima treating severe burns on her upper body and thrown their husband and their neighbourhood into distress.

Daily Trust Saturday gathered that the women were always in conflict since Iklima joined the household as Mr Manomi’s second wife three years back.

“I bent down to gather my washed clothes, I didn’t know my co-wife was coming towards me with a bad intention.

“I wasn’t expecting anything like that because we had been separated after fighting some minutes before. As I was straightening up, she poured hot water on me and I started screaming,” Iklima told Daily Trust Saturday.

“Our husband was the first to rush to the scene. Luckily he was not far from the house and heard me screaming. I don’t know what would have happened if he was not close by.”

Manomi rushed Iklima to a hospital and she has been on admission at the Sabon Layi Specialist Hospital, Mangu.

The clashes between the two women forced Iklima to leave the house in August, 2019 and did returned till 2020. Iklima had hoped that Justina would have calmed down after the break.

“To my surprise, the very day I returned, she followed me into my room and abused me. We quarrelled and even fought. That signalled to me that there was more trouble to come,” she said.

Zuwaira Haruna Marwe, Iklima’s mother, was not comfortable with the idea of her daughter returning to Manomi’s house because of the frequent quarrels.

“I was in Lagos when the incident occurred. A day after, her sister called me on to say that all was not well with Iklima and that they were in the hospital due to the injuries she sustained,” she said.

She further said that sometime before, something was put into Iklima’s bathwater that left her with injured skin.

“Something harmful was added to the water and only Allah knows what it was because it was unusual. And that was not too long before the recent incident,” she said.

Iklima said a doctor told her that it was acid that was mixed into her bathwater.

The recent open attack on her daughter has left Zuwaira furious.

“I am her mother, so I am very disturbed by what had happened. Justina has cheated my daughter and ruined her life. All I want is for justice to prevail. I want her to get Justice and ensure that the culprit is brought to book,” she said.

Iklima too is not willing to forgive Justina for the act.

“Whoever could do this to you, if opportune, such person could kill you. Unless she can explain to me beyond any reasonable doubt that she didn’t mean to hurt me, I will not forgive her.

“I am sure this was planned and meant to ruin my life because this is not the first time she would do something evil to me,” she said.

Marwe Abdulganiyu Abubakar is Iklima’s uncle. He said he was shocked when he saw his niece’s condition at the hospital.

“I am so scarred by what has happened to her. The security should do all they could to get the perpetrator arrested and brought to book. If the perpetrator is not dealt with, other people would do the same and go free,” he said.

Despite her injuries, Iklima is convinced that her marriage is not over but some conditions need to be met if she were to return to her husband.

“I believe that my husband loves me and I love him too. If he can separate the house, I still want to stay with him. But I don’t think I can go back to stay in the same house with Justina,” she said.

The husband, Manomi, however, is reluctant to comment on the incident. When Daily Trust Saturday approached him, he said, “This is a family issue. This is a personal issue. I don’t want to say anything about it.”

Barnabas Zumji, the Police Officer in Charge of Gindiri Police Outpost, said they received a report of the incident and would be asking Iklima questions as soon as she recovered enough to help with investigation, adding that regardless of that, they had proceeded with investigation into the incident.

However, since the indent, Justina has been on the run and Iklima and her family are counting on the police to find her and bring her to justice.

Over 1400 people (as of press time) have signed a petition asking the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to sack the managing director of First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Adam Nuru.

The petition alleged that the bank chieftain was responsible for the demise of Tunde Thomas.

Mr Thomas was said to have died of depression on December 16, 2020.

According to the petition, the FCMB MD allegedly had an affair with his staff, Moyo Thomas, who was the deceased’s wife, resulting in two children.

It alleged that Moyo had informed her husband that she was leaving Nigeria for the United States with the kids only to call him upon arrival that the children do not belong to him.

The petition claimed the news initially caused Mr Thomas to be down with a stroke but later recovered and thereafter met another lady whom he planned to marry.

Mr Thomas was, however, said to have suffered a cardiac arrest after returning from work about two days before his introduction to his already pregnant girlfriend.

The petition

Here is an excerpt of the petition posted on change.org:

“Tunde Thomas died recently like about a week or 2 from Depression.

“Apparently, kids from his marriage to Moyo Thomas belong to his wife’s boss (Adam Nuru, the current MD of FCMB).

“Moyo Thomas left Tunde to go to America with the kids. She told him kids were not his when she got to America. He was later down with a stroke but recovered.

“Apparently, Tunde met someone else he was going to remarry but apparently didn’t recover from the first Marriage issues.

“Tunde was just made director for the MFB he works for. Got back from work last week and had a cardiac arrest 2 days before introduction to a pregnant new girlfriend.

“This is a case of gross misconduct based on ethical grounds and unjustifiable economic oppression by the elites (Adam Nuru) against the less privileged in the society.

“The MD has been doing everything possible to sweep this case under the carpet. We implore the Central Bank of Nigeria as the apex regulator and the board of FCMB to investigate this for the integrity of the bank and Nigerian banking industry.

“This is a case too many, while I agree that this is not the full story, the barest minimum will be an investigation of this unethical conduct by the current MD of FCMB Bank Adam Nuru.”

An Akure-based human rights lawyer, Bolanle Cole, has also begun his own Twitter campaign to compel the CBN and FCMB to sack the bank chieftain.

In a Twitter thread on Friday, Mr Cole called out Mr Nuru and lampooned the FCMB boss for allowing the ‘unprofessional romance’ to happen.

He gave the bank two weeks from 30 December to sack Mr Nuru or else witness a campaign of a boycott by customers.

When PREMIUM TIMES contacted FCMB’s spokesman, Diran Olojo, he said the bank was reviewing the matter.

He said, ‘‘We are aware of several stories circulating across several media platforms about our bank’s Managing Director Adam Nuru, a former employee Ms Moyo Thomas and her deceased husband, Mr. Tunde Thomas.

“While this is a personal matter, the tragedy of the death of Mr. Tunde Thomas and the allegations of unethical conduct, require the bank’s board to conduct a review of what transpired, any violations of our code of ethics, and the adequacy of these code of conduct ethics. This will be done immediately.

“We enjoin all our stakeholders to bear with us as we conduct this review and to please respect the various families involved.”

Ebonyi deputy governor, Kelechi Igwe said it was tough deciding to cross over to the APC with the governor, Dave Umahi because he, as well as many other government officials did not like the ruling party.

Leading other state executive members to pay a Christmas homage to the governor in his Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area country home on Tuesday, Mr. Igwe recounted how they foot-dragged on the decision but had limited time to make widespread consultation.

“When you announced that it was time to move on, a lot of us were foot-dragging, wanting to make consultations but at the end, decided to move with you,” NAN quoted Mr. Igwe to have said.

“I must confess that some of us didn’t like the APC but decided to join it because of you, so we are declaring that you must contest the 2023 presidential election.”

Responding, Mr. Umahi advised his visitors to continue to remain loyal to his administration and not indulge in any acts of betrayal, in spite of the circumstance.

The governor pleaded with the executive members to continue to stay steadfast with him though “there is a Judas in every 12.”

He said unstable politicians are never taken seriously. He also reiterated that the APC is the party where Igbos can “property evaluate” themselves.

Mr. Umahi was twice elected on the platform of opposition PDP but defected from the party in November, citing “injustice being done to South-East by the PDP.”

Though he has denied it, many believes the Ebonyi governor defected to the APC to realise his presidential ambition.

Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, has said the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the plans for votes to be taken on the constitution alteration bills in December 2020.

Omo-Agege who chairs the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Review of the 1999 Constitution, however, promised that the votes will be taken in a not too distant time.

He said this in a statement titled, “New Year: We must not give in to despair – Omo-Agege’, which was signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yomi Odunuga.


The Deputy Senate President said, “The Coronavirus pandemic disrupted our earlier plans to have the constitution alteration bills voted on sometime in December last year. Consequently, we will have those votes taken on each of these bills separately in a not too distant time.
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“I firmly believe that we are on course to true greatness. Let us keep hope alive as we renew our collective resolve to ensure that the dreams and labour of our heroes past are transformed into a better future for succeeding generations”.

He assured that the Senate would be fair to all and promised to make the report of the panel ready in record time.

Leo Ogor, a House of Representatives member, representing Isoko federal constituency, was said to have shed tears and allegedly threatened suicide if the person he chose is denied the chairmanship position in Isoko North Local Government Area of Delta State in the forthcoming local elections in the state.

SaharaReporters reliably gathered that the House's former minority leader cried and threatened suicide a few days ago in a telephone conversation with the state's governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, over the rejection of his chosen aspirant.

The Peoples Democratic Party in the area has been thrown into a crisis over the party's candidates for the local elections after the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission, (DSIEC) announced March 6, 2021, as the date for the local government elections.

A one-time executive member of PDP in the state and Ogor's political associate, who participated in the telephone conversation, told our correspondent that Governor Okowa had earlier directed that the PDP primary for the chairmanship in the local government be thrown opened, but Ogor pleaded with the governor that he should be allowed to singlehandedly select the chairmanship candidate.

"Leo Ogor put a call to his excellency, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, that he be allowed to produce the next chairman in Isoko North, that his first candidate, Joseph Otheremu, was rejected and why should his second candidate, Christian Iteire, be rejected again," the source said.

"Ogor, during the phone call, lamented bitterly on why Okowa was allowing people to humiliate him. At this point, he started shedding tears and threatened suicide if he's not allowed to produce the next chairman in Isoko North comes March 6, 2021. Honourable Ogor only succeeded in getting the governor with his emotional blackmail.

"Just on Monday, the state chairman of PDP, Kingsley Esiso, called for a meeting of leaders of the party in Isoko North at his VIP lodge, government house Asaba and was attended by Ogor, Emmanuel Ogidi, and few others. As the meeting was going on, all of a sudden, we saw that Ogor was shivering seriously and based on his fragile health, it was then resolved that he be allowed to have his way by producing the next chairman."

Last week, some top members of PDP in the area had walked out on the former minority leader and others during the party's caucus meeting at the country home of the federal lawmaker at Ozoro.

An official of the party in the locality told our correspondent that the choice of Iteire was not good.

"This is another case of former late President Yar'dua who died in office. Leo camp has been jittery seriously ever since the governor mandated Isoko North to go for primaries because they know they are not on the ground. They are very much aware that the Isoko North people have rejected them. Leo's candidate is facing some serious health challenges, and if care is not taken, he might die in office, and we don't want such."

Ogor did not answer calls from SaharaReporters.

One of his aides, who pleaded anonymity said, "The story is false and from the pit of hell without any iota of truth in it. So you believe that too that Leo Ogor can cry and threatened suicide because of mere council chairman slot.? I am aware he only told the governor that it is because of his fragile health; hence he's been treated this manner."

The House of Representatives has proposed a bill that will legalise the cultivation, sale and use of cannabis better known as marijuana or Indian hemp in Nigeria.

The bill, which has already been read the first time and was slated for second reading before the House proceeded on Christmas and New Year break is sponsored by Hon. Miriam Onuoha (APC, Imo).

Onuoha, who represents Isiala Mbano/ Onuimo/ Okigwe federal constituency of Imo State, is a firsttimer in the lower chamber after defeating her closest rival Obinna Onwubuariri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the rerun election that was held in 18 polling units in the constituency in January this year.

It is titled “A bill for an act to decriminalise the growth and use of cannabis, to establish a system for the registration and licensing of cannabis growers, users and control, to legalise the growth, sale and use of cannabis and set out a legal framework for the registration and licensing of cannabis growers and producers in Nigeria; and for related matters.”

Although the bill was listed on the order paper on December 21, it could not be debated due to the absence of the sponsors on the floor of the House. New Telegraph investigation revealed that the proposed legislation will be considered when the House reconvene on January 26, 2021.

A synopsis of the bill obtained by New Telegraph shows that it is “to regulate the cultivation, possession, availability and trade in cannabis for medical and research purposes.”

The objectives of the bill include to: “Provide for a registration and licensing system for cannabis farmers and processors; establish a registration and licensing system for cannabis farmers and processors; regulate the cultivation, processing, availability and trade of cannabis for medical purposes and promote public awareness about the cultivation, processing, availability and trade of cannabis for medicinal and research purposes and its use in relation to medical or health purpose.”

The bill, however, prohibits issuance of cannabis licence for medical use if such a person is without a proof that “he is either a medical doctor and intends to use it for medical purposes or a pharmaceutical company who intends to use an amount of cannabis, which may be determined as required, in producing a medicine for the cure of a certain disease or an epidemic.” When this bill is passed, Nigeria will join the league of 30 other countries that have legalised the use of cannabis.

They include Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech, Denmark and Finland. Others are Germany, Greece, Israel, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Italy, Poland, Jamaica, Lesotho, Romania and Dan Marino. The rest are Luxemburg, Switzerland, Macedonia, Tury, Malta, Mexico, Uruguay and Zimbabwe.

By James Emejo

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that Nigeria maintained its lead as the biggest economy in Africa, in terms of the size of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

But globally, the IMF, in its recently released World Economic Outlook (WEO), reviewed by THISDAY yesterday, ranked Nigeria the 26th largest economy, with an average GDP of $442.976 billion.

The computation was based on nominal GDP, which does not take into account differences in the cost of living in different countries.

The IMF, recently returned a gloomy verdict on the Nigerian economy for 2020, declaring that the nation’s economic outlook was challenging.

The multilateral institution, in its recently released 2020 Article IV Consultation on Nigeria, had stated that the country’s economy “is buffeted” from side to side by a cocktail of issues, including the uncertainty over the COVID-19 pandemic, low oil prices, capital outflows and balance of payment challenges.”

The IMF had stated: “The COVID-19 global pandemic is exacting a heavy toll on the Nigerian economy, which was already experiencing falling per capita income and double-digit inflation, with limited buffers and structural bottlenecks.

“Low oil prices and sharp capital outflows have significantly increased balance of payments (BOP) pressures and, together with the pandemic-related lockdown, have led to a large output contraction and increased unemployment.”

In its estimation, the IMF said supply shortages have pushed up headline inflation to a 30-month high.

It said: “Under current policies, the outlook is challenging. Real GDP is projected to contract by 3¼ per cent in 2020. The recovery is projected to start in 2021, with subdued growth of 1½ per cent and output recovering to its pre-pandemic level only in 2022.”

The IMF report, which acknowledged the efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to rein in inflation, however, maintained that despite an expected easing of food prices, inflation is projected to remain in double digits and above the CBN’s target range.

“Following a significant decline in revenue collections – from levels that were already among the lowest in the world – fiscal deficits are projected to remain elevated in the medium term,” the report stated.

Recognising various policy measures put in place by the federal government, the Bretton Wood Institution still believes there is need to put in place more broad market reforms in order to address the pressing balance of payment pressures in Nigeria.

Emma Okonji

Telecoms operators are lamenting the recent hike in telecoms charges by federal and state government agencies, a situation that has dampened the zeal of telecoms operators to roll out additional networks and services.

Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, who expressed the displeasure of telecoms operators over the new charges, told THISDAY that while the 36 states that had agreed to reduce the Right of Way (RoW) charges to N145 per linear metre, based on the agreement reached with the federal government, were implementing the decision, they were also introducing new charges and also hiked some of others.

He said: “Although a number of states agreed to reverse RoW charges in their states to the agreed N145 per linear metre, while they were reducing RoW charges, they were also introducing new charges and increasing some of the existing charges in the telecoms sector, which made a mess of their promise to reduce RoW charges.”

He said land rent for telecoms sites, annnual administrative renewal fee, among others that were not in existence before, were newly introduced.

Other charges such as environmental impact assessment fee, licence permit fee, carbon emission fee, sanitation charges, company income tax, education tax, annual operating levy on net revenue and VAT on consumption of services, utility tax, among others, were also increased.

“Quite a number of charges that were very low initially, were suddenly increased. So the issue of multiple taxes affected additional network rollout in 2020,” Adebayo said.

According to him, existing charges were increased between 70 per cent and 100 per cent, depending on states, while new fees were also introduced. The licence permit and tenement fees, which initially vary between N20,000 and N35,000, were increased to between N100,000 and N150,000 in some states and operators were asked to be paying annually, as against the initial one-off payment.

Base Transceiver Station (BTS) sites fee has also been introduced at the rate of N500,000. This is different from the usual business premises charge of N250,000.

Environmental impact report fee was also introduced at the rate of between N1.5 million and N2 million, different from the usual environmental impact assessment fee of N500,000 that telecoms operators used to pay, Adebayo said.

He explained that government agencies have resorted to using consultants in collecting the new charges and would refuse to issue permit licence when the fees are not paid, thereby slowing down the rate of network expansion in the affected states.

Adebayo advised governors and state agencies to begin to see the benefits of wide spread of telecoms infrastructure in their states, above the gains of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

The 36 state governors, in January, had met with the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ibrahim Pantami, to address the lingering issue of RoW charges in a bid to deepen broadband penetration in the country and promote a digital economy.

At the meeting, the governors unanimously agreed to reverse the RoW charges from the planned N6,000 per linear metre, to N145 per linear metre.

The meeting was attended by state governors, under the auspices of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, led by its Chairman, Dr. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State.

Four months later, seven states out of the 36 states, began the implementation of the RoW fee regime.

The seven states were Katsina, Ekiti, Kaduna, Imo, Plateau, Kwara and Anambra States.

The federal government in 2013 had an agreement with telecoms operators to implement a new flat rate of N145 per linear metre on RoW charges, but since 2013, no state implemented it, which prompted Pantami to meet with the governors in January 2020, where he reminded them of the 2013 agreement on RoW charges and its benefits on the growth of telecoms infrastructure across states.

Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja


The abduction of 344 Katsina schoolboys was triggered by feud between Hausa farmers and Fulani herdsmen and not extremism, four Katsina and Zamfara government officials have said.

The pupils, who were kidnapped from Government Science School, Kankara, Katsina State, were rescued after one week in captivity by a combined team of personnel from the police, military and intelligence agencies.

This is coming as the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) said yesterday that the rescue of the Katsina pupils was enhanced by the “fussion of intelligence”, technology and professionalism.


Briefing newsmen in Abuja, the Coordinator of the Directorate of Defence Media Operations (DDMO), Major General John Enenche, said the rescue operation succeeded as a result of cooperation from the parties involved and the absence of “conspiracy of silence.”

But four government and security officials familiar with negotiations that secured the boys’ release told Reuters the attack was a result of inter-communal feuding over cattle theft, grazing rights and water access, not spreading extremism.

Officials in Katsina State and neighbouring Zamfara State, where the boys were released after six days, said the attack was carried out by a gang of mostly semi-nomadic ethnic Fulanis, including former herders who turned to crime after losing their cows to cattle rustlers.


“They have local conflicts that they want to be settled, and they decided to use this (kidnapping) as a bargaining tool,” said Ibrahim Ahmad, a security adviser to the Katsina State Government who took part in the negotiations through intermediaries.

The report said such groups are known more for armed robberies and small-scale kidnappings for ransom.

Cattle herders in the North-west are mainly Fulani, whereas farmers are mostly Hausa.

For years, farmers have complained of herders letting their cows stray on to their land to graze while herdsmen have complained their cows are being stolen.

Officials in both states told Reuters they established contact with the kidnappers through their clan, a cattle breeders’ association and former gang members who participated in a Zamfara amnesty programme.

The intermediaries met the kidnappers in Ruga forest on several occasions before they agreed to release the boys, according to Zamfara State Governor Bello Matawalle and security sources, including Ahmad.


The gang accused vigilante groups, set up to defend farming communities against banditry, of killing Fulani herders and stealing their cows, Matawalle and Ahmad said.

They also made similar accusations against members of a Katsina State committee set up to investigate cattle theft, Ahmad added.

He said he was not aware of any such incidents, but said a police investigation had been launched. No ransom was paid for the boys’ release, according to officials in both states.


However, his claim that no ransom was paid, which is consistent with official narrative on how the 344 pupils were rescued, conflicted with accounts of three of the victims who spoke with Wall Street Journal (WSJ), a newspaper based in the United States.

The WSJ, in a publication on Wednesday, had reported the pupils as saying that the bandits insisted on collecting N1 million ransom for each of the abductees.

Reuters could not reach the gang for comment, but a spokesman for the herders’ association, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association of Nigeria, declined to discuss the negotiations.


The day after the boys were returned to their families in Kankara and other towns, another gang briefly abducted some 80 pupils who were returning from a trip organised by an Islamic school.

The kidnappers released the children after a gunfight with police and a local vigilante group, state police said.

“All the bandits were Fulanis and are over 100 in number,” Abdullahi Sada, who led the vigilantes, told Reuters.

Meanwhile, the Defence Headquarters has said that the successful rescue operation was the result of a combined operation of the military, police and intelligence agencies in what it described as “a fussion of intelligence”.

“This is the age of information technology. It was a fussion of intelligence management.

“It was also professionalism that boosted the operation and the children came out alive. There was cooperation and no conspiracy of silence”, Enenche said, while noting that the vigilante groups and the locals cooperated with the operation.

Another new variant of coronavirus has emerged in Nigeria, Africa’s leading public health official has said.

John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, revealed the new strain on Thursday – saying it is different to the ones found recently in the UK and South Africa.

But he added that it is still too early to tell what effects the new variant might possess, saying that scientists needed ‘more time’ to study it.

Coroanvirus variants emerge routinely as the virus spreads, but those in the UK and South Africa have been widely reported because scientists believe they are significantly more infectious than previous strains.

‘Give us some time. It’s still very early,’ Dr Nkengasong said.

The alert about the apparent new variant was based on two or three genetic sequences, he said, but that and South Africa’s alert late last week were enough to prompt an emergency meeting of the Africa CDC this week.

Dr Nkengasong said the Nigeria CDC and the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases will analyse more samples.

The news comes as infections surge again in parts of the African continent.

The new variant in South Africa is the predominant one there, Mr Nkengasong said, as confirmed infections in the country approach a million.

While the variant transmits quickly and viral loads are higher, it is not yet clear whether it leads to a more severe disease, he added.

‘We believe this mutation will not have an effect’ on the deployment of Covid-19 vaccines to the continent, he said of the South Africa variant.

South Africa’s health minister late on Wednesday announced an ‘alarming rate of spread’, with more than 14,000 new cases confirmed in the past day, including more than 400 deaths.

The country has more than 950,000 infections and Covid-19 is ‘unrelenting,’ Zwelini Mkhize said in a statement.

The African continent has more than 2.5 million confirmed cases, or 3.3% of global cases. Infections across the continent have risen 10.9% over the past four weeks, Mr Nkengasong said, including a 52% increase in Nigeria and 40% in South Africa.

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja, Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti, Hammed Shittu in Ilorin and Kayode Fasua in Abeokuta



Nigerians are in for a low-key Christmas celebration tomorrow as states yesterday rolled out measures to tackle the resurgence of COVID-19.

Some of the measures such as restrictions on religious gathering, social activities and suspension of street carnivals that usually characterise the celebration pre-COVID era, will take the shine off this year’s event.

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has also ordered the closure of night clubs, pubs and other super spreader events for five weeks to tame the resurgence.

Also yesterday, the National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 (PTF), Dr. Sani Aliyu, said COVID-19 vaccine, which the federal government was still sourcing for, would be administered on Nigerians free of charge when the vaccination begins.

The international community has also stepped up efforts to combat the second wave of COVID-19, exacerbated by the discovery of a new variant of the virus, which is giving the global health authorities serious concerns.


This informed the decision of the United Kingdom to impose flight restrictions on South Africa, following the discovery that two COVID-19 patients with the virus variant in the UK contracted the disease from South Africa.

THISDAY also gathered yesterday that West African nations are considering banning flights from the UK whose variant is said to have about 20 mutations, including several that affect how the virus locks onto human cells and infects them. These mutations may allow the variant to replicate and transmit more efficiently, said Muge Cevik, an infectious disease expert at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. The West African nations are expected to take a decision shortly.

The measures rolled out by the states were in furtherance of Monday’s advisory by the federal government to the sub-national authorities to close all bars, night clubs, restaurants, event centres and recreational centres for the next five weeks.

It also restricted public gatherings such as conferences, social events such as weddings and religious activities to not more than 50 people.

In Ogun State, the Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, announced the suspension of street carnivals, crowded cross-over night service, parties and similar gatherings in the state, amidst an increase in COVID-19 infections nationwide.

The governor has directed all civil servants and other government workers in the state, except those on essential services, to proceed on Christmas and New Year holidays from today.

A statement by Abiodun’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr Kunle Somorin, said the directives would be reviewed from time-to-time.

It said the governor took the decisions following consultations with religious leaders from the League of Imams and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) as well as community leaders as part of the measures and guidelines for public health as the state prepares for a second wave of the pandemic.

The governor directed all schools in the state to remain closed until January 18, 2021, while all bars, nightclubs, pubs and event centres, recreational centres have also been closed down indefinitely.

He further directed that all markets are to open strictly between 8am and 4pm while maintaining social distancing and observing all COVID-19 protocols, including the use of face masks, provision of hand sanitiser and/or hand-washing equipment at every strategic point within malls, shops and business premises.

Abiodun restricted religious and worship centres to 50 per cent of their capacity while all services must also be in compliance with all COVID-19 protocols.

He said: “There should be no gatherings of more than 50 people at any event or ceremony, such as conferences, congresses, office events, concerts, seminars, sporting activities, cross-over nights, end of year parties, weddings, naming, birthdays, anniversaries, street carnivals, etc until further notice”.

He also called on motorcycle (okada), tricycle, bus, car, taxi and other transport operators not to carry passengers above 50 per cent of their capacity in compliance with social distancing rules.


Obaseki Adjusts Curfew Period

Abiodun’s counterpart in Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, also rolled out similar measures to halt the resurgence of COVID-19.

The governor, in a broadcast yesterday, announced the reintroduction of restrictions and reactivation of disease surveillance and management protocols, including public health and safety guidelines to fortify the state government’s efforts at flattening the curve of the second wave of the virus.

Obaseki said: “Experts have warned that from experience, the second wave in any epidemic is usually larger than the first. This is why as a government we are very concerned.

“Arising from the experience, which we gained during the last outbreak of COVID-19, we now have in place a robust disease surveillance system in the state with well-trained contact tracers, who can undertake active case searches; we have four PCR molecular laboratories that can undertake large numbers of tests with procedures to promptly obtain results from the laboratories.

“In line with the federal government directive, we have adjusted our curfew to now begin from 12 midnight to 4 am daily, beginning from today, December 23, 2020, except on December 31st, 2020.”

According to the governor, all schools in the state will remain shut until January 18, 2021.

He said: “the government has decided to reintroduce the following measures in Edo State to limit the spread of the second wave of COVID-19, particularly during this holiday period: wearing of facemask is mandatory in public places; there should be drastic reduction in number of people attending religious, political and social gatherings in one place; people are advised not to patronise or enter any public facility without hand wash station, provided with soap and running water; make use of hand sanitisers and observe adequate hand hygiene.”

He reassured the people of government’s readiness to manage active cases and check the spread of the virus.

“Even though we have created the capacity to respond to the new outbreak of COVID-19, our strategy to cope with the second wave is to decrease the incidence of the disease and decrease the mortality from the disease

“In order to decrease the number of COVID-19 cases and reduce deaths from this second wave, we must emphasise public enlightenment. As much as possible, you should avoid crowded places, closed places and close contact with other people.

“Market unions and trade associations are encouraged to rally their members to adhere to public health and safety guidelines outlined to halt the spread of the disease. Do not sell items to anyone not wearing facemasks so that they don’t put your life at risk.

“For our brothers and sisters returning from abroad, we urge you to contact the Edo Emergency Operation Centre on this toll-free number: 08003625000,” he added.

He urged the people not to go out, except it is absolutely necessary to do so.


Fayemi Orders Security Agencies to Enforce Compliance with NPIs

Also in Ekiti State, the state government has imposed fresh restrictions to safeguard public health following a spike in the cases of COVID-19 pandemic.

The Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who reeled out new guidelines to curb the second wave of COVID-19 in a state broadcast yesterday, said the step became necessary to ensure that the situation did not get out of control.

According to him, security agencies have been given strict instructions to enforce compliance with the new guidelines.

Affected by the latest restrictions are worship centres, which have been directed to return to one service on worship days of Friday, Saturday and Sunday at half of their sitting capacity.

The governor directed that schools in the state will remain closed till January 18 while vigils, partying and clubbing are suspended indefinitely.

He directed civil servants on Grade Level 12 and below are to stay at home till January 18 when they would be directed on when to resume at their desks.

Government officials, he noted, are to discourage in-person meetings as much as possible and no government official must been seen in the public without wearing facemasks.

According to him, protocols regarding wedding and burial ceremonies remain in force directing that there should be no crowd in the church auditorium and burial services must be at the graveside only.

Supermarkets, event centres, hotels and bar owners, he added, are to strictly ensure that social distancing measures are put in place and followed accordingly.

The governor said only half of the full sitting capacity of a facility can be allowed to participate in any ceremony/programme at any point and activities should not exceed 8pm.

Fayemi said: “In Ekiti here, as at two days ago, we had done a total of 7, 890 tests with 405 confirmed cases since the outbreak. We have about 30 active cases currently under treatment in our isolation centre.

“One frightening fact about these figures, however, is that we have recorded about 15 cases out of about 170 tests conducted in the last one week. This is near 10 per cent confirmed cases as against the less than five per cent that we used to have at the beginning of the pandemic, earlier in the year.

“Things were not this bad when we imposed strict restrictions on the state at the onset of the breakout of the pandemic in March. Government is therefore very disturbed with the rising figure and its implications on our fragile health facilities and economic wellbeing.”

He added: “We understand the importance of this season in our religious life as a people, we, however, must prioritise public health above other considerations; therefore, we expect churches to observe the service in strict compliance with COVID-19 protocols such as hand washing, use of hand sanitisers, observation of the approved social distance and to allow only half of the sitting capacity of the church to partake in the service.”


Kwara Imposes Curfew, Restrictions

Against the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, the Kwara State Government yesterday imposed a curfew on the state.

The curfew, which is indefinite, takes effect today and it is between midnight and 4:30 am.

The state also said “appropriate use of face mask in public places is mandatory.”

Vice Chairman of the state Technical Commitee on COVID-19, Razak Raji, told reporters in Ilorin, the state capital, that “concerts/carnivals/clubbing are not allowed until further notice. Worship centres are not to allow congregations exceeding 50 per cent of the maximum capacity of the venue. This is to allow for physical distancing.

“Other gatherings (formal and informal) exceeding 50 people are disallowed. Therefore, the protocol of ‘No face mask, no entry’ must apply at all public places.”

Raji, who is also the state Health Commissioner added: “Civil servants are to work from their homes. The only exemptions are essential workers, especially in the health sector. Virtual meetings are encouraged.

“Transporters are to enforce all COVID-19 protocols, including proper use of face masks by drivers and passengers. Appropriate sanctions will apply to defaulters.

“Security agencies will deploy all lawful means to enforce these protocols. Defaulters are deemed to constitute dangers to public health.

Provisions of the Kwara State Infectious Diseases Regulations 2020 shall apply to all offenders.

He said that “there will be further communications on school resumption.”


Ondo Cancels Cross-over Service

As part of measures to combat the resurgence of COVID-19, the Ondo State Government yesterday cancelled celebration of cross-over vigil by churches.

Chairman, Ondo State Inter-ministerial Committee on Coronavirus and Vice Chancellor, University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, Prof. Adesegun Fatusi, said the state was working to ensure it records no substantial case during the second wave of the pandemic.

It implored people to pay due attention and observance to the precautionary measures put in place to safeguard them.

Fatusi, at a press briefing in Akure, said no church service organised in respect of the New Year celebration must exceed 10pm until further notice.

According to him, government and business offices will remain open but with strict compliance with COVID-19 precautionary measures.

Markets will also continue operations but with heightened enforcement of COVID-19 precautionary measures.

Fatusi warned night clubs and relaxation spots not to operate beyond 10pm and advised anybody above 60 years of age or with existing ailments to remain indoors and disengage from joining any social gathering.

He said the state would begin strict enforcement of the law that guides against the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases in the state from January.

Fatusi said the law provided for three months imprisonment or payment of N20,000 fine or both for offenders.


FCT Shuts Night Clubs, Pubs, Others for Five Weeks

The FCT Administration has approved new guidelines on controlling of the spread of COVID- 19 in the territory and has approved the closure of bars, night clubs, pubs, events and recreational venues for the next five weeks.

An emergency meeting chaired by FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, to contain the spread of the pandemic, yesterday ratified the guidelines.

The FCT is regarded as one of the epicentres in this second wave.

Also all informal and formal festivity events, including weddings, conferences, congresses, office parties, concerts, seminars, sporting activities, end of year events, among others, are restricted to not more than 50 persons.

It warned that enforcement teams have been mandated to arrest violators and prosecute them.

The emergency meeting ascribed the surge in coronavirus infections to the lack of compliance with non-pharmaceutical interventions by residents, especially facial coverings in public, physical distancing and hand hygiene.

All restaurants, except those providing services to hotel residents, takeaways, home deliveries and drive-ins, are to remain closed.

Public transporters are to carry passengers not more than 50 per cent of their capacity in compliance with social distancing rules while facilities for religious events are restricted to less than 50 per cent of capacity of the worship centres during which physical distancing, mandatory use of face masks and hand washing are to be strictly enforced.

Also, all employees of the FCTA and the six area councils of the FCT on GL 12 and below are to work from home for the next five weeks while the heads of the various secretariats, departments and agencies are to be responsible for compliance.

All schools in the FCT are to remain on vacation until at least January 18, 2021.

It also urged the Abuja Market Management Limited and the various market associations to ensure compliance with all the guidelines.